SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/30/2016 11:20 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The Assertion PT-1
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: John 8:12
Message of the verses: “12 Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying,
"I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the
darkness, but will have the Light of life."”
We have
already mentioned that this verse, verse twelve fits better with verse
fifty-two of chapter seven, and in this verse we see the second “I Am”
statement and as John MacArthur points out that these statements (I Am’s) “reveal
different facets of Christ’s nature as God and His work as Savior. John had already used the metaphor of light
to describe Jesus (1:4, 8-9; cf. Rev. 21:23), and it was one rich in Old
Testament allusions (cf. Ex. 13:21-22; 14:19-20; Neh. 9:12, 19; Pss. 27:1;
36:9; 43:3; 44:3; 104:2; 119:105, 130; Prov. 6:23; Isa. 60:19-21; Ezek. 1:4,
13, 26-28; Mic. 7:8; Hab. 3:3-4; Zech. 14:5b-7).”
I now want
to look at several verses from both the Old Testament and New Testament showing
that when Jesus made this statement “I am the light of the world,” that He was
proclaiming that He is not only God, but the Messiah.
Psalm 27:1 “The LORD is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the defense of my life; Whom shall I dread?”
Isaiah 42:6 “"I am the LORD, I have called
you in righteousness, I will also hold you by the hand and watch over you, And
I will appoint you as a covenant to the people, As a light to the nations,”
Isaiah 49:6 “He says, "It is too small a
thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to
restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the
nations So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth."”
Isaiah 60:19 “"No longer will you have the
sun for light by day, Nor for brightness will the moon give you light; But you
will have the LORD for an everlasting light, And your God for your glory.”
1 John 1:5 “This is the message we have heard from Him and
announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.”
Now a quote from a previous sermon from John MacArthur pertaining to this verse: “You say, "Why is He called light?" to the darkness of falsehood He is the light of truth. To the darkness of ignorance He is the light of wisdom. To the darkness of impurity He is the light of holiness. To the darkness of sorrow He is the light of joy. To the darkness of death He's the light of life. He is called light because the world is dark and the antithesis of darkness is what? Is light. He is everything the world isn't. And Jesus is saying nothing more and nothing less at this point than I am your Messiah.”
Now as we connect 7:52 with this section, 8:12-21 we see that we are still in the celebration of the Feast of the Tabernacles, and we remember when we studied 7:37-39 when Jesus used a metaphor of living water which was very relevant in that feast, showing that He was the Messiah, and that similar to telling the woman at the well about being living water: “"If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ’Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water’ (John 4:10b).” We also learned about the pouring out of the water during this feast, and now we want to talk about another ritual that was performed during this feast that has to do with light which happened at night. “in a lamp-lighting ceremony. In the very Court of the Women where Jesus was speaking, four huge candelabra were lit, pushing light up into the night sky like a searchlight. So brilliant was their light that one ancient Jewish source declared, ‘There was not a courtyard in Jerusalem that did not reflect [their] light’ (cited in F. F. Bruce, The Gospel of John.’ They served as a reminder of the pillar of fire by which God had guided Israel in the wilderness (Ex. 13:21-22). The people—even the most dignified leaders—danced exuberantly around the candelabra through the night, holding blazing torches in their hands and singing songs of praise. It was against the backdrop of that ceremony that Jesus made the stunning announcement that He is the true Light of the world.”
Now we can get a better idea of why this statement is given at this particular time showing to all, and still showing to those interested that Jesus is the Light of the world, and not like those temporary and stationary candelabras that were seen during this Feast of the Tabernacles. The problem with those lights is that they go out, but His light will never go out. Let’s look at a verse in the book of Revelation that shows us of the power and brilliance of this Light of God: “Re Re 21:23 And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. Rev. 22:5 And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.” Think about when Jesus was up on the Mount of Transfiguration and how bright He shined as a portion of His glory shined at that time. There is also a verse in Milaca that speaks of this in a little different way: “Mal 4:2 "But for you who fear My name, the Sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall.”
We will look at the rest of this verse in our next SD as we look at the word “follow” and how it applies to us.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: It is my desire to walk in the Light and not walk in the darkness of this world, a darkness that indeed offers pleasures, but temporary and non rewarding treasures.
My Steps of Faith for Today: “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman who needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
Memory verses for the week: 2 Corinthians 12:7-9a “7 Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me-to keep me from exalting myself. 8 Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. 9 And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness,’”
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question: “A vision came to him” (Matthew 2:13).
Today’s Bible question: “Who said ‘Speak; for thy servant heareth’?”
Answer in our next SD.
5/30/2016 12:09 PM.
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