And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
Genesis 1:3 English Standard Version (ESV)
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.
Isaiah 9:2 ESV
The sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” Luke 1:78b-79 ESV
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Last Monday, just after the winter solstice, my mother rose a little earlier than usual to a dark apartment. Drawing back the drapes over the west-facing windows, she felt a sense of heaviness as she saw a bleak sky full of thick, black rainclouds.
But as she stood there praying, suddenly there was a flash of light. It filled the entire apartment!
But how? She was looking west.
Then she saw it: several blocks away and taller than intervening structures, a glass-sided office building was aglow. The rising sun had broken through the clouds, its rays hitting the upper floors of that building and reflecting directly into Mom’s windows.
The light lasted several minutes, until the sun rose higher, but the joy and delight it created will last forever.
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Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “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 ESV
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
John 1:5 ESV
And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
Revelation 22:5 ESV
So again, as we look forward to the New Year:
Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. Isaiah 60:1 ESV