“The Light Shines in the Darkness – Pt. 1”
My Mom always wants to know the end of the story. She doesn’t want to wait to be surprised. She loves Agatha Christie, and watching Poirot & others solve mysteries. But she is the kind of person that wants you to spoil the end. She will actually sometimes read the end of the book before she starts.
John doesn’t leave any twists for the end. No mysteries, at least not in the modern sense. John begins his Gospel with the end. Or not really the end, but with the whole.
He gives this prologue, vs. 1-18, and in it he mentions everything else that he is going to say. There is nothing left for you to anticipate and wonder about, he simply states it all up front.
All of the major themes of this book are laid out in what we just read.
Light.
Life.
Truth.
Witness.
Rejection.
Belief.
New Birth.
The Superiority of Jesus to Moses.
The divinity of Christ.
It’s all here. What we are going to do is work through this prologue slowly and unpack some of those major themes. Today we begin with what I would argue is the primary theme in this whole book. It will show up over and over again.
That is the theme of “Light.”
The Light Shines in the Darkness, and the Darkness has not overcome it. Congregation of Christ, Jesus has come as the fullest and truest revelation of the glory of God, he has made everything known, he is the light that brings life. May the Holy Spirit of God help us to see his glory, his light, as we meditate upon his character and work.
What is light? The very use of such a term invites us to consider the many conceptual similarities between Jesus and the category of light. Light brings life. It comes from outside of us, and it reveals things to us. It warms, exposes, burns, allows you to see, and comforts. It divides and it brings illumination meaning it brings knowledge. It is linked to day as opposed to night, it is tied to the idea of glory.
There are at least 4 primary things that John teaches us about Jesus Christ as the Light in this passage.
- As the Light, Jesus Brings Life
- As the Light, Jesus has Come into the World
- As the Light, Jesus Reveals the Glory of God
- As the Light, Jesus Overcomes Darkness
Let’s explore each of these closer.
This post is an excerpt of a sermon preached on January 14, 2024 by Pastor Michael Bowman as the beginning of his sermon series on John. Passage: John 1:1-18
Listen to the whole sermon here on Spotify.
