“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
a light has dawned.”
ISAIAH 9:2
Centuries before the little town of Bethlehem was honored with its heavenly guest, the prophet Isaiah uttered the above words. Now, in John 1, we see the Old Testament prophesy fulfilled in the New Testament person of Jesus Christ. He is the One True Light who gives light to everyone.
1 Peter reveals that the prophets carefully pondered the words God gave them to proclaim.
“Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when He predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things” (1 PETER 1:10-12).
It is in the Gospel of John that Jesus is quoted as saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (JOHN 8:12).
Our world hates definitive statements like the ones Jesus made. “The light of the world”? Preposterous! Outrageous! But C. S. Lewis reminds us of the choice we are given when considering the exclusive claims of Christ.
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this Man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon, or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to” (MERE CHRISTIANITY).
Be praying for Eric Twisselmann as he preaches the following passage from John 1 this Sunday. We are living in a land of deep darkness. Pray that, as Eric preaches, the light of our Lord Jesus Christ will chase away the darkness from our eyes so that we can see Jesus for who He is – the Savior of the world. May we be flooded with light this Sunday.
“In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.”
JOHN 1:4-9
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