Then Came the Light – Something is Changing – Living Life while Following Jesus from the Edges –

Then Came the Light

Pastor Calvin Cook,

December 1, 2025

The calendar page flips over today, it is December. I do not do well this time of the year, when the days grow dreary and there seems to be more darkness than light. I don’t believe we were ever made to thrive in darkness. We never do well when we stay in the shadows, whether it’s fear, sin, bitterness, confusion, or hopelessness. Darkness drains us. But light restores us.

The very first verses of the Bible in Genesis 1:1-4 this declaration is made: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” (NIV)

Did you read that? Before anything else existed, there was God. And God’s Spirit was preparing a great creation out of nothing, out of chaos and void.

Before creation took shape, before time began, before life, breath, or beauty—God was present, sovereign, steady, complete. Into the formless void and deep darkness, the first words ever spoken by God broke open eternity: “Let there be light.”

Light was God’s first gift to creation. It was His first act of ordering the chaos to be gone ! Light separated darkness, revealed life, warmed the earth, and showed us that God does not leave anything hidden in the shadows. From the very beginning, God intended His people to be people of the light.

Advent tells us that the same God who spoke light into creation, spoke Light into our world in sending Jesus into the world as a baby, fully God and fully human – to be the light of the world through the saving grace experienced through salvation, forgiveness, and redemption.

Isaiah prophesied, “Those who walked in darkness have seen a great light.”(Isaiah 9:2) That great Light is Jesus, God’s presence breaking into human history the same way dawn breaks into night. When Christ came, He didn’t just expose darkness; He shattered it. He didn’t just reveal our condition; He offered redemption. Light changed everything in Genesis, and Christ still changes everything today.

Advent is a time to step out of the shadows and walk toward the One who shines hope into our weary hearts. It is a season to stop settling for dim places and instead welcome the Light who heals, forgives, restores, and renews.

Today, pause and ponder:

What darkness is still present and controlling my life and my relationship with God. Maybe just sit for a moment and hear God speak into your very lives “Let there be light”?

The Light has come.

The Light is coming still.

And all who follow Him walk in the brightness of hope.