In Christ Alone Is the Light That Gives True Life
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John 8:12–20 (ESV)
12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” 13 So the Pharisees said to him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.” 14 Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. 15 You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. 16 Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. 17 In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. 18 I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.” 19 They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” 20 These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.
Opening Prayer
Opening Prayer
Setting the Stage
Setting the Stage
As a part of the Feast of Booths there are enormous lamps that are lit.
They say the lights from the lamps can be seen from all over Jerusalem.
There was not a courtyard in Jerusalem which was not affected by these lights.
They say it was a sight to behold.
Whether it is from the symbolism of the lamps…
As in if you marveled at the lights of the Feast, you should marvel infinitely more at Me.
It could be from these lamps no longer being lit that Jesus calls attention to Himself as…
If you truly want light that actually illuminates a person’s life than look to Me.
Most likely it is the symbolism of the lamps…
Which the Feast pointed back to the provision of God in the Wilderness Wanderings…
And, as the Water offering represented the Water from the Rock of Meribah…
These lamps symbolized the Pillar of Fire in the Wilderness that led the people and protected the people.
A very interesting component of the Lights was…
The Levites played many instruments.
All the people danced.
All would sing the fifteen Songs of Ascent.
The fifteen Songs of Ascents coordinated with the fifteen steps that went downward from the Court of the Israelites down to the Court of the Women.
And with each rhythm of trumpet blasts they would descend one step from the Court of the Israelites to the Court of the Women.
They would continue this until they made it all the way to the gate that leads out to the East.
Then they would speak from Ezekiel 8:16 by saying…
The Mishnah (Sukkah)
“Our fathers who were in this place turned with their backs toward the Temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, and they worshipped the sun toward the east.
The Mishnah (Sukkah)
“But as to us, our eyes are to the Lord. We belong to the Lord, our eyes are toward the Lord.”
With that in mind, Jesus says to the crowd…
John 8:12 (ESV)
12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
The saying of the Priests that…
We belong to the Lord.
Our eyes are toward the Lord.
This was proclamation that they wanted the Lord leading them.
The trusted the Lord to lead them in the ways of God.
They state that they are following Him, joyfully.
And, Jesus says, “I am the Light.”
I am the One who can truly illuminate life as it is intended by God.
I am the Lord, whom you say you have your eyes fixed upon.
I am the Lord, whom you say you follow with fixated eyes.
If you follow me, you will not walk in darkness.
This Is An Astounding Claim
This Is An Astounding Claim
Not only was Christ the Pillar of Fire that Led the people from danger into the promised land.
Christ was the Pillar of Fire that protected them from the enemy.
But, in that very claim, Christ is claiming equality with God.
The OT taught…
God as Light
God as Light
Exodus 13:21 (ESV)
21 And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night.
In Exodus 14 God stood between the people of Israel and the Egyptian army and kept them separate by darkness and light.
The Israelites were trained to sing such truths as…
Psalm 27:1 (ESV)
1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
Psalm 119:105 (ESV)
105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
The Word of God and the Law of God is a light…
Habakkuk 3:3–4 (ESV)
3 God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah His splendor covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. 4 His brightness was like the light; rays flashed from his hand; and there he veiled his power.
Imagine sitting on your porch and seeing the most intense lightning storm with bolts of light all around you…
Popping instantly and continuously…
Hearing and feeling in your very being the indescribable thunderings of a massive, earth-shaking thunderstorm…
Seeing the winds moving earthly objects like they were but a feather…
Observing a power that could never be harnessed, nor duplicated…
And, then reading that what you just witnessed was the veiled power of God.
Not the full power of God.
But, the power of God released in a candlelight compared to the full rage of the sun.
The work of God in salvation is a powerful light turned on that sheds light in what life is intended to be with God.
The Messiah was to be a Light to the Gentiles as well as the Jews.
Isaiah 49:6 (ESV)
6 he says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
The New Covenant does away with the old through fulfillment in Christ…
And offers different conditions, different promises based on the finished work of Christ.
Christ brings life to His people.
And, Christ is such light that we are told in Revelation, there will be no need for the Sun for the Lamb will be it’s lamp.
John has already stated…
John 1:4 (ESV)
4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
The illumination that Christ brings is through the new birth, new life, new creation given by the Holy Spirit which gives spiritual discernment and spiritual understanding…
Of oneself and our unrighteous condition before God…
And, the exclusive solution to our dilemma, which is Jesus Christ.
Jesus says…
John 8:12 (ESV)
12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
It is an appropriate thing to follow a glorious light that promises to lead one in the light that produces life.
Let’s think about this…
Let’s think about this…
Is there any area of our life where we are confessing that we’re following the Lord, but actually not inquiring at all from His Word to direct us?
The religious leaders adamantly and publicly confessed their allegiance to the Lord…
But, not only did not recognize the reality of the OT standing in front of them…
But, were not even willing to hear Him out and investigate the Scriptures with Him.
Here we see, the authority that Jesus is claiming is not accepted by the Pharisees.
John 8:13 (ESV)
13 So the Pharisees said to him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.”
Christ’s Claim Is Rejected by the Leaders
Christ’s Claim Is Rejected by the Leaders
This is a twisting of the words of Christ in…
John 5:31 (ESV)
31 If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true.
Jesus didn’t mean that someone could not testify of them self.
He meant if self testimony was all there was then they were not to be believed.
So, in typical hypocritical form they twist Christ’s words, and try to use it against Him.
But, Jesus responds…
John 8:14 (ESV)
14 Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going.
Jesus is Contrasting Their Judgment with His Judgment
Jesus is Contrasting Their Judgment with His Judgment
Jesus says you know nothing about me.
My judgment is true.
I know Myself fully.
I know of my origin.
I know of my destination.
You neither know my true origin.
Nor do you know my true destination.
However, we must not forget what they do know.
We must not forget what has been attested to them before their very own eyes.
We must not forget what they will not say or admit…
We must nor forget what they will not believe because of the hardness of their heart.
Their lack of faith does not negate Jesus being the Messiah…
No matter their religious positions, economic status, nor their social power to influence.
Let’s not forget what Nicodemus has already let out of the bag…
John 3:1–2 (ESV)
1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”
So, Jesus is not testifying of Himself, alone.
God, His very Father, has been repeatedly proving…
Over and over, in no veiled way, that Jesus is:
the Son of God
the Son of Man
the Messiah
And, so they have a divine witness from the Father of who Jesus is.
God’s glorious attributes shine forth most brilliantly in the midst of the world through the person of Jesus Christ.
They refuse to believe, in spite of the testimony of Jesus’ works and the Father, who affirms His person and work.
They refuse to believe because He is unwilling to put Himself under their structure.
Jesus adds to His argument…
John 8:15–16 (ESV)
15 You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. 16 Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me.
Jesus does not judge according to the flesh, as they do.
Jesus knows all things and all people completely.
He knows externally and internally.
They lack the necessary knowledge to judge Jesus.
—> Yet, they are constantly judging Him.
And, they judge according to the flesh.
They think because He is human that He cannot be more.
They think that because He resides in Galilee that He cannot be from somewhere else.
Jesus is saying…
—> You judge me according to what your minds can
imagine.
Your in bondage to the flesh and cannot think outside of earthly things.
—> This is the repeated message from God to mankind.
In contrast to their lack of ability to rightly judge.
Jesus & the Father Are Intimately Connected
Jesus & the Father Are Intimately Connected
Jesus does not judge according to the flesh.
But, that does not mean He does not judge.
16 Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me.
When Jesus judges it is with divine, omniscient, righteous judgment.
Because He judges with the same judgment as His Father.
He and the Father are of one mind and one will.
Jesus adds…
John 8:17–18 (ESV)
17 In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. 18 I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.”
Jesus Takes them to their Law
Jesus Takes them to their Law
Not that their Law is not His Law, but He states it this way because they are always boasting that the Law of Moses is their Master.
They’re always boasting that they are zealots for upholding the Law.
They just tried to trap Him by pretending to be concerned with the integrity of the Law.
Jesus says, based on my testimony and my Father’s testimony about Me…
Your law requires I be declared true.
What will they say to this?
Will they confess He is the Christ?
John 8:19 (ESV)
19 They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?”
This conversation has occured before.
This isn’t new revelation to them.
Jesus has claimed multiple times to the religious leaders that His Father is God.
They’ve tried to stone Him because of it.
It instigated their plotting to kill Him.
This is a diversion with the intent to ignore.
Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”
This is a declaration of their having no relationship with God whatsoever.
Jesus is saying you think you represent God.
You think you know the ways of God.
But, you don’t even know Him.
And, because you don’t know the Father, you don’t know Me.
And, because you don’t know Me, you don’t know the Father.
Knowing One is knowing the Other.
Knowing One makes someone immediately recognize the other.
John 8:20 (ESV)
20 These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.
Let’s think about this...
Let’s think about this...
It is possible to be:
convinced that you are doing God’s will.
convinced you know God.
convinced you are astute in the things of God.
convinced that you are a scholar in the Word of God.
convinced you are safe with God.
But, if you do not believe upon Christ for salvation…
If all of your hope of having a friendly, familial relationship with God is not completely and exclusively in Jesus Christ…
It proves you actually are bankrupt of all those false securities you’ve built up on your resume.
Jesus is the light of the world.
to the ignorant He proclaims wisdom
to the impure He promises holiness
to those in sadness He promises gladness.
But, those promises are only given to those who believe upon Him exclusively for salvation.
Look to Christ all ye ends of the earth…
He is the only source of salvation.
Closing Prayer
Closing Prayer
