CHRIST the DAYSPRING: “The Dayspring from on high has visited us; to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace” (Lk 1:78-79). Zacharias, filled with the Spirit, prophesied these beautiful words concerning the coming Redeemer. The world was a very dark place until He came. Not only the darkness of sin and ignorance and unbelief, but the fearsome shadow of the Last Enemy gripped the hearts of earth’s inhabitants. Then the Sonrise! The word “Dayspring” (Gk., anatole) links the ideas of the eastern horizon and the rising of the morning sun. For four long centuries heaven had been silent, but just before that silence had descended on the People of the Book, one last prophet had given a true ray of hope from God the Father: “But to you who fear My name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings” (Mal 4:2). “That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world” (Jn 1:9).