I am the light of the world

I am the light of the world

I am the light of the world.  Those are the words of Jesus as recorded in John 8:12.  Turn there in your bibles.  

Imagine somebody standing in your midst and saying, “I am the light of the world.”  That is a shocking statement.  It is a bold statement.  It is an arrogant statement.  For anybody to make such a claim would put them in the category of delusional, deserving to be institutionalized, narcissistic, megalamaniac.

But not for Jesus, because it is true.

John 8:12 in its entirety reads, When Jesus spoke again to the people he said, “I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”

I AM the light of the world.  His sentence starts with I AM, the very thing that we noted at the beginning of our series, which identifies Jesus as YHWH, the great I AM of Exodus 3:14.

He says “I am THE light of the world.”  Notice that Jesus didn’t say that he was A light or A SOURCE of light, or that he came to BRING light, but that he is THE light.

I am the LIGHT of the world.  Consider light.  Dictionary.com defines light: something that makes things visible or gives illumination.  Light is the opposite of darkness.  Light reveals.

Biblically, light represents purity and truth, while darkness represents evil and falsehood.

Jesus says that He is the light of the WORLD, implying that he is the one that makes things visible, gives illumination; He is the opposite of darkness, he reveals, he represents purity and truth and he does this on a cosmic scale.  He is the light of the WORLD.

He follows that by saying, “whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”  The light of life.  Once again we see that a huge part of these I AM statements of Jesus is his claim to be the source of Spiritual life.  I am the bread of life.  Bread aka food is necessary for life.  If you don’t receive the bread of life you don’t receive life.  I am the vine you are the branches.  Branches that remain in the vine are alive and fruitful because the vine is the source of life.  Branches that get broken off wither up and die.  He is the vine.  He is the source of life.  I am the way the truth and the life.  I am the resurrection and the life.  Spiritual life is a huge theme throughout the course of these statements.  Today’s text is no different: I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life, the light of life.  Jesus is the source of Spiritual life.  Jesus is the source of salvation.  There is salvation in no one else.  Only by faith in Jesus Christ are we saved and brought from death to life, brought out of darkness and into the light.  Whoever follows Jesus will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.

This morning I want us to look at this statement of Jesus in its context, explore what it would have meant to his original audience, discuss the implications of such a statement and how it should affect our lives.

CONTEXT!

I believe that if we are going to fully understand Jesus’ statement here, we need to see it in its context.  

When and where did Jesus speak these words I am the light of the world?

Jesus spoke these words at the end of the feast of tabernacles.  Israel was to celebrate certain feasts to remind the people the wonderful deeds that the Lord had done for their nation in history.  The feast of tabernacles was one of those feasts.  This particular feast was done in remembrance of the 40 years that Israel spent wandering in the wilderness homeless, in tents, in tabernacles – hence the name: the feast of tabernacles.  During this feast they would build tents, or booths, temporary dwellings and they would basically pretend to be homeless for a week to remember their ancestors’ homeless days in the wilderness during those 40 years when God led his people Israel out of Egypt into the Promised Land.  Those 40 years presented some very unpleasant circumstances that put a serious strain on them.  It’s not that they lacked luxury; they lacked basic human needs.  They were homeless, dwelling in tents, they had no food, no Aquafina, no Ozarka, no Dasani.  During the day the heat was unbearably hot; during the night, the cold was unbearably cold.  But in spite of these circumstances: God miraculously provided for their needs.  

No food.  He provided bread from heaven (the manna).  No water.  He provided water miraculously out of a rock.  He led them as a cloud by day (giving them shade from the scorching heat), and he led them by a pillar of fire by night, giving them warmth in the midst of the cold.  

This pillar of cloud and fire that the Lord manifested led the people.  Perhaps it could be said that whoever followed this pillar of fire, this light, would not walk in darkness, but had the light of life.

This feast of tabernacles is the backdrop for Jesus’ words I am the light of the world.

As the feast was approaching, no doubt the people would be thinking of the wilderness wanderings and the elements of those 40 years: homelessness, bread from heaven, streams of water from God, the pillar of fire to light the way.

In John 6 before the feast Jesus said I am the bread of life.  You know the wilderness wanderings that we are about to celebrate.  Remember the manna, the bread from heaven?  I am the true bread from heaven.

Then in John 7 we find Jesus at the feast.  There were 2 ceremonies during the feast that reminded the Israelites of particular elements of the wilderness.  One was the ceremony of water.  Every morning the priests would lead a procession of people through the city to the pool of Siloam.  There the priest would gather water, then march back through the streets and the ceremony concluded with the priest pouring out the water on the altar.  This was what they would do to recall, symbolize and celebrate God’s supernatural provision of water in the wilderness when the water came gushing forth out of the rock.  They would recite Psalm 114:7-8 Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, who turned the rock into a pool, the hard rock into springs of water.

Now, at the feast of tabernacles as the Israelites were performing the water ceremony recalling God’s miraculous provision of streams of water, guess what Jesus said?  John 7:37 – 38 On the last and greatest day of the feast Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said streams of living water will flow from him.”

JESUS IS BREAD AND WATER.

So Jesus, has now identified with God’s miraculous provision of food – I am the true bread from heaven.  With the water ceremony as the contextual backdrop, he identified with God’s miraculous provision of streams of water.

2^ND CEREMONY (OF LIGHT).

I told you there were 2 ceremonies.  One was the ceremony of water.  The other was the ceremony of lights.  On the very first evening of the feast just as the darkness was drawing in on Jerusalem the priests would set up 4 huge lights in the court of the people near the temple treasury.  These 4 lamps or candelabra were huge (50 cubits high – 75 feet) as high as the walls of Jerusalem.  They had huge bowls at the top containing 65 liters of oil.  Every day the priests would ascend these lamps by ladders, replenish the oil and every evening they would celebrate the ceremony of lights as they lit the candelabra in the temple courts. Sources say that the light from these lamps was so bright that it lit up the entire city of Jerusalem.  As a city on a hill, this would have been an incredible thing to behold.  Now this ceremony was a means by which the Israelites would recall, symbolize and celebrate God’s supernatural provision of light in the wilderness as He was manifest Himself as a pillar of fire by night.

JESUS IS BREAD, WATER AND LIGHT

So Jesus, has now identified with God’s miraculous provision of food – I am the true bread from heaven.  With the water ceremony as the contextual backdrop, he identified with God’s miraculous provision of streams of water.  And now, in John 8 with the ceremony of lights as the backdrop, commemorating God’s miraculous manifestation of fire by night in the wilderness, Jesus says I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.

Do you see what Jesus is saying there?  Those candelabras there were lit in remembrance of the great pillar of fire in the wilderness – the pillar of fire that gave off light – the pillar of fire that the Israelites were to follow and if they followed it, they would not walk in darkness, but would have light – that pillar of fire was God.  

For Jesus to say I am the light of the world, it was to say I am God.

FIRST IMPLICATION: JESUS IS GOD.

SECOND IMPLICATION: JESUS IS THE FULFILLMENT OF THE SCRIPTURES.  The Scriptures foretold the Messiah who would be the light; Jesus says I am that light

• Isaiah 9:2  The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death  a light has dawned.  I’m not just applying this how I see fit.  Matthew, inspired by the Holy Spirit applies this to Jesus in Matt 4:12-16. Matthew is master of fulfillment.
• Isaiah 42:6 “I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you  to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles  Who is it that is made to be a covenant for the people?  Jesus.  Who is it that is a light for the Gentiles?  Not just the Jews, but the Gentiles, the whole world.  Jesus.  Jesus is the light of the world.  As such he is the fulfillment of the Scriptures.

THIRD IMPLICATION: JESUS IS THE TRUE ISRAEL

Israel was God’s holy nation.  They were His chosen race, his treasured possession.  As such, they were to be the light of the world.  They saw themselves as the light and the gentiles as the darkness.  After all, they had the Scriptures, the temple worship, the priesthood, the sacrifices, the land, circumcision.  They had Jehovah.  Israel was the light of the world.  Jerusalem was that city on a hill shining bright before the nations.

Israel saw themselves to be the light of the world.  The rest of the world is in thick darkness, but we are in the light.  We are the light.

Ironically, those who saw themselves to be the light were actually in darkness.

Ethnic Israel thought they were the light of the world but by their actions they proved to be the darkness.  This is the verdict, light has come into the world but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. - Jesus came to his own people, Israel, but they received him not.  Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often I have longed to gather you together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings but you were not willing.  They rejected their God.  They thought they were the light of the world, but they proved that they themselves were actually the darkness and Christ and those in Christ were actually the light of the world.  They claimed to be the light, but were darkness.

Paul addresses that thought process in Romans 2: ¹⁷ Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and brag about your relationship to God; ¹⁸ if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; ¹⁹ if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, ²⁰ an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— ²¹ you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? ²² You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? ²³ You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? ²⁴ As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”

Ironically, those who saw themselves to be the light were actually in darkness.  

They, who were to be the light, who saw themselves as the light were actually darkness.  To them Jesus declares, “I am the light of the world.”

Jesus is claiming to be what Israel was supposed to be because Jesus is the true Israel.  

They were failing to be the light and in fact what light they did have was about to go out.

1 John 2:8 says Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.  John is writing to believers, those in Christ.  He says I am writing about a truth seen in Jesus and in you, those in Christ.  The darkness is passing and the true light is already shining. 

Ethnic Israel claimed to be the light, but were darkness; Christ and his church are the true light.  Again, the words of John: the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.

So when Jesus says, I am the light of the world, Jesus is claiming to be the true Israel.  John corroborates that in his epistle.  Israel according to the flesh is not true Israel, (not all who descended from Israel are Israel) they are not the true light, they are actually darkness.  John says in His day that the true Israel, the true light, Christ and his church is already shining and the darkness was passing.  

So not only is Christ the true Israel, but those in Christ, are the true Israel because it is those in Christ who are in the light.

APPLICATION

Man, by nature is darkness.  Apart from God, man is not only in the darkness, but he is darkness.  2 Cor 4:6 For God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

WE ARE LIGHT – CHRIST IS IN US

We were darkness.  But because Christ is in us and Christ is the light of the world, that makes us the light of the world.  We have no light in and of ourselves.  The reason we have light to shine is because of Christ in us.  The light is not our own.  It is His.  

He is the light of the world.  Therefore we are the light of the world.

You are the light of the world.  A city on a hill cannot be hidden.  Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.  Instead they put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your father in Heaven.

The Israel of God is to be the light of the world, a beacon of light, shining into the darkness.  As the true Israel of God, our light is Christ.  

You don’t light a lamp and put it under a bowl.  A lamp was intended to be set on a lamp stand so that it gives light.  We were created in Christ Jesus to be set on display to give light.  That’s what we were made for; that’s what our purpose is – to shine Jesus.  

Let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your father in heaven.  Do good deeds.  Do them.  You were created to do good deeds.  They don’t save you.  They don’t earn you credit points with God.  You don’t get a bigger mansion in heaven.  There’s no such thing as karma.  Believers don’t do good deeds to be saved, but because they are saved.  Do good deeds.  It’s what you were made for.  

Eph 2:8-10 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this not from yourselves it is the gift of God - not by works so that no one can boast.  For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.  

You don’t hear this from me often and for good reason because I don’t want you to get the wrong idea.  But you’re getting it from me today because I believe it is an appropriate exhortation in light of our text.  Do good.  Do good works.  Do good deeds.  You were created in Christ Jesus to do good works.  

He is the light of the world.  He is in us.  Therefore we are the light of the world.  Let us, let our light (which is really his light) shine before men that they may see our good deeds and praise our father in heaven.

The goal is not that people would praise us, but that they would praise Him.  The goal is the glory of God.  As children of the light, we shine forth the light for one purpose and one purpose alone: for the praise and glory and honor of God.

When the people of Gotham city are in trouble and they are in desperate need of batman and they shine that bright light into the sky with the bat symbol, do you think they are thinking look at me shining this light?  No, they are thinking, “Batman!  I can’t, he can.  He’s amazing.  I’m not.  I just want to shine his light and let him do his thing.”  

Do you think the people who see the light with the bat symbol think, wow, look at those people shining their light?  Their light is just so awesome.  No.  They think, “Aawww, yeah.  Batman.  He’s amazing.”  That light with the bat symbol is shined forth with one person in mind: batman.  Nobody knows who is shining the light.  It’s not about the one shining the light.  It’s about the one for whom the light is shining.

In the same way, it would be foolish of us to let our light shine before men for any reason other than the glory and praise and honor of God.  Let your light shine with one person in mind: Jesus, so much so that nobody even knows who is shining the light.  It’s not about the one shining the light.  It’s about the one for whom the light is shining.

Let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your father in heaven.  Let the light of Jesus within you shine so bright that they don’t even see you.  All they see is the light.  Have you ever been pulled over at night?  It’s dark outside.  An officer is approaching your window, but you can’t see him.  You hear him.  You may have some sense of him touching your car but you can’t see him.  All you see is a super bright light that almost blinds you.  

Let’s be like the night officer.  Let’s let the light of Jesus within us shine so bright that nobody even sees us; all they see is the light of the Lord.  All they see is how glorious our Jesus is.

Let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your father in heaven.

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.  Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord.  Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness but rather expose them.  For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.  But everything exposed by the light becomes visible for it is light that makes everything visible.  This is why it is said, ”Wake up oh sleeper, rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you.”

For Jesus is the light of the world.  Whoever follows after him will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.  Let us shine the light of Jesus to the world.