The Light Piercing this Dark World (John 8:12–20)

Series: “John: Life in Christ’s Name”Text: John 8:12–20

By: Shaun Marksbury Date: Aug. 20, 2023

Venue: Living Water Baptist ChurchOccasion: AM Service

Introduction

One of the sights that captures the awe and attention of even infants are the various lights we hang around Christmas. The beauty of Christmas displays — even those which are not done as well as others — evoke feelings of warmth and nostalgia in many adults. This is true even of those who don’t celebrate Christmas; I remember reading an unbelieving Jewish individual who had moved from the United States saying that he missed seeing Christmas lights. Even in those with no underlying belief in Jesus, they encourage community and cheer.

The Jews of Jesus’s day, of course, were not celebrating Christmas, but they had a lighting ceremony all their own. When evening would come during the feast of tabernacles, there would be a lighting ceremony. This would be in the court of women, where very large candelabra were lit. Their light could illuminate the temple, the people, and even the sky above, and one commentator notes of them, “They served as a reminder of the pillar of fire by which God had guided Israel in the wilderness (Ex. 13:21–22).” Some held their own lights, torches in globes, and as the Levites played their instruments, the people and the leaders danced and sang praises to the Lord. It was in the middle of this that Jesus speaks again, saying, “I am the Light of the world.”

The concept that He is the Light of the world captures the imagination. Whether we’re enjoying sunrises and sunsets, Christmas lighting ceremonies, or something else, we ponder His words. It captured the Apostle John’s attention, as well, as we see throughout his writings. He got to see the light of the transfiguration, so it’s no surprise that he emphasizes it so much. He even opens his letter with it; in the first five verses, he writes, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” Just as there was light at the beginning of creation, we read here that the light of Christ was in the beginning, and it gives life. That makes Christ’s claim here so memorable and precious.

He is the Light of the world, but the world is in darkness. If we take those opening verses as a template, John 1:5 in particular, then we see in this passage the Light shining in the darkness while the darkness lacks understanding of it. So, our main points today will be Christ’s claim in v. 12, the Light shining in the darkness, and then, we’ll consider the remaining verses as those lacking comprehension of the Light.

First, the Light Shines in the Darkness (v. 12)

Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”

The account directly before this is that of the adulterous woman, which (in a way) we have considered for the past two weeks. Since it appears that the story of the adulterous woman has been shoehorned into the text, we must look further back to determine who Jesus is addressing. One of the last groups mentioned at the end of chapter seven were the Pharisees, and the Pharisees answer Jesus in v. 13. Yet, Jesus may be addressing the rest of the Jews in the temple also; the scene at the end of chapter seven was probably near the crowds. Jesus is continuing His teaching at the Feast of Tabernacles.

So, this follows on the heels of 7:52. That means that, when Jesus speaks again, He is still there at the Feast of Tabernacles, teaching in the temple. Before, we noted that there was a water ceremony every day of the feast, where the Pharisees would parade water jugs in front of the people and poured the water on the ground. During that, Jesus declares, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water’ ” (John 7:37–39).

Now, as we’ve already noted, Jesus says He is the Light of the world. This is the second time He issues an “I am” statement, which He does seven times in this Gospel. He uses an emphatic pronoun — “I, I, am,” — and He may be alluding to God’s revelation to Moses in Exodus 3:14, where He says, “I AM WHO I AM.” This becomes clearer through this chapter as Jesus continues uses the statement “I am” by itself. We’ll talk more about this point next time.

For now, consider this connection: Genesis 1 records God first creating light, without the sun, moon, and stars. Later, David calls God “my light and my salvation” (Psa. 27:1). Ezekiel recounts his vision of the Lord in His battle chariot, aflame with light (Ezek. 1:4, 13, 26–28). Isaiah predicts a time when there will be no need for the sun or moon upon the earth, for God will be “an everlasting light” (Isa. 60:19 — marking the reign of the Messiah). And, as the people are lighting torches to commemorate God leading them with the glorious cloud by day and fire by night, Jesus calls Himself the Light of the World! He borrows divine imagery for Himself.

One can’t sit on the fence concerning Jesus. Each of His seven “I am” metaphors identifies Him as the only means of salvation. His first “I am” statement was after He fed the five thousand; He said, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst” (John 6:14). After this one, in John 10:7 and 9, He says, “I am the door of the sheep … I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” In John 10:14, He says, “I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me.” In John 11:25–26, He says, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” In John 14:6, He says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” In John 15:1 and 5, He says, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. … I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” All of these are exclusive claims, meaning that they exclude the possibility that someone can come to God through any other person than Jesus Christ.

He is the divine Light, and He promises here to share it with His followers! Followers are those who have committed themselves to be His disciples, and He already said of them in Matthew 5:14, “You [plural, ‘y’all’] are the light of the world.” This means, as one commentator notes, the disciples reflect Christ’s light. He tells His disciples in John 12:35, “For a little while longer the Light is among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes.” The light of Christ burns in the wilderness of our lives, leading us to salvation and protecting us from the pitfalls of darkness.

This light will drive away all our fear of walking in the dark, and Jesus uses an emphatic negation to underline this. The LSB is better here: we “will never walk in the darkness.” We could translate it, “never, ever.” We need not stumble about in spiritual ignorance, for the Lord will light our way. We will have the light of life, or the light that leads us to life.

This is all good news, and the Jews listening to Jesus here should rejoice. However, the Pharisees lead a meager attempt of the darkness to push back against the Light of Christ. This is just like we read in John 1:5, “The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” Let’s consider their sad state apart from Christ next.

The Darkness Does Not Comprehend It (13–20)

What we see in the rest of these verses are challenges to Christ and His responses. These challenges are ineffectual because the darkness can never overcome the Light, and Christ’s rebuttals here parallel John 5:30–47, the witnesses of Christ.

Even so, we can see three characteristics of those in darkness as we examine this passage. Those in darkness don’t understand the true testimony (vv. 13–14), true judgment (vv. 15–18), or the Lord (vv. 19–20). Let’s consider the first of these.

First, those in darkness don’t understand the true testimony (vv. 13–14, 17–18).

So the Pharisees said to Him, “You are testifying about Yourself; Your testimony is not true.” Jesus answered and said to them, “Even if I testify about Myself, My testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. … Even in your law it has been written that the testimony of two men is true. I am He who testifies about Myself, and the Father who sent Me testifies about Me.”

We’re considering two pairs of verses because they represent a theme of error. The Pharisees complain that Jesus is “bearing witness” (LSB, ESV) about Himself because they are in the dark concerning His true nature. They are arguing that singular His testimony wouldn’t hold up in a court of law, hence the NIVs rendering: “Here you are, appearing as your own witness.” In such cases, they argue, testimony isn’t “true” to the system; it isn’t valid.

Where are they getting this? There is a biblical basis for their argument, for Deuteronomy 19:15 says it is “on the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed” (cf. Num. 35:30; Deut. 17:6). This principle still holds true in the New Testament era; Jesus says that church discipline must involve two or three witnesses (Matt. 18:16, 20), and Paul later says in 1 Timothy 5:19, “Do not receive an accusation against an elder except on the basis of two or three witnesses.” This doesn’t mean that two or three people are automatically correct (they could have agreed to lie about something), but there is, at that point, enough witnesses to prompt a court investigation. Similarly, it’s not that a single witness is necessarily lying, but his or her testimony must be corroborated by another witness or some evidence to be admissible.

So, they say Jesus’s words are invalid, but they only prove their own myopia. Jesus already previously admitted to them, “If I alone testify about Myself, My testimony is not true” (John 5:31). Maybe they’re just mocking Him now, but remember, He also continued in that chapter by giving four lines of testimony in vv. 32–47: the witness of John the Baptist, the witness of Jesus’s own works, the witness of the Father, and the witness of Scripture. They are in darkness, unwilling to see the light or its true testimony.

Jesus responds by seeming to grant them their point again for the sake of argument. He says in v. 14, “Even if I testify about Myself, My testimony is true.” He’s not contradicting what He said in 5:31, for He continues by making the case that His words are not really His alone. His witness is still valid and legally admissible.

How? To understand what He says, we must believe in Jesus’s divinity. He says that He has a supernatural origin, which He says from v. 14 into vv. 15–16. Because of this, in v. 16, He will argue that His words are shared by the Father. Then, in vv. 17–18, He argues that His words are in line with the Father’s.

In fact, it’s interesting in v. 17 how He speaks of the Law as their law. The law is for the lawless (1 Tim. 1:9), and they were not abiding by the very word they claimed to uphold. Jesus told them back in John 5:37, “And the Father who sent Me, He has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form.” Because they didn’t know God, they couldn’t recognize the Father’s testimony concerning Jesus.

So it is with anyone who rejects the light of the Bible today. They may have seen some convincing TikTok videos and memes, or they may have even read a few books. However, as John says in 1 John 5:9, “If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater; for the testimony of God is this, that He has testified concerning His Son.” They may claim that they have a clarity of mind and be able to judge things rightly, but one led by the Light of Christ can see them stumbling constantly into error.

They are unable to receive the truth because they can’t discern it. They are in a dark room, hearing a sound, but unable to confirm its source. That brings us to the next point:

Second, those in darkness don’t understand the true judgment (vv. 15–16).

You judge according to the flesh; I am not judging anyone. But even if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone in it, but I and the Father who sent Me.

Jesus continues to paint a line between them and Him, using the emphatic pronoun; we could read this as saying, “You (not I) judge according to the flesh.” He points out that theirs was insufficient judgment, one “according to the flesh” or, as the NASB footnote says, “by a carnal standard.” In context, where Jesus is saying He comes from above and they from the earth (cf. v. 23), He is saying that they lack the perspective for true judgment that He has.

Yet, Jesus says that He is not judging them. This might be confusing, but there are two different meanings of the word “judge.” One means to simply decide between two different opinions. The other is to condemn. It’s the latter definition underpinning John 3:17 — “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.” Jesus is saying He isn’t condemning the Pharisees at this moment, which is good news for them, even though they would condemn Him.

Jesus does go on to say, though, that His judgment would be true (whereas theirs isn’t). He says His judgment isn’t based on limited data; He judges with the heavenly Father. His judgments aren’t limited like their judgments are.

So, it’s not that there is a problem with judgments in general; in fact, Jesus will judge the world one day. The problem isn’t that people judge, for Jesus has also just said, “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment” (John 7:24). He calls His people to judge what is right and wrong, what is true and false, based on what God has revealed in His Word. He calls us to test the spirits and to discern according to the leading of the Holy Spirit. The only way we can judge properly is if we have the Light of Christ guiding us into truth.

Yet, the Pharisees were in darkness. That is why they were making a snap judgment condemning Jesus. Remember how the Lord even had to correct His prophet Samuel, saying, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7). These Pharisees only followed God externally, so they would only judge outwardly rather than inwardly. So it is with everyone lacking the spiritual insight for true judgment.

This is why Jesus goes on to say that His judgments are based on two lines of testimony — His own and what the Father has revealed in vv. 17–18. Since we’ve already considered those verses briefly, let’s consider the final aspect of darkness in this passage. Ultimately, those in darkness don’t understand the Lord, as we see next:

Those in darkness don’t understand the Lord (vv. 19–20).

So they were saying to Him, “Where is Your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither Me nor My Father; if you knew Me, you would know My Father also.” These words He spoke in the treasury, as He taught in the temple; and no one seized Him, because His hour had not yet come.

Many translations in v. 19 capitalize the word “father” in the Pharisees’ question. This can be misleading. In v. 27, we read that they did not understand that this is a reference to God. Instead, they were thinking that Jesus must be speaking of a human father, for they cannot conceive of Him coming from above. In fact, it’s been suggested that they may be questioning the legitimacy of His birth; they say in v. 41, “We were not born of fornication.” Either way, they continue to think in limited, fleshly ways.

So, He tells them they don’t know Him or His Father. He said back in v. 14, “I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from or where I am going.” The crowd in John 7:27 said they knew, and Jesus acknowledged that they had some knowledge of Him in the next verse, while stating that they didn’t understand God. Now, He says the just Pharisees don’t really know what they think they know.

To put this another way, Jesus is elevating Himself to the status of God. In v. 42, He will say, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me” (John 8:42). Knowing Jesus is knowing God!

Now, the Pharisees are in disbelief, but Jesus speaks for the benefit of all. He’s there in the temple, where the large candelabra are lit. The treasury would be in the court of the women, where the one poor widow gives her last mite (Mark 12:41–44; Luke 21:1–4). Everyone is there, men and women, hearing this exchange.

In case some might think this is unsafe, we again read that no one seized Him. His words sent the officers away in 7:46. More importantly, though, the Lord is operating sovereignly according to His timetable, and no one will interrupt that before He wills it.

Conclusion

Jesus gives us a true witness of Himself. If you walk in darkness, you may not see or understand it. However, if you reject Christ, know that, just as light always overcomes darkness, His testimony remains despite your objections and doubts.

If His testimony is true, though, then we must consider it. If you have stumbled through the darkness of this world, you must be bruised and aggravated; will you not turn to the Light of the world? He will deliver you from the guilt of your sin, and He will open your eyes to the true testimony concerning Himself, the true judgment according to His Word, and a true knowledge of the Lord our God.