Focus: Jesus Is The Light!

Text: Rev.21:23

"And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof."

What can we do without light in this world? What's life without light? Man is in need of light - physical light, spiritual light, moral light, intellectual light, etc. Man needs the light of life, the light of knowledge, the light of love, the light of truth, the light of the divine presence, and the light of the divine glory.

John says that "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all" (1Jh.1:5). There's no iota of darkness in God. Paul tells us that God is "dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto" (1Tim.6:16). His light is dazzling and blinding to the eyes. The light in which He dwells is absolutely unapproachable. Peter says that the light of Christ is marvelous, and that Christ has "called you out of darkness into his marvellous light…" (1Pet.2:9). Paul says that God has "delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son" (Col.1:13).

Go back to Genesis 1 and see the first darkness. The Scripture says that "the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep…" (Gen.1:2). You can imagine a world covered in darkness. You can't see through. You can't behold beauty. The earth was obscured by darkness. Nothing is formed and nothing is filled - just mere shapelessness and emptiness, and darkness everywhere.

Referring to the darkened spiritual condition of man, Paul says, "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2Cor.4:6). What God did in Genesis 1:2-3, by causing light to shine forth from His being into the sphere of darkness, He has also done in our spiritual landscape. He has commanded and communicated His light into our hearts. Paul says, "For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light" (Eph.5:8). Light has happened in us. Our darkness has been turned into light.

Jesus Christ declares to His Jewish audience, "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" (Jh.8:12). He says, "As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world" (Jh.9:5). He says again, "I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness" (Jh.12:46). Jesus Christ is the light of Gen.1:3 - the original, the authentic, and the eternal light. Wherever He is or goes, He shines. He is the world's true light. Nothing hides in His presence. Paul tells us that He will both "bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts…" (1Cor.4:5).

Jesus is the light - the light of the world, the light of life, the light of God's glory, the light from heaven, and the light of the new city of Jerusalem.

David declares, "For thou art my lamp, O LORD: and the LORD will lighten my darkness" (2Sam.22:29). Isaiah prophesies, "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined" (Isa.9:2). He says again to us, "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee" (Isa.60:1). 

He is our light. In the new city of Jerusalem, there will be no need of the sun, moon and stars, for Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, shall be the only light of it. Hallelujah!

by Bishop Moses E. Peter