Holy—to be set apart for the purposes of God

Consecration—being dedicated to God and His service, this is our part. 

Sanctification—being set apart from sin and being made holy, this is God’s part

John 1:9

The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 

Matthew 4:16

The people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” 

In Scripture, darkness refers to both evil and ignorance.  

Isaiah 9:1–7

Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. . . The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. . . For to us a child is born, to us a son is given . . .

Isaiah 8:19–22

When men tell you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?. . . If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn. Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. 22 Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness.

We humans constantly forget, we are not God.

A key message of Christianity is things really are this bad and we can’t save ourselves. 

The message of Christmas is that on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. 

Isaiah 9:2

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. 

Isaiah 9:6

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 

If Jesus is really Mighty God and Everlasting Father, you can’t just like him. 

If Jesus is Wonderful Counselor and Prince of peace, you should want to serve him. 

Jesus is a light for us when all other lights go out.

Isaiah 9:7

The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.

We catch sight of a new key principle—the power of the Higher. . . In the Christian story God . . . comes down; down from the heights of absolute being into time and space, down into humanity, down further still, if embryologists are right, to recapitulate in the womb ancient and pre-human phases of life . . . down to the very roots and seabed of the Nature he has created. 

           But He goes down to come up again and bring the whole ruined world up with Him… One may think of a diver, first reducing himself to nakedness, then glancing in mid-air, then gone with a splash, vanished, rushing down through green and warm water into black and cold water, down through increasing pressure in the death-like region of ooze and slime and old decay; then up again, back to color and light, his lungs almost bursting, till suddenly he breaks surface again, holding in his hand the dripping, precious thing that he went down to recover.

--C. S. Lewis, Miracles