Has there ever been a time in your life when you were scared of the dark? When my girls were younger, they all preferred to have some type of nightlight on so that their rooms are not completely dark while they’re sleeping. Many of us can identify with that in thinking back to our own childhoods.
In another regard, I am still afraid of the dark today. I am afraid of spiritual darkness, and I hate to be the barer of doom and gloom, but I believe that the Bible teaches that until Jesus returns, our world and our culture will grow darker and darker as it relates to violence and immorality and injustice. All you have to do is see the news on the internet or watch a local newscast.
However, I have good news for us in John 8:12. Please allow me to give you some context.
Last week, Jesus was in the temple when He didn’t condemn and forgave the woman caught in adultery and told her to her to sin no more. Today, He is still in the temple most likely in the Court of Women.
Also, remember that this was the end of the Feast of the Tabernacles. Bible commentators tell us that during that festival, four gigantic menorahs or candelabras were used to light the entire city of Jerusalem. However, at the end of the festival, they were extinguished.
It was with this backdrop that Jesus mage His second “I am” statement in John’s gospel when He said in 8:12, “I am the light of the world.” His first “I am” statement was in John 6:35 when He said, “I am the bread of life.”
Notice that Jesus didn’t say He was a light. He said He was the definitive light of the world.
With this statement, He was again claiming to be God as light is symbolic of God throughout the Scriptures. See Psalm 27:1, 36:9; Acts 9:3-5; 1 John 1:5.
1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?
9 For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light.
3 As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. 4 Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” 5 And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”
5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.
And of course, many of us remember God in the OT demonstrating Himself in a flame at night as He guided the nation of Israel and the people of God at night. The gigantic menorahs I spoke of earlier were supposed to remind these orthodox Jews of that experience during the Feast of the Tabernacles.
However, as we have come to expect, Jesus’ declaration was again challenged by the Pharisees, the Jewish religious leaders of the day, and in today’s text, we see how Jesus who or what affirmed Jesus as God.
Exposition
- Jesus was affirmed as God by Himself, 8:13-14.
13 The Pharisees therefore said to Him, “You bear witness of Yourself; Your witness is not true.” 14 Jesus answered and said to them, “Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from and where I am going.
The Pharisees accused Him of lying because they didn’t think He had others to testify on His behalf, but He assured them of the contrary. His testimony was true as He knew where He came from and where He was going.
He clearly knew that He was God. He clearly knew He came from God, and He clearly knew that He was returning to God after He completed His mission.
- Jesus was affirmed as God by the Father, 8:15-16.
15 You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. 16 And yet if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me.
Jesus countered their attacks with an assertion of His own. They judged Him according to the flesh or what they saw. He did not measure up to their physical visions of what a Messiah should be. He was not political leader. He was not a military power. He was not an earthly king.
However, Jesus did not come to judge anyone but to save, but even if He did come to judge, His judgment would be true as God the Father had affirmed Him.
- Jesus was affirmed as God by the Scriptures, 8:17-18.
17 It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true. 18 I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me.”
With this affirmation, Jesus’ testimony would even now hold up in a court of law according to the OT because He had another witness making two. See Deuteronomy 19:15.
15 “One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established.
After Jesus mentioned His Father in 8:18, the Pharisees sarcastically asked Him about His father in 8:19. Look at His response.
Jesus said that they didn’t know His Father because they didn’t know Him. That statement got all over them
However, as we have seen before, Jesus didn’t operate on His own time table. He operated on God’s time table, and because of that, He was protected until it was time for Him to lay down His life.
Applications
When we think about applications for this text, the invitation is clear, and that is for you to come to the Light of the world. If you do, here’s what happens.
First, Jesus will dispel the darkness of unbelief. Because Jesus is the light of the world, if you come to Him, you will be saved because He is the light of life in 8:12.
Even Simeon said this about Jesus in Luke 2:27-33.
27 So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, 28 he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said: 29 “Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; 30 For my eyes have seen Your salvation 31 Which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, 32 A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of Your people Israel.” 33 And Joseph and His mother marveled at those things which were spoken of Him.
Second, Jesus will dispel the darkness of ignorance. By nature, light illumines the path and shows us where to go.
If you come to Jesus, He will provide light and guidance for daily living. Consider Matthew 18-19.
15 “Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’ 17 And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector. 18 “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. 19 “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”
- Jesus doesn’t want you to live in sin.
- The Church is God’s plan for your spiritual maturity and that includes holding you accountable for the life you live.
1 Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these sayings, that He departed from Galilee and came to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. 2 And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them there. 3 The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?” 4 And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”
- There are only two genders, and those genders are the two that God assigns at birth.
- Marriage is only between one husband and one wife at one time.
- Divorce is not God’s ideal for you.
Therefore, when we come to Jesus, we don’t have to live in the darkness of ignorance. Jesus will light the way for us.
Finally, if you come to Jesus, He will also dispel the darkness in others through you because you will become the light as well.
14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
God’s plan for you right now wherever you are and whatever you’re doing is to be the light for others. Otherwise, He would have already take you to heaven.
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