We can be in the light, despite darkness in the world.

According to John 8:12, Jesus said: "I am the light of the world".

This is one of seven "I AM" statements of Jesus. By calling himself “I AM” in the way God did when he revealed himself to Moses at the burning bush, Jesus claims to be God. He claims to be a person of the holy Trinity.

Remember the words of Ps. 27: 1: "The Lord is my light and my salvation". Jesus is claiming the same thing about himself that the psalmist says about the God of Israel.  

"I am the light of the world." John's Gospel talks a lot about light. Of the seventy-two times that the Greek word for "light" appears in the New Testament, thirty-three of them are in John's Gospel. During the times of Jesus on earth, light was something you only had during daylight hours. There were no power stations, no electricity, no batteries, and no gas. Light shining in darkness was a precious, sought after commodity. Light prevents falling, getting hurt, getting lost, being isolated and getting robbed!

 

Jesus was sent as a light into the world to save the world from darkness:

(Jn 8:12) "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life." (Jn 12:46) “I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.”.

 

We rejoice that Jesus frees us from the hold of darkness and brings us into the light. We celebrate that if we follow Jesus we will be delivered from the perils of darkness. We are safe in the light of Christ. If you want to live, to live forever, you must come to Christ. If you seek fellowship with other believers, the darkness that separates you from them, need to be abolished.

 

Yet, says John, (Jn 3:19-21) “Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light, because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light ...”

 

By nature, many people love darkness more than light, because their deeds are evil. Without Christ, darkness rules your heart, and, without Christ, darkness is where we want to stay. We are ashamed of who we really are. We fear judgment because of the darkness of our innermost existence and hope that the darkness of the world will cover our transgressions. Evil’s lie is that if we remain in darkness, God will not know who we really are.

 

To be in "darkness" means not to know God and Christ. To "walk in darkness" means to regulate one's life according to darkness.

The unsaved world fears the light because light chases the darkness away. Light exposes our deep inner shame if we want to remain immoral, selfish, and greedy.

Darkness wants us to believe that we do not have to change, to repent or be honest with ourselves and with God about how lost we are without Christ Jesus.

 

The unbelieving society rejects Christ and remains in the darkness. And, in that darkness will be forever lost, until they come to the Light, who is Jesus.