Life and Light

O come, Thou Dayspring, come and cheer

Our spirits by Thine advent here

Disperse the gloomy clouds of night

And death's dark shadows put to flight

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel!

In the Jewish way of thinking, night precedes day. And you're thinking—of course night precedes day. But what I mean is this: night comes first. In the usual western way of thinking and living, day comes first, then night concludes the day. Morning is the beginning, night is the ending. But in the Jewish way of thinking, night is the beginning. You rest first, then day comes and you work. The day ends and begins again at sunset. That's why Sabbath begins at sunset on Friday and goes through the day on Saturday. This mindset is reflected in the creation story. Each day is described this way: "And there was evening, and there was morning..." (Genesis 1).

That same mindset is also reflected in the fourth verse of this Advent hymn. Day comes after night, life comes after death. New life through resurrection is the great hope of the Christian, but resurrection only happens after "death's dark shadows." This world is dying. It can be a hopeless place. Certainly, there are moments of joy and delight, but because of sin and brokenness this world is not what God intended it to be and it is passing away. Daily, the news and life reminds us that we are surrounded by "death's dark shadows." But the hymn reminds us, and our faith confirms to us, that "death's dark shadows" have been "put to flight," chased away by the arrival of the morning, the Dayspring, the Light of the World. The "gloomy clouds of night" have been dispersed by the light that shines forever—Emmanuel, God with us. Jesus, the risen one!

The resurrection reminds us that the darkness will not win (John 1:5) and that the worst thing is never the last thing.

Rejoice!