Light of the World

Jesus is the only true Light of the World, and his light shines all the brighter amidst the darkness that tyrannizes the present age. All competing claims are false.

“Life” is found in the “Word” or ‘Logos’ (λογος), and this life is the “Light of men.” The Light is “shining in the darkness,” and the darkness “cannot seize” or suppress it. This same “Word” has become the Living Word of God in Jesus of Nazareth, in whom the glory, salvation, and life of God are manifested for all men to see - (John 1:1).

Christ’s disciples are summoned to “testify” of the light before the nations of the Earth. Many competing voices clamor for our attention. Each school of thought claims to be the light, the source of illumination, and the shining city on hills.

[Photo by Anthony Cantin on Unsplash]

However, with the manifestation of God’s “light” in His Son, already, the “darkness is passing away, and the true light is shining.” This must be so since “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” In His Son, God’s light and life will outshine all competing claims – (1 John 1:5, 2:8).

Political ideologies, philosophies, religions, economic theories, and messianic figures declare themselves to be the way, humanity’s best hope for peace and life, supposed bulwarks against the darkness that threatens to overwhelm humanity. At best, they are shadowy counterfeits, and their false self-serving claims are exposed when the True “Light of God” shines brightly among the nations.

All such claims with the one exception of Jesus have failed us time and again, and according to the Apostle John, there is only one source of the True Light that “illuminates every man coming into the World.” That light was embodied in Jesus Christ.

The manifestation of God’s “true light” began with John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Messiah, and the “man sent from God” before the “Light” to bear witness of it so men might “believe.” That “Light” came to fullness and concrete form in the man from Nazareth. All men who believe in him see the “glory as of the only born of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Christ’s followers become his “Lights in the World” when they let their “light shine before men so they may glorify their Father in heaven.”  The fullness of God’s light is manifested in His Son, and that light is reflected in his followers as they bear witness about Jesus and follow in his footsteps – (John 1:1-14).

Thus, Jesus is the “Light of the World,” and there is no other source of “Life” but him. His followers become the true shining “City on a Hill” because they let Christ’s light shine in them. There is no genuine light or life apart from Jesus, and his Church is called to mediate the light to all men.

In the Gospel of John, the Baptist declared that Jesus of Nazareth is the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the World.” Thus, he testified before Israel that Jesus was the Son of God and the Messiah – (John 1:29-34).

LIGHT AND LIFE

John’s Gospel begins with the declaration that God created all things through His “Word made flesh,” the 'Logos'. In him, the Creator of all things gave living form to the same “Word” by which He made the Heavens and the Earth.

• “By the word of Yahweh were the heavens made, And all the host of them by the breath of his mouth” – (Psalm 33:6).

Jesus is the Light of the World because he is the full expression of this Word, which is why anyone who believes in him and his words no longer “abides in the darkness” but has everlasting life – (John 12:44-50).

In his first epistle, John summarized this truth, and he employed several terms and themes from the Prologue of his Gospel to do so:

• “That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we beheld, and our hands handled, concerning the Word of life. And the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare unto you the everlasting life, which was with the Father, and it was manifested to us. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you also, that ye also may have fellowship with us. Indeed, our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son, Jesus Christ” – (1 John 1:1-3).

Jesus of Nazareth is the “Word of Life” manifested to the world. Because this “Word of Life” has entered the world through him, the “darkness is passing away, and the true light already is shining.” The “darkness cannot seize” the Light. Instead, darkness retreats wherever the light of God shines, especially with the preaching of the Gospel – (1 John 1:1-3, 2:8).

In a very dark world, Jesus is the bright light that radiates and gives men and women God’s life, truth, and hope, and there is no other source of “light and life.”

In Christ alone, the Fullness of God’s grace and truth are presented for all men to see. As Peter stated to Jesus, “Lord, to whom will we go? You have the words of everlasting life. And we have believed and know that you are the Holy One of God” – (John 6:68).

Jesus of Nazareth declared: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to God except through me<…> He who has seen me has seen the Father.” All competitors that presume to be the light will disappear from the Earth in the end, along with the darkness to which they belong. Only in Jesus is the nature and light of God found and manifested, and nowhere else.

Truly, if we have seen and heard Jesus, the man in whom the “Word became flesh,” we have seen the very God who created all things by His Word. There is no true knowledge of God apart from Jesus Christ.

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SEE ALSO:

• God has Spoken! - (God is speaking His definitive word in His Son. All previous words spoken by the prophets were preparatory, promissory, and partial)

• Living and Life-Giving - (Jesus is the Word made flesh in whom the glory of God is revealed, the same word by which God created all things)

• His Mysteries Revealed - (The mysteries of God previously hidden are revealed in Jesus of Nazareth, and especially in his death and resurrection)