Matthew 4:16 The people which sat in darkness saw great light, and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.
When Jesus begins His public ministry in Galilee, Matthew quotes the prophet Isaiah declaring that the fulfillment of the Messianic Promise is coming true. A great light has dawned on the darkness of sin and death. The people that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death include all of us humans born in original sin in a sin-cursed world under the control of darkness and death.
We do not even really know, and cannot know, how dark and deadly it really is in us and around us. We sit in darkness and in the shadow of death so deeply that we don’t know how blind we are to truth, beauty, and grace, or how dead we are, totally separated from life and all good. We have nothing to compare our existence to until we catch a glimpse of The Light.
Until the light of the Gospel of Christ dawns we are stupid, ignorant, selfish, mean, hateful, miserable, sad, mad, and hopeless. Then, upon hearing the gospel, a great light has sprung up. We see Jesus, heaven is opened, and life comes in. Jesus is the light that has dawned on our dark world and shined in our dead hearts.
We may open our spiritual eyes, our minds and our souls, to the great Light every day through repentance and faith. We may behold wondrous things out of His Word. We may see the joy of salvation and experience the peace of God. All this Light, and much more, is as close as our mouth and our heart. Confess with the mouth and believe with the heart, and Light will Dawn again and again.