SERMON TITLE: Light and Salvation
SCRIPTURE: Isaiah 49:1-7 (NLT)
SPEAKER: Josh Hanson
DATE: 12-24-25
Take notes here
Merry Christmas! It’s a joy to be with all of you this Christmas Eve at Gateway Church. And there’s one thing I want you to know — and this is true if you’re worshiping with us for the first time or if you’re joining us at our North Main Campus — I want you to know that God loves you and that I love you too.
This Christmas season — we’ve looked at various passages from the Old Testament prophet Isaiah — using God’s Word as written down by Isaiah to show us the hope, peace, joy, and love that are offered to us in Jesus Christ. If you don’t know — hope, peace, joy, and love are traditional Advent themes in the Christian church tradition. And advent is a season where we look back at the anticipation God’s people had as they waited for the coming of God’s promised Savior who would bring hope, peace, joy, and love with him. And — for us today — Advent is also a time of looking ahead — to the day when Christ will come again — bringing to completion the hope, peace, joy, and love that began with his birth two thousand years ago.
That’s what each of the candles represent: hope, peace, joy, and love — with the final candle representing the salvation offered to all who turn to the Light of the World — the Savior and Rescuer — Jesus Christ.
We’ve looked at the hope, peace, joy, and love that Christ brought with him into our world in previous sermons. And now — this Christmas Eve — we look to the salvation he offers to all who turn to him in faith.
We find this promise of salvation in our passage for this Christmas Eve. From the prophet Isaiah — chapter forty-nine — beginning in verse one.
Isaiah 49:1–7 NLT
1 Listen to me, all you in distant lands! Pay attention, you who are far away! The Lord called me before my birth; from within the womb he called me by name. 2 He made my words of judgment as sharp as a sword. He has hidden me in the shadow of his hand. I am like a sharp arrow in his quiver. 3 He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, and you will bring me glory.” 4 I replied, “But my work seems so useless! I have spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose. Yet I leave it all in the Lord’s hand; I will trust God for my reward.” 5 And now the Lord speaks — the one who formed me in my mother’s womb to be his servant, who commissioned me to bring Israel back to him. The Lord has honored me, and my God has given me strength. 6 He says, “You will do more than restore the people of Israel to me. I will make you a light to the Gentiles, and you will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.” 7 The Lord, the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel, says to the one who is despised and rejected by the nations, to the one who is the servant of rulers: “Kings will stand at attention when you pass by. Princes will also bow low because of the Lord, the faithful one, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”
Not your traditional Christmas Eve passage — I know — but let’s see if we can find the Christmas story in these words from Isaiah.
One way this passage points us to the Christmas story is that — throughout Isaiah’s words — we find a promise of a child to be born. For example, in verse one we read…
Isaiah 49:1 NLT
1 The Lord called me before my birth; from within the womb he called me by name.
And later we read…
Isaiah 49:5 NLT
5 And now the Lord speaks — the one who formed me in my mother’s womb to be his servant, who commissioned me to bring Israel back to him.
A child is promised to be born. A child who — while still in his mother’s womb — will be given a name and will also be called by God to bring his people back to him. We see all of this fulfilled in the Christmas story where we read…
Matthew 1:18–21 NLT
18 This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. 19 Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly. 20 As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
While in the womb — Jesus was given both a name and a purpose: He was born to be the Savior of the world.
Now — a world in need of a Savior — implies there’s a world in need of saving. And though the word “world” has a variety of meanings in the Bible — the planet on which we live, creation in general — as examples — one biblical meaning of “world” that can’t be ignored in the phrase — “Savior of the world” — are individual people. For people — all people — need a savior.
But why do we need to be saved — what’s our problem? Our problem is that we — people — including you and me — live in darkness. And by that — I don’t mean — darkness like if I told the guy controlling the lights to turn them all off right now — not that kind of darkness. What I mean by darkness is how we — us people — again, including you and me — we live in rebellion against God. Everyone of us — just like every other person who’s alive today or has ever lived — we all act unfaithfully towards the God who’s only been faithful to us.
We saw this in an earlier sermon in this series — when Isaiah says…
Isaiah 9:2 NLT
2 The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine.
People walk — or live — in darkness. Yet there’s a wonderful promise in Isaiah’s words. A promise you heard the fulfillment of in words you heard read earlier from John’s gospel.
John 1:4–5 ESV
4 In him (Jesus) was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Jesus — the One named while in the womb — the One called to be the Savior of the world — is the One whose light has pierced the darkness of our rebellious world. And his light has pierced the darkness found in the hearts of many people. And — not only has his light pierced the darkness — but we’ve been given a glorious promise: The darkness has not — for it cannot — overcome the light of Christ. Why?
For his light is the light of salvation — which is another way our passage points us to the Christmas story. For — in Isaiah’s words — we also find the hope of Christmas: that God’s promised Savior will come to earth. Beginning in a verse we’ve looked at already — verse five — we read…
Isaiah 49:5–6 ESV
5 And now the Lord says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him; and that Israel might be gathered to him — for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength — 6 he says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
Notice the language of bringing people back to God — this is what Christ came to do. You see — in saving people — in rescuing them — what Jesus is doing is bringing us back into a right relationship with God. Our sin and rebellion has broken our relationship with God. And Jesus — in saving people — restores this broken relationship.
But notice the breadth to this wonderful Christmas promise: The people of Israel will be brought back to God — which should be expected. For the coming Messiah — or Savior — was a promise given to the Israelites — the Jews had wandered from God and were in need of a Savior. But the breadth — that I’m referring to — is how the promised Savior will be a light that shines to the nations — to non-Jewish people as well. For God’s salvation is destined to reach the ends of the earth — to Jews and Gentiles — to people of all nations.
And here we find the wonderful, majestic, generosity of God. For he saves all kinds of people. And he does so because Christ was born to be the Savior of the world.
Earlier I mentioned that Advent’s both a time of looking back to Christ’s birth and a time to look ahead. For Jesus’ birth isn’t the means of our salvation. His birth is important — obviously — but something else would need to take place for our salvation to be secure.
Which takes us back to Isaiah one last time.
Isaiah 49:4 NLT
4 I replied, “But my work seems so useless! I have spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose. Yet I leave it all in the Lord’s hand; I will trust God for my reward.”
Why will his work seem useless? Because he will be…
Isaiah 49:7 NLT
7 despised and rejected by the nations.
This is Christmas Eve — I know — but if you’d pardon me for allowing a bit of Easter to make its way into our time together. On the cross — everything that Christ had done in his life appeared to amount to nothing — it all seemed so useless. “Save yourself,” someone even shouted at him while he hung on the cross. He was despised and rejected — beaten and betrayed — and yet he left it all in the hands of his Father in Heaven. Even with his last breath he trusted in God for his reward.
He trusted in his Father’s words about him when…
Isaiah 49:3 NLT
3 He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, and you will bring me glory.”
In his life — including his birth — Jesus glorified his Father in Heaven.
For…
John 1:14 ESV
14 The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
In his life — Jesus glorified his Father. And through his final breath on the cross — and every moment between his birth and his death — Jesus made his Father look glorious to a world trapped in darkness.
This is what the Savior of the world did — in love — for you. Christmas was always meant to lead to the cross. For the Savior born on that first Christmas morning was destined to die so that we might live — freed from the darkness around us and in us — so we now live in the freedom of his glorious light.
Jesus is offering salvation to you today. He’s offering freedom from the darkness you’re trapped in. And he’s offering you hope, peace, joy, and love. May you receive the wonderful gift he’s offering to you — for he’s offering you himself and his love. Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, what a wonderful, mysterious plan you made before time began. For your Son — Jesus — to be born of a virgin — named while in the womb — and given the calling to be the Savior of your people.
Holy Spirit, without your help — we’d all continue to stumble around in the darkness of our world and hearts. Give us all eyes to see the light of Christ — and his love, grace, and mercy towards us.
And to you — Jesus — the Light of the world — the Promised Savior — may your light shine brightly in the hearts of all who’ve heard your word through me today. May they see your light of salvation and respond. And we pray all of this in your name. Amen.
May you go knowing that the Light of the World — the only Savior, Jesus Christ — has come in love for you. Amen.
God loves you. I love you. Merry Christmas! And you are sent.
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