John: The Light
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Exegetical Point: Jesus is the light of the world, he is from the Father and speaks on his authority.
Homiletic Point: Jesus the light of the world. Whoever follows him will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.
Intro
Intro
Kids - Can you see in the dark? How can you get around at night? What if you need to drive somewhere at night?
Car headlights, they light up the way.
We cannot see in the darkness - we need light!
Jesus is our light. He is the one who lights the way! He is the only way to eternal life, and so he is the only light for everyone in the world.
You kids, you adults, in order to get to life, you need Jesus.
Recap
The passage from last week - woman caught in adultery is quite likely a true story, but not part of John’s Gospel. It was inserted here.
Jesus been up at the Festival of Booths - Tents, water from the rock & fire.
We find that when we take out the inserted section, this part flows naturally on from the comments Jesus made about the Living water, and the challenges with the religious elite.
This morning we will see that
Jesus is the Light of The world,
This is an authentic message, and
Jesus is from out of this world!
Jesus is Light of the World (v12)
Jesus is Light of the World (v12)
Watching a German drama called Blackout - intriguing, and scary stuff. Quite close to home considering the power shortages at the moment with power stations offline etc. How dependent we have become on electricity in general, and electrical light sources. Even our generators and cars etc rely on fossil fuels pumped by electrical pumps!
Without light we can’t drive at night, we can’t see where to walk, we see dangers lurking in the dark. We can’t do much after sunset.
Imagine you were the Israelites, running away from Pharaoh in Egypt. He has proven time and again that he’s not willing to let his slaves go. There have been several false starts when he changed his mind. Now you’re finally on the move, leaving Egypt, but at any moment you expect a swap of Egyptian chariots to appear behind you and overtake your people to cut off your escape. You fear the dark, because you don’t have car headlights, or floodlights or night vision goggles.
Yet, God was there with you, leading the exodus. A fiery pillar to light up your way!
This would be celebrated at the feast of booths. The feiry glow at the temple lighting up the city.
In that context, Jesus says
When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Jesus essentially says that he is the Pillar of Fire & Cloud. As we do biblical theology and look at the connections across the scriptures, it seems highly likely that the appearances of God were pre-incarnate appearances of Jesus. This ancient cloud was described in some places in very close connection to God himself!
During the last watch of the night the Lord looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion.
Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud; he stood at the entrance to the tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When the two of them stepped forward,
God came and saved His people, met with his people, protected them and guided them to the Promised Land.
Jesus takes that mantle upon himself - he is the one who saves, who walks among His people, who protects them and leads us home to Paradise.
We Christians are like Israel, fleeing the slavery of Egypt. We pass through the waters of Baptism like Israel passed through the Red Sea, and the Lord goes before us to light the way to our new home.
Right now we are in the wilderness - we are pilgrims on the way. We have passed out of slavery, but we have not yet received the fullness of what is promised.
In this wilderness, we are not free to map our own course to the promised land. You either follow the light of Christ, or walk in darkness to your doom. Something which Jesus will talk about later in out passage.
John 8:12 (NIV)
“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
We must follow Jesus. He is the one who lights the way through this darkness.
He is a faithful light, his “batteries” will never go out. If he is our light, we will never walk in darkness. He will be ours - we will have the light of life!
Jesus the light of the world. Whoever follows him will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.
This is an Authentic Message (v13-20)
This is an Authentic Message (v13-20)
Not everyone likes this message!
Returning to a familiar theme - the truthfulness of Jesus claims. Quite relevant to us, because the basic problem for the unbelieving world is that they do not trust that Jesus is who he says he is.
Everybody would do well to look into the authenticity of Jesus message, the believer to be encouraged and have confidence, the unbeliever should look into it so that they can see the truth and put their faith in Jesus!
Whats’s the issue here?
Jesus had previously said:
“If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true.
The Jewish folks picked up on this idea, and they confront him:
The Pharisees challenged him, “Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid.” Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going.
Misusing what Jesus had previously said. Jesus had previously argued that if he was operating apart from the Father, then he wouldn’t be worth listening to.
But, instead of responding to the actual content of what Jesus had said, the people want to try and pin Jesus down on some technicality as if they were in a courtroom.
So Jesus goes over some of the stuff he’s said before from a slightly different angle: I know what I’m talking about because I’ve seen it! He’s not speaking on his own authority (as he has proved before), but even if he was, it’s still a true testimony!
Nevertheless, Jesus does return to the “judicial” proof:
You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. But if I do judge, my decisions are true, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true. I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me.”
Jesus does not judge the way his opponents do. Not “no judgement whatsoever”, he is The Judge!, but rather not judgment like they do - according to the flesh.
But look, even if Jesus was standing like an earthly judge, his judgments would still be true because he is aligned and connected with God the Father. He is not an independent.
He meets the qualifications under the Law (OT). They had to prove criminal proceedings on the basis of witnesses, something we spoke about last week. But even if you didn’t have a criminal proceeding, lets just say you had a dispute about a business deal, or the sale of a property, you would still want witnesses.
They would transact business in the city gate, where the leading men of the city would gather to decide cases and be witnesses to agreements being made.
If you came and declared I am the owner of XYZ block of land but so-and-so is taking my crops from it, the people who who witnessed the sale could say “yes, I saw and heard you buy that block of land”
Beyond reasonable doubt - two or more witnesses. Even now, when matters go before the court, we’re looking for “witnesses”. Whether it be formal agreements or emails or payment records - it is a witness of the truth. In criminal matters, we look for eye witnesses, for video footage, DNA evidence, etc.
Jesus speaks an authentic message, not only does he have an intimate knowledge of everything he is talking about, God the Father is his Witness.
And what is he a witness of?
Jesus the light of the world. Whoever follows him will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.
Believe in Him! Follow Him! Receive life!
In fact, you can even know the Father! Jesus says as much as he continues to responfd to the Jews:
Then they asked him, “Where is your father?” “You do not know me or my Father,” Jesus replied. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” He spoke these words while teaching in the temple courts near the place where the offerings were put. Yet no one seized him, because his hour had not yet come.
To know Jesus is to know the Father. Jesus is the route, and the expression of the Father. The Father has no body, but if you have seen Jesus you have seen the Father! He’s the spitting image!
But to reject Jesus means you cannot know God. He is the only way!
Despite these inflammatory words, Jesus is not arrested because the mission plan was not up to that part yet. He was on the divine timeline.
But eventually he would be seized, and be killed. Something he alludes to in the next section...
From out of this World (v21-30)
From out of this World (v21-30)
Jesus continues to teach:
Once more Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.” This made the Jews ask, “Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, ‘Where I go, you cannot come’?”
But he continued, “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; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.”
“Who are you?” they asked. “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning,” Jesus replied. “I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is trustworthy, and what I have heard from him I tell the world.” They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father.
The New International Version Chapter 8
28 So Jesus said, “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 but speak just what the Father has taught me. 29 The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.” 30 Even as he spoke, many believed in him.
From the father, but entered into the world to do what pleased the father.
The “hypostatic union”! Fully God, fully man.
Many believed!
Jesus the light of the world. Whoever follows him will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.
So What?
So What?
Jesus is The Light
The authentic message - trustworthy
From out of this world - but he entered into it to do what pleased God and to bring the light of salvation.
Jesus the light of the world. Whoever follows him will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.
References:
Carson’s Pillar Commentary on John.
Hutcheson’s commentary on John
Hendrickson’s commentary on John
Sermons by Richard D. Philips,
Sproul, R. C., ed. The Reformation Study Bible: English Standard Version. Orlando, FL; Lake Mary, FL: Ligonier Ministries, 2005.
Phillips, Richard D. John. Edited by Richard D. Phillips, Philip Graham Ryken, and Daniel M. Doriani. 1st ed. Vol. 1 & 2 of Reformed Expository Commentary. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2014.