He is Light
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Turn to John 1
One of my favorite things about Christmas are the lights. I love lights this time of year - Trees, homes, sidewalks, candles … but not Bud Lights. The origin of Christmas lights is a little vague - but it’s safe to say the intention was to celebrate the birth of Christ – that He is the Light of world, and He has come to illuminate the darkness.
To understand the implication of that, we need to define darkness. When I say, “kingdom of darkness,” what comes to mind? Probably Satan, evil spirits and creatures and evil deeds etc. - and rightly so. But if that’s our limited understanding of darkness, then we miss the totality of what darkness is, and we miss the totality of work of Christ on the Cross.
So, what is darkness? If we go all the way back to Genesis 1, we see that God created light, and pushed back the darkness. And with that light came the possibility of physical life.
Spiritually, when God created light, He was creating order in the chaos. And spiritual light makes spiritual life possible. But chaos and darkness were reintroduced in Gen. 3 with the Fall of humanity. And our first parents planted the seed of rebellion against God, and introduced sin into the world. Remember, the essence of sin is the self-proclamation that I’m the god of my life, that I’m in charge, and I don’t need to submit to the One True Sovereign God. So,
Sin is the “creation” in defiance against the Creator.
And sin leaves us, the world in darkness. But we must understand that darkness has much more to do with being spiritually lost and blind, than being evil. I know a lot of good people who don’t know Christ, but I wouldn’t classify as evil. Now evil is a part of darkness, but it’s only a slice of the pie (but not pumpkin pie).
Here are some words associated with darkness. Of course, we’re talking spiritual, but
The spiritual is always effects the physical.
So, words associated with darkness - blind (can’t see the truth), captivity, confusion, death, fear, idolatry, perishing, separation from God, slavery to sin and self - we could go on, but know that darkness has a broad meaning - not just evil.
It would be nice if we could rescue ourselves - just choose to step out of the darkness on our own. That would be nice, but we can’t. Oh, we can choose to live a better life, to be a better person, we can do good things - but the truth is, being a good person doesn’t cure the darkness. Even the best of people has remnants of darkness within them - because the darkness resides within every heart - we are all infected with a dark condition called sin, and even trace amounts leave us guilty and separated from a just God who just can’t let sin slide. And
No earthly human or method is capable or qualified to cure and remove our condition.
But there’s good news - there is a Light who is completely able to save those who are perishing in darkness. There is a true Light that brings hope, joy, and salvation and deliverance from the dark.
But Who is this Light? And how should we respond Him? John 1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
Sound familiar? It should. Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God ….” And here in John 1, we see that the story of God continues, but it’s also a new story, a new beginning - the beginning of the restoration of the world, and of putting an end to the darkness. We’ll get there in a moment.
Now, John is telling us something very important - that there was someone else present with God prior to the conception of the universe - and He is the Word.
So who is this Word?
The Greek word for “Word,” used here is lōgōs, which would have been culturally understandable among Jews and Greeks in the 1st Century. The Jews would have associated lōgōs with divine law, prophetic revelation, and God speaking forth to accomplish His will. To the Greek, however, lōgōs was this stabilizing force or rational thought within the universe that kept order - much like the Force in Star Wars.
To both Jew and Greek, lōgōs was real, but impersonal. You couldn’t see, touch or know lōgōs - it was a thing or energy. But John says, the lōgōs, was present before creation - not as a force, but as a person. This lōgōs, was not only present with God, but He was also God, thus
The Word, lōgōs is personal and knowable.
In the Greek, verses 1 & 2, demand, if you will, that there is a relationship between the lōgōs and God. The text implies different persons who are one in essence, and one in relationship. The lōgōs shares the exact same character, quality, and essence of God, yet there is distinction between the two. One of my commentaries said this,
“What God was the Word also was.”
So here we see God the Father, and God the Son together prior to and at the conception of the universe.
From here, it’s safe to jump to verse 14 for a moment.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Verse 14 is the only reason we celebrate Christmas. This lōgōs who was God, and is God became flesh and blood. He made His dwelling, He tabernacled among us for a while. Of course, 700 years earlier, Isaiah told us that this lōgōs would be called Emmanuel - God with us - whom we know to be Jesus, Yeshua, which means Yahweh saves. Remember, the God who is with us is the God who saves us.
I don’t want to get too far into the weeds right now, but you may come across people who want to stump you with Bible trivia, so this is important. Verse 14 says that Jesus is the one and only son of God - of course we read that in John 3:16 and other passages. Yet, when we read Scripture, and we know that there are other sons of God, (e.g. Gen. 6). There are other spiritual beings called sons of God. And even we, when adopted into God’s family are called sons and daughters of God. So how do we reconcile that with the phrase “one and only?”
The three words “one and only,” is actually one word in the Greek, and literally means -
“One and Only” = unique (monogenēs).
Unique is in the sense of being the only one of its kind or class. Think of it like this -
There may be other sons, but there is only one Son.
He is unique - no other like Him!
Why is that important to know?
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.
Look, the world is in darkness - that’s why we have abuse, and hatred, and murder etc. etc., but there is a Light to undo the darkness, and His name is Jesus, who is the Christ, the unique Son of God. He is the author of life, and thus the only one who has the authority and qualification to grant life to those living in darkness.
And how does He grant life to those living in darkness?
Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—
and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.
And in
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
So we see the Creator, becoming like His creation to bring light and salvation through His life, death and resurrection.
In verse,
No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us.
Again, the God who is with us is the God who saves us. If He has indeed revealed God to us - if He has give us the way, the truth and the life - a way to escape the darkness, if He has indeed given His life as a sacrifice for our sins, then how do we respond.
Let me read just a portion of Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2.
“Fellow Israelites … Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs …. Jesus was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him [Why? Because He’s God in the flesh - you can’t kill God]. God has raised this Jesus to life and exalted him to the right hand of God … Therefore, be assured of this: God has made this Jesus (the Word, the unique Son), whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah. [And let me add that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and confess that He is Lord.]
When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter, “What shall we do?”
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off - for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
And who does He call? He calls everyone!
The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.
He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.
He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—
children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
Christmas is all about salvation -
Hark the herald angels sing - Glory to the newborn King! Peace on earth and mercy mild - God and sinners reconciled. Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace - Hail the Son of Righteousness! Light and life to all He brings - Risen with healing in His wings. Mild He lays His glory by - Born that man no more may die. Born to raise the sons of earth - Born to give them second birth.
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
If you have never trusted … / rededicate …
What about those who have received?
There was a man sent from God whose name was John.
He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe.
He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
Jump to
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’
I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”
Like John the Baptist, all believers are called to witness and testify concerning the Light, concerning Jesus. Acts 1:8 - you will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth. Why do we witness? The same reason John did - so that all people might believe.
How then do we witness? There are many ways to witness, and some will be unconformable for us, but by and large, the best way to witness is do what John the Baptist did. Now listen, John said, “the reason I came baptizing was so the Savior might be revealed.”
Let’s do a little fill-in-the-blank here.
“The reason I ___________________, is so the Savior might be revealed.”
John the Baptist was familiar with the desert, and he was good at what he did - good at baptizing and good at preaching - and so he did it.
What about you? What are you familiar with? What are you good at? What are you doing, or perhaps what can you do so Jesus can be revealed?
We do not need to live in despair because we know that Jesus, the Messiah, came to earth to live among us in our darkness, that we might not have to walk alone. He is the light for our path, that we can have hope.
In this season of Advent, many of us walk through darkness in one form or another. Jesus wants to be a light for us, that we might know love, grace, and peace. We also are to shine the light of Jesus to those around us, that they might see the love of God through us.