PT-3 "The Nature of God" (1 John 1:5)

 

EVENING SERMON FOR 8/16/2024 2:01 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-3 “The Nature of God”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                           Reference:  1 John 1:5

 

            Message of the verse:  “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.”

 

            What I have decided to do as I look at this verse is to quote from a sermon that John MacArthur gave in this section in 2002.  The important thing that I am trying to talk about is that God is Light.  I know that in the past that I looked at this subject, perhaps when I was studying the Gospel of John and remember that this is a very important truth for us to understand and that is why I chose to quote from this sermon mentioned above.  It will take us a  number of days to look at it as I do not want to put so much on these SD’s that will take a long time to read and may discourage people from reading it.  Let’s begin today to look at the first part of this sermon.

 

“In fact, the light that emanated from the presence of God got on the face of Moses so that when he came down the mountain to speak to the children of Israel, his face was shining with the reflection of that light. The Apostle Paul even writes about that in the third chapter of 2 Corinthians. So God manifested Himself to Moses as light. He manifested Himself to the children of Israel as light by leading them during the day, you remember, by a cloud, a cloud of light, as it were, in the sky, and at night, another form of light, a pillar of fire by which they were led. When at the end of the book of Exodus the tabernacle was completed, the light which represented God came down from heaven, the Shekinah, the presence of God, manifest light came down and came into the Tabernacle and dwelt in the Holy of Holies.

“Later on in Israel’s history when the temple was completed, the permanent place representing the presence of God, the glory of God again came down and dwelt in the temple. God manifested Himself on those occasions as light. Also, we see in the New Testament that Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration allowed the disciples to see who He really was, and He manifested Himself as light. You remember He was transfigured before them as shining light that sent them into a coma of terror.

“So God manifests Himself as light. First Timothy 6:15 and 16 describes God this way: “The blessed and only sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light.” And that echoes what God said to Moses, “No man can see me and live.” The light is too glorious, too all glorious for any creature to see it in its fullness. In Psalm 104, verses 1 and 2, it says, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, O Lord my God, you are very great, you are clothed with splendor and majesty, covering yourself with light as with a cloak.” As we cover ourselves with a garment, with clothing, so God covers Himself with light.

“Now, not only is God light in Himself, essential light, but He is the source of our light. Psalm 27:1, very familiar Psalm, familiar opening, “The Lord is my light and my salvation.” What does that mean? God is light; I understand that He manifested Himself as light. He is my light, but what does that mean? Well, we find out a little more about what that means when we come to Jesus Christ for Jesus Christ is also light. In fact, Jesus Christ is called the light of the world, as we shall see. God is light. God conveys that light to us. Jesus Christ is that very light of God incarnate.

“Now, putting that all together, it’s a pretty simple thought. God is light, He grants that light to us, but it is conveyed to us through the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at 2 Corinthians 4:4, a very important portion of Scripture in this regard. Second Corinthians 4:4. Stay with me on this, I’m going to help you to understand this concept of light. Second Corinthians 4:4 tells us that the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving in order that they might not see the light. What light? The light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God.

“So here, we see that the light that is essentially God comes to us through the image of God who is Christ. The light shines from God through Christ to us. Verse 5, then, Paul says, “We do not preach ourselves but we preach Christ Jesus because He’s the source of light.” Verse 6, “For God, who said light shall shine out of darkness, is the One who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” So there it comes again. God is light. He conveys that light to us through the glory of Christ by means of the gospel - by means of the gospel.

“God is light, Jesus Christ is light, and we become light through Christ. This - this idea, this concept appears in a number of other places, and we’ll look at the New Testament. Colossians 1:12 says the Father (God) has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. And then he goes on to say He delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the Kingdom of His beloved Son. It is the Kingdom of His beloved Son that is the domain of light. Light, then, comes to us through the Son. We enter into the Kingdom of light through the Son who provides for us redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”