Light and darkness

John 8:12 (NLT)

“I am the light of the world and if you follow Me you won’t be stumbling through the darkness.”

This is one of the seven “I am” claims of Jesus recorded in the gospel of John.  Can you name/find the other six?

Let’s think about darkness.  In the Bible, darkness has two main meanings, one obvious (the absence of light), the other not so obvious (ignorance of divine things and its associated wickedness with the result that those who remain in the darkness will forever have misery in hell). Which do you think Jesus was referring to?

Darkness is a key word in both the Old and New Testaments.  Literally, it described the absence of light (e.g. the creation story, Exo 10:21-23 when God had Moses stretch his hand and darkness fell across Egypt, and Matt 24:29-30 when Jesus described the aftermath of the Tribulation).  Figuratively, it describes evil and hate (e.g. Prov 4:18-19, Isa 9:2, Eph 5:11-14, I John 2:9).

Perhaps the most stunning use of the word darkness by Jesus is found in John 3:19.  This verse follows perhaps the best-known verse of the entire Bible (John 3:16).  Yet, despite the love shown by God through His Son, there are and will be people who will reject Him, resent Him and will prefer to live lives of great evil and hate.  Despite what God did to attempt to reconcile evil man with a holy God, certain people will choose to love the darkness and choose to be evil. 

Jesus is light, the opposite of darkness.  Light exposes sin and that’s why those who love to sin hate the light.  Have you ever heard of the Tyndall effect?  There are various definitions but basically it is the scattering of light by discontinuities such as suspended particles.  One manifestation of this effect is when a beam of sunlight passes through your window.  When you look perpendicularly at that light beam, what do you see?  Hundreds/thousands of particles within the beam of light.  If the light beam disappears, e.g. closing the shade or curtain, what do you see?  Nothing, no particles at all.  Think of your life as what is seen without the beam of sunlight coming through the window.  Looks pretty good and clean, doesn’t it?  Then think of your life when the beam of light shines through the window.  Doesn’t look so good or clean, does it?  The particles in the air represent sin and all sorts of evil and that’s what the light exposes. 

Jesus is that light of the world and He exposes your sin.  If you follow Him, you won’t stumble in the darkness.  If you don’t follow Him, you will hate His light and will remain in the darkness (John 3:20).  He said in John 3:21 that those who practice the truth—those who believe in Him and His Word—come to the light.  Which direction are you going?  Which do you love most—light or darkness?  Keeping taking advantage of His light to expose remaining darkness in your life and through Him remove it.  

"Beautiful light is born of darkness, so the faith that springs from conflict is often the strongest and the best."              -- R. Turnbull