The Gospel of John - part 22
John 8:12-30 : The Light of the World
This week we come to the second 'I Am' statement in John. Here they are again as a reminder:
I Am the Bread of Life - 6:35
I Am the Light of the World - 8:12
I Am the Gate - 10:7
I Am the Good Shepherd - 10:11
I Am the Resurrection and the Life - 11:25
I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life - 14:6
I Am the True Vine - 15:1
In the first ‘I Am’ statement we learn that Jesus is the ‘bread of life’, the provision for all that we need, because He is the Source of all that we need.
The second statement declares Jesus is the light of the world.
What does this mean?
To fully examine this statement, let’s look back at the context of His teaching which started back in 7:2. The Jewish people are celebrating the Festival of Booths or Sukkot. This festival commemorates both the annual harvest, and more importantly, God’s provision during the wilderness journey.
In Chapter 7, we saw the people in disagreement over Jesus’ identity. They argued whether He was a prophet, the Prophet, or a false prophet leading people astray. After Jesus taught and the people marveled at his dealings with the Pharisees, many shifted to believing He was the Messiah, though some still saw Him as just a man. Regardless, the narrative demonstrates a confusion among the people over what is true.
One of the points I made those many weeks ago was that people are still arguing today over Jesus’ identity. The reason is very simple: people argue over what is true or even if Truth can be known, because they walk in darkness.
Many today are walking through the woods hoping to get out, but they have blindfolds over their eyes. They grope helplessly, hoping to one day find something they can hold onto.
When Jesus says, “I am the Light of the World”, He is stating that He is how we know what is true. As he says in 14:6, He is the way, the truth, and the Life. We know what is true because He is showing us the truth.
Now, this is a bold and controversial statement for our age.
Many will ask how can I be so exclusive…or one-sided…or whatever anti-PC term is being thrown around these days.
Well, the primary reason is my own experience with our Savior. This world only makes sense because Jesus makes sense. Every other belief system I have ever encountered cannot answer the questions of life with certainty. It is all groping in darkness. And by far the darkest is the meaningless secularist religion that permeates the 21st century—this popular religion that life is a giant cosmic accident with no purpose other than to pursue temporary pleasures until the day the soulless combination of proteins and fat ceases to function.
If you have been wandering in darkness and happened to have wandered here, then I have some great news for you!—there is light to be found, but we have to take off the blindfold.
Let’s begin reading what John has left for us.
The Testimony of Light
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” So the Pharisees said to him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.” Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father[a] who sent me. In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.” They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.
John 8:12-20
Jesus promises that whoever follows him will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. The Pharisees instantly argue Jesus is proclaiming something without corroboration. In the Torah for a testimony to be valid, there must someone to verify it—a testimony of at least two or three witnesses. Because Jesus is alone in what He says, they believe his testimony is invalid.
Jesus’ reply is quite telling, but sometimes we might miss it reading too quickly.
He is confident He is telling the truth because He knows where He is from and where he is going. We know from earlier, He means He is from Heaven.
Because of Jesus’ divinity, we know he is speaking the truth.
The Pharisees judge ‘according to the flesh’ meaning they are only looking at physical appearances. Jesus is teaching a spiritual truth that they are missing. Yes, Jesus was a man with a physical body, but He is also God come down to us. We know He speaks the truth because He is the eternal God who knows all, because He created all.
But, if we look at verse 18, even though Jesus needs no corroboration, He has the Father who sent Him to bear witness as well.
The Pharisees want to know where is Jesus’ Father, and Jesus replies that if they knew Him they would know the Father. Jesus’ identity is directly tied to God, that is why we say Jesus is both God and man. If you know one, you know the other.
Make no mistake, Jesus is again declaring divinity, and John helps us understand His message by giving verse 20—Jesus is teaching these things in the temple, but ‘no one arrested him’, meaning that the Pharisees would have recognized Jesus as stating He is from God. The Pharisees are hearing Jesus declare divinity which will be the case they make for his execution.
Allow me to explain further by looking again at the setting of this teaching:
Jesus is speaking in the temple during Sukkot which included nights of celebration because part of the commemoration is that God led the people in the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night. When YHWH led the people by fire, “God shining” on the people came to mean salvation and revelation. Consider
Psalm 44:1-3
O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us, what deeds you performed in their days, inn the days of old:
You with your own hand drove out the nations, but them you planted; you afflicted the peoples, but them you set free; for not by their own sword did they win the land, nor did their own arm save them, but your right hand and your arm, and the light of your face, for you delighted in them.
Or Psalm 119:105,
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
Just as ‘Light’ referred to God’s revelation and salvation, Jesus is calling Himself the Light—God’s revelation and salvation.
This is why Paul says in Colossians Jesus is the image of the invisible God. It is in Jesus we know and understand God. He is the light that reveals the Truth, helps us understand the world around us, and points us to salvation.
Believe in the Light
So he said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” So the Jews said, “Will he kill himself, since he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” He said to them, “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, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.” So they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning. I have much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.” They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father. So Jesus said to them, “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 authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.” As he was saying these things, many believed in him.
John 8:21-30
The connection here is the theme of Jesus’ origin. Verse 23 is even more blatant than before that Jesus is from Heaven whereas the Pharisees are from below—earth. However, the teaching now comes with another warning. If the Pharisees do not believe what Jesus is teaching, they will die in their sins. In other words, they will miss out on seeing the Kingdom of God—Heaven. If this sounds redundant from previous sermons, it is because Jesus has been teaching this truth multiple times now. He even says in verse 25, “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning.” And if you recall from before, I’ve said if the Bible repeats something it is important. So once again:
Those who believe in Jesus will be saved.
Those who do not believe die in their sin.
The proof of Jesus’ teaching came at the Resurrection. Look again at verse 28. “When you have lifted up the Son of Man” refers to the crucifixion and resurrection. The Son of Man is lifted up on the cross to atone for our sins, then He is raised back to life and ascends to Heaven. The Son of Man is quite literally ‘lifted up’ proving His Divinity and authority.
Again, looking again at the context of this passage, one cannot help but think of the bronze serpent during the wilderness journey. There came a point in the Israelites journey that they were plagued with venomous serpents. Each bite of a serpent would bring death. The people prayed for salvation and God told Moses to fashion a bronze serpent. The sculpted serpent was placed on a pole, and each time someone was bit, they could look to the sculpture and be healed. Now, there wasn’t anything magical about the sculpture, it was the act of faith in looking to God for healing that brought about the healing. God promised to heal anyone who looked at the serpent and fulfilled His promise. Today, just as the serpent was lifted up, so the Son of Man had to be lifted up, so that anyone who looks to Him for salvation will be saved. That is God’s promise to us—if we trust in Jesus and His work on the cross, then we will be saved. That is the will of the Father and Jesus is doing as the Father taught Him.
In verse 30 we read that as he was teaching, many believed in Him.
We will continue the story next week, but as I close, I must ask: Do you believe?
Have you trusted in Jesus for salvation? If not, now is the time. Do not wait, because no one is promised time, we are only promised that if we will trust in Jesus, He will point us to salvation and understanding.
He is the Light of the World, because He is God come to us to demonstrate His love and bring us salvation. The resurrection proved He is who He said He is. And for those who trust in Him, it is like C. S. Lewis said,
“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”
C. S. Lewis in “Is Theology Poetry?”