Light of the World (Adult version)

Introduction

Jesus is the light of the world

In today’s passage we are still at the temple, at the feast of tabernacles, and remember that this was a festival was not just a time where the Jews made a pilgrimmage journey to Jerusalem and slept in tents for a week to remember God’s help in the 40 years in the wilderness, but it was also a time when they had the water pouring ceremony to remember not only the past when God provided water in the wilderness, but also to the future when God will also pour out the water of his Holy Spirit at the end of this age. And just as Jesus said ‘I am the bread of life’ in chapter 6, Jesus said in chapter 7 that He is the true living water that this festival represented (John 7:37-38).

Now in today’s passage, we see Jesus saying ‘I am the light of the world’ - this is the 2nd of the 7 ‘I am’ sayings of Jesus. And notice how in verse 20, it says Jesus said these things ‘in the treasury’, because the treasury was one of the busiest parts of the temple where people put in money into 13 of these large treasure chest like boxes (called ‘trumpets’ because of their shape, narrow at the top and rounded at the bottom) for their sacrifices. And since it was an incredibly busy and high traffic area, Jesus chose this perfect place to make this great declaration ‘I am the light of the world’ so that everyone could hear. Remember, Jesus is the light, which is not to be hidden, but to be boldly in the open so that everyone can see.

And it’s really important that Jesus said this at the temple during the feast of tabernacles, because the feast of tabernacles was not only a time when they pitched tents for a week, and they had the water pouring ceremony, but there was an important light ceremony as well. Each night during the week long festival, in the very court where the treasury was, there was a candle-lighting ceremony - there were these 4 large golden lamps, which were these large pillars with a huge bowl on the top with oil, and people would climb a ladder to pour oil into this bowl and set it alight. And it would burn so bright that these 4 large oil lamps would light up the entire court of the temple at night (remember there was no electricity during this time!), and people would dance before these lamps with torches in their hands, singing and praising God, while others played instruments, and this celebration of joy continued all night until the dawn when the sun rose again.

https://israelmyglory.org/article/the-feast-of-tabernacles-in-the-days-of-jesus/ -> for image of candle lighting ceremony

And what did the light ceremony mean? The light from the candle symbolised the glory of God. Remember in the wilderness, the glory of God would appear before the Israelites as a great pillar of fire? And remember when Solomon built the temple, the glory of God filled the temple? Jesus is saying ‘I am that light - I am the fire that led you in the wilderness for 40 years, I am the light that filled the temple that you built me during the time of Solomon’. Jesus was claiming to be God (cf. John 1:14).

But why is that important to us? Because when Jesus says ‘I am the light of the world’, not only is he claiming to be God Himself, but He is also claiming to do everything that the light will do. What do I mean by that? When the Old Testament speaks about light, it isn’t just talking about God’s glory (although that is a hugely important part of it) - it also talks about what the light does. Read Isaiah 49:6 “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

Jesus is saying that that as the light, as God, He is the one who will bring salvation to not only Israel, but to for all the nations, for you and me. He is saying that He is the pillar of fire that guided, protected, and saved Israel for 40 years through the dangers and troubles of the wilderness. Remember, we are those in the darkness (John 1:10; John 3:19), with no hope of life, goodness, or truth, and it is only in Jesus Christ whose light shines in this dark world that we have any hope (John 1:9-13; John 3:21).

In John, the words ‘light’ and ‘life’ are constantly joined together (John 8:12b). It is only in Jesus, as the true light of this world, that we have any hope of eternal life.

And as the true light, as God Himself, he doesn’t just become a light for us to save us, but He gives us this life - see how in 8:12b, it says we ‘will have the light of life’. We share in the very light that Jesus Christ gives. And as those who have this light, we cannot keep this light for ourselves!

Read Matthew 5:14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.”

Read Philippians 2:15 “that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world”

So not only does Jesus shine his light upon us in the darkness so save us, but He gives us His light so that we have his light - and this light comes into us so that it may go out to others, so that others may share in the light and life of Christ as well through us.

We are blind the true light

But to be honest, to a lot of you listening, you have probably heard this time and time again, and it doesn’t really move you, it’s not that interesting. To really understand and feel the significance, the preciousness, the beauty, of Jesus as the true light, we really need to understand that we are in darkness. Only when we really understand our helpless situation, as those stuck in darkness, can we really appreciate Who Jesus is and What he has done and continues to do for us.

John gives a really good example of people in the darkness in the Pharisees. They don’t believe anything Jesus says, constantly doubt and misunderstand Jesus.

Firstly, they don’t believe Him so they try to discredit him by catching him out on a technicality - read John 8:13 ‘So the Pharisees said to him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.”’ The Jews believed that for anything to be really true and reliable, you needed two witnesses, which was based on the Old Testament especially in court cases (eg, Num 35:30; Deut 17:6; Deut 19:15). But what they don’t realise is, if they knew who Jesus truly was, they would realise that Jesus is above these laws, He doesn’t need any other witness to support what He says, because He is God himself.

Read John 8:14 “Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness 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.” So Jesus is saying that He is one who came from heaven; He is not part of this earthly world; He is divine, He is God, so even if he doesn’t follow these laws, what He is saying is absolutely true.

And we see in John 8:18 even though He doesn’t have to, based on the technicalities of the Jewish law, what He is saying is still true, because it is not just Him saying it, but He in fact does have two witnesses! Himself, and the Father.

But even this they misunderstand! They ask Jesus in verse 19, ‘Where is your Father?’, thinking that Jesus is referring to his human Father, not God the Father.

The Pharisees are in the darkness, so they cannot see who Jesus is, and they cannot truly understand anything that He says. And without the light, this is also our situation.

And why is it that we are in the darkness? Why is it that we can’t see the true light? Why is it that we can’t know Jesus for who He truly is? Why is it that we can’t understand what Jesus says to us?

Read John 8:21 “So he said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.”” + John 8:23–24 “He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.””

We are in the darkness, we can’t see Jesus, and we can’t understand him, because we are ‘from below’. Jesus is ‘from above’, not of this world that we live in. In becoming flesh and human, He came into the world, but He originated from above, from heaven. Just like oil and water, that which is from above and that which is from below cannot be mixed, that which is heavenly cannot be mixed with the earthly - there is a separation, an infinite gap between the two that by ourselves we cannot bridge. That’s why Jesus tells us in John chapter 3, that we must be ‘born again’, ‘born from above’, to change us from below, to above, something that is impossible for us. We need a completely new birth, a complete transformation in who we are, by the Holy Spirit, to be able to see, feel, and experience that which is from above, to be able to believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, the true light of the world, who gives us eternal life.

When we become part of the people who are ‘from above’, we now become participants in two dimensions, in two worlds. Until Christ returns, we live in an intermediate period where we still remain in this world, but we are not of the world. We still participate in the laws, economies, and activities of this world, but we are not of the world. Paul says in Philippians 3:20 “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” Fundamentally, we are different because our lives ‘from above’, eternal life, already begins in the present, and we begin to experience varying degrees of that in our earthly lives as God continues his transforming work in us. In Ephesians 2:6 Paul says that “ [God] raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,” and because of that, the life from above, our heavenly lives, eternal life, becomes real in the present.

And this is so important because the consequences of not having this is death because of sin - the very reality of being in darkness, of not knowing Christ and what He says to us, of the words of God in the Bible not impacting and changing our lives even though it is plainly written right in front of us, is death, because we cannot solve the problem of sin ourselves.

It is only through the cross that we can see the true light

So how do we see Jesus as the true light, and receive his light and all its wonderful saving and transforming results, and become a light to others? How do we become ‘from above’ and not ‘from below’ so that we will no longer die in our sins? We need to look to the cross.

When Jesus says these things to the Pharisees, they get really angry. When we read verse 25, the ESV says ‘Who are you’, it is probably better translated ‘Who do you think you are?’. The Greek is quite emphatic, and shows their outrage at what Jesus is saying. And in response, Jesus says in John 8:25 “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning.” Right from the beginning Jesus has been claiming that He is the Word of God, He is the Son of God, He is the one sent by God, God is His direct Father, He is the true bread of life and true living water - but they had been rejecting all these things and they did not understand. This is made so clear in John 8:27 when it says abotu the Pharisees ‘They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father.’ What we have in John is just a very small selection of all the things that Jesus had said and done - there was so much more! - and despite all this, the Pharisees still didn’t understand nor did they believe, and as we already saw before, this was because they were ‘from below’, not ‘from above’.

How is it then that we can see Jesus for who he truly is? How can we be ‘from above’ and believe in Jesus, and see the light, receive the light, have the light and all its blessings, and be a light for others? Read John 8:28 “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me.”

When it speaks of ‘lifted up’, it is talking about the crucifixion of Jesus. And although our English Bible’s say ‘I am He’, it is actually better translated as just ‘I am’. What does that remind you of? The burning bush scene of Exodus 3, where God reveals Himself to Moses as the ‘I am who I am’ (Exodus 3:14 ‘God said to Moses, “I am who I am.’). This is also the divine covenant name of God in the OT, YHWH. Jesus is saying that it is only through the cross that they will come to know Jesus, as the ‘I am’ - the very divine God Himself. It is through the cross that we can know Jesus as God, as the very divine God who shows himself to be the true light of the world to save us from darkness of sin, just like He saved the Israelites in the wilderness as a pillar of fire in the wilderness, and we come to know him as the true light who not only saves us but gives His own light to us to be a light to others. It is only through the cross that we can be ‘from above’, not ‘from below’, so that we can grasp and enter into the realm ‘above’, and understand its truths, so that we may come to believe that this man Jesus of Nazareth 2000 years ago, was the Christ, the Messiah, the true divine Son of God in the flesh.

It is only as we orient ourselves to the cross, that we begin to see the very glory of God, the ‘I am’, Jesus Christ.

How often do you think about the cross? Do you actually believe in the cross? Believing is not just knowing that Jesus was crucified 2000 years ago, but believing is understanding n the grace, love, and mercy that was shown to you on the cross, and understanding all the consequences that has for your life today, being transformed by the cross. We often domesticate the idea of the cross, and it becomes just another idea in our minds that we just think about every now and then when we come to church on Sunday or read the Bible. The cross was a brutal method of torture and punishment by the Romans that was reserved only for the worst of criminals, and it was the ultimate shame you could bring on someone - but God chose this very torture and execution method to reveal who He is, only through the cross do we actually come to know and believe the ‘I Am’, Jesus Christ. The cross is the central turning point of all human history, the cross is the central truth that our lives are shaped by, the cross should change how you think, talk, behave, live. The cross is everything. If you cannot articulate what the cross is and why that is important for your faith, if the cross is something you just think about on a Sunday and the rest of the week you forget about it, I would seriously challenge you today to re-evaluate how you are living your life of faith. The cross is the only hope we have in this hopeless world, and the only light we have in the darkness of this world.

Conclusion

Ending song: Here I Am To Worship