I AM: The Light of the World

Intro.

On Sunday night, August 20th, I shared a message entitled: Shocking Experience (taken from John 18:4-5). In that message I talked about the power of Jesus’ declaration to those who came to arrest Him.

When they asked the Lord if he was Jesus of Nazareth, he responded with “I am”.

As He spoke those words, the entire regiment fell backward from the force of what Jesus said.

If you remember that message, I shared that for Jesus to say, “I Am”, like this was to equate himself with. God

The great, “I Am”, of the burning bush.

As Jesus starts the final stretch to the cross, He proclaims His identity:

Yahweh.

Jesus equated himself to God.

That statement... That declaration... That self-identification opens a door.

A door revealing just HOW Jesus intention was to bring God to man.

We say it often at Christmastime; Emmanuel God with Us

This powerful name… I AM is a capstone to the identity of Jesus. John 18:5 is the final I am of the book of John

However, there are 7 other “I am” statements that Jesus proclaims in the Gospel of John.

Today, we are going to begin a series to explore them.

So, quite expectedly, I’m titling the series:

I AM

The 7 statements we will be unpacking this autumn are as follows:

John 6:35 I am the Bread of Life

John 10:9 I am the Door

John 10:11 I am the good shepherd

John 11:25 I am the resurrection and the life

John 14:6 I am the way, and the truth, and the life

John 15:5 I am the vine

and today we will begin the series with:

John 8:12 I am the light of the world

The whole verse reads like this:

John 8:12 ESV

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

It’s a powerful statement. It’s an inspiring statement. It’s a connecting statement (making us feel closer to him.)

You get it, right? Great, we can pack up and go home.

Or.... maybe… not.

What if there is more to this verse?

What if there are deeper levels to pursue?

What if there is more that God wants us to know?

Maybe we had better stick around for just a little while, and walk through this “light of the world” thing.

First, we have to ask ourselves...

1. What was He saying?

Invariably, in the Bible, the purpose of light is for us to see our way to God.

So, light should show up pretty early in the story…right?

It does.

Genesis 1:3–5 ESV

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

Now, people who are looking to poke holes in Christianity and or the Bible… (atheists, muslims, buddhists…) will often begin here.

“How can there be day and night on FIRST day. See… see here the Bible says

Genesis 1:5 ESV

God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

How can there be day and night since the sun isn’t even created until the FOURTH day?”

To those people I would say:

“The sun definitely provides the light and heat that we need for light on Earth.

But do you really think that the creator of all that is actually NEEDS this floating ball of hydrogen and helium to make light?

God doesn’t need to produce light.

God is light!”

When we get to the end of the story in the book of Revelation 21:23

Revelation 21:23 ESV

And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.

Promises throughout the Old Testament helped to shape this realization that the promised Messiah would BRING and BE Light.

How precious is your unfailing love, O God! All humanity finds shelter in the shadow of your wings.

You feed them from the abundance of your own house, letting them drink from your river of delights.

For you are the fountain of life, the light by which we see. Psalm 36:7-9 NLT

THERE IT IS! in that last phrase.

The purpose of the light.

So that we can see…See our way to God.

Isaiah chapter 9 foretells the coming of Jesus, and the purpose that He would serve.

It shows that we were in the dark when it came to connecting with God, and that the solution to darkness is light.

Isaiah 9:2 ESV

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.

Life without God is like living in the dark.

You don’t even know what you don’t know because you can’t see it.

When Jesus came to the Earth, He came to light the way to the Father.

The beginning of John’s Gospel shows us that.

John 1:1–5 ESV

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 were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

John is writing this after Jesus has died on the cross, risen from the dead, and returned to Heaven.

Almost 60 years had passed as John was writing and many people had tried to snuff out the light of Jesus’ message of salvation.

John’s assessment of their efforts was:

“the darkness has not overcome it.”

It has now been 2,000 years and still we can say:

“the darkness has not overcome it.”

Because, you see... Darkness is not… a “thing”.

Darkness is the ABSENCE of a thing.

Darkness is the absence of light.

You can’t add more darkness. You can only add or subtract light.

As your spot on the earth rotates toward the sun, morning comes and you have light.

As it moves away from the sun, night comes and you have less light or dark.

Jesus was saying: I have brought you the light that leads you to God and nobody can take it away from you.

2. Why Did He Say it?

Jesus used all kinds of analogies in the gospels.

Why did he pick THAT word picture…here.

Why did He say:

“I am the light of the world.”

at this specific time.

There is actually a pretty awesome answer to that question, but it takes a bit of backstory.

Back in the Old Testament, when God used Moses to set the Israelites from from Egyptian slavery...

They wondered around in the desert for 40 yrs.

During that time they lived in tents…Tabernacles.

God wanted the people to always remember how He delivered them from the Egyptians, and how He cared for them in the desert.

So... God told the people to hold an annual festival to remember the time when they lived in tents. The celebration is called

The Feast of Tabernacles

(Jewish People will be celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles beginning next Friday, Sept. 29th through Friday Oct. 6th.

and actually tonight at sundown begins Yom Kippur - the day of atonement.)

The people would assemble make-shift tents and live outside of their houses in the tents for the week of the festival.

During the time that Jesus was here on Earth it was common for people to set-up their tents on the roofs of their houses (the roofs were flat).

It was during the Feast of Tabernacles that this statement was made.

You might be saying, “Yeah, I’m not getting the connection.”

Fair enough. Just wait a minute more.

During Jesus’ day there was another tradition they held during the Feast of Tabernacles.

If you remember the story... As the Israelites wondered through the desert, there was a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night to lead the Israelites where they were supposed to go.

If the pillar moved, they moved. If the pillar stopped, they stopped.

The fire lit their way at night.

So... To represent the pillar of fire the attendants of the temple in Jesus’ time took these humongous lampstands in put them up in the courtyard of the temple.

It would light-up the entire courtyard. Legends say that it lit up the whole city, but that is probably an exaggeration.

We know that Jesus teaching in the temple that day. We know that a woman was brought before Him.

So we know that Jesus was in THIS courtyard among these enormous lampstands that Jesus makes this declaration.

I’m not here to light the courtyard. I’m not here to light the way JUST for the Israelites.

“I am the light of the world.”

Jesus is Here. Today. To light the way for you.

3 What Did It Mean?

Okay, but why did he make the connection?

What was the connection?

Well, I said a minute ago that a woman was brought to Jesus (that’s how we know where in the temple he was.)

The woman in question has been known throughout the centuries as “The Woman caught in adultery.”

Let’s read her story:

John 8:3–11 ESV

The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”

It is immediately after this that Jesus proclaims:

John 8:12 (ESV)

… “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Jesus wanted to make sure the people understood what had just happened.

She had darkness. I brought her light.

Darkness. Light.

It’s that simple.

Jesus came to forgive us and to move us from darkness to light.

William Barclay Jesus to the scribes and Pharisees that brought the woman:

“They knew the thrill of exercising power to condemn; Jesus knew the thrill of exercising the power to forgive.” -William Barclay

Conclusion

What about you? Are you living in Darkness?

Are you ready to walk into the light?