Isaiah 9:2

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.

From Background Notes [BN] for November 24^th & 25^th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

The 4th century philosopher, Augustine made an important point about darkness: that in itself it has no separate existence. Darkness is not something, it is the absence of something, namely, light.

Darkness is what is missing, what is absent. At Creation, God faced the great "nothingness" before He declared His first creative word: "Let there be light". By comparison, the people of God, in Isaiah's time, stood in the darkness awaiting a fresh creative word from God. They awaited the assuring word, the comforting word, and, yes, the expectant word: "Let there be light…on my people". Having long lived in the darkness of an oppressive exile, one in which God hid His face, Israel expected in a whole new sense, that the Creator God would resume His suspended work and make all things new. It is not surprising that by the time Isaiah's prophecy ends, we hear the expectant words, "See, I am creating new heavens and new earth" (65:17; echoed in Revelation 21-22). The kind of expectation that Israel needed, not necessarily the one they wanted, was this complete restoration of God's world, with Israel at its heart.  [BN, 4]

Join us this week in Study, Worship, Praise and Celebration at Chicago First Church of the Nazarene:

* Saturday 6:00pm
* Sunday 8:30am & 11:00am