Light of the World

“Life” is found in the “Word” or ‘Logos,’ and this life is the “Light of men.” It is “shining in the darkness,” and the darkness “cannot seize” or otherwise stop it. This same ‘Logos’ has become the Living Word in Jesus of Nazareth in whom the glory and life of God are manifested for all men to see - (John 1:1).

His disciples are summoned to “testify” of the light in this dark world. Many competitors clamor for our attention, voices claiming to be the light, the source of illumination, and the “shining city on the hill.”

[Photo by Anthony Cantin on Unsplash]

In truth, the “darkness is passing away, and the true light is shining” already in Jesus. This must be so since “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” – (1 John 1:5, 2:8).

Political ideologies, philosophies, religions, economic theories, and messianic figures define themselves as the way, humanity’s best hope for peace and life, supposed bulwarks against the darkness that threatens to overwhelm humanity. However, at best, they are shadowy counterfeits of God’s reality. Their pretensions are exposed when the True “Light of God” radiates brightly on the Earth in His Son.

All false claims have failed time and again, and according to the Apostle John, there is only one source of the True Light that “illuminates every man coming into the World,” and the “Light” and “Life” of God are found only in His chosen vessel, Jesus Christ.

It began with John the Baptist, the “man sent from God” before the “Light” who bore witness so that men might “believe.” That “Light” came to fullness in the man from Nazareth. All men who believe in him see the “glory as of the only born of the Father - full of grace and truth.”

The disciples of Jesus become his “Lights in the World.” They are called to let their “light shine before men so they may glorify their Father in heaven.”  The fullness of His Light and Life are manifested in His Son, and that light is reflected in his followers as they bear witness to Jesus and follow in his footsteps – (John 1:1-14).

Thus, Jesus is the “Light of the World,” and there is no other source of “Life” but him. His followers become that shining “City on a Hill” when they let his light shine through them.

John’s Gospel begins with the declaration that God created all things through His “Word,” the “Logos.” “Light” and “Life” are found only in this “Word made flesh.” The Creator of the Universe gave living form to this ‘Logos’ in Jesus of Nazareth.

He is the “Light of the World” because he is the full expression of the Logos. This is also why anyone who believes in him and his words no longer “abides in the darkness.” Thus, we have been rescued from the power of darkness and “transferred to the kingdom of His beloved Son” – (John 12:44-50, Colossians 1:13).

John summarized this truth In his first epistle, and he used several terms and themes from the prologue of his Gospel when doing so:

• “That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we beheld, and our hands handled, concerning the Word of life. And the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare unto you the everlasting life, which was with the Father, and was manifested to us. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you also, that ye also may have fellowship with us. Indeed, our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son, Jesus Christ” – (1 John 1:1-3).

Jesus is the “Word of Life” manifested to humanity as his Church proclaims the Gospel to the nations. Because this “Word of Life” has entered the world through him, the “darkness is passing away, and the true light already is shining.”

The “darkness cannot seize” the Light. It retreats wherever it shines. Thus, the forms and institutions of this world are in the process of “passing away” – (1 John 1:1-3, 2:8, 1 Corinthians 7:31).

In a very dark world, Jesus is the bright light that radiates God’s life, truth, salvation, and hope to all men and women, and there is no other. In him alone, the Fullness of God’s “grace and truth” is presented for all men to see.

He declared to his disciples, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” No one comes to God “except through me,” and, “He who has seen me has seen the Father.” There is no other way to know or access God. Every competitor that claims to be the light will fade until it disappears from the Earth forever.

[Download PDF copy]

RELATED POSTS:

• God has Spoken! - (God is speaking His definitive word in His Son. All previous words spoken by the prophets were preparatory, promissory, and partial)

• Living and Life-Giving - (Jesus is the Word made flesh in whom the glory of God is revealed, the same word by which God created all things)

• His Mysteries Revealed - (The mysteries of God previously hidden are revealed in Jesus of Nazareth, and especially in his death and resurrection)