[This was preached Wednesday, January 28, since the snow prevented us from having the Divine Service on January 25]

Audio of the sermon is here:

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

            Most of us have not had to sit in actual darkness. Not real darkness. Even at night when we turn off the lights, there’s usually something shining: a flickering light on the router, or a notification on our phone, or lights from outside, or something. We are rarely ever in total darkness. Perhaps, if the power goes out, and it’s night, and there are clouds over the moon, we might have darkness for a little while, but it usually doesn’t last long. And even then, we have flashlights or candles. None of us lived before electric light, but if I had to use only an oil lamp or a candle all the time, I think I’d go to bed when it got dark and wake up when it got light. Most of the time, we do not sit in actual, real darkness.

            But there’s more than one kind of darkness. Like the darkness Isaiah describes just before chapter 9, which we heard and which Matthew quoted. The darkness there starts with the Assyrians, but they are not the darkness. Isaiah says that the people have rejected and refused the living water of God, so now the river of Assyria is going to overflow its banks and flood Israel. God tells Isaiah, Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy. (There might be a word there for us as well.) Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy. Do not fear what they fear, and do not dread what they dread. But Yahweh of hosts shall be your fear and your dread. Fear, love, and trust in God above all things. He is your refuge, and a stumbling block and a stone of offense to both houses of Israel, a trap and snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many shall stumble on it and fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken. Which should sound familiar: Jesus Himself says that the rejected stone will become the cornerstone; that He is a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, and blessed is the one who is not offended by Him.

            Isaiah says that he will wait for Yahweh and hope in Him, who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob. God hides His face, so Israel cannot hear or see or feel Him. So they go looking for answers elsewhere, and seek other gods. They want to inquire of the mediums and the necromancers, who chirp and mutter. But shouldn’t a people inquire of their God? Why should they seek answers from the dead on behalf of the living? Instead, God says, To the teaching and the testimony! The people will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their God, and turn their faces upward. And they will look to the earth, but they will find only distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness (Isaiah 8:5-7, 11-22).

            The darkness is in and among the people, and it is brought upon them by God. It is very similar to Psalm 107, which may have been inspired by the coming of Assyria. In Psalm 107, there are people sitting, or dwelling, in darkness and the shadow of death. They had rebelled against God and rejected His Word, so He bowed down their hearts with hard labor. They fell, with no one to help (Psalm 107:10-12). God brings the darkness; God bows down their hearts. They seek other answers, other gods, and refuse the Word that God has given, so God shows them what it means not to have His Word: it doesn’t mean other answers, or other lights, or other lives; it means no answers, no light, no life. There are no other gods, no other answers. There is no other light.

            It sounds like punishment. It sounds like this is the end. They don’t want God. Fine. They get nothing but darkness, gloom, hard labor, thick darkness. But a punishment implies that it is the last word. This is not punishment in that sense. The Lord knows that our hearts are fickle and wavering. We shift with every wind; when we don’t feel Him, we go looking for other things that will make us feel something. And when that fails, it’s on to the next thing. We go looking for something that will give us an answer, and when that answer fails, it’s on to the next one. God knows that our lives and emotions go up and down, back and forth according to the circumstance. When it gets dark, we look for light in every place, and when those lights fail, it’s on to the next flickering flame. So He covers us with darkness, so that we will put our trust and hope nowhere else but where Isaiah puts his hope and trust: in Yahweh, even when He hides His face from us.

            In Psalm 107, those in darkness and the shadow of death cry out to God and He delivers them. In Isaiah 8, they don’t cry out, but still the promise comes: there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In Zebulun and Naphtali, on the other side of the Jordan, in Galilee, the people walking in darkness have seen a great light; and those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them the light has shone. How does this light shine forth in the darkness? On them a light has shined, and Jesus appeared and said, “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens is near.” You can see the line of light just over the horizon, and the light makes the darkness appear even darker. It shines, but to us it doesn’t look too bright. It’s just a man, who shows up preaching. He calls a few fishermen to follow Him, and they do. They leave their nets, their father, everything. The light shines as people bring those with all sorts of afflictions and diseases and pain, those afflicted by demons, epileptics, and paralytics, and He healed them. It’s not everyone in the whole world, but it’s the first hint of the sunrise that is coming.

            The people walking and sitting in darkness have a light shine on them, just as Zechariah prophesied, when his son, John, would prepare the way for the light: the sunrise from on high will shine on us—epiphany; epiphanei—will shine on all those who are sitting in darkness under the shadow of death. Even so, to us it still looks like darkness. God works under the sign of the opposite. His Son is crucified and there is darkness for hours. Nothing but gloom and anguish and deep darkness. It looks like the light has shone into the world, and the darkness has overome it. He puts darkness on us and He puts darkness on His Son. He cries out, but He hears no answer. He feels nothing but nails and suffocation. But then, very early—very early on the third day, the women run to the tomb and they find that the Son has risen. Why are they looking for the living among the dead? He is not there; He has risen.

            When you cannot see or hear or feel God, do not go looking for other lights, other answers, other feelings. Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? Why search for Him, the Living One, among the dead? Do not call conspiracy what this people calls conspiracy. Do not fear what they fear, or dread what they dread. Yahweh of Hosts is your fear and your dread, your light, even in the darkest darkness. Take refuge in the darkness of God. Even darkness is not dark to Him. The darkness of God, under the shadow of death in this world, is brighter than every human light. Take refuge in what everyone else finds as darkness, while they go looking for flickering lights and dark lamps. God has not left you without markers. You do not have to grope around in the darkness. Even in the dark waters with His Word, He is there. Even in dark words of absolution, He is there. Even in the darkness of the bread and wine, which we say are His body and blood—though we did not make it up. Who would make up something like that? Even there, He is present. On you, sitting in darkness, a light has dawned. Here is the light of the world, and this light is the life of people. The light shines in the darkness, and it cannot be overcome, because He cannot die anymore.

Let Him alone be your fear and your dread. Because the day is coming when the sun will rise with healing in its wings, and all things will be healed. There will be no more night, no more darkness at all. There will be no more death, no more depression, no more gloom, or anguish, or deep darkness. The light of God will blaze forth across the whole creation, and every eye will see it. In that new creation, there will be no more sun or moon; because God is the Light, and the Lamb who sits on the throne. That Light will obliterate all false lights, like the sun makes a candle invisible. That Light, spoken into this dark world, is for you. His Word alone is a lamp to your feet and a light to your path. Those who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them a light has shined. Even if I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, with death looming over me, I will not be afraid, because He is with me. The light has dawned, and He says, “Follow Me.”

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7, ESV). Amen.

– Pr. Timothy Winterstein, 1/23/26