Advent Challenge Day 27
The Dawn Will Break
Read Together
Luke 1:67-79
Light four candles (and the Christ candle if you have it) and say together
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for he has visited and redeemed his people!
(from Luke 1:68)
Reflection
The longest night of the year was only a couple of nights ago. Because of the way the Earth is situated in its orbit around the sun, for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, the sun always rises the latest and sets the earliest on December 21st. On that day, we have the least amount of daylight to see us through. The darkness lasts longer. But then, starting the very next day, and incrementally until June, we start to get more light. In these first days, it almost doesn't make any difference at all, except to know that it is true. The light is coming.
Zechariah knew it was true. Zechariah, Elizabeth, and John were Old Testament people living in a New Testament world. They knew the prophecies about the Messiah and they had seen God at work. Yet Jesus has not started His ministry yet. Mary was there, at their home, and they could feel the very presence of God within her, but they still had not seen this plan of God be born into our world yet. But they had just enough to know that the darkest days were behind them and the Light, the Bright Morning star, was dawning.
When once, not even a year earlier, Zechariah couldn't even believe the news an angel had brought him, now he trusts and he prophesies! He is enabled by the Holy Spirit to speak God's will. It is an incredible reversal. And Zechariah's prophecy brings us an incredible gift. It allows us to glimpse God's plan outside of time. These words Zechariah speaks are not tied to the time and place that Zechariah is standing in. "He HAS COME to help and redeem his people." (Luke 1:68) Zechariah is no longer questioning the tiny details of God's plan, he is anticipating the total salvation work Jesus will do, and he speaks in complete confidence as if it has already been done.
This is what someone who has experienced the light of Christ's hope, peace, joy, and love looks like. He is able to praise and abandon himself to a trust he had not known before.
On this day-before-Christmas, when all the preparations we've been doing can finally cease, we too sit on this holy precipice, both inside and out of time, desperately seeking light yet knowing it has already come. We are people in an already-but-not-yet Kingdom. He is the light. And the Light was brought into our world. And the light shines in the darkness. And yet, sometimes, the dark nights are still long and we long for the dawning light.
Tonight, light the four Advent candles but add a fifth if you can (you can put it right in the middle if you have a circular wreath). This is the Christ candle, the source of all the light found in hope, peace, joy, and love. Sit in the brightness of this light as Christmas dawns anew.
Talk About
- Where in your life can you see new light where once there was darkness?
- Where in your life do you still need light to dawn?
Pray Together
O exalted Lord God of Israel, we praise You, for You have seen us through eyes of grace and come to set us free. The splendour-light of heaven's glorious sunrise is about to break upon us in holy visitation, all because you, O God, are so very tender. Come to us with dazzling light to shine upon those who live in darkness and illuminate the path that leads to the way of peace.
Amen.
(adapted from Luke 1:67, 78-79 TPT)
Put it in Action
Light up this Christmas Eve evening with candles and Christmas lights. Experience the joy of light in darkness.