THE ESSENTIAL CHARACTER OF GOD: GOD OF PRESENCE AND LIGHT

⁷Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?

⁸If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

⁹If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,

¹⁰even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

¹¹If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,”

¹²even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

Matthew 1:20-23 (New International Version)

²⁰But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,^[a] because he will save his people from their sins.”

²²All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:

²³“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” ^[b] (which means “God with us”).

What was true of God in the Old Testament is true of God in the New Testament. What was true of God in the past is true of God today.

More than anything else God wanted to have a loving relationship with his children. God established a covenant with the Israelites, his chosen people. It was a covenant of love, stating, “I will be your God, and you will be my people."

The Psalmist and the Apostles both bear witness to the truth that God is our ever-present God of Light.

If I go up to the heavens, You are there.

If I make my bed in the depths, You are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn,

If I settle on the far side of the sea,

If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me…even the darkness will not be dark to You. The night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to You.

God promised Sarah and Abraham a baby in their old age. When year after year passed and still no child was born, the darkness of doubt and distrust became like a shroud Sarah wore. But God kept the promise! God broke into Sarah’s darkness with the grace and light of a baby boy, whom they named Isaac. God did not abandon Sarah and Abraham. God kept His promise.

When Hagar and her son Ishmael (also the son of Abraham) were cast out by Sarah and Abraham, left alone to die in a distant wilderness, still God was with them. God led them to life-nourishing water. God was faithful to his promise to make a great nation of Ishmael’s descendants.

To a world lost in the darkness of sin, God came disguised as one of us. Jesus, whose name means “He saves” was also called Emmanuel meaning “God with us.” The Apostle John tells the story this way:

John 1:1-12

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to
become children of God.

The closing chapter of Matthew echoes the promise for all future generations. The resurrected Jesus gives a final commission and promise to his followers:

Mathew 28:18-20

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

So now we have this hope. God’s presence and light covers all our yesterdays, covers us today and covers all our tomorrows.

Emmanuel! God is with us.

Light that no darkness can overcome.

And LIFE that triumphs over death.

Maybe someone out there is saying, “Hold on a minute. Pain is real. Life is hard. Really hard.”

Life is hard and I never want to diminish that reality or be construed to make light of your personal pain. The difficulties of life are part and parcel of this fallen world in which we live, where bad things happen to everyone, both good and bad. The pain and struggles of this life remind us of why Christ came and why he had to die. It reminds us how very necessary the light and life of Jesus were.

We don’t have to pretend we are not in pain. We don’t have to pretend we are not wounded.

In the spring of 2010, I was working to bring an event called “Cherish the Child” to my community. Cherish the Child is a memorial walk and remembrance service for people who have lost a child at any age. I had a small committee working with me to make this happen. As our plans started to come together in an exciting and meaningful way, I was stunned to learn that one of our families had experienced yet another loss. A few days later I called one of our committee members and learned that his son died by suicide. Well, that really knocked the wind out of my sails. These events definitely influenced the ending of this message. Part of me felt disbelief that this could happen to two of the families on our little committee. Sometimes my thinking about it all was simply irrational. However, the best part of me – the part that believes and hopes and endures – knows that the God who knows all about our past, present and future, who loves us with an eternal love had brought our little committee together for a season and a reason. The full extent of that reason was still unfolding in our lives.

So, I am making a choice today. I am choosing to hold on to hope. It is the testimony of scripture and the witness of this sermon series that this hope is real and trustworthy.

I am choosing to live in the Light, God being my help.

I choose to believe that death does not get the last word. The gift of LIFE is mine first, last and always.

I don’t know all the struggles you are facing today, but I know you are likely to have pain in your life. I know there is probably something that has hit you like a gut punch, making it hard to even breathe. I know there is likely someone here who is feeling lost in the darkness and is struggling to find any light.

Will you join me in making this choice? Please pray with me…

Come into my life Jesus-Savior. (Repeat each line)

I am your child.

I have nothing to offer,

But sorrow, confusion and darkness.

I have nothing to give

But my love

And even this gift is a meager one.

Nonetheless, I give it freely

Come into my life and be my Lord

Light of my life

Emmanuel

Amen