The I Am’s of John — “LIGHT”

“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)

Today I continue with this series concerning the 7 metaphorical “I Am’s” that Jesus Christ revealed to us through the Gospel of John. In my last Freedom Fighter I covered “I am the bread of life” today I will move into “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12). John’s Gospel has Jesus going into this dialogue about being the light of world after the neighborhood “posse” brought the adulteress woman to Him for His approval to conduct a good ole’ fashion stoning. Something I didn’t know was, even if this happens during the Feast of Tabernacles, it would be in the court of the women in the Temple where there would be four candelabras shining so brightly that it was said they could light the entirety of Jerusalem.

During the Feast a party would go on at night where the Levitical orchestra (I hear their band name was “Herod and the not-so-Greats”) would play as people danced in the street. They would light torches; perhaps do a hora while they sang songs and gave praises to YHVH. Jesus would use this as an opportunity to take this Old Testament reminder of the cloud/pillar of fire that led Israel through the wilderness as a back drop to discuss how He is The Light as it would be applied to He being the Messiah.

It’s funny to note that just the day before this happens the Jews rejected Christ because He came from Galilee…take a look at Isaiah 9:1-7 and see if you don’t wonder how those crazy Pharisees could still be stumbling in the dark…that’s a whole different Freedom Fighter for another day.  The problem the Pharisees saw was that Jesus was making witness for Himself and that was also a no-no in those days. He did suggest earlier on that four additional witness would verify His own witness (John 5:30-47) but in this case what’s the point? One could argue that the sun is not shining if it is the only one declaring itself to be the sun or I make a pretty good cup of coffee if I am the only one drinking it.

Even in the case of the blind man born that way from his birth, Jesus proclaims “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world”. I am going to borrow, author, Elmer Towns’ illustration to show you how this works. “Although Jesus healed many blind people during His public ministry, this miracle is unique in that this person was the only individual afflicted from birth. This may be why the early Christian writers often referred to this miracle as an illustration of conversion. When an individual becomes a Christian, he does not recover what he had formerly lost, but rather receives a completely new ability to see and understand the things of God.”

He goes on to say that “for the first time in his life this man was going to see and one of the first things he would see would be the Son of God”. Can a brother get an AMEN? When Jesus first declared He was the light of the world the sun was also going to rise over the city of Jerusalem and in the case of the blind man from birth the sun was already in the sky. For us the Son rises at our re-birth when we renew our minds, know in our hearts and confess with our mouth’s that Jesus Christ is Lord. We open our eyes to a new sunrise and walk in newness of life. We are not like dear staring into the headlights of a truck because this Light is familiar and has wanted to shine in our lives for a long time. – Chris Hughes is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and a regular Freedom Fighter blogger 

Team YOU: Isaiah 3-4; Proverbs 18; 2 Corinthians 11:1-15

Motivations: “It is not enough for Jesus Christ to keep the law for you, but Jesus Christ wants to come into your heart and keep the law in you.”—A.B. Simpson

Practice to Remember: Level 1:Philippians 4:8; Level 2: Philippians 4:25-23

Powered Up:  If I pray someone else may be, or do, something which I am not, and don’t intend to do, my praying is paralyzed. – Oswald Chambers