“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12
Today, December 1, marks the beginning of advent – the time of preparation for remembering and celebrating the birth of Jesus. It seems appropriate to me to think on his declaration that he is “the light of the world” since Isaiah’s prophesy of Jesus’ birth begins with the words:
The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
on them has light shone. Isaiah 9:2
And leads to the more familiar Christmas scripture:
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (9:6)
So cool that these prophesies were made 100s of years before Christ was born. Light and dark are themes all through the bible from Genesis (“Let there be light.”) to Revelations (And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.)
Light is a description of God’s character and nature. “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:5) It is a metaphor for life, goodness, holiness, and purity. Interestingly, almost every time the bible mentions “light” it is contrasted with darkness in the very same scripture or the idea of “walking in darkness”.
I remember one time as a girl, traveling with my cousins on vacation. I woke up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom in the hotel room were all sharing. It was pitch black and I had a sense of urgency! As I quickly jumped out of bed and turned to get to the bathroom, I misjudged where the wall ended and smacked myself in the face – hard! Thud! I was so embarrassed! I was using my best judgement to get around, but I wasn’t able to get where I was going without a whole lot of pain and awkwardness! You probably have your own memory or experience of being in the dark. Maybe you think of feeling along a wall with your hands or groping through a junk drawer looking for your flashlight. Whatever the memory, I think we can likely agree that being in the dark might be fun if we are choosing the time and place and situation, but when it chooses us – we want our flashlights out and batteries working.
So we have this idea of darkness – of feeling vulnerable, uncertain, and stumbling. Then enters Jesus – the light. His character is life and goodness. It is the nature of God with us which dispels the dark. We are not alone. He says, “Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Some might like to say, “Why Jesus? Why do we have to follow Jesus?” We don’t. He gives us a choice. He IS saying he is the light in darkness. So we have the option of going our own way, but if we want to “see” we need to stay near the light source and follow him.
So to wrap up, let’s jump back to our Christmas verse! He(Christ) is called “Wonderful Counselor”, “Mighty God”, “Everlasting Father”, and “Prince of Peace”. That’s who is the light.
danasdevotions.net 