The Light of Life!

"Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, 'I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life'" John 8:12.

Through inspiration, Isaiah prophesied and wrote, "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 give You as a light to the Gentiles, that You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth" Isaiah 49:6. This prophecy was generally understood as applying to the Messiah and When Jesus said, "I am the light of the world," many people could not fail to recognize His claim to be the Promised One.

John, who had listened to Jesus' claim, long after reechoed the thought, "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it... That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world" John 1:4, 5, 9.

There is a tension between darkness and light. Not everyone accepts the "light of life" shared with us by God. Jesus stated it this way, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life" John 3:14, 15. Eternal life is here at stake, verses perishing.

Jesus continues, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved" Ibid. 3:16, 17. Here again eternal life or everlasting life is identified as opposed to perishing.

Again, Jesus continues this message and likens it to "Light" and "Darkness." "He who believes in Him (Jesus) is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God." Ibid. 3:18-21.

Accepting the "Light" with which God has illumined the world is a matter of life and death; of continuing existence beyond the grave or nothingness. It is a matter of believing and trusting what the Awesome Intelligence Source of this Universe shares with us, or ignoring it.

Light has ever been a symbol of the presence of God to His people. In the beginning, God created light and separated the light from the darkness (Genesis 1:3, 4). In Israel's wilderness journey, light had been enshrouded in the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. Light blazed with awful grandeur about the Lord on Mount Sinai. Light rested over the mercy seat in the tabernacle in the wilderness. Light filled the temple of Solomon at its dedication. Light shone on the hills of Bethlehem when angels brought the message of the Messiah's birth to watching shepherds.

Jesus is the literal source of spiritual light that illumines the darkness of this depraved world. Paul stated well, "For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body" 2 Corinthians 4:6-10.

The "light of life" is the salvation that Jesus has provided to every man, woman and child that has ever been born into this world. For He is "the true Light which gives light to every man (and woman) coming into the world" John 1:9. Whereas, God will not force His will or His ways on any of us, He is there for every one of us who will open our senses to "the Light of life."

May God wonderfully bless you today!