Jesus is…the Son of God. Jesus is…the Lamb of God. Jesus is…the Teacher. Jesus is…the Messiah. Jesus is…the Temple. Jesus is…the giver of eternal life. Jesus is…the giver of Living Water. Jesus is…the Lord of Creation. Jesus is…the bread of life. Jesus is…from God.
Today’s passage looks at another of Jesus’ “I Am” statements. It’s another of His statements where He states something that directly reveals His character and the character of God to us. We have one main verse today, but that one verse is powerful. We saw through last week’s passage in John 7 that Jesus had gone to Jerusalem for the Feast of Booths or the Feast of Tabernacles. The Feast of Booths was a celebration feast where the Jewish people celebrated the end of the harvest season, but specifically they celebrated the way that God provides for His people. They looked back in remembrance of how He provided for them when they were wandering the wilderness.
During this feast, the Pharisees and priests were trying to trick Jesus, trying to trap Him into doing something against the law of Moses so they could have Him arrested. Just before the verse we’ll mainly be looking at today, they had brought the woman caught in adultery before Him. They were trying to trick Him into either forgiving her and not upholding the law of Moses, or into condemning her and not being loving and forgiving as He claimed He came to do. He managed through that trap by having them realize that they weren’t in a position to condemn the woman, and she was left with the simple words to “go and from now on do not sin any longer.”
Let’s look now, at John 8:12, “Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; the one who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” (NASB)
Jesus is…the LIGHT of the WORLD.
Just like Jesus’ previous “I Am” statement, when He said He is the bread of life during the Feast of Booths, this “I Am” statement used an image that the Jewish people would have been familiar with. The Bread of Life was meant to remind them of the way God provided manna for His people in the wilderness. The Light of the World was meant to remind them of the way God guided them by His presence in the pillar of fire at night.
Again, Jesus reminded them of something that God, the Lord Almighty, had done for them such a long time ago, connecting once again Jesus with the Father. Again, confirming that Jesus was with the Father even then because He was sent by the Father and He and the Father are One.
By proclaiming that He is the Light of the World, He was calling to memory all the times that the Scriptures call the Lord “light” or compare His presence to light in some way.
Psalm 27:1, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom should I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life; Whom should I dread?” (NASB) The Psalmist says here that the Lord is light.
Psalm 4:6, “Many are saying, “Who will show us anything good?” Lift up the light of Your face upon us, Lord!” (NASB) Here, and in many other places throughout Scripture, we see that light comes from the Lord.
Psalm 104:2, “Covering Yourself with light as with a cloak, Stretching out heaven like a tent curtain.” (NASB) Here, the Lord is covered in light, as you would cover yourself with a jacket.
Ezekiel 1:27-28, “Then I noticed from the appearance of His waist and upward something like gleaming metal that looked like fire all around within it, and from the appearance of His waist and downward I saw something like fire; and there was a radiance around Him. Like the appearance of the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the surrounding radiance. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face and heard a voice speaking.” (NASB) Here, the Lord shines and there is a radiance shining around Him.
Proverbs 6:23, “The commandment is a lamp and instruction a light; corrective teaching is the path of life.” (CEB) Here, the Lord’s teaching, His commands, are a lamp, a light to us.
Psalm 119:105, “Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.” (NASB) Here, the Word of the Lord is a lamp and a light to us. And verse 130 of the same Psalm, “The unfolding of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple.” (NASB)
Aaron’s prayer for the people in Numbers 6:25 was, “The Lord cause His face to shine on you, And be gracious to you;” (NASB) So, the blessing of the Lord is seen as Him shining His light on us.
Psalm 44:3, “For by their own sword they did not possess the land, And their own arm did not save them, But Your right hand and Your arm and the light of Your presence, For You favored them.” (NASB) Here, His presence is light.
The Lord is light. Light comes from Him. He is covered in light. He shines in radiance. His commands are light. His Word is light. His blessings are light. His presence is light.
This was a very familiar truth to the Jewish people. The Lord is the source of all that is good and truthful and just and righteous. Since He is the source of all that, and He is the source of light, then light represents all that comes from God, all that is good. God is light. Light is a symbol of good.
Isaiah 49:6 is a prophecy from God about the Messiah, about who He would be, “He says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the protected ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” (NASB) The Messiah would be a light to all the nations so that God’s salvation would reach the whole earth. The Messiah, sent by God, would be light just as God is light, He would be good, just as God is good.
Isaiah 9:2 is another prophecy about the Messiah, “The people who walk in darkness Will see a great light; Those who live in a dark land, The light will shine on them.” (NASB) The Messiah would be a light that shined in the darkness and would shine His light on all those who live in darkness.
So when Jesus proclaimed, “I am the Light of the World”, this is what He was saying to those gathered! He is the Messiah. He is from God. He is the One sent to shine the very light of God on their darkness.
Paul said it this way in 2 Corinthians 4:6, “For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.” (NIV)
Darkness is everything that is opposite of the light because it is the absence of light. Light is good. Darkness is sin. Light comes from God. Darkness is where the enemy lives. Light is God’s truth. Darkness is full of lies. These verses that we’ve read in Isaiah and in 2 Corinthians tell us that the reason Jesus was sent was to shine light in the dark, to give us His light to deliver us from all that the darkness brings! His righteousness banishes sin. His truth banishes the lies.
As Jesus was continuing to teach those who were gathered there, He told them in John 8:24, 34, “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins. … Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.” (NASB)
We are in darkness, lost in sin and destined to die spiritually unless we believe that Jesus is…
Unless we believe in Him, and let His light shine into the darkness of our hearts and our minds and our souls, we are lost in that darkness forever. The Pharisees and priests gathered tried to have Jesus arrested because of these statements He was making, but He was and is telling us the truth. Without a life lived in His light, we will continue dying in the darkness.
What do we do then?
“So Jesus said to them, “For a little while longer the Light is among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you; also, the one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of Light.” (John 12:35-36, NASB)
1. WALK in the Light, BELIEVE in the Light
“The one who loves his brother and sister remains in the Light, and there is nothing in him to cause stumbling.” (1 John 2:10, NASB)
2. Love your brother and sister (other BELIEVERS)
Finally, and this leads us into our questions for this week. Read through Matthew 5, especially verses 14-16, during Jesus’ sermon on the mount.
1. Who does Jesus say is the light of the world in this passage?
2. What specific way is the light called to shine in this passage?
3. Who receives the glory in this passage? Why does glory go to Him for these good deeds?