The Light of the World
According to the Apostle John, “Life” is found in the “Word,” and that life is the “Light of men.” It is “shining in the darkness,” and the darkness “cannot seize” or suppress it. This same “Word” or Logos has become “flesh,” the Living Word of God manifested in the man, Jesus of Nazareth. In him, the Glory and the Life of the God who created all things are manifested for all humanity to see.
The disciples of the
Nazarene are summoned to “testify” of this “Light” in this fallen
world. There are many competitors clamoring for mankind’s attention, with
each one claiming to be the true light, the source of illumination, and the “shining
city on a hill.”
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| [Photo by Venti Views on Unsplash] |
With the manifestation of God’s “Light,” 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” – (1 John 1:5, 2:8).
In this present age, political ideologies,
philosophies, religions, economic theories, and messianic figures all claim to
be the way, humanity’s best hope for peace and prosperity and bulwarks against the forces of chaos that constantly threaten
to overwhelm civilization.
However, all such claims are false, and their idolatrous lies are
exposed when the true “Light of God” radiates brightly in this fallen
world. Each supposed “solution” to the world’s plight has failed time and again.
There is only one source of the Light that “illuminates every man who is coming
into the world,” namely, Jesus Christ.
JOHN’S TESTIMONY
It began with John the Baptist, the “man sent from God” before
the “Light” who bore witness of it so that men might see it and “believe.”
That “Light” came to fruition in the Nazarene. In him, all
men who believe see the “Glory as
of the only born of the Father, full of Grace and Truth.”
Moreover, His disciples are
“lights in the world” sent to let their “light shine before men so they
may glorify their Father in heaven.” The fullness of His Light and Life
are manifested in His Son, and that light is reflected in his followers as they
bear witness of Jesus on the Earth – (John 1:1-14).
Thus, Jesus alone is the “Light of the world.” There is no other source of “Life.” His disciples become the only shining “City on a Hill” when they let HIS Light shine in their lives. They are called to be a “Kingdom of Priests” mediating his Light to all men, women, and children.
In the Gospel of John, the Baptist declares to all generations that
the Son of God, the “Word become flesh,” is the “Lamb of God that takes away the sin of
the world.” John testified before Israel that he is the Son of God, the only one in whom the Light, Life, “Grace and Truth” of God
are found. Thus, he is the “Good News” – (John 1:29-34).
LIGHT AND LIFE
John’s Gospel
opens by declaring that God created all things by His “Word,” the “Logos.”
In him, God has given concrete and living form to this “Word,” the same Logos
by which He made the Heavens and the Earth. Jesus
is the Light because he is the real and full expression of the Living God. Anyone
who believes in him no longer “abides in the darkness” – (John
12:44-50).
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| [Photo by Raphael Andres on Unsplash] |
In his first epistle, John summarizes this proposition by employing several of the terms and themes found in the Prologue of his Gospel:
- “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 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 is the
“Word of Life” that is manifested in the world, therefore the “darkness is passing away, and the true light already is shining.”
The “darkness cannot seize” the light. Instead, it retreats wherever this
“Light” is shining – (1 John 1:1-3, 2:8).
As Jesus declared to his disciples, “I am the Way
and the Truth and the Life.” No one comes to God “except through me.”
That is also why he said, “He who has seen me has seen the Father.” The
true nature of the Father is found in Jesus and nowhere else.
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