John 1:5-9
The four gospels record the earthly life of Jesus Christ, and each one presents a different view of Him.
Matthew: King of the Jews, Son of David, Heir of Israel’s throne
Mark: Servant of God, the perfect Workman of God – the text in Mark brings out the characteristics of His service and the manner in which He served.
Luke: emphasizes the humanity of our Savior, presents Him as the perfect Man and contrasts Him with sinful man
John: views Jesus as God, the eternal Son of the Father, the pre-existent God who took on flesh and lived among man. The entire Gospel of John holds this view of God the Son and keeps it as the dominant theme.
Revelation 4:7 gives us a visual picture to help us remember, as it describes Christ:
7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. Revelation 4:7
The first creature, the lion, represents Christ as King, and corresponds to the teaching in the book of Matthew. The second creature, the ox, represents Christ as Servant, and corresponds to the book of Mark. The third creature had the face of a man, represents the humanity of Jesus Christ, and corresponds to the book of Luke.
This “flying Eagle” corresponds to the book of John. The book of John takes us up, as an eagle, into the presence of God, into the Deity of Christ.
The Lack, the Lamp, and the Light
5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. 6 There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 9 The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. John 1:5-9 (NIV)
“The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.” The darkness did not comprehend or understand the light. What does this mean? We can see the meaning of this statement by looking at verses 10 and 11:
10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. John 1:10-11 (NIV)
This is what verse 5 means, that the darkness did not understand the Light. That is, people did not recognize Jesus as the Light, they did not receive Him. Darkness is a lack of light, a lack of sight. Darkness is a lack of understanding, a lack of comprehension.
This statement tells us of the effects of the Fall, when Adam and Eve were in the garden they rejected the Light of God’s Word and turned to the darkness of sin instead, and now their children can’t even recognize the light, can’t understand it. We disregard the light, reject the Light, resist the Light, and as a consequence are plunged into darkness.
Now let’s take this one step farther, and ask ourselves what is the reason why people don’t understand the Light. Look at John 3:19:
This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. John 3:19 (NIV)
This issue of light versus darkness, of Christ versus sin is a matter of a person’s heart. By nature our deeds are evil and our hearts are wicked. By nature we love darkness, therefore we don’t understand the Light, we don’t comprehend the Light, we rebel against it. By nature we find pleasure in darkness.
So let me just apply this truth about darkness just now, turn in your Bibles to Galatians chapter 5. I want to list for you 3 ways that this darkness shows itself. In Galatians 5, Paul lists this darkness under three categories: sexual sins, spiritual sins, and social sins.
Sexual Sins. sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; (verse 19). This darkness is all over, both in the world and in the church. Pornography is rampant in the church today. Some churches ordain homosexual pastors. This is just human darkness.
Spiritual Sins. "Idolatry, witchcraft" (verse 20). Idolatry means anything or anyone who comes between God and ourselves, thereby becoming the center of our worship and attention. God has forever condemned idolatry, and the apostle John warns, "Little children, keep yourselves from idols" (1 John 5:21).
Witchcraft or sorcery is the actual Greek word “Pharmakeia” where we get our words Pharmacy, or Pharmaceutical. It refers to the "use of drugs"—as we see all around us today. Drug taking has even invaded the church of Jesus Christ. The brainwashing of the psychotherapy movement has encouraged this form of sorcery.
An Interview with Ben Hansen: The Drugging of America
By Michael F. Shaughnessy
Senior Columnist EdNews.org
9) Why are we so quick to medicate kids and adolescents and adults, and not refer them to caring competent, counselors?
Every school has counselors, and many schools have psychologists. Unfortunately, some of them are utterly incompetent and many of them act as referral agents for the mental health system. I was struck by a comment I heard from a school nurse who said there are more psychiatric drugs in the schools today than there were in the psychiatric hospitals thirty years ago when she was a nursing student.
Today, the demoniac from Gadarene would be diagnosed as having anti-social disorder, put in 4 point restraints and given Xanacx. Martha, running around like crazy, couldn’t stop to listen to Jesus for 2 seconds, was definitely hyperactive and a perfect candidate for medication. But we know that what these people needed was what actually happened, an encounter with Jesus; they encountered the light, and their darkness dissipated. It’s not medication that’s needed it’s the Messiah, not lithium but the Light, not drugs but the Deliverer. Disclaimer: we believe in hospitals and doctors!
Social Sins "Envy, drunkenness, orgies" (verse 21).
Today the darkness is a result of rejecting the light. The darkness of gluttony and drunkenness is the result of rejecting the light. Soap operas and illicit sex and money chasing and homosexuality and lying and gambling, and abortion and all sin is simply the result of people not understanding, not receiving the light of truth, and therefore plunging into darkness.
So we have seen the lack, next we are introduced to the Lamp.
6 There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. John 1:6-8 (NIV)
These verses tell us 3 things: 1—What John the Baptist was, 2--What he came to do, and 3--What he was not.
1. What he was: He was a man sent from God (verse 6). This is quite the contrast. Last week we saw that Jesus Christ was with God and that he was God; but here we are introduced to John the Baptist that he was a man, a mere man. Look at John chapter 5, and let’s notice what Jesus says about John.
35 John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light. John 5:35 (NIV)
Notice John was a lamp, whereas Jesus is the Light. 2 things about a lamp: 1—it gets its source of light from another, and 2—it is temporary. It burns and then it burns out and is gone. Jesus Christ is the eternal God, self-existent the source of all light and life. John the Baptist was a man, who got his life from another, who came to witness of Jesus, and then was gone.
Let me apply this for just a minute. You and I are much like John the Baptist in the sense that we get our light and our life from Another, and we are temporary. Our life is short. If you are a believer here today then there is an urgency to burn for Jesus, to shine for Him, to testify of Him, for soon our lives will be gone. We, too, are lamps. David prayed in Psalm 39:4: "Show me, O LORD, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life. Psalms 39:4 (NIV).
2. What he was to do: He came as a witness, an eye-witness, for a testimony.
He was sent of God to tell the world that the long-looked-for Messiah was now come; that He would be a light to the Gentiles and the glory of his people Israel.
Think carefully about these words: they are pathetic, tragic. When the sun is shining in all its beauty, who are the ones that are not aware of this fact? Who need to be told that the sun is shining? The blind! How tragic, then, when we read that God sent John to “testify concerning the light.” How amazing that men have to be told “the light” is now shining. What a revelation of man’s fallen condition. The Light shone in the darkness, but the darkness did not comprehend it. Therefore, God sent John to bear witness of the Light.
This is a statement of our natural condition. All other darkness yields to and fades away before light, but here “the darkness” is so thick, so dense, so impenetrable and hopeless, it cannot comprehend the light. What a judgment on the way we are by birth, by nature.
Now, let me share with you something most amazing: If by birth and by nature we have a lack of light, we don’t understand, don’t recognize, don’t receive the Light, how awesome it is that by simply believing the gospel we receive the light of Jesus Christ.
What an amazing miracle of grace are all those who turn from sin and their love of darkness to embrace the Light and begin to love Jesus. No longer are we groping along in a dark prison; God has given us spiritual eyes so that now we can see. We were dead, but now we live. We were hateful, but now we love. We were depressed and hopeless, but now we rejoice with inexpressible joy, eagerly looking forward to being with Jesus.
Maybe there is someone here this morning who is in bondage to darkness. Maybe you secretly love darkness. Maybe your heart finds pleasure in impurity or alcohol or illicit relationships or prescription drugs, or maybe you’re darkness is green, comes in the form of money and you can’t get enough of it, or maybe you remain in darkness because you won’t forgive and bitterness is just eating away at you and poisoning your soul.
Then help is in the next verse:
7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. John 1:7 (NIV)
Ah, now we find the solution to darkness. In context, we see that faith in Jesus, then, connects us to the Light and eradicates our darkness. I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness. John 12:46 (NIV) God’s part is to shine the light of the gospel into our hearts, our part is to believe in Jesus so that the darkness actually leaves.
And John came testifying of Jesus “so that all men might believe.” He witnessed and he testified, so that we would read and hear his testimony and then might place our trust in Jesus, and in so doing we might be rescued from darkness and be filled with Light.
3. What John was not. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. John 1:8 (NIV)
He was a star, like that which guided the wise men to Christ, but he was not the Sun. He was great as the prophet of the Highest, but not the Highest himself.
Caution: please be careful to not place too much value on ministers. The role of the pastor is to point away from himself and to point you to Jesus. In reality, we are servants; servants of the Word, and servants of the people. We are not your Lord, we are messenger boys. We do not have dominion over your faith. We are not that light; but we are sent to bear witness of that light.
Had John pretended to be that light he would not have been a faithful witness of the light. Those who usurp the honor of Christ forfeit the honor of being servants of Christ. We are to point to Jesus. “Sir, we would see Jesus.”
But also be cautioned about undervaluing ministers, as they are the mediums of bringing us to faith in Jesus. “So that through him, all men might believe.” We need a proper discernment as to the role of God-sent ministers in our lives.
9 The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. John 1:9
Jesus was the True Light, not that John was a false light but that he was a small light. Christ, is the “true light” as He is the Undeceiving Light. Satan transforms himself into “an angel of light” (Corinthians 11:14), but he comes only to deceive. Jesus is the True Light; His grace and His truth eradicate darkness from our lives. He really saves. He really heals. He really delivers. He is the true light, the real light, the undeceiving light.
So there we have it; the lack, the Lamp, and the Light.
But let us go one step deeper and considering something: how amazing it is that when Jesus died on the cross, He went into our darkness in order to bring us into the Light.
That day on the cross the world went dark for 3 hours because Jesus, the Light of the world, was pouring out His life unto death. He had taken our sins upon Himself and sin and darkness are the same thing. On the cross He was treated as a pornographer and homosexual. On the cross He was treated as the worst idolater and sorcerer. On the cross He was treated as a reveler; the True Light entered into darkness for us. And as His lifeless body hung there on that cursed tree, it looked like darkness had won. They took His body down, placed it in a grave where it remained lifeless. For 3 days He lay under the curse of God, in thick and dreadful darkness. 3 days of darkness that could be felt.
But on the third day, as the prophets foretold, He came back to life, was filled with light, what a beautiful Son-rise it was, as He rose for our justification, victorious over sin and darkness, death and hell. So that what really happened on that cross is that Jesus performed a rescue. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, Colossians 1:13 (NIV). He entered sin and darkness itself for the purpose of rescuing those trapped in darkness and sin. He suffered for them, laid down His life for their sins, paid the price for their redemption, He bound the strongman, the Prince of Darkness, plundered his kingdom of darkness, and took his captives captive.
And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. Colossians 2:15 (NIV)
Light triumphed over darkness. The True Light came into the world, fought with darkness, overcame it and eradicated it in the life of everyone who believes.
Application:
1. Turn away from darkness. Turn from sexual sins, turn from spiritual sins, turn from social sins. “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” John 8:12. immediately, passionately, thoroughly
8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10 and find out what pleases the Lord. 11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. Ephesians 5:8-11 (NIV)
2. Enjoy the Light. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. Learn how to love the Light! For God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness, made His Light shine in our hearts.” Rejoice in this light. Glory in it. Worship in the Light. Have fun in the light. He redeemed my soul from going down to the pit, and I will live to enjoy the light.’ Job 33:28 (NIV)
God is calling us as Christians to the thorough, exquisite, delicious enjoyment of Jesus Christ. We’re not to turn away from darkness to religion, but to light. Not to despair, but to delight.
Turning from darkness to light, We see Jesus, such a beautiful sight
We then wonder why we lived with such lack, Why we walked in darkness so black
For one look at Jesus and darkness runs away, For one look at Jesus and our night is turned to day.
Let’s stand and declare the praises of Him Who called us out of darkness into His wonderful light.
