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Light of the World
Introduction
Here is our structure for the next few weeks
This week we are looking at Jesus as the Light of the World
Next week, it will be the year 2022.
We have some important announcements for the church
We have been walking through an eldership process with a few guys.
We are going to talk about eldership as a church and present a few guys who we would like to propose for eldership.
The following week, January 9, 2022, we are going to dive back into our series on the Superiority of Jesus and look at the book of Hebrews.
We will recap the book of Hebrews and dive into Hebrews 3:7-19.
If you would like to read ahead or brush up on that topic, this is the best time to do that!
Lost & Found
This is the last sermon in our Lost & Found series.
We have looked at the names of Jesus that are found in Isaiah 9:6.
Jesus is our Wonderful Counselor, our Mighty God, our Everlasting Father, and our Prince of Peace.
These are all things that we have a tendency to lose sight of in our lives.
I hope these have been good reminders of who Jesus is.
Today, we are taking another verse from Isaiah 9. Remember Isaiah 9 is a Messianic prophecy about Jesus.
We have focused on verse 6, but there is more in that chapter about Jesus.
Today’s journey into Jesus being the Light of the World stems from the beginning of this prophecy.
Read Isaiah 9:2.
Pray.
Topic
Define key points of this verse
This verse sets up a metaphor
It is not talking about somewhere at some time people were walking around in darkness and suddenly there was a light.
And because of this, everyone celebrated because the sun came up.
The metaphor here is that there are people who live in a form of darkness.
Then something would come and represent light in contrast to the darkness they were living in.
The words for light and darkness here are translated very accurately.
It is a very simple metaphor.
However, there is one very neat little tidbit that I feel adds some contextual understanding and adds some word picture to our understanding of this word
Deep Darkness-Tsalmevet
There are a few other places this word is used.
It is a unique word.
The most common and familiar usage of this word in the OT scriptures is found in Psalm 23:4.
Do you remember how that chapter starts?
“The Lord is my Shepherd”
Back to Isaiah 9, we see that there are people who are in the valley of the shadow of death.
They are without a shepherd.
They are in the darkness.
Darkness
What is darkness?
What is light?
Before we dive into this topic, I want to talk about the properties of light and darkness
Have you ever taken one of those trips into a cave?
They like give you all of the warnings beforehand.
If you are afraid of the dark, or claustrophobic, or a few other things, they don’t recommend this activity?
If it has a warning sign, it is probably pretty cool.
You get really deep into the cave, then they stop and turn off the lights.
That is a feeling that you will never be able to replicate in your life.
It is dark.
It feels cold.
Even if it isn’t cold, I always get a shiver in my spine.
You feel alone.
You know there are people around you, but when you cannot see them, it is as if they weren’t there.
I remember going with my kids to one of those trips to Gardner caves when they were in elementary school.
When the lights went out, I was making sure to touch my kids.
It is an eerie feeling.
Even thought the lights were out, I feared for the safety of my kids.
I couldn’t see them.
Darkness is a consuming, fear inducing phenomena.
But there is something about darkness that we need to know.
I can open up a box of darkness in a light room and it has no effect.
But I can open up a box of light in a dark room and it has tremendous effect
Light drives out darkness
This is a good and great reality…if you have light.
But if you don’t have any source of light, then this truth could remain true, but it would be a pointless reality.
Which is why this metaphor for Jesus brings such tremendous contrast.
In this metaphor, people are walking around in darkness.
And a great light has dawned upon them.
They have been given a light
From themselves, there is no light.
There is no understanding of that light.
But God has sent something that provides light.
Jesus Enters the Picture
Without beating this horse to death, we know the prophecy spoken of in Isaiah 9 is about Jesus.
If you missed that jump, please check out one of our last sermons in this series.
One of Jesus’ disciples named John wrote his account about the life of Christ.
However, he went about this task in a different way than did the other authors.
John built upon this metaphor in his description of Jesus.
Read John 1:1-9
Later on in the book of John, he identifies some very interesting words of Jesus
John 8:12
In these passages, we find two things at work.
First of all, the metaphor identifies where the darkness is.
Second of all, it identifies who the light is
As we have seen, Jesus is the light that has come.
But who is in darkness?
“The World”
Jesus said, “I am the light of THE WORLD”
It is interesting when we look at that phrase, “The world” in the NT.
John 3:16-19
John 9:5
John 12:46
John 12:35
The world
Darkness
Cannot create its own light
Darkness equals death
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