A NEW DAY COMING



A Sermon On:

ISAIAH 60.1-5


PREPARED BY

KEN GEHRELS

PASTOR

CALVIN CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH

NEPEAN, ONTARIO


Imagine a scene with me:
It's dark outside. Only the stars in the sky to give a bit of guidance, to keep you from catching your foot on a rock and going nose first into the dirt.
Dark - not a terribly comfortable time. You know that if you've been downtown at night. You don't go through dark alleys. You stay away from dim and secluded sidestreets.
Dark - that's where the less savoury elements of society hang out. In the bush, that's when animals begin to prowl for their next meal.
Dark - danger.


But then on the horizon we see the first glimmerings of light. The animals fade into the background with the shadows. Criminal elements slink away. Safety returns.
The light grows brighter, more intense. The world around comes alive. Colour returns. And with the growing light we see a most unusual sight. We hear laughter, and music, and the sound of many feet. It's a parade, coming this way. A most unusual gathering marching together: young boys and girls, important kings and government officials behind them, pulling into a nearby harbour, we see huge ocean-going freighters, chock full of incredible wealth (expensive products of industry, valuable art work, priceless natural resources, agricultural products, social goods).
And before them comes a prophet, calling loudly to all who will hear, calling to us: Get up! Hurry! It's here. What you've been waiting for. Yours. Don't wait. Finally -- it's here! Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you...

Can you see the picture Isaiah paints?
Darkness had been hanging over the people.
You know the darkness. We've seen it even this week on the news:- a fine young father dies of the feared "flesh eating" disease
- 2 parents go to jail for neglecting and starving their child to death
- ongoing financial struggles of many low-income Canadian families
- tenuous peace, at best, in Bosnia
- the litany of horrors reported at the Truth & Reconciliation Commission in South Africa.Darkness, that finds its origin in the chaos east of Eden, in the wake of sin's incursion into the cosmos. The darkness of a corrupt creation, and sin-stained people.

Light has come. Light meant for you. Your light.
The glory of the Lord rises and the darkness begins to melt. It comes like sunshine after a dark night. A new day is beginning. Like Isaiah 9:The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; On those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.
Light - glory of the Lord light.
Oh, the world has seen hints of it before. The bible records:- Moses coming face to face with a burning bush, burning with God's glory
- Israel being led by a pillar of fire through the desert. God's glory.
- Shepherds overwhelmed by God's glory reflected from angel wings.
- St.Paul blinded by heavenly light that knocked him from his high horse.
But those were momentary, localized flashes of glory that pierced through the darkness like the Christmas lights that decorate our homes. This is something bigger, that not only pierces the darkness, but begins to rip it away, the way a can opener rips the lid off a tin; like morning sunshine melts away pre dawn darkness.
This is light that signals the coming, the birth, of a new day.

And where does this light come from?
A bush, a cloud, an angel wing, a flash from heaven?
None of these.
Our children have told us where to find this light.
In the birth of the Son of God, God become human.Light found in a manger.
The birth of Jesus signals the dawning of a new day in human history. There is new hope. The darkness that had so completely enveloped humanity has been broken. As we remembered this past week when we laid Nellie VanderMeulen to rest, death no longer has the last word. Neither does poverty. Or corruption.


The gospel of John records:In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness.... (1.4)
Jesus is the light of whom Isaiah spoke.
He is the reason for the parade of which we spoke;
the parade of strange sorts headed for a city, a city where He is enthroned. Isaiah tells us that this city is the centre of world attention. Nations stream to it. Kings -- the embodiment of political and economic power -- they come. Sons and daughters, who have been scattered around the globe, are on the way. They're coming home; home to the city where Christ is.
And riches -- if you take some time after the service to read the rest of Isaiah 60, you'll read about all kinds of riches being carted into this city.

The terms used for riches were ones common to the day of Isaiah and represented the best of all aspects of society. Today we'd possibly use different pictures - pictures of high tech, of fine arts, pharmaceuticals and aerospace, sports and politics.
But it'd all be there.
Carried into the city. Made a part of life in that city.

Do you know what the city is?
To gain a glimpse of it, you'll need to scoot to the very last book of the bible, Revelation 21 and into 22, where the City is described. It is the New Jerusalem. It is the picture of the New Creation, the world as it will be when sin is eradicated, the devil and his host cast into deepest eternal darkness, the curse reversed and life on earth made pure, holy and good again.

It is coming.
And we are part of the parade, the procession that is on the way to that city. Like many others through the ages, we are being drawn in.

And our children, some of the sons and daughters spoken of in Isaiah 60, have shown us the way. They have been the leaders today in that procession, that march towards the New City. The mouths of babes have spoken timeless wisdom. They have pointed us to the light that is dawning, that is streaming out of a manger, that is beginning to glow on a hillside named Calvary, and an empty garden tomb.

And marching orders have been issued.
For the light is dawning. And spreading. People all over the world are joining in the parade. Looking for that city; for that day when all will be made new and we will be able to work and to play and to use all the rich resources of creation in a manner that our Lord originally intended when the earth was first made.

That New Day procession will wind its way out of this auditorium shortly. it will wind through the streets of our lives. Calling us to look forward. Calling us not to be satisfied with the status quo of today. Calling us to call others. Calling us to pray and to work for the restoration of the Cosmos, for the day of Recreation.
The Day that began to dawn when Jesus was born.
The Day that will become full reality when Jesus returns.

That's the reason for this season.
That's the reason for the parade of people you saw up here on the podium this morning.

With that reason let's go into this week of Christmas.
Celebrating.
And saying, "Come, Lord Jesus, light of the World. As you came once, so come again. Even so, come quickly, and make all things new."

As all God's people together say......... AMEN.