Light of the World
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
In Plato’s classic work, “the Republic,” he records a conversation between his brother Glaucon and the famous philosopher and teacher, Socrates about the ignorance of the world. In order to explain it Socrates tells this famous allegory that has become known as “Plato’s Cave,” and it goes like this:
Imagine there were prisoners in a cave, chained to some posts in such a way where they can’t move at all. They are positioned in such a way where they are staring at a wall in front of them with an opening to the cave behind them casting light on the wall. Because the light is behind them, anything in the cave, or anyone that moves around in the cave, projects a shadow onto the wall in front of them. Now in this allegory, the prisoners have no memory of anything before their imprisonment, so they have no concept of the outside world; the only thing they have ever seen are the shadows cast on the wall in front of them. Naturally, because they have never been out into the light or seen the real world, they are totally ignorant to reality and only know how to understand things through shadows.
Now, Socrates believes that the world is like these prisoners and is ignorant to the higher truths of our world. He also believed it was the philosopher’s job to convince the prisoners to escape their bonds and come out into the light so that they can see things for what they really are.
In our passage this morning, we see Jesus as a burning light that enters into our dark world, and he reveals several very important things to us about which we cannot understand apart from him. As his light shines, he reveals three important things: He reveals God to a world who has forgotten him, He reveals the sinfulness of men who have become blind to it, and he reveals the way of Salvation to a world desperate for it.
As Light, Jesus Reveals God to the World
As Light, Jesus Reveals God to the World
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.” So the Pharisees said to him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.” 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. You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.” They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”
The world has forgotten God
The world has forgotten God
State: The whole world has lost sight of who God is. This is shown in that the leaders of God’s people don’t even know him. Highlight verses 14-15, 23. Support with Isaiah 9:2
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.
The state of the world prior to Jesus having taken on flesh and becoming a man was very dark indeed. It was dark in many ways — it was a place full of evil, ignorance, and sin. It was a place that had fallen very far from the garden paradise God had placed the first people in. In fact, the world had completely forgotten God at this point in history. They may still have claimed to know him, but they had truly forgotten him and had given themselves over to worshiping other gods, or false ideas about the one True God.
This is proven time after time if you were to read through the Old Testament — the pagans were obviously far from God, but even the Israelites had fallen from him as well. God had sent them prophets, and the Israelites persecuted them. God had given them the law, and they twisted it to suit their own desires. God had given them his word, and they trampled on it in favor of their own interpretations.
That leads up to where we find Jesus addressing the Israelites here immediately following the Feast of Booths, claiming to be the light of the world. The Pharisees obviously take issue with this claim, partially because they don’t think they were ever in the darkness. They refute his claim, calling him a liar. To this, Jesus says,
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.
Jesus tells them they do not know where he comes from — in other words, they do not know the dwelling place of God. He continues
You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.
He shows them that they are spiritually blind — they judge Jesus according to the flesh. They are blind to who he really is, even though they have been given the Scriptures, the prophecies, and the law, all which was meant to prepare them to judge the Messiah rightly when he finally did show up. Instead, they are staring at the Messiah and judging him according to the flesh, wrongly.
Jesus teaches them that his Father bears witness about him, and he certainly does! If the Jews were able to understand their own Scriptures, the prophecies concerning the Messiah, they would have certainly understood who Jesus was, and they would have known God. Of course, they didn’t understand, and they don’t know God, and so they don’t recognize the Son of God standing right in front of them.
He accuses them, accurately, of not really knowing the Father, and so they don’t really know him. In other words, they are in the dark. They are blind. They do not know God, and they are not able to judge rightly.
And so when Jesus describes himself as the light of the world, it is in part to address this issue: he is revealing God to a world that has forgotten him and could not find him.
Jesus Makes God Known
Jesus Makes God Known
State: If you come to know Jesus as he truly is, then you come to know God. Jesus intentionally uses the ego eimi six times in this passage. Highlight verses 16-19. Support with Hebrews 1:3
Jesus says to them that it is the Father who sent him into the world as this light, and it is the Father who bears witness about him. God provided Jesus to the world as a light, so that he could reveal himself to a world that had completely forgotten and abandoned him. Jesus continues,
They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”
Jesus makes the great accusation — that they do not know the Father — and then also reveals that if they knew Jesus, then they would know the Father. This is because Jesus is the light that is revealing the Father to the world. We also read about this concept in the beginning of the letter to the Hebrews, where it says of Jesus,
He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
We see that when we come to know Jesus, we come to know God himself. This is made even more clear by the way Jesus speaks of himself in this passage. The language that he uses is something that we have already touched on in previous sermons through John, but it stands out here again. Jesus uses the greek phrase “ego eimi” six times in the passage we look at this morning, and the way Jesus uses this phrase is a call back to the burning bush when God revealed himself to Moses with the title “I AM.” Now standing in front of Jesus, the Jewish people hear the same title that Moses heard from the burning bush: they have been confronted with the I AM.
Apply: In our world today, we have desperate need of this light to shine. We live in a world that is just as confused as ever, just as blind and lost in darkness. We live in a world that cannot tell right from wrong, truth from lie, good from evil. The world does not know God, and they cannot find him. We live in a world where we have been plunged into darkness.
And yet we have come to behold Jesus, the Son of God, the great I AM, the radiance of the glory of God. It is through Jesus that we have come to know God, and it is through Jesus that all of our darkness has been flooded with light. This is the light that we now bear, the good news of Jesus, and the revelation of God in the gospel of Jesus.
But we must be confronted with that light, it must penetrate all of our own darkness. We must place that light on a stand and let it shine, so that all may see, and that darkness can be purged from the world. We must proclaim Jesus Christ, the light of the world who makes God known to the world.
Transition: But this light doesn’t have an immediately comforting affect. Just as Jesus shines as a light that reveals God to the world, he also shines as a light that reveals the sinfulness of man.
As Light, Jesus Reveals the Sinfulness of the World
As Light, Jesus Reveals the Sinfulness of the World
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.” So the Jews said, “Will he kill himself, since he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.
State: As Jesus comes into the world and shines light, the sinfulness of the world is revealed. He shows that sin will kill us because of who we are, where we are from (not physically, but spiritually). Support from Ephesians 2:1-3
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
When the Pharisees are confronted with the light of the Son of God, their sin is revealed by that light. Jesus pulls no punches, and he plainly proclaims this judgement on them:
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.”
When Jesus, the light of the world, confronts sinful, prideful men, that sin is exposed. This is one of the roles of light — to expose that which has been thriving in darkness. These pharisees have been doing just that. In the darkness of the world, they have made a name for themselves. They have convinced everyone around them that they are spiritually superior, that they are truly outstanding moral individuals that demand respect and adoration from all the people. This is a facade, and Jesus calls them somewhere else, “whitewashed tombs” — clean on the outside, dead on the inside.
And as his light shines, it exposes their sinfulness in the sight of all. Jesus calls out their sinfulness, and he calls out its end. He tells them bluntly that they will not be able to follow him to heaven, and that they will ultimately die in their sins.
This is one of those passages that reminds us that Jesus wasn’t just always a “safe” feeling person to be around. Jesus is a blazing light, and those who approach him have their sins revealed — a very uncomfortable thing.
Illustrate: In many ways, it reminds me of what its like when you’ve been sitting in a dark room for hours and then someone flips bright lights on all of a sudden. Its a jarring experience — your eyes have been adjusted to the darkness, and the light is immediately offensive before you’re able to see its purpose.
In the same way, the cockroaches that live in a dark basement immediately scatter as soon as someone turns on the lights.
So it is with the sinfulness of men who have come to encounter the light of the world in Jesus Christ. All who come to him will have their sinfulness exposed by him, and there is no escaping it.
Apply: I understand that this isn’t exactly a heartwarming point to make, but its an important point nonetheless. Jesus is not the type of person who will ignore sin. Jesus does not take sin lightly, and he will expose it. In fact, in order to come to him and be found in him, he bids that we come confessing our sins to him.
And when we come to encounter the light of the world that reveals sin, we must come humbly, confessing our sins to him. When we see the light of his holiness, when we come to see him as he is, and we get a better look of ourselves as we truly are, we must humble ourselves and acknowledge our own sinfulness before God.
This is always something that you see happening throughout the Bible whenever someone comes face to face with God. When you come to see him and his glory, the only natural reaction is to repent and confess our sinfulness to him.
Transition: Thankfully, Jesus didn’t just come to proclaim the truth about our sinful condition. He also came to proclaim the truth about our Salvation, and that through him. This is the third function of Jesus as the light of the world: he reveals the way of salvation to the world.
As Light, Jesus Reveals the Way of Salvation to the World
As Light, Jesus Reveals the Way of Salvation to the 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.” So they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning. I have much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.” They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father. So Jesus said to them, “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. And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.”
State: Up until now, the way of salvation has only been understood dimly through types and shadows. Now, we see in the full light of day that we are saved from our sins through faith in Jesus Christ. His sacrifice, being “lifted up” would accomplish the satisfaction for our sins.
This salvation is something that God has been slowly revealing to the people of Israel since before they were called the nation of Israel. In fact, it started way back in the garden of Eden, when God promised a seed would come through Eve to crush the serpent their enemy, and the destroyer of souls.
That promise would find further expression in the covenants made with Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, the Prophets, and many more. It would find further expression through the law, which reflected the sinfulness of humanity and the holiness of God. It would find further expression in the sacrificial system, which showed the people that their sins could find sanctification through the blood of another. Yet all of these revelations from God were only types and shadows of the full way of salvation, and they were only ever meant to fix the attention of God’s people on the messiah who would come and one day fully accomplish their salvation; they were all pointing towards the seed that would come from Eve and destroy sin and the devil once and for all.
And in this passage, Jesus shows us that he reveals himself to be that Messiah, the true seed of Eve, the fulfillment of all of the promises, and the one who would finally accomplish our savlation. He finally and fully reveals how that salvation will be accomplished and applied to people. He says to the Pharisees,
I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.”
Jesus reveals that for our part, all we must do to be saved from the certain death our sin brings is this: believe. You must simply believe in Christ. You must believe who he says he is, who he has always said he is. You must believe that, just as Jesus said, “I AM he.” Jesus reveals to this self-righteous people that they cannot merit their own salvation, and their attempts at “merit” has only brought death upon them. To be saved, they must only believe in Jesus.
But our faith does not accomplish our salvation, faith merely applies salvation to individuals. Before salvation can be applied to us, it must have been accomplished. Jesus reveals here that he will be the one to accomplish the salvation of the world.
So Jesus said to them, “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 Jesus says, “lifted up” here, he is predicting and referring to his crucifixion. This will be the critical moment where the sins of the world will be placed on Jesus and he will bear the wrath of God for sin. When he is lifted up, he will utter those words, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” When he is lifted up, the Father will turn his face from the Son and punish him for all the wrongs we have done. When the Son is lifted up, and he endured the mocking from the crowd, when he is abandoned by his friends, when he is forsaken by the Father, when all of the types and shadows of the law, the sacrificial system, the prophecies, have all been fulfilled, then the Christ will say, “It is finished.”
Our salvation, that is. Jesus is referring to the moment that is rapidly approaching when he will finally accomplish our salvation, and we must only believe in him to receive that salvation as our own.
And he tells the people that when they have lifted him up, then “they will know” that he is the Son of God, the great I am. This would prove to be a prophecy; for as Matthew records the crucifixion of Jesus, we read about all of the surrounding events. While he was hanging there, the whole of creation was bearing witness to his divinity. The sun went dark, the ground shook, the rocks split, and the curtain in the temple was torn in two. At that point, even the Roman centurion overseeing the crucifixion was cut to the heart when he said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”
Indeed, truly this Jesus we have come to behold is the Son of God. As the light of the world, he has revealed God to the world, he has revealed the sin of the world, and he has revealed the way of salvation to the world, which is faith in him and in his finished work.
Illustrate:
Apply:
Do you realize what this means for you? Do you see how much this changes? There is no quantifying just how much this changes for your life. There is no darkness that this light doesn’t reach. This changes the way we view ourselves and our neighbors. It changes the way we view God. It changes the way we view cancer, and disasters, and heartbreak, and failure, and rejection. All of the darkness is dispelled through the light of Christ as we find true life in him, and a life that cannot be taken away from us by anything or anyone.
I ask you, have you seen the light? Have you come to see and know that this Jesus truly is the Son of God, the savior of the world? Then rest in him and in his finished work, knowing that he has brought life and light where there was once death and darkness.
FCF: The world is covered in the darkness of sin, and we will die in that darkness.
CFC: Christ shines as a bright light, bringing salvation and life to those who believe.
