Christ’s coming into the world is synonymous with the advent of light. For Christ shines in the hearts of the children of men and delivers them from the gloom of sin, from the shadow of death and from the blinding influence of the prince of darkness - just like a lit light bulb dispels darkness in a dark room. In Adam, the sons of men fell under the grip of darkness, but Christ the Light came to deliver them. Just as He shone in the beginning at creation and dispelled the darkness that was over the face of the deep, the Lord has visited us from on high to enlighten our tenebrous hearts. He is the Light of redemption that saves us from darkness’ destructive power. He came to destroy the works of the prince of darkness. As 1 John 3:8b says, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.”

Through Christ His Son, God has destroyed the sting of death which is sin (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:56), and crushed the head of the serpent. Christ conquered sin and death at the cross and triumphed over the prince of darkness and his minions, thereby setting free from the reign of darkness all those who would ever put their trust in Christ. As Isaiah 9:2 says, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.”