Light and Life
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
John 1:1-5
This morning I started reading the Gospel According to John once again and could not get past the first paragraph. John begins poetically revealing Jesus as God, the Creator of all things, who brought life into being. And His life is the “light of all people” (John 1:4). So Jesus is life; life comes into being through Him; and His life is the light of all people. But conflict exists. While Christ Jesus is the light of all people – everyone – darkness also exists. Darkness does not overcome the light, but darkness still exists, meaning the light does not yet shine everywhere. This is where we come in. Through the Holy Spirit, His life dwells within each follower of Christ, and His light should shine and His love should be revealed through us.
Reading the beautiful, brilliant introduction, I was suddenly filled with a strange mix of awe and grief. I am in awe of our awesome Lord, and it grieves me that people around us might not know who Jesus is, that they might miss the opportunity to enjoy life through Him, and that we failed to take the time to tell them. We live in this amazing land of opportunity and freedom, with dozens of versions God’s holy word freely available at our fingertips, with Christian radio freely available throughout the day, with incredible sermons proclaiming God’s holy word a mere click away, yet many have never heard who Christ Jesus truly is. And we know faith comes by hearing the word of Christ Jesus (see Romans 10:17). How might we help others hear?
John describes life coming into being in and through Christ Jesus, and His life as the light of all people. This is the first paragraph introducing the good news. What does Jesus say about the life He offers?
He explains to us over and over that He is the life, and by believing and receiving and following Him, we cross from death to life. Apart from Him we are spiritually dead and through Him we gain His life, His indwelling Holy Spirit, communion with God the Father, the kingdom of God. Pondering the burden I feel for those who have not yet heard the good news and who continue living spiritual death, I consider some of Jesus’ words relating to the life He offers as recorded in John.
Talking with Nicodemus, Jesus explains that we must be “born from above” to see the kingdom of God. He then equates being born from above with being born of the Spirit, and His references to seeing and entering the kingdom of God seem strikingly similar to relationship with God. He says,
“Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above…. Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’” John 3:3 & 5-7
When read in conjunction with His other teaching, we see that being born from above means gaining new life, spiritual life, through faith in Christ Jesus. Later in the same chapter Jesus says,
“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but must endure God’s wrath.” John 3:36
Jesus describes belief in Him as a matter of life and death. The statement suggests that everyone begins in a state of spiritual death deserving God’s wrath. Some will gain life and will thereby be protected from God’s wrath, while others will not. Those who believe gain His life. Those who do not believe will never experience true life, will continue living in spiritual death and will endure God’s wrath. Given the stakes, why do we not tell everyone?
Jesus is life. He is the Author of life, the Source of life who brought life into being. In the next chapter He uses physical imagery to describe spiritual life. Talking with a Samaritan woman near a well, He says,
“Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” John 4:13-14
Jesus satisfies. His life, His living water, provides wholeness, filling us for what we long for. In the next chapter, Jesus repeats the message using different words, clarifying that those who have not heard His voice are spiritually dead, and life is available through Him saying,
“Very truly, I tell you, the hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself; and he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man.” John 5:25-27
God – God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit – is life. We gain life through Him. In the next chapter, Jesus once again uses images of physical satisfaction to convey the message that His life available to all who believe saying,
“I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away; for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day.” John 6:35-40
When hear “eternal life” we often think about eternity and jump to the eternal implications of spiritual life through Christ Jesus. But the term refers to the present quality of life available through association with Christ Jesus here and now. It lasts forever, but it is available here and now. It is spiritual life, Godly life, life abundant, life lived in wholeness and satisfaction.
Jesus describes Himself as the gate to salvation and the source of life abundant saying,
“I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” John 10:9-10
Using similar imagery, Jesus describes Himself as the way to God the Father. He is the gate, the way, the path, the bridge connecting us with God the Father. Through Him we are justified and saved. Through Him we gain life. Jesus says,
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” John 14:6-7
Pondering Jesus’ statements, we see that the life He offers is total, absolute wholeness. His life leads to relationship with God, the ability to see and enter the kingdom of God and the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit, and this instills within us His wholeness, satisfaction, peace, rest and comfort, and justifies us, saves us, redeems us, cleanses us and protects us from God’s wrath, the wrath that we deserve. Through Christ we cross over from death to life, forever.
I grieve that many walk through life not realizing they are spiritually dead. They long for something, but they do not know what will satisfy their longing. So they search. We know Christ Jesus is the source of life. We have the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Why do we keep them to ourselves when we should be sharing them with everyone?
John concludes the gospel explaining that He wrote the book “so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31). He begins the gospel with a beautifully poetic and powerful statement of who Jesus is, and he concludes the book with a concise evangelistic message. He wrote the book so that we might come to believe and by believing gain life. Those who do not believe are dead. They may be breathing, walking, working, existing, but they are spiritually dead. John wrote the book because the good news of Jesus Christ is a matter of life and death.
Apart from Jesus we are all dead. We need His life to live and we gain His life by faith in Him and we gain faith by hearing the word of Christ Jesus. Consider your realm of influence. Who will you share the good news with? What will you do today to reveal the love, light and life of Christ Jesus?