THE LIGHT

The Gospel of St. John is the forty-third book of the Bible, and John depicts Jesus as the “Son of God”.  Love is the dominant theme of all his teachings and writings.

John recorded seven statements of Jesus declaring His Deity – that He was One with His Father:

●       St. John 6:35  I am the Bread of Life

●       St. John 8:12  I am the Light of the world

●       St. John 10:9  I am the Door

●       St. John 10:11  I am the Good Shepherd

●       St. John 11:25  I am the Resurrection

●       St. John 14:6  I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life

●       St. John 15:1  I am the True Vine

“I AM” is God’s name in “man”.  It is “Jehovah”, the “indwelling Christ”, the true Spiritual man whom God made in His image and after His likeness. (Genesis 1:26-27).

In Exodus 3, God is ready to send Moses into Egypt to deliver the Israelites, and Moses wanted to know how he would address “the God of their fathers”, who was sending him, when they asked:

●       Exodus 3:13-14  What is His name? what shall I say unto them?

14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM:  and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

As we go, “I AM” is sending us! 

●       1 John 4:17  As he is, so are we, in this world!

From these seven sayings of the “I AM GOD”, we’re going to look at the second one from which I’ll take my topic:  “I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD”!  “WE ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD”.  (KJV)

●       St. John 8:12  Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world:  he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

Can you even begin to imagine what the world would be like if there was no light.  It would be only darkness and chaos because there would be no light.  Light is a vital necessity, physically and spiritually.

And the Almighty God is so awesome and wise, He knew that because the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep (Genesis 1:2), the only solution was “light”.

There are different kinds of light:  candle light, moonlight, flashlight, night light, spotlights, match-light, and General Electric lights.  But when Jesus said in John 8:12  I am the light of the world, He wasn’t equating Himself with these kinds of light. One thing these lights have in common is the fact that when they are turned on, they all can expel darkness.  But they cannot give “the light of life”!

When you go into a dark room and turn on the light, the darkness is dispelled.  When you turn the light off, the darkness reappears.

Darkness and light have always been. 

●       Genesis 1:1-3 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.  And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.  And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.   And God said, Let there be light:  and there was light. 

●       God said in Isaiah 45:7  I form the light, and create darkness.

●       Genesis 1:14  And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven

My question is “What light is He talking about, if it’s not a flashlight, a spotlight, or any of the lights mentioned earlier.  Neither is it the “daylight” or “daytime” hours because that light was brought forth on the fourth day:

●       Genesis 1:14-19  ...to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:  and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth:  and it was so.  And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night:  he made the stars also.  And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness:  and God saw that it was good.  And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

This “light” that God said “Let there be” could not have been the beginning of light because God Himself is light.  So light has always been here because God has always been here.                                             

 St. John 1:5  God is light.

In Genesis 1:3 when God said, “Let there be light:  and there was light”, the definition of light is from the Hebrew word “owr”, which means illumination [to give light to; to make clear; explain; to inform]; luminary [one who can enlighten mankind]; to become light; shine; kindle; happiness.

We are “lights” in a dark world.

This “light” in Genesis 1:3 that God was calling forth was “revelation knowledge”!  God was saying, let there be a revelation of Jesus Christ!  Let there be people with my knowledge, wisdom, understanding, and truth.  Jesus said in John 8:12  I am the light of the world.  And in John 14:6  I am the way, the truth, and the life.

●       Genesis 1:2  And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.  And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

In this verse the “darkness” was not about the “night time” as we know it.  If you want to get technical, that too came into existence on the fourth day.  This word “darkness” is from the root word choshek’ meaning misery, destruction, death, ignorance, sorrow, wickedness, obscurity, torment, old age, worrying.

This “light” in Genesis 1:3 can expel every one of these things that “darkness” is defined as.

As you study the definitions of the words in these verses, you will find that the “waters” here that the Spirit of God moved upon was not oceans, lakes, and streams, but they were people.               

●       Revelation 17:15  And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

There were worlds here before this world that we know of. 

●       Hebrews 11:3  Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

There were “worlds” here between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2 so there had to be people in those worlds also.  But chaos had taken place, and in verse 3, God Himself was calling back into existence what had been. Remember in verse three, God didn’t create; He said “Let there be”.  The creating had taken place in verse one.  Synonyms for “let” are:  allow; permit; cause.  The Elohiym or Creator God was allowing, permitting, causing what had been to be again. God wanted some people with His light shining or radiating through them.

●       Ecclesiastes 1:9  The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done:  and there is no new thing under the sun.

●       Ephesians 4:17-18 (Paul states to the church at Ephesus)  This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind [nous meaning intellect; thoughts; feeling; will; understanding],  having the understanding [dian’oia or deep thought] darkened [skoti’zo or deprived of light],  being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance [want of knowledge] that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart. 

This word “HEART” is not the muscle that pumps blood through your body, but it is from the root word “kardi’a”, meaning the thoughts or feelings (mind); the very core of your being.

●       Hosea 4:6  My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.                                                                         

We must know something in order to live! 

• St. John 1:1-4  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  The same was in the beginning with God.  All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

SO LIGHT IS LIFE, AND LIFE IS LIGHT!  LIGHT IS KNOWLEDGE!  

●       John 17:3  And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

“LIGHT” in the Greek means the same thing in the Hebrew. In the Greek it’s from the root word “phos”, meaning “luminousness” (giving off light; clear; readily understood); fire; light. Meaning “light” as reaching the mind!

That’s why 1 Corinthians 2:16 tells us that we have the mind of Christ.  Mind from the root word nous, meaning the intellect (the ability not to only understand knowledge, but to also accept it); thought; feeling or will; understanding.  Being we have His “mind”. this enables us to do the works He did.                                   

●       St. John 12:12  Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.

He returned back to us at Pentecost, and He now resides within us His people!  Now we can do all things through (Him) Christ, who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13).

So the world in reality is not waiting for Jesus to come back (as most suppose), but they’re waiting for the “sons of God”! 

●       Romans 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature (creation) waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. 

We are Him in the earth because we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones (Ephesians 5:30). 

●       1 Corinthians 12:12  For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body:  SO ALSO IS CHRIST!

Back to the LIGHT:

●       Matthew 5:14  Ye are the “light” of the world. 

We (God’s people) are “the light” in a dark world.

Jesus emphatically stated,

●       John 8:12  I am the light. 

When He said that, He wasn’t standing holding a candle or flashlight. He said, I am the light of the world! 

He was a burning and a shining light (St. John 5:35). 

●       John 12:46  I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. 

Darkness is from the root word skoti’a meaning dimness; obscurity; deprivation of light; darkness of error; ignorance; destruction; death; misery; wickedness.

How are people going to come out of darkness?  They are going to come out by “the Light”!   They are going to come out by hearing the Word of God!  They are going to come out by believing the Word of God.

We, the sons of God, are God’s mouthpiece in the earth, giving and rightly dividing the Word of truth because it is “the truth will make you free “(John 8:32). 

“Light” like “truth” will allow you to see in darkness and come to the light.  “Light” reveals – “darkness” conceals.  We are the “lights” that are to shine in a dark world. 

●       Matthew 5:14  Ye are the “light of the world”.  A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.

WHAT DOES LIGHT DO?

●       “Light” gives life.  St. John 1:4  In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

Everything in the universe that lives and breathes needs “light” to grow and flourish, and the SUN gives this Solar System physically what it needs to live and survive from its light rays - alpha, beta, and gamma. So we, God’s people, need His light spiritually to grow, flourish and survive, and we get it from the “SON” of God.

 Everything that we see in creation is a product of light.  It came out of light because Light created it.

●       “Light” scatters darkness:  Acts 26:15-18  And I said, Who art thou, Lord?  And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. But rise, and stand upon thy feet:  for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.

●       “Light gives warmth:  Luke 24:32  And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures.

●       “Light” provides guidance:  St. John 1:5  And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

This means that Jesus was and is “the Light”, and the “darkness” could not touch Him unless or until He allowed it. He said:

●       John 10:17-18  Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.  No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.  This commandment have I received of my Father. 

●       2 Corinthians 5:21  For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

●       1 John 3:8  He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning.  For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.  AND DID!!!

In St. John 1:5, the word “comprehended” is from the root word “katalamban’o”, meaning to take eagerly, i.e. seize, possess, overtake, or obtain.  In other words, the darkness could not take, seize, possess, overtake, obtain, or lay hold of “the Light”.  In Genesis chapter three, sin attained its hold on mankind through Adam, but it never touched God (the Light)!                              

Remember this, darkness can only come to the perimeter of “light”; it can’t touch “the light”.  Leaving from where “the light” is, you are going toward “the darkness”.  As long as we’re walking in “the Light”, the darkness can’t touch us!! 

●       1 John 2:10  He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.

●       Psalm 43:3  O send out thy light and thy truth:  let them lead me.

This all entails knowing who you are!  Because as he is, so are we, in this world (1 John 4:17).

1 Thessalonians 5:5  You are all the children of light, and the children of the day:  we are not of the night, nor of darkness.

Matthew 5:14-16  Ye are the light of the world.  A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.  Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

~ Evangelist Mary Perry