I AM the Light of the World
Notes
Transcript
Darkness that can be felt
Darkness that can be felt
When I was a kid I remember going through one of the caves in the Ozark Mountains (Bridal Cave - Indian Burial Cave - Marvel Cave???.
As we descended into the cave some distance from the entrance, we stopped and the guide told us that he was going to turn out of the lights. He told us not to move and that the lights would eventually come back on soon.
I had never experienced anything like the darkness that happened when the lights went out. I literally couldn’t see my hand in front of my face. That sort of darkness is overwhelming. I remember feeling very disoriented. I couldn’t tell up from down. The darkness was palpable and honestly terrifying! The only other time I experienced anything like that was on one of my trips to Uganda at in Kidepo National Wildlife refuge in Northern Uganda -
Moses described the 10th plague in Egypt as “darkness that could be felt” (Ex 10:21-23) - “thick darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days (v22).
That was a great description of our experience in that cave that day. The darkness could be felt. It was suffocating. It was a darkness that could be felt.
We talk about light many different ways...
We talk about light many different ways...
If someone doesn’t understand something, they are said to be “in the dark.” But when they finally get it, we say that the “lights came on.”
We’re looking for “light at the end of this COVID-19 tunnel.”
When we observe someone acting differently than we thought, we “see them in a new light.”
What happens in cartoons when some has an idea? A light bulb appears above their heads.
When we give the go-ahead for an activity to take place, we give the “green light.”
When we expose something that has been hidden, we are said to “bring it to light.”
It’s All About Jesus
It’s All About Jesus
After feeding the 5,000...
(John 6:10 “so the men sat down” - if we add women and children it was probably more like 20,000)
...with five small barley loaves and two small fish, the people decide that Jesus must the great prophet that Moses spoke of. They began making plans to make Him king by force.
Jesus wants nothing to do with that coronation so He sent His disciples to the other side of the lake and He took a stroll up the mountain and later that night joined them in the middle of the Sea of Galilee
The people searched high and low for Him and finally find Him on the other side of the lake.
They attempt to debate with the Son of God and demand a sign like Moses gave them in the wilderness.
Jesus takes the religious leaders to the ‘theological woodshed’ and reminds them that Moses was a man and he didn’t have any ability to call down manna from heaven. Moses was simply the mediator.
The manna was given by His Father.
They sarcastically request that He give them some of that bread.
Jesus stands and responds:
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.
Jesus then contrasts two kinds of bread. There is a kind of bread that doesn’t last. That is temporary. That is not life sustaining.
To put all your effort, to “work” toward this kind of bread would be a tragedy. An ultimate waste of a life.
We search for happiness, contentment, truth, love - only to find that what the world offers is only a shadow.
Augustine famously wrote that “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rests in you.”
But Jesus says there is another kind of bread. One that does not spoil and endures to eternal life. If you eat this bread you will never hunger or thirst spiritually again.
This bread is soul-food in the best sense of the word.
We saw the crowds’ reaction.
For some of them, the teaching was just too much.
For others, they bailed on Him completely.
But Peter who spoke for the ones that stayed boldly proclaimed:
68 Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. 69 “We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.”
Here is the Messiah - the anointed one who satisfies the deep longings of our hearts.
Read Passage - John 8:12-30
Pray
The Context
The Context
All of Jesus’ “I AM” statements are given in a particular context - setting
John 7 begins with “after these things Jesus was walking in Galilee....Now the feast of the Jews, the feast of Booths, was near...
Feast of Booths
Feast of Booths
The longest festival of the Jewish year (lasting seven days), this feast followed the Jewish New Year and the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur, Lev. 23; Deut. 16). It was a celebration of God’s gracious provision for the Israelites in the wilderness and the completion of the year’s harvest. There was a ceremonial water-drawing (commemorating the provision of water in the wilderness, Num. 20:2–13) and a lamp-lighting ritual a reminder of how God lead his people in the wilderness in a pillar of fire by night.
The first of these ceremonies provides the setting for Jesus’ proclamation in vv. 37, 38, the second for His statement in 8:12.1
1 R. C. Sproul, ed., The Reformation Study Bible: English Standard Version (Orlando, FL; Lake Mary, FL: Ligonier Ministries, 2005), 1523.
WATER
WATER
Turning back to chapter 7 we find ourselves at the Feast of Tabernacles.
Each morning during this feast the priest would hold up a golden pitcher and the people would then follow him to the pool of Siloam where he would draw water. The crowd would sing the Hallel psalms (113-118).
When the priest returned to the Temple He would circle the altar once each day, (seven times on the last day), and pour out the water on the altar.
The people would quote Scriptures like
2 “Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; For the Lord God is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation.” 3 Therefore you will joyously draw water From the springs of salvation.
This was intended to be a reminder of the water from the rock episode in Numbers 17
37 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. 38 “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’ ”
Jesus says, look around. Pay attention to the what’s going on here. I am the source of Living Water, not the rock, not Moses. This entire ceremony points to ME! And if you are spiritually thirsty only I can quench that thirst.
LIGHT
LIGHT
The Illumination of the Temple
Each night of the festival, four huge candelabras 75 feet high were lit. It took 60 pounds of oil to fill the bowls on top. The light from these menorahs would explode out of the Temple and reflect off the limestone streets of Jerusalem. This was called the illumination of the temple.
This entire ceremony pointed back to the wilderness wanderings when God’s people had left Egypt and God led them:
21 The Lord was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. 22 He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.
Jesus stood up and cried out:
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.”
Just like with the water, Jesus points to the smoldering menorahs and says, “Surely you get this, right?
I am the bread. The manna points to me.
I am the living water. The water that poured from the rock - that points to me.
And as you dance and sing around these huge lamps that represent the pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night doesn’t that remind you of someone?
It’s all about ME - It’s all about Jesus
The people just didn’t see the LIGHT!
That can happen when tradition replaces reality.
thought: during these times of restrictions with C-19 as we pull back from doing some of the things we have traditionally done, rather than think about what we can’t do, let’s think about the reason we have done these things - what is at the heart of these activities and traditions - JESUS
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.”
Jesus’ Claim
Jesus’ Claim
JESUS IS GOD
JESUS IS GOD
First Jesus claims without reservation or hesitation that He is God.
Remember last week when out of the burning bush the “I AM” spoke to Moses that He had chosen him to lead the people out of bondage in Egypt into the Promised Land?
Moses argues with God and makes excuses and finally says what if they ask me your name?
I AM WHO I AM
I AM WHO I AM
God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you’”
Just as the bush burned brightly and cast light all around, so too, Jesus is the light of the world, and a consuming fire that should stop us in our tracks because we APPROACH HIM we are on holy ground.
Jesus purposely applies that phrase, “I AM” to himself those who hear Him do not miss the obvious connection He is making.
Ἐγώ εἰμι = I AM. The crowds get it. The religious leaders get it. So much so that they want to execute Him for blasphemy.
John begins his Gospel with the idea that Jesus is divine and pre-existent :
14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
When did John see His glory? (Mark 9:1-13) On a mountain where he and Peter and James witnessed Jesus “transfigured” μετεμορφώθη
“There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.” (Matthew 17:2)
John, writing in his first letter...
“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.” (I John 1:9)
Jesus is claiming here to be GOD in the flesh. He is the light of the world...
I AM the Light of the World
I AM the Light of the World
The very first thing God does in creation is turn the lights on.
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.
The Psalmist said that God is “my light and my salvation.” (Psalm 27:1)
Isaiah comes along and prophesies nearly 700 years before Jesus that:
2 The people who walk in darkness Will see a great light; Those who live in a dark land, The light will shine on them.
In Isaiah 49, Israel is called to be a light the Gentiles:
6 He says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
John begins his Gospel with this description of Jesus:
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. 5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
God is light and Jesus is God’s light of salvation in a dark and dying world.
When Jesus was a baby and was presented to Simeon in the Temple, Simeon declared (quoting Isaiah 9:2)
76 “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; For you will go on before the Lord to prepare His ways; 77 To give to His people the knowledge of salvation By the forgiveness of their sins, 78 Because of the tender mercy of our God, With which the Sunrise from on high will visit us, 79 To shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, To guide our feet into the way of peace.”
And at the end of the ages, we see that there is no darkness in heaven:
23 And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.
“I am the light of the World”
He isn’t like the giant candles that lit up Jerusalem one time a year for eight days and then went out, he is the eternal light of the Word shining his light in the World....giving a promise....
Jesus’ Promise
Jesus’ Promise
The Promise - He is the pillar of light that guides His people through the wilderness
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.”
Just like light is a theme in the Scriptures, darkness is as well.
This is a spiritually dark world.
Jesus, as the light, exposes darkness:
19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
The light of God’s word exposes our sins. This is a hard thing but necessary to convict us of our need for saving from the darkness.
After appearing to Paul on the Damascus Road, Jesus told Paul that He was sending Him to the Gentiles:
18 to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.’
Jesus gives an invitation to follow Him and if we follow Him we will never walk in darkness.
It is HIM we follow - not a church, not a pastor, not a cause.
This involves “commitment, obedience, submission, passion, walking with him, following His Word, serving, and loving what He loves and hating what He hates.”
When we are enabled to follow Him by God’s grace, to place our full faith and trust in Him by the work of his spirit in us, we can praise him for rescuing us from the darkness of sins’ dominion.
13 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
8 for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light
Peter wrote that this should lead to worship:
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
Jesus offers us the bread of life - bread that will nourish us spiritually forever.
Jesus offers us living water that if you drink it will never spiritually thirst again.
Jesus offers us the light of life. Once you’ve seen the light, you are never the same again.
One day, this world will be filled with the light of Jesus.
C.S. Lewis famously wrote:
“I believe in Christianity as I believe in the sun has risen; not only because I see it but because by it I see everything else.”
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.”
Light is necessary for life - what happens when a plant is kept in the darkness? When that same plant is exposed to the proper light, is nourished with water, is pruned and maintained? It produces fruit....
9 (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), 10 trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.
Jesus’ Call
Jesus’ Call
Paul describes it this way:
8 for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light 9 (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), 10 trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; 12 for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. 13 But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light.
John writes in his first letter that this light changes the way we walk in this world:
5 This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; 7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
It changes the way we love people:
9 The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now. 10 The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. 11 But the one who 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.
The world today is a very dark place. Will it get darker? Yes. But we are called to be the light in the darkness. Paul encourages the Philippians to shine like Jesus our “bright morning star.” (Rev 22:16)
14 Do all things without grumbling or disputing; 15 so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, 16 holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain.
Warren Wiersbe wrote:
“Christ is our light and we trust Him.
He is our leader and we follow Him.
He is our life and we grow in Him and are called to reveal Him to a dark world and fallen world.
Paul writes this to the Christians at Corinth:
6 For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
And at a time when much of our country and so much of the world is covered with the darkness of anger and rage, this is a time to ask God to shine His light on dark places through us, to replace anger with love, to replace prejudice with honor, to replace what is wrong with what is noble and true.
Jesus is the light of the world.
The moon has no light of its own.
It simply reflects the sun.
So, those who are joined to Him - the Light of the world, by God’s grace through faith, are called to let His light shine through us...
14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; 15 nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.