Coming to the Great Light
Pastor Tan Thai · Dec 5, 2021
This Christmas sermon, based on Isaiah 9:1, presents Jesus Christ as the Great Light coming into a world filled with sin and darkness. The pastor analyzes two main reasons people refuse to come to Him: fear and pride, both rooted in sin. The congregation is called to humble themselves and receive the Savior as the true living water rather than seeking the world's broken, leaking solutions.
The sermon opens by contrasting the romanticized images people commonly associate with Christmas — twinkling lights, family gatherings, gifts, and peace — with the harsh reality recorded in Scripture. Mary gave birth to her firstborn in a filthy stable, and the first reaction of every character in the nativity story was not peace but overwhelming fear. The prophet Isaiah wrote 700 years in advance that 'The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light' (Isaiah 9:1), identifying the world as a land of the shadow of death filled with sin.
The pastor then traces the historical context of Israel in Isaiah's time: a people wandering in despair, turning to corrupt rulers, mediums, and fortune-tellers, yet finding only deeper darkness and tragedy. Professor Edward Young is quoted to underscore that the external darkness brought by Assyrian invasion was a direct consequence of the internal darkness of sin in the people's hearts. The Great Light would not come from a star but from a child to be born (Isaiah 9:5), and Jesus Christ Himself declared 'I am the light of the world' (John 8:12), fulfilling that prophecy completely.
The central section of the sermon analyzes two reasons people refuse to come to the Great Light. The first is fear: sin causes people to avoid exposure before the holy light of God, just as Adam and Eve hid in the garden after sinning (Genesis 2:10). Today people conceal their fear through material possessions, status, beauty, and wealth — fragile, temporary 'fig-leaf coverings.' The second reason is pride: people believe they can solve every problem through science, politics, or human intellect, as the eighteenth-century Enlightenment promised but ultimately failed, given the ongoing reality of war, pandemic, and violence.
The pastor uses several vivid illustrations: the story of a 39-year-old PhD patient who died of cancer in the ICU without spiritual answers; social psychology statistics showing 95% of people believe they live by the Golden Rule yet the world remains full of conflict; and violent events in America in 2021 such as the Waukesha parade attack and the Oxford, Michigan school shooting. Jeremiah 2:13 is used to summarize the core problem: God's people have forsaken Him, the fountain of living waters, to hew out broken cisterns that hold no water.
The sermon concludes with a concrete call to action: just as the shepherds overcame their fear to seek the child in Bethlehem after hearing the good news from the angel (Luke 2:10-17), the congregation is called to lay aside pride, humble themselves, and actively receive the Savior. Jesus came in humility, born in a stable, so that no one need fear approaching Him. The promise of John 1:12 is emphasized: to all who receive Him, He gives the right to become children of God.