The Light Of The World Series

Message

John 8:12

I Am The Light of the World

When Jesus describes Himself as The Light we can quickly understand the significance of the metaphor.

Light gives direction.

Light pierces the darkness.

Light takes away fear, uncertainty, and hesitancy.

Light reveals truth.

We get the metaphor. Those who heard Jesus speak the words get it even more. Let’s read John 8:12-20

Did you see the push-back?

Jesus calls Himself the Light of the world and immediately He is challenged by the Pharisees. It is a challenge which arises because, even more than us, the Pharisees and the crowds get what is going on.

They get it because they really know their Scriptures.

By calling Himself the Light Jesus is making a veiled claim to being divine – being God’s presence on earth. The connection here being to Exodus 13:21

21 By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night.

By calling Himself the Light Jesus is identifying Himself as the promised suffering servant who will bring restoration, renewal and repentance.

We are reading Isaiah 49:6

It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you (the suffering servant) a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.

By calling Himself the Light Jesus is establishing His credentials as one with Scripture-level authority.

Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

Psalm 119:105

I am the Light.

I am the divine servant with God’s ultimate authority to bring restoration.

The Pharisees fully understand what Jesus is saying. And they push back – hard.

You can’t just make a claim like this without proof and witnesses. You can’t be your own witness. We want proof. We want facts. We want examples.

Lot’s of people want such proof.

What is the biggest push-back today to belief in a divine power?

How can I believe in something I cannot see?

You can’t prove God’s existence!

No you can’t. Yet even as the Pharisees are pushing back, and arguing and questioning, and disputing, and causing doubts. Even as they are doing that – look what is happening in John 8:30, “Even as (Jesus) spoke, many believed in him.”

Despite the pushback there were many who believed that Jesus was who He said He was. I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

Jesus steps into our world … our darkness … to bring light. What does that means for us?

We will start by thinking about eyes.

The way your eye works

… and I know this because I asked my sister who is an optometrist who lectures at UQ.

The way your eye works …

There is an image in front of you, which comes through the front of your eye and is projected onto receptors in your retina. That image is then transferred to your brain through your optic nerve.

That is how you see.

But here is the very interesting part. Our eyes cannot see dark. There are no receptors in a retina that see, or pick-up, or identify, dark. Our eyes can only see when there is light. More specifically when light is reflected off an object.

In my whole life I have only ever experienced complete darkness once. Many years ago we visited a cave, which we went quite deep into and we were all being guided by torches which we all carried.

At one point we turned off all the torches.

Complete – can’t see your hand 1 cm in front of your face – dark.

There was no light.

Now I am going to say something that may not seem right at first – but stick with me. Just as your eyes don’t see darkness … your spiritual eyes also don’t see darkness. What we need to understand is that living in worldliness and darkness is not an issue of a lack of light.

19 This is the verdict: light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

John 3:19-21

What is the verdict?

There is plenty of light. The love of God in Christ is very visible. Even if people are completely unaware of the story of Jesus … unaware of the Gospel … you just need to pick up the Scripture and read it. Especially in this modern time when the light of Scripture is revealed in so many languages.