But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.  To him be glory both now and forever.  Amen.

2 Peter 3:18

I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD

 

 

 

Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.  John 8:12

 

As noted in a previous article “Yahweh: The Great I AM” God revealed himself to Moses, at the burning bush, as I AM, THAT I AM (Exodus 3:14).

 

Jesus used the same name for Himself in His seven, great I AM statements found in the Gospel of John.  In our July/August Tulip Gems Issue, we examined John 6:35, where Jesus said, I am the bread of life.

 

Now, if the Lord wills, we’d like to take a closer look at our Lord’s second great I AM statement, found in John 8:12,  I am the light of the world.

 

These were no idle words.  He proved it soon after in giving sight to a man born blind.  We can read this riveting account in the Gospel of John, chapter 9.  For the sake of brevity, let’s look at just one portion of it here.

 

1 And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.

 

2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?

 

3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

 

4 I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.

 

5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

 

6 When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay,

 

7 And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.  John 9:1-7

 

 

 

One purpose of our Lord’s miracle, in healing a man born blind, was to illustrate the truth of His statement, I am the light of the world.

 

We, as mere humans, often divide people into different classes or categories.   We speak of the rich and poor, the clever and the dull, the strong and the weak, the beautiful and the ugly, the good and the bad.

 

But, in the Holy Scriptures, we find that God divides the entire human race into just two classes—the children of light and the children of darkness.

 

He’s not talking about skin, hair or eye color.  Rather, He is speaking of our spiritual condition.

 

Spiritual light shines on the dark thoughts, words and deeds of sinful men.  It exposes our sin for what it really is—rebellion against God. This spiritual light comes from our Heavenly Father, through His Son, Jesus Christ.

 

For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.

 

And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.  John 12:49-50

 

We find this spiritual light in the Holy Bible.  It is applied to our hearts by the Holy Spirit as we read, study, meditate in, trust and obey the Word of God.  It begins with the new birth and continues through all eternity.

 

We all know that a blind man cannot see light.  The same is true in the spiritual realm.  The “eye” in the Bible is sometimes used to represent the human “understanding.”  Consider the following statements:

 

But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkeness.  If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness.  Matthew 6:23

 

But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.  1 John 2:11

 

Muslims and white racists are both good examples of the above verses.  In fact, wherever true Christianity has had little or no influence, hate abounds.  So does all manner of false teaching and perversion of the Word of God.

 

Sinful men, without the light of God’s Word, are likened to blind men.  Their thoughts, words and deeds do not have guidance from the Spirit of God.  They are not subject to the Law of God, neither indeed can be.

 

If they do not repent and believe on the Son of God as the Great I AM, they will perish in their sins.   The will be condemned to everlasting punishment.

 

I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am [he], ye shall die in your sins.  John 8:24

 

When the children of Israel were wandering in the wilderness with Moses, many were bitten of fiery (poisonous) serpents due to their sinfulness.  God, in mercy, provided a cure the for deadly snake bites:

 

5 And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.

 

6 And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.

 

7 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.

 

8 And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.

 

9And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.  Number 21:5-9

 

 

 

The entire human race has been bitten with the poison of sin by the serpent that tempted our first mother, Eve.  It was, and is, a deadly poison.  It has plunged us all into spiritual darkness.  But God has provided a cure:

 

 

 

14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:

 

15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

 

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

 

17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

 

18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

 

19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

 

20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

 

21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.  John 3:14-21

 

 

 

My friend, look to the Saviour, Jesus Christ, and live.  He was made a curse (in our place) on Calvary’s Cross, that we might look to Him by faith and live.  He is our Passover Lamb.

 

It is by hiding behind His shed blood by faith that we are forgiven and made safe from the wrath of God against our sins.

 

Come to the light.  Believe in the light.  Walk in the light, that you may be a child of the light.  To reject the Son is to reject the Heavenly Father.

 

 

 

22 If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin.

 

23 He that hateth me hateth my Father also.

 

24 If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.

 

25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.  John 15:22-25

 

 

 

Friend, let me ask you.  In light of His many miracles, His sinless life, His claims to Deity, His Substitutionary Death on the Cross, and his physical, bodily, visible Resurrection from the dead, what will you do with Jesus?

 

You have only three (3) choices.  Either He is a liar, a lunatic or LORD of all.

 

As for me, I say it joyfully, without any hesitation or doubt, that He is LORD of all.  He is my LORD.  Jesus Christ the Light of the World.

 

He is YAHWEH, the Great I AM.

 

Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.  John 8:12

 

 

I am the Door

George Theiss is a combat veteran of Vietnam who now follows the Lamb of God.  He and his wife, Christy, have been married 42 years (in 2019).  They have 8 grown children.  You can contact George at support@tulipgems.com

Copyright © 2002 through 2019 by George Theiss