Jesus, the Light of the World
John 8:12-20
Intro
On the evening of the first night of the Feast of Tabernacles, there was a ceremony called the Illumination of the Temple, which involved the ritual lighting of four golden candelbras in the Court of Women. For additional reflection, each person lit four candlesticks and set them in a floating bowl, producing such a spectacle of illumination that it is said that all Jerusalem reflected the light. All night long the light glowed. In celebration and anticipation, the greatest, wisest, and holiest of Israel’s men danced before the Lord and sang psalms of joy and praise while the people watched and waited.
They watched and waited, hoped, and prayed, because this festival reminded the citizens of Israel that God had promised long ago that a child would be born who would be the Anointed One, sent by the great Yahweh to redeem his people. The great prophet of the golden age of prophecy, Isaiah, had proclaimed that the coming of God’s new age would be as the coming of a great light.
For Israel it was a time of darkness and despair. The nation was occupied by a foreign power, and thus the Jews’ aspirations, dreams, and hopes were blunted by reality and blighted circumstances. So they longed for the birth of the one who would restore their rejoicing and revive their joy, the prophet who would renew their glory, release them from bondage, and reestablish their independence.
Against this backdrop Jesus defined who he is: “I am the light of the world!” What a magnificent setting – the darkness of the countryside surrounding the brilliance of the light coming from the temple area – for a declaration that God’s new age had dawned in the birth, person, and work of the humble Nazarene!
Light enables one to see. It illuminates. “To shed light on the matter” means to reveal, to disclose truth. Jesus is the Light of the World in that he enables us to see the truth about ourselves and the truth about God. He illuminates our understanding both of ourselves and God. In Jesus, the Light of the World, we see ourselves as God sees us, and we see God as he desires that we see him.
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I. Jesus illuminates the way we feel about ourselves
a. We live in an age of despair and gloom.
i. It is an age that tells us that we are not worth much unless we brush with the right toothpaste
ii. Wash our hair with the right shampoo
iii. Wear the appropriate designer labels
iv. Use the latest jargon.
v. Hang out with the right crowd of people
vi. A great sense of worthlessness, of “nobodiness,” permeates our day.
b. But Jesus as the Light of the World can illuminate our feelings at precisely this point.
i. We have worth because of who our Creator is.
ii. God doesn’t create junk!
iii. You were made the way you are for a reason. GOD!
iv. “The Word was made flesh” (John 1:14)
1. This reminds us that we are the good product of the creative, loving activity of God as he moved to bring order out of chaos.
2. Light out of darkness
3. Humans out of the dust of the ground.
v. The biblical picture is one of excitement, ecstasy, anticipation, and fondness as God forms a man into his own image and breathes the breath of life into his nostrils.
vi. He looks upon creation with delight, calls it good, and declares that He likes it.
c. Not only have we been created by the Word because he loved us, but also the Word became flesh because he loved us.
i. Sure humans ate the forbidden fruit, but the message of Christmas is that we are nevertheless loved and deemed more valuable than precious jewels.
ii. That toddler in Nazareth assures us that we are still the apple of the Father’s eye – even in our sin.
iii. Jesus is the incarnating – the in the flesh picture – of God’s love for us.
iv. We are of ultimate worth because we have a redeemer.
• God Illuminates the way we feel about ourselves, as we see that we are the creation of a loving Father.
• You are worth more then the world could ever put a price tag on.
II. Jesus illuminates the way we feel about God.
a. When do you think John, the great apostle of love, got the idea to write such a stunning verse as (John 3:16) “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”
i. The Holy Spirit inspired him
ii. During his three years with Jesus, John learned that, indeed, the boy born of Mary was the Light of the World who could illuminate our understanding of how God feels about us.
1. God loves you and me
2. God wants to have a personal relationship with you, just as He did with John.
b. Where do you think Paul, the great apostle of grace, got such a preposterous idea as to reduce the gospel in (Romans 5:8) “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us”
i. He got it from interpreting the life and ministry of Jesus through the Holy Spirit.
ii. To Paul, Jesus was the Light of the World
iii. In Jesus, Paul learned ultimately how God felt about him and that faith in the child born of the virgin was the way to be right with God.
iv. When you come to know the saving grace of Jesus Christ the Son, you also come to know the Father who sent Him for you.
v. Then and only then will you truly see the wondrous grace of Jesus.
Closing
I want to end our preaching time today with an illustration.
When you take a tour of the magnificent Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, as a group you head down to the bottom of the Cavern. Once there the lights are turned off to show the utter darkness. After the lights are turned off, it does not take long before you can even feel the darkness; you start getting anxious for the lights to come back on. The tension is only relieved once the lights are turned back on.
In our world of darkness – a world of sin and guilt, desperation and despair, estrangement and alienation – Jesus is the Light! Will you let Him illumin
