Your Light Has Come

Wednesday of the Advent 3 | Isaiah 60:1-3, 19 & Ephesians 5:8-14

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Most of us know what it’s like to move around in the dark. You wake up in the middle of the night. You don’t want to turn on the light. You think you know the room well enough. You’ve walked this path a hundred times before. So you take a step. And then another.

And then you stub your toe. Or you reach for the doorframe and grab empty air. Or you turn left when you should have turned right. Nothing in the room has moved. The furniture is in the same place it’s always been. But in the dark, what you think you know suddenly isn’t as reliable as you thought.

Darkness doesn’t just slow you down. Darkness misleads you. It gives you false confidence. It makes familiar spaces dangerous, not because they’ve changed, but because you can no longer see.

Advent greets us each year in the darkness. Each day ends a little earlier. The nights linger a little longer. And here, in these long dark nights, Isaiah turns our attention to a world that stumbles around blindly because its darkness is total. And into that total darkness, the Scriptures speak a startling word: light has come.

I. The Darkness Is Real, and It Covers Everybody (Is 60:2; Eph 5:8, 11–12)

Isaiah states the problem plainly: “For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples” (Is 60:2a). Did you notice what is covering the earth? Not shadows. Not dimness. Darkness. Thick darkness. And it is real. And it is total. The kind that hides what is actually there. And Isaiah is not talking about nightfall or winter months. He is talking about spiritual darkness.

Where is this darkness located? It covers the earth. It rests over the peoples. No exceptions are listed. No safe corners. No neutral ground. Darkness does not only affect bad people or pagan cultures. Darkness covers everybody. It covers societies, families, churches, and hearts. 

Paul says the same thing in Ephesians, but more bluntly: “Once you were darkness” (Eph. 5:8). Not merely in darkness. Darkness itself. That is hard to hear. Because we like to think of ourselves as people who were basically fine, maybe just a little misguided. People who needed improvement, not rescue. We tend to think we may need to be pointed in the right direction now and then, but not thoroughly lost. But Scripture will not let us soften this diagnosis. Paul does not say, “You were confused.” He says, “You were darkness.”

That is why Paul warns, “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness” (Eph. 5:11). Darkness is not simply ignorance. It is not just confusion or lack of information. Darkness, in Scripture, is life turned away from God. It is existence lived without reference to Him, without trust in Him, without fear, love, and confidence in His Word.

Darkness hides what God has revealed. It excuses what God forbids. It reshapes reality so that sin looks reasonable, even necessary and desirable. And because it is dark, it does all of this quietly. Without alarms. Without obvious danger signs.

That is why Paul calls these works “unfruitful.” Sin promises life, freedom, and fulfillment, but it produces nothing that lasts and does not lead where it claims. And yet living in sin always feels familiar. Like walking through your own house at night. You assume you know the way. You rely on memory instead of sight. And that is precisely how darkness does its damage. Isaiah and Paul are not trying to frighten us for fear’s sake. They are telling us the truth about where we would be if left to ourselves. The darkness is real, and it covers everybody. 

II. The Lord Himself Rises on His People as Light (Is 60:1–2; Eph 5:13–14)

Into that darkness, Isaiah speaks a declaration: “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you” (Is 60:1). Notice where the action is. The light does not come from God’s people. It comes to them. See that command, “arise”? They can only arise and shine because the light has come. Before anyone moves, before anyone walks, before anyone shines, the Lord acts: “For behold, darkness shall cover the earth… but the LORD will arise upon you, and His glory will be seen upon you” (Is 60:2).

Do you see the contrast? Darkness covers the earth. The Lord rises. Darkness spreads. The Lord appears. This is not gradual illumination. This is sudden. God enters the darkness Himself. The glory of the Lord appears. Does that sound familiar?

Luke tells us that when Christ is born, the shepherds are keeping watch in the dark. And then we hear these words: “The glory of the Lord shone round about them” (Luke 2:9). Not a candle. The glory of the Lord. The same glory Isaiah spoke of breaks into the night sky at the birth of Christ.

The glory did not just shine for the child born in Bethlehem. Jesus Christ is the Light of the World.  And the Light of the World walked straight into the deepest darkness. At the cross, darkness falls again. Not metaphorically. Literally. The sky goes dark at noon. And there, Christ bears the full weight of your darkness: sin, guilt, death, and judgment. He takes it all into Himself. And when He rises from the dead, the darkness does not return. The light does not flicker. It triumphs. The resurrection is God’s final declaration that the darkness has lost its claim.

That is why Paul can say to the Ephesians, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall shine upon you” (Eph. 5:14). The darkness that you were in, it was broken by Christ. Those words were likely sung at Baptism. Because Baptism is where Christ’s victory over darkness is applied to you personally. There, the Light that came at Christmas and triumphed at Easter shines upon you. You are raised. You are brought out of darkness and into Christ. Not because you found the light. Not because you learned to see better. But because the Lord shines upon you. The Light came to you. And that makes all the difference.

III. By This Light, We Now Walk Where We Could Not See Before (Is 60:3, 19; Eph 5:8–10)

Isaiah now tells us what happens because the Lord has risen as light. “And nations shall walk by your light, and kings by the brightness of your rising” (Is 60:3). Notice the verb. Walk. Isaiah does not say the nations become light. He does not say they generate light. He says they walk by it. The light does not originate with them. It guides them. It shows them where they are and where they are going. 

Remember what we said about darkness? Darkness doesn’t just slow you down. It misleads you. In the dark, you think you’re headed the right direction when you aren’t. And that’s exactly how you get hurt. Light does something very different. Light tells you the truth. It reveals where the obstacles are. It shows you where the path actually runs. It exposes what darkness hid. 

And that is what Christ now does for His people. Paul says it this way: “For once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light” (Eph. 5:8). But this does not mean that walking in the light is simply about making better choices or becoming a better person. Scripture is not saying, “Now that you have light, try harder.” You are not the source of light. Paul is careful in how he phrased it. You are light in the Lord. Which means you now walk by His light. You live according to His Word, because it is there that Christ Himself continues to shine upon you. God’s Word now tells you what is good and what is harmful. What is true and what only pretends to be truth. 

As Paul says, the light exposes what was once hidden and brings it into the open (Eph. 5:13). The light reveals our sins. But when the light of Christ shines, it does not merely expose what is wrong. It brings with it the remedy. It calls us to repent. It reveals Christ crucified for sinners. It reveals a Savior who has already walked into the darkness ahead of you and come out the other side alive. 

To walk as a child of light is to live in the grace of your Baptism day after day. It is to confess your sins when they are exposed, to trust forgiveness when it is spoken, and to drown the old self that still prefers the darkness. To live as someone whose sins have been forgiven and buried in Christ.

This is why Paul does not say, “Become light.” He says, “You are light in the Lord.” The light does not depend on your clarity, your progress, or your consistency. It depends on Christ, who was born, and died, and rose for you.

And so even now, while the world remains dark, while your path is not always clear, while you stumble around, you are not lost.

You walk by the Light because the Lord came at Christmas.
You walk by the Light because He bore your darkness at the cross.
You walk by the Light because He raised you in Baptism.

And that Light does not go out.

“For the LORD will be your everlasting light.”

May the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.