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. John 1:1-5, NASB[1]
With this post, I want to continue the series started March 10, 2019, on John 1:1-5. In today’s post, we will discuss the author’s metaphorical use of the word Light and Jesus. When we think of light, we think of the ability to see everything. We believe that light exposes everything. We even have a saying, “What you do in the dark will come out in the light.” Like us, the writer of John thinks of light as illumination and as way to expose. But the author of John when describing Jesus, also thinks of truth, wisdom, spiritual purity combined with illumination and exposition when writing about what light means as it pertains to Jesus.[2] For this author, “Light” becomes the perfect word to describe Jesus’ divinity.[3]
We have already discussed how we have “life”[4] in Jesus.[5] We will continue that discussion by showing how the life we have is a result of the Light, Jesus. Today, I want to discuss one aspect of the darkness, hatred for the Light and how when you truly belong to the Light, the hatred you will face. In John 1:5, the Light (Truth, Exposer, Illuminator) shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. The world, the powers that be, sin (especially exposition of sin), everything and everyone that hates the Light tried to overcome the Light and failed. Jesus tells the disciples in John 7:7, “The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil.” And again in John 15:18-19, He warns the disciples who had followed and become His, “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.”[6] In John 15:18-19, the disciples have a new life in the Light. So like the disciples because in Him we now have a new life in the Light and we now walk in the Light, we should not be surprised if the world hates us. Just like the world hated the Light because Truth exposed its sin, we will have the same experience.
In the early Church, Christians (those who believed in the Name or followed the Name)[7] accepted this as a fact of their lives. But, we live in a world where we want to be liked and accepted. But, this will not always happen if we walk in His Light. The same darkness that tried to overcome Jesus will be against us, sin. The more that we walk in the Light as our own authentic self (the way God intended for us to live) the more the world and sin will try to destroy us. I don’t mean just physical harm even though a lot of believers today face physical harm, even death because they walk in the Light. The powers that be or sin still use psychological, mental and social harm to try and crush the Light of Jesus in us that gives us life. But for those who believe and walk in Light (Truth), God has promised to never leave us.[8] Believers don’t be afraid to walk and live in Jesus’ Light.
[1] All texts are from the New American Standard Bible from Biblegateway.com unless otherwise noted.
[2] Blueletterbible.com accessed from https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G5457&t=NASB
[3] The author of the book of John uses Light twenty times in reference to Jesus’ divinity.
[4] We will come back to the word, life, in a later post.
[5] See March 10, 2019 post.
[6] The New Oxford Annotated Bible, New Revised Standard Version with the Apocypha. 4th Edition. Coogan, Michael, editor. Oxford University Press, Inc. NY:NY, 2010. Page 1881 footnotes.
[7] See Acts 4:17-18, 5:40-41.
[8] See Deuteronomy 31:8; 2 Corinthians 4:8-10.