The Lamb is the Light
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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. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it,
No need - better than.
Kings of earth - glory into it. Into something, it must be greater.
Light is the most pervasive theme of Advent, or Christmas, that transcends all manner of observers. From the most devout worshipers of Jesus, to those who hardly think of him, the theme of light remains.
candles
trees
carols
houses
Light, after all, is one of the most basic needs and basic recognizable features in existence.
We are surrounded by lights, both natural and man-made. But followers of Christ are going toward that greater light.
“The Lamb is the Light”
The Need of Light
The Spark of Light
The Light of Glory
The True Light
The Shining Light
The Darkness we are immersed in is the clearest indicator of our need of light. Darkness and blindness can be seen around us and even in us – we need the Light.
The Darkness we are immersed in is the clearest indicator of our need of light. Darkness and blindness can be seen around us and even in us – we need the Light.
1. The First Light
1. The First Light
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.
That the first thing that proceeded from the mouth of God into created order was light, is very instructive to us.
Although “existence” and “space” itself would not be without God, He gives us this record for us to see something of Him.
The scene is set in darkness and emptiness, and into it his miraculous light shines.
No mortal knows what that first light appeared as. No mortal knows what it shone upon. No mortal knows what radiance it had. But we know, from scripture, where it came from.
The sun and other stars don’t come around until day 4 of creation. So the light that “was” didn’t yet exist in those flaming balls of gas. The rays didn’t yet proceed from physical creation.
Just as it had always been, the only light that was, emenated from God Himself. Before a single ray or beam shone from any outside source, from any burning star or wick or torch, light came from God.
So we see a unique parentheses, here, around the whole scripture.
The first light is God Himself, and the final light will be God, the Son, the Lamb.
And light, of course, pictures for us so much more than the physical illumination of objects. Light is our means of understanding, our comprehension, our access to the very ability to work through life and its challenges.
So while the creation story gives us a real picture of what God did, it also gives us a parallel picture of who he is. And if He, by the spoken word of his power, says “let there be light” and there is, then not only do we see physically by his gracious offering, but we also see spiritually, and intellectually, by his grace both common and special.
Let it be known - God is the first light. First in sequence, sure. But first in magnitude and importance. And in that sense, he is first and last.
2. Without the Light
2. Without the Light
Knowing what light has as its source is where we start, because it is where God’s revelation starts. But knowing the importance of that light is seen clearly when we look at the implications of not having it.
Illustration, stumbling in the darkness
Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
darkness and blindness are synonymous in that passage, because they yield the same result - we can’t see.
That is the simple image of light-less life. You cannot see. You cannot see what is in front of you, you cannot see what needs to be done, you cannot see what traps befall you, and you cannot see what is important.
John, there, uses the commonly understood relational experience of hatred. He says, if you hate your brother, that is a clear picture of darkness.
The hatred is an implication of darkness, not of light. If we were to expand out into the rest of that chapter, and to the rest of that book, we would know that John is really showing us that all sin is an implication of the darkness. The natural darkness that we are all born into.
Genesis 1 gives the beautiful image of the source of light, but we know that perfect light did not continue unintruded. Because while that light always shines, darkness is lurking.
The first people, Adam and Eve, were deceived by the darkness and cast our whole existence back into it. We commonly refer to that as “the fall,” as they left their state of innocence and completion, and began to live as every other person is born living - with the physical light, but inner darkness.
It doesn’t take long in the story for that inner darkness to rear its head.
Genesis 4.
Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground.
What image of hatred exists more clearly than this? And what perfect example of darkness exists than this?
In broad daylight, the darkness of hatred, of sin, was displayed.
In broad daylight, we all walk without the true light within. We walk in the physical light, that is common grace.
Brilliant men gave us artificial light, that is common grace as well.
But how much darkness is seen in broad daylight?
3. In the Light
3. In the Light
we Go back to our passage in first John, and see that the antidote for the inner darkness is the light that shone from the beginning.
Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.
If light is the most basic recognizable feature of creation, then love is the most basic recognizable feature of those who walk in the light.
It is, perhaps, the most basic recognizable feature of God Himself. For just as light existed with the Godhead before God ever spoke it into physical creation, love existed in the Godhead before mankind could ever witness or display it.
Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
So it is no wonder that John says to us:
Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling.
What does it mean to be “in the light?”
Well, it is no less than to be “in christ.”
giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him,
See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.
In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.
And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
The difference between walking in broad daylight in darkness, and in the true light, is whether or not you have found place “in the light.” Which is Christ.
And if you are “in christ,” we have been given beautiful access and grace to walk in the light.
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
