I Am The Light Of The World Series

This week we continue our series into Discovery who Jesus says He is through the I Am statements in the book of John. So far we have looked at Jesus as the Great I am…the timeless, divine one. Last week we look at Jesus as the bread of life. When we abide in Him, and partake of Him, he lives in us and through him we can have life.

This week we look at another ??? ??µ?: I, I am statement. Turn with me to John 8 as I give you a little background to this passage. At the beginning of John 7, Jesus heads to Jerusalem right before the Feast of the Tabernacles…this feast occurs near the end of September to the beginning of October during the full moon. The Feast of Tabernacles or booths in some translations is a feast where the Jews celebrated God’s guidance through the wilderness. Right after the children of Israel left Egypt, they did not immediately have tents that would shade them from the sun so they used branches, palm fronds, willows and anything else they could find to make small make-shift huts…or booths to shade them during the heat of the day.

The feast took place at the time of the harvest. In the middle east, the late summer harvest was still hot. The people would work until the heat of the day was at its peak, at that time, they would find or build a booth, a place made of balm fronds or branches…Jonah even finds refuge in one of these when he used a plant to shade himself from the sun while awaiting the destruction of Nineveh—which didn’t happen because they repented. The Hebrew word for these tabernacles—tents or booths is Sukkah. The Sukkot—plural of Sukkah—is the Feast of Tabernacles. The Lord himself was the great Sukkah when during the day he appeared to them as the Cloud to lead them by day and at night the pillar of fire. The Sukkot is a seven day feast, you can read more about it in Leviticus 23:33-44.

Basically during the day, everyone would at the build some sort of Sukkah from natural elements. They would at the very least eat within them and decorate them with ornate objects and make them comfortable for the place of celebration. At night, in the outercourts: the Court of Women, they would created 4 large pillars with 4 Large golden candelabras on top. Young levites would then pour oil into the basins of the lantern and light the wicks made out of the warn out linens of the priests. Because the Temple stood atop of a hill, the blazing candles would light up the entire city of Jerusalem. The fire symbolized god’s pillar of Fire by night that the children of Israel would follow through the wilderness…from the death of the dessert to the promised land: a land of life. During the night, while the Levites played instruments, men would dance with torches and celebrate the light of the World: the Lord. Rabbi Simeon ben Gamaliel, son of Gamaliel from the book of Acts, the one who trained Paul, is recorded in having juggled eight torches at a time without ever allowing one to touch the ground during the feasts nightly celebrations.

Our passage starts in the middle of the Sukkot, when the pharisees drag a poor woman into the Temple: John chapter 8

Read John 8:1-12

Here we have Jesus in the Temple preaching. Jesus often taught in the Eastern parts of the temple, either in the Court of the women, the hall of Israelites or Solomon’s porch. Personally I feel this story would have taken place on Solomon’s porch where Jesus could have sat down on the Beautiful Gate and taught. Here is where the pharisees drag this woman.

This woman was caught in sin…she was snared by death and the Pharisees sitting upon the Law of Moses demanded judgement upon this sinner. But Jesus asks them whoever is without sin to throw the first stone…to send death to this woman. They never would have killed the woman within the temple walls, so it is most likely this is right outside the temple structure. Notice in verse 9 that one by one, the oldest first gave up and left. When looking at verse 12 they must not have gone far…maybe then entered the temple itself because Jesus turns and speaks to them again. I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”

Here this woman was walking in sin…walking in darkness and her deeds were brought into the light, but the light of man…is still darkness. When the true light of the world shines it leads from death into life.