(006) – THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD

 

Light is what gives intense brightness and makes things visible. Light travels at 300,000 km per second. The distance between the Earth and the Sun is 149,670,000 km and light takes eight and a half minutes to get to the Earth. It is fantastic that the Sun, at about 150 million kilometers distant from the Earth, can illumine it in such splendorous manner. Jesus said:

“I have come as light into the world, that everyone who believes in Me may not remain in darkness” (John 12:46). It is evident that Jesus refers to the spiritual light, not the physical light; so He said: “everyone who believes…” Therefore, when Jesus is present in the life of a person or group of persons, light illumines everyone, for Jesus is light, and has declared: “For a little longer the light is among you. Walk while you have the light, that darkness may not overtake you” (John 12:35).

It would be impossible for someone to be with Jesus and also to be in darkness. Nobody can be close to the light  and not be illumined by it. A star, distant 500 million kilometers,  shines at night for eternity.

If a person should walk under a dark moonless night, they could fall into a hollow, step on a serpent, or be a victim to robbers and murderers.

Likewise, a person who is outside of Jesus Christ, can fall in moral pitfalls, or be bitten by the serpent, that is, Satan. Happilly, though, Jesus is light, and his Father is also light, as the apostle Paul said:

“He…who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachble light; whom no man has seen or can see” (1 Tim. 6:16).

“And 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” (1 John 1:5).

Jonh declares that Jesus himself gave him this message about God. There can be not darkness in God, for he is light. We conclude that, wherever there is darkness, God is not there; and God, the Father, doesn’t mix Himself up with any kind of darkness.

He lives in the unaccessible light. Well then, Jesus, being the emanation of the light–that is the Father–being the bright shaft proceeding from the eternal light, turns to light everything around Himself. So He said:

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do men light a lamp, and put it under the peck-measure, but on the lampstand; and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven” (Matt.5:14-16).

What is darkness? Total absence of light. Darkness, spiritually speaking, is the EVIL. “Everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed” (John 3:20). By this word that Jesus spoke, we learn that to hide in the darkness is to run from being exposed and reproved. Darkness is also the kingdom of demons. For this reason, Paul says:

“Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son” (Col. 1:12,13). Darkness is the devil’s lair, for a lair is a place of vice and depravation. “I am sending you [Paul] to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominium of Satan to God” (Acts 26:17,18). Satan’s kingdom is tenebrous and rotten. “The night is almost gone, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day ,not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy” (Rom. 13:12,13). Darkness is everything we named and much more. Darkness is the kingdom of  the beast, a place of torment and corruption. Darkness is sin.

Well, then, if darkness is such a black, malign, wicked, corrupt and devilish thing, why did Jehovah hid himself in the darkness? “HE MADE DARKNESS HIS HIDING PLACE” (Ps. 18:11). Jehovah hiding behind evil, corruption, vice, demons and the kingdom of Satan?

Jesus walked in the company of His disciples, and they were the light of the world. How come Jehovah walked with his people, and they walked in the darkness?  “The people who walk in darkness” (Is. 9:2 and Ps. 107:10,11). Wasn’t Jehovah in the middle of his people?

“And you shall not defile the land which you live, in the midst of which I dwell; FOR I JEHOVAH AM DWELLING IN THE MIDST OF THE SONS OF ISRAEL” (Num. 35:34). If Jehovah is light, how can the light live in a place where there is no light? How can light illuminate not?

When Jehovah gave the Law, he was in the midst of darkness. “And you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the very heart of the heavens: darkness, cloud and thick gloom” (Deut. 4:11,12).

“And the people stood at a distance, while Moses approached the thick cloud where God was” (Ex. 20:21).

It is fantastic! Jesus and the Father illuminate everything around them, and Jehovah fills the place whereby he passes with darkness. They cannot be the same person. Job made a terrifying statement: “Know then that God has wronged me, and has closed His net around me. Behold, I cry ‘Violence!’ but get no answer; I shout for help, but get no answer; I shout for help, but there is no justice. He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass; AND HE HAS PUT DARKNESS ON MY PATHS” (Job 19:6-8).

Jeremiah is another biblical character who complains of  Jehovah, saying: “I am the man who has seen affliction because of the rod of His wrath. HE HAS DRIVEN ME AND MADE ME WALK IN DARKNESS AND NOT IN LIGHT” (Lam. 3:1,2).

Jehovah is the author of darkness and evil (Is. 45:7). Jehovah never gave out light. The Law given to his people made them walk in darkness. This is the reason why Jesus had to give a new commandment through John. “On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining” (1 John 2:8).

“For you are all sons of light and sons of day. WE ARE NOT OF NIGHT, NOR OF DARKNESS” (1 Tess. 5:5).

By Pastor Olavo S. Pereira

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