All Is Calm, All Is Bright (Part 2)

Part 2 of a 3-Part Advent Series

The Christmas season is full of so many beautiful lights. Trees sparkle through the windows, rooftops glisten with dangling icicle lights, and snowflakes light the sidewalks. One of my favorite childhood memories involves riding around town with my parents and my brother to look at pretty Christmas lights, and now my husband and I get to share the same excitement with our daughters. What is the reason for all of these lights? We began this Advent series with a familiar line in a beloved Christmas carol: “Silent night, holy night! All is calm, all is bright.” We have already focused on Jesus as the Word who has the power to calm our hearts, so let’s direct our attention now to Jesus as the Light of the World who has the power to brighten our paths.

In Scripture, the word “bright” is used multiple times to describe different things like God’s glory and the path of the righteous. Consider this passage: “But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day. The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble” (Proverbs 4:18-19). We are all born in sin and deep darkness, so where can we find light to brighten our paths?

The first verses of John that we read last week not only reveal Jesus as our source of calm but also as our source of light. “The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world” (John 1:9). Later in the same book, Jesus says, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). Jesus is the light who brightens the path of the righteous. Without him there is no choice but to stumble blindly in the darkness.

While we may have a natural affinity for pretty Christmas lights, we are not naturally drawn to the “true light” about whom John writes. Jesus tells us that even though he had come into the world as the light, “people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil” (John 3:19). Left to our own desires, we will remain in the darkness. Thankfully, God did not leave us to our own desires. He “so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

If you are a believer today, it is because God “called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). That marvelous light entered the world as a tiny baby many years ago, and that marvelous light still shines today. May the whole world see!

“Silent Night, holy night

Son of God, love’s pure light

Radiant beams from thy holy face

With the dawn of redeeming grace

Jesus, Lord, at thy birth

Jesus, Lord, at thy birth.”