Sermon Outline

1. Pure darkness is disorienting
2. Light in Scripture
   1. Light is an important theme in the Bible from the opening to the closing pages
      1. God creates light on the first day (Gen 1:3-4, 14-18)
      2. God removes light as punishment (Ex 10:23).
      3. God leads his people ‘in a pillar of fire to give them light’ (Ex 13:21)
      4. Light is part of the Tabernacle (Ex 25:31-40, 27:20)
      5. Light is used as a metaphor for the Laws of God (Job 24:13-17)
      6. Light is equated with God (Ps 27:1, 43:3)
      7. The Messiah is called a ‘great light’ (Isa 9:2-7, 60:1, 19-20)
3. NT with Christ as the Light (Lk 2:32, Mt 4:16)
   1. John loves the metaphor of light (Jn 1:4-9,
      1. John contrasts our evil deeds with the one who is light (Jn 3:19)
      2. John records Jesus self-description as the light of the world (Jn 8:12)
         1. Paul preaches about Light (Acts 26:23)
      3. John closes the scripture by telling us that no other light is needed but God (Rev 21:23-24, 22:5).
4. Jesus as Light of the World
   1. 3 times Jesus declares himself to be light (Jn 8:12, 9:5, 12:46)
   2. And a number of other times he alludes to it (Jn 12:35-36)
   3. Why is Jesus light?
      1. To understand why Light is the metaphor Christ uses, we need to understand the scriptural teaching about darkness.
         1. Darkness is the opposite of all that God is and does and desires (John 3:19, 1Jn 1:5)
         2. Darkness is a place and time where violence thrives (Isa 74:20)
         3. Darkness is opposite of uprightness (Prov 2:13, 4:19)
         4. Darkness is a way of foolishness (Eccl 2:14)
         5. Darkness is related to death and sin (John 8:12, Acts 26:18, 1Jn 1:6)
         6. Darkness is a euphemism for Death (Job 10:21-22)
         7. Darkness is a picture of being under God’s judgment (Ex 10:15-22)
         8. Darkness is related to the great judgment day of God at the end of time (Joel 2:2, Amos 5:20)
      2. So when Jesus declares “I am the light of the world…” He is declaring himself to be the opposite of all of this. (John 8:12)
   4. What does Jesus as the Light of the World do?
      1. Jesus restores the goodness of creation by rescuing it from the powers of sin and death.
      2. Jesus guides his people and protects them from attacking hostile forces. (John 1:5, 8:12)
      3. Jesus shows us the way into the Holy of Holies (Ex 25:10, 23, 31, Jn 14:6)
      4. Jesus becomes the fulfillment of the law of God (Mt 5:17)
      5. Jesus brings life and not death to people in need of salvation (Jn 10:10)
      6. Jesus blesses instead of curses
5. Conclusion
   1. The whole point of Jesus’ coming was to make light shine in all his people (Matt 5:14-16)