Christmas Eve Meditation - The Longest Night (John 1:5)

The Darkest Night of the Year
Christmas Eve is symbolically and nearly literally the the longest night of the year, the darkest night of the year. This is the time of the year when the sun reaches its southern-most extremity. So we have the longest night and the shortest day. Actually this year it was Saturday, Dec. 21.

Just at this seasonal reminder of the darkness of a fallen world, God sent His Son to be born as the light of the world. This is exactly why we light candles in anticipation of the Advent of Christ. The darkest night of the world is overcome by the light of God's Son.

Cyprian (b. 200 A.D.) said “O, how wonderfully acted Providence that on that day on which that Sun was born . . . Christ should be born.”

Jerome (340-420) wrote, “Even nature is in agreement with our claim, for the world itself bears witness to our statement. Up to this day, darkness increases; from this day on, it decreases; light increases, darkness decreases; the day waxes, error wanes; truth advances. For us today, the Sun of Justice is born.”

We read:
2 Cor. 4:6 For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.  

Habakkuk 2:14 - ““For the earth will be filled With the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, As the waters cover the sea.”

John 1:1–5 - “1   In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. 5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”

“The darkness did not overcome it,” for the underlying verb (katelaben ) can be translated both ways. John, however, uses it elsewhere only in the sense of “overtake” or “overcome” (John 6:17; [8:34]; 12:35).
Merrill C. Tenney, John