“… You stepped down into darkness … ” You may recognize the lyrics from Randy Travis’ song “Here I Am to Worship.” Typically one may not consider this a Christmas song but the lyrics kind of well, at least for me make me think Jesus’ birth. And without His birth we don’t have His death and resurrection and without either of those we don’t have His salvation.
Jesus is the life, the truth and the way. He is also the Light of this world. I find it interesting that Jesus was born during the night. Nights are, well, usually dark and I imagine that during His time when there was no moon … It. Was. Dark. Have you ever been somewhere at night where there are no street lights, there was no moon, and the stars were hidden behind clouds? Maybe you were driving in the mountains or a remote road where civilization is miles away and no headlights or flashlight was bright enough. It. Is. Dark.
The world is still dark today just as it was in Jesus’ day. He stepped down into darkness from Heaven. He left His Father and Heaven in all it’s glory and beauty to walk among His people, HIs creation in this dark world. He arrived in this world at night as a baby and as the Light.
For me the star was symbolic of Jesus’ light figuratively and spiritually. Most scholars agree that the light from the star was so bright it was almost like daylight (just a side note, I know that star has many theories as to if it was an actual star or planets aligning, that’s another post). The point is what miraculous event would it have been if Jesus was born during the day?
The angels coming down from the heavens telling the shepherds of Jesus’ birth must have shown so brightly in those dark fields that night. Like someone turning the lights on in the middle of the night, it hurts. Sometimes it hurts when God illuminates the darkness in our own hearts and sometimes we run away and don’t want to deal with it. But the shepherds ran to see Jesus and to worship Him. The wisemen saw that star the night Jesus was born and followed it for what may have been months, some say it was two years. And when they reached Jesus, they bowed down and worshiped.
Jesus the light of the world, came down in literal darkness and HIs birth lit up the sky. His coming to this world was to also light up the darkness of people’s hearts. If you are a believer allow Jesus to come into the dark corners of you heart. If you want Jesus to show you the light read the book of John and ask God to show you His Light.
Jesus stepped down into darkness so we wouldn’t have to. Let’s not wait for Christmas to worship and bow down to the One who saves us from our sin and bridges the gap to all of eternity in His eternal Light.
Light of the world You stepped down into darkness
Open my eyes, let me see
Beauty that made this heart adore You
Hope of a life spent with You
Here I am to worship
Here I am to bow down
Here I am to say that you’re my God
You’re altogether lovely, altogether worthy, altogether wonderful to me
King of all days, oh so highly exalted
Glorious in Heaven above
Humbly You came to the earth
You created all for love’s sake became poor
I’ll never know how much it cost to see my sin upon that cross
I’ll never know how much it cost to see my sin upon that cross
Here I am to worship
– Randy Travis –
The Kedge Anchor 
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