I Am the Light of the World
John 8:12
12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Jesus often uses stark contrasts or opposites to help us understand His mission. The Bible uses opposites to help us see that our perceptions and methods are often not how God works. As a general thought, you can go the opposite way the world would choose and it seems often that is closer to God’s way than the world’s.
A few examples:
God’s chosen people (the Israelites) are not even a country or culture when God comes to Abram. The world would pick the strongest people, kingdom and army right?
If you were going to start, would you pick a couple in their 90s to begin with?
If you were picking a king wouldn’t you pick the older brothers of David? I mean he’s the kid they send to get water and carry stuff.
How about the New Testament?
Notice that the Jews are looking for a King, but He comes as a baby to a poor family born in a stable.
They want a conqueror on a white stallion, but He comes riding on the back of a donkey.
Then He preaches love your enemy, meekness, mercy
He suffers and dies to win, he doesn’t fight the Romans. Who would pick that?
In our passage today and continuing our theme of looking forward to Jesus’ birth and then His second coming we see another truth about Him.
The last two weeks we were in Isaiah
Isaiah 9:6
[6] For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
We discussed Jesus as Mighty God and Prince of Peace.
This week I want us to peer into the Gospel of John and see Him as “Light of the World”
John 8:12
[12] Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
What could this mean? And what should it mean to us?
Let’s look at Light and Dark in the Bible to help us apply this passage to our lives.
Light & Dark = Life & Death
- Light & Dark
The idea of God calling someone to be the means of bringing light to the world is rooted in ancient Judaism. There, in the prophet Isaiah in particular, it is Israel who will be the world’s true light. But, ultimately, it is the Lord’s servant who is anointed to bring God’s truth and justice to the world, and who at the climax of the book dies a cruel death to achieve the goal. The claim to be the world’s true light is a claim to be Israel’s Messiah.
Isaiah 9:2
[2] The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
on them has light shone.
In our passage here in John 8 Jesus presented himself as the light of the world at the Feast of Tabernacles; a festival during which great candles lit up the courtyards of Jerusalem every night.
Isaiah 49:6b
[6] …. I will make you as a light for the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
In John 8:12 Jesus promised, Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. ………..Those who followed him by accepting his teaching would no longer walk in the darkness of ignorance under the power of the evil one.
Paul says this:
Colossians 1:13
[13] He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,
So you see here in both the Old and New Testaments that light is good and darkness is bad, right? If Paul here in Colossians says “delivered us from the domain of darkness” that domain can’t be a good thing right?
Any of your daddy’s ever say?… “nothing happens good after midnight son”
If someone asks you how you’re doing and you say…”I’m in a dark place”
That’s not good right?
So this isn’t just a lesson on science and light waves…but an illustration of life. Are we in a good place emotionally or not? Are we in a good place eternally or not?
Think of it this way….
1 Corinthians 13:4-13
[4] Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant [5] or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; [6] it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. [7] Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
[8] Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. [9] For we know in part and we prophesy in part, [10] but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. [11] When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. [12] For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
[13] So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
That’s love and light right ?
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What is the opposite?
Ephesians 4:17-20
[17] Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. [18] They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. [19] They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. [20] But that is not the way you learned Christ!—
Alienation – Emotional isolation or dissociation (foreigner or stranger to love and truth)
Our world is alienated from God and many are alienated from one another. God brings healing to that through Jesus.
- Alienation is rooted in fear and estrangement, pushed out or pushed aside. Love is rooted in faith and hope.
Light is goodness and truth and life…. and darkness is sin and lies and death. … another name for Satan “prince of darkness”
So light and dark. We know which side we need to be on and Who brings light.
- Life & Death
The definition of Life and death are easy right?
I mean if you are here you are alive. If you are breathing and your heart’s pumping and your brain is working?
Your heart pumps about 2,000 gallons of blood each day. That’s enough to fill an 8-by-10-foot swimming pool!
It beats around 100,000 times daily. In an average life span of almost 79 years, your heart beats nearly 2.9 billion times.
Can’t have life without it….but isn’t there more to life than just that? Obviously we have to have those all working together.
If you said “I want to have a good life” or “I want my kids to have a good life” you probably mean good health as a part, but you also mean a full joyful life.
You want your kids or grandkids or even yourself to have life and light:
Have good health
Have a good job or career
Have a good spouse
Have a good family
Be happy
Or I can tell you how the world will tell you to run your life and if you follow it you will ruin rather than run it. (Saw this from Desiring God a few weeks ago)
- Do whatever you want
- Live beyond your means
- Run with fools
- Believe life is all about you
- Live for immediate gratification
- Avoid accountability
NOTE: this is a path to darkness and death
Again, let’s see what scripture says about the Light that Jesus provides
1 John 1:5-10
[5] This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. [6] If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. [7] But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. [8] If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. [9] If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. [10] If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
NOTE: this is the way to light and life
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What does it all mean?
———-
Genesis 1:1-5
[1] In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. [2] The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
[3] And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. [4] And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. [5] God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
Psalm 23
[1] The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
[2] He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
[3] He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.
[4] Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
[5] You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
[6] Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.
Revelation 21:22-27
[22] And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. [23] And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. [24] By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, [25] and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. [26] They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. [27] But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
That last part of the verse really describes the importance of recognizing Jesus being the light of the world. You see, to have your name in the Lamb’s book of life you have to recognize the Lamb is Jesus and He is the Light of the world. He came to save you and give you eternal life.
