John 1: 4-5

Genesis 1: 3-4

John 3: 19- 20

John 8: 12

John 1: 4. “In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.”

John 1: 5. “The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”

Life and light are parallel associations, while darkness and death are the opposite parallels.

Genesis 1: 3-4. “Then Elohim spoke, ‘Let there be Light’; and there was Light.” At the creation of the heavens and the earth, God spoke. This is reminiscent of the beginning of John’s gospel introducing the Son of God as the ‘Word’, the Creator. So we understand that Jesus, the Son, is the creative expression of the Triune Godhead. And now we learn the first expression of God in creation is light.

John 3: 19-20. Jumping ahead a bit to understand the importance of light, and Jesus being Light, ” This is the judgement, that the Light, (Jesus), has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. V. 20. “For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.” (As seen in Adam’s reaction to the first sin, he hid himself from God because he was afraid. Get. 3: 10)

John 8: 12. ” Then Jesus again spoke to them, ‘I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the Light of life.” This happening was on the Eighth Day Feast, immediately following the Feast of Tabernacles, where the massive hanging oil lamps, in the Court of Women of the Temple were lit, and the light illuminated the entire temple area through the windows of that court. Young men had carried gallons of oil up tall ladders to fuel the lights, and Jesus stood a distance away shouting the parallel of that light to Himself. (Historical resource by Albert Eidersheim)

“In Jesus was life, and the life was the Light of men.” Only through the Light can our darkness, our sin, be exposed, whereby we can turn to the source of that Light and obtain eternal life.

Blessings

Karl