People Who Walked In Darkness Have Seen A Great Light

We have all been hungry at times and then perhaps enjoyed the experience of savouring food more than usual, because our bodies were crying out with joy at receiving the necessary nutrients and calories. I would guess, that few of us have been hungry as a matter of course, day in and day out, though perhaps some of our elders can remember the war years, when food was in scarce supply and hunger was a real threat. I just read about someone bringing a friend over to eat at his home during World War II 'because it was his day not to eat at his house'. From my comfortable home in 2024, that level of food insecurity is striking, even though we know it’s happening to children today in the UK.

Similarly, I’ve been speaking to several people whose eyesight is fading in various degrees and the threat of true blindness is looming. I myself am muttering because it’s getting harder and harder to read the fine print, but that is an inconvenience by comparison – I have been able to revel in the beautiful Autumn colours that some are not able to appreciate.

I have also been raised in the New Church and so cannot fully appreciate what it would be like to live without the life-giving truths she offers. I may not follow them all the time, and I often don’t know what’s best in any particular situation, but my base understanding of what the Lord wants for me and the world is pretty high.

In this well-known prophecy in Isaiah, the Lord speaks about the experience of many in the world at the time He came:

'And they will pass through it hard pressed and hungry; and it shall happen, when they are hungry, that they will be enraged and curse their king and their God, and look upward. Then they will look to the earth, and see trouble and darkness, gloom of anguish; and they will be driven into darkness. Nevertheless the gloom will not be upon her who is distressed... The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined.' Isaiah 8:21-22, 9:2

We celebrate the light that the Lord’s Coming brings, and in fact we celebrate its coming at the darkest time of year, because the coming of light at the time of greatest darkness accentuates its value.

People described as hungry in this prophecy (and hard pressed about it, not merely passingly hungry) are those who are 'ignorant of the knowledge of truth and good arising from a deficiency of such knowledge in the church' yet have a 'desire to know and understand the truths and goods of the church' (Apocalypse Revealed 323). Maybe you have experienced times of hungering to know what to do and the pain that comes from not knowing. Now imagine the millions in the world who knew next to nothing and their suffering. This prophecy is saying that the Lord came to bring them the food that they need even more than us.

People walking in darkness describes those trapped by the density of falsity from evil (Arcana Caelestia 7712), an inevitable consequence in our lives when we lack the basic truths of religion, because the absence of truth invariably leads to falsity and even evil (Apocalypse Explained 543:3). And now consider that the people who walked in darkness describes people who are ignorant, yet trying to live a life of charity (Arcana Caelestia 1416:2). You can imagine the frustration of stumbling in thick darkness, doing things that harm others but not intentionally, just as someone groping in the dark may do damage to themselves and others without intending to.

Imagine their joy when the great light, which is the Lord’s presence, shone and they could see – when their hunger for knowing the way to go was sated. Maybe you have been that comprehensively in darkness about the path forward and experienced a beautiful light showing you the path, a light that was the Lord’s presence with you.

At Christmas, we rejoice when thinking of the coming of the Lord’s presence and light. Today I am rejoicing for those whose pain and darkness was so much greater than mine could ever be. I am hoping I can respond with even more humility and joy to His presence, knowing that He came specifically to remove the worst darkness and hunger. He’s waiting to be born, if we turn to Him this Christmas season.

Rev. Erik Buss