Part of Advent is looking at those prophecies which pointed forward to the Messiah before the birth of Jesus. What was said about the Christ, the Messiah? Where was he to be born, what was he meant to do, what would the circumstances be surrounding his birth, life and death?
Most times, when we read the Christmas story, we read the narrative passages in Luke and Matthew: It happened in those days… This is how the birth of Jesus happened… John tells the story differently in chapter 1 of his Gospel: In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God… And the word became flesh…
To ears familiar with the beginning of Genesis “In the beginning…” and the words that follow about the word being “formless and void”, the beginning of John’s Gospel evokes the whole grand narrative of creation and makes the claim that it was through Jesus that meaning and order was brought out of the chaotic nothingness. The word, or Greek: “logos” means more than just “word” – the meaning of the word John uses ranges from counting or relating; from word, message or indeed revelation; from reason, order and meaning to something akin to divine wisdom or the way things hold together… It is a word with many shades of meaning, and in all those shades of meaning there is probably a bit of the truth about The Word, Jesus. Jesus is the ordering principle, the full revelation, the cornerstone and capstone…
In the Book of Isaiah chapter 42, it is prophesied that the Messiah will be a light to the nations. It had always been God’s intention that his servant, Israel, should be a light to the peoples around them, but as we all do, so also the nation of Israel had got distracted and started worshipping other gods (including those we don’t consider ‘gods’ such as money, power, ambition, the internet, our own reputation etc etc). So God decided that it was time for Godself to act, to come and be that light, to bring salvation, peace, justice to the earth – not just to the Jewish people but to all nations. John writes that “in him was life, and that life was the light of all humankind”… Jesus came to be the light that would provide revelation of who God is, guidance into the ways of God, true life in all its abundant fulness.
That’s doesn’t mean a harsh judgement or zapping everyone who is not already perfect – rather it means setting things right, making them as they were always meant to be, enabling life and relationship and wisdom for all who seek it. That may be why Simeon, the old man who had been waiting for the coming of the Messiah says this when he finally holds the little Jesus in his arms: “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.” (Luke 2:27–32)
Here he is, the one about whom it was said that he would bring hope to the nations and light to the Gentiles, him who is the light of the world (John 8:12), and who will be the light by which we all live eternity as John describes it in his Revelation: The city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. (Rev 21) That is why he came, to give us hope and a future in broad daylight, with eyes wide open, soaking up the beauty of God.