LIGHT OF THE WORLD (1)

“As long as I am in the world, I AM THE LIGHT of WORLD” – John 9:5

Our Lord Jesus Christ consistently introduced Himself as the LIGHT of the WORLD: “As long as I am in the world, I AM THE LIGHT of WORLD” (Jh.9:5). He had declared in the preceding chapter: “...I am the LIGHT of the WORLD. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the Light of Life” (Jh.8:12). This is one of Christ’s Seven I AMs in John’s Gospel, namely: I am the Bread of Life (6:35); I am the Light of the world (8:12; 9:5); I am the Door of the sheep (10:7-9); I am the Good Shepherd (10:11-14); I am the Resurrection and Life (11:25); I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life (14:6); and I am the True Vine (15:1).

Christ as the Light of the World fulfilled Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a GREAT LIGHT; those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a LIGHT has shined” (Isa.9:2); “…I will also give You as a LIGHT to the Gentiles, that You should be My salvation to the end of the earth” (Isa.49:6). People come and go. Leaders, teachers, and philosophers speak and work for a season and then fall silent and powerless. But Jesus, the True Light abides. Transient lights die, but He lives forever. They are lights that glow yet are ultimately extinguished. He is the True Light from which all others draw their brightness!

Jesus declared His Mission of Light while in the act of bringing sight and light to a man who had lived in darkness all his life, being blind from birth. Similarly, the world was in darkness to that point, but Jesus had come, and “in Him was LIFE and that LIFE was the LIGHT of men” (Jh.1:4). By bringing sight to this blind man, the Lord was illustrating how He provides Light to all humanity. At the same time, he told His listeners, and by extension all Believers, that we are to work without procrastination: “while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work” (v.4). And not just any kind of work, but the Father’s works. We must make the most of every opportunity to complete His works!

The phrase “as long as I am in the world,” infers that the Lord did not intend to be the Light of the world in the same way perpetually. He has passed the baton to Believers, as “the Light of the world” (Mt.5:14). JESUS is the Light of lights. While on earth, He was “the Light of the world.” Having ascended to Heaven, we are now the light of the world, reflecting and releasing His Light into the world’s dark night. As long as we follow Him, we’ll never abide in darkness or stumble through life, because we have the LIGHT that guarantees LIFE (Jh.8:12).