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Jesus The Light
Jesus is the light of the world, but the world hates light. The world wants to operate in darkness to hide its evil deeds.
You can see what happens when the light does not shine upon sin. People began to see sin as normal and attack anyone who believes evil is still evil. Even some churches have accepted sin in their desire to be inclusive.
It is sad, but mankind has not learned the great cost of turning from God’s Truth. Sin is just as destructive today as it was in the Garden of Eden. It separates us from our God and Creator.
John says this about Jesus: 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. John 1:4-13
In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
Light
We don’t give much thought to how important light is to us. The sun rises and sets each day. At night, we turn on the lights with the flick of a switch. It is rare when we find ourselves in the dark, and even then, there is nearly always some light.
You may never have experienced the total absence of light.
I can not give you that experience, but I can share one such experience of mine.
I remember it as if I were there today.
It was when I was exploring Fort Stanton Cave in the mountains of New Mexico.
Some of my friends and I decided that it would be a great adventure to crawl a mile or so back into it and see what we could find. We had the whole day off.
Some of us had flashlights, while others had miners’ headlamps. We had plenty of light to see everything around us as we adventured deep underground. However, we were still a little nervous crawling around hundreds of feet underground.
We didn’t know what we might find.
Then someone suggested we all turn our lights off and see if we could find our way out.
We did.
Of course, we could not see our fingers in front of our faces. None of us dared to even move.
The darkness was complete.
You could see nothing.
The girls screamed, and the boys laughed. However, you could hear fear in their laughter.
Most of us had never experienced the total absence of light, even when the power went out. This cave, however, had no source of light whatsoever. We were in the pitch black.
We understood immediately that we would be helpless without our source of light.
Spiritual darkness in life is the same.
Without God’s light, we have only darkness.
“ In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.”
Because God loves us, He sent the Light.
John tells us in verse five, 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
In a dark cave or deep in a mine without light, you can understand physical darkness.
Spiritual darkness may be harder to understand, but it is just as real. Without The Light of God, you will never find your way out.
Look around you!
Jesus came as the Light, but the darkness did not comprehend it.
You see the effects of sin all around. Sin brings darkness into the lives of everyone it touches. When you sin, it not only touches you. It affects everyone you are in contact with and often those not yet born.
In Romans 1:29-31 NKJV, Paul lists some of the sins that plagued those in the past and, sadly, still plague us today.
He says, “ being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, 30 backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful;” etc.
Whatever neighborhood you live in, you see these sins being committed.
Sadly, you may find this type of darkness, even within churches.
Darkness is not new!
Satan has been at work in the world since Creation. He will be here and will be spreading his lies to the end.1 John 2:15 says, Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
John clearly states we do not love God if we love the world. You cannot live your life on both sides of the fence. The choice is yours.
Adam committed the first sin, or act of rebellion against God’s commands, but all mankind followed after him. As Romans 3:23 says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
God gave us a free choice to obey Him, or not. However, He did not abandon us to work it out on our own.
He gave us the prophets, like Moses, to write down His laws in a form that we can all understand. Through Moses, He gave us the Ten Commandments, as well as identifying all other types of sin, so we could live righteous lives.
Today, we can all find a Bible with His commands written in our language. Most of us have one. It is possible that you do not know where yours is, but I suggest for your soul’s sake that you find it.
We do not have to walk in darkness. Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 2:15 NKJV, Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
We need to study God’s Word. He knew we would need help, so He instructed Moses and several other prophets to write instructions on living in His world.
God did not stop with His Law. He knew that the Law would not be enough.
He gave us Jesus!
Moses wrote down God’s promise of the coming Savior about 3500 years ago in the Book of Genesis. God followed Moses with prophets such as Isaiah, who gave us exact details of Jesus’ birth 700 years before it took place.
Isaiah told us when and where Jesus would be born. He told us that Jesus would be born of a virgin, and many other things about the coming Messiah.
John goes into more detail in the next few verses. He tells us God prepared for the coming of His Son.
As foretold, He sent a messenger ahead of Jesus to prepare the way.
We call that man John the Baptist.
You can read the story of the miracle of John’s birth in Luke 1:5-23. The Apostle John tells us about John the Baptist in the following verses.
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. 8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. 9 That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.
His job was to prepare the way for Jesus’ coming. John preached repentance from sin and baptized those who repented and turned back to God.
However, even with all that was proclaimed about the coming Savior to the nation of Israel, they did not believe.
Jesus was rejected by His chosen people and the world!
Listen to what the Word of God says, 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
The key truth for us today is that those who accept Jesus will be given the right to become the children of God.
However, those in Israel and those throughout the world who reject the Light will be cast out of the kingdom.
Jesus says in Matthew 8:11-12 NKJV, And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
The Gospel message of salvation is open to the whole world, but many who should have received it will be cast out. Many of the Jewish nation still have not accepted God’s Wonderful Light, Jesus.
Why does the world reject Jesus?
John 3:19 NKJV reads, And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” John 8:12 NKJV
The world loves darkness. Living for self and rejecting God’s Word is worldly darkness. You can choose either God’s way or the way of the world, but not both.
Jesus says, I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness. John 12:46 NKJV
Now is the time to turn from darkness!
Paul says in Romans 13:12 NKJV, The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore, let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.
God sent the Light to light your path to Him.
Jesus not only came into the world for you, but He also went to the cross to pay for your sins. He did this so you could stand before God in His righteousness.
Make the words of Psalms 27:1 NKJV true in your life.
The Lord is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the strength of my life;
Of whom shall I be afraid?
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