Light or Darkness

“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 comprehend or suppress it. This same “Word” has become the Living Word of God in Jesus of Nazareth. In him alone, the glory and life of the Creator of the Universe are fully manifested - (John 1:1).

The disciples of Jesus are summoned to “testify” of the light in a dark world, though many competitors are clamoring for our attention. Each one claims it is the source of light and truth, but with the manifestation of God’s “light” in His Son, the “darkness is passing away, and the true light is shining.” This must be so since “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” – (1 John 1:5, 2:8).

[Photo by Darko Pribeg on Unsplash]

Political ideologies, religions, economic theories, and messianic figures declare themselves as the way and humanity’s best hope for peace and prosperity, the supposed bulwarks against the chaos and darkness that threaten to overwhelm humanity. They are shadowy counterfeits at best. More often, they dwell in darkness. However, they are exposed as false answers and the opposite of truth when the “Light of God” radiates brightly in the world through His Son.

All such claims have failed time and again, and according to Scripture, there is only one source of the True Light that “illuminates every man coming into the World,” and the “Light” and “Life” are found only in Jesus Christ.

It began with John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Messiah of Israel, the “man sent from God” before the “Light” who bore witness so that men might “believe.” That “Light” shone in all its brilliance 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.”

Furthermore, his disciples become “Lights in the World” summoned to let their “light shine before men so they may glorify the Father in heaven.”  The fullness of His Light is manifested in Jesus, This light is reflected in his followers as they bear witness 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” or illumination than him. His followers become the only true shining “City on a Hill” when they let HIS light radiate on the Earth. There is no true light apart from him, and his Assembly is called to mediate it to all the nations of the Earth.

In the Gospel of John, the Baptist declared that Jesus of Nazareth is the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the World.” Thus, he testified before Israel that Jesus was the Son of God – (John 1:29-34).

LIGHT AND LIFE

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.” In him, the Creator of all things gave concrete and living form to the same “Word” by which He made the Heavens and the Earth - (John 1:1-3).

Jesus is the Light of the World because he is the full expression of this Word, the Logos, which is why anyone who believes in him and his words no longer “abides in darkness” but in light – (John 12:44-50).

In his first epistle, John summarized this truth, and he employed several terms and themes from the prologue of his Gospel to do 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 of Nazareth is the “Word of Life” that shines before the world. 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. Instead, it retreats wherever it shines – (1 John 1:1-3, 2:8).

In a very dark world characterized by death and falsehood, Jesus is the bright light that radiates God’s life, truth, and hope to all men and women, and there is no other. In him alone, the Fullness of God’s grace and truth are 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.” All competitors that presume to be the light will fade in the end. Only in Jesus is the nature and light of God found and manifested, and nowhere else.

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