Or, Death Is Abolished and Darkness Is on the Run
Scripture: John 1:4-5
Date: April 9, 2023
Speaker: Sean Higgins
Darkness is discouraging. Our poets associate darkness with the cold, with the unknown, with fear, with evil, with death. To be in the dark is to be ignorant, often it describes what it feels to be sad, even to the point of despair. So many psalms begin with the author in the dark. So many societies before the incarnation existed in the dark. The world around us today is like Egypt in the ninth plague; it’s so dark that they can’t even see their gender in front of their faces.
The modern dark is a worse dark because it has been chosen. Men have always loved darkness, but we’re throwing ourselves down into depraved loves like pre-Jesus pagans. It’s one thing to read the gross behaviors of the Caesars, each one with his own little Epstein Island inventions. I’m not trying to take anything away from Sodom and Gomorrah, nor from the continual evil intentions of antediluvian mankind. But all those were before grace and truth took on flesh.
Jesus called those who believed in Him the “light of the world.” He followed that identification with a principle: “nether do men lyght a candell/& put it under a busshell/but on a candelstycke/& it lyghteth all that are in the house” (Matthew 5:14-15, Tyndale). Applied to periods of history, what came before Jesus was tenebras, Latin for darkness. What came with Jesus was lux, light. And based on the Sermon on the Mount passage we could refer to our days as modius, the word for a bushel basket. We had the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ! And we’ve gone and stuck our heads under a 50 gallon measuring bowl.
But, beloved, “the light shines in darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5)! The eternal Logos—the Word—is the life and light of men. His lamp cannot be dimmed or defeated. In flesh He was put to death, His body was buried, but He rose from the dead with resurrection light that will not, that cannot, be turned down, turned off, put out.
Let us walk in the light, rejoice in the light, and while the residue of darkness is all around us, remember that the rule of darkness has already been broken. It’s on a timer.
There are a few passages that I’d like to compare from the Gospel of John, two that are “I am” statements. Then I’d like for us to exult together in the glories of the light of the gospel that shines for us.
Jesus spoke to [the scribes and the Pharisees], saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)
Jesus said to [Martha], “I am the resurrection and the life.” (John 11:25)
In Him was life and the life was the light of men. (John 1:4)
In John 8 Jesus is talking to religious professionals who were committed to their unbelief. Unbelief is spiritual darkness. They couldn’t seen Jesus for who He really was, and in failing to see Jesus truly they couldn’t see anything really. In Jesus is understanding, so those who believe in Jesus walk in His sunshine. We see the light, we see by the light. The light is glory, and even the Greek word for glory (δόξα) includes the idea of brightness, brilliance, shining.
In John 11 Jesus is talking to those mourning the death of Lazarus. Of course Jesus waited on purpose when He heard Lazarus was sick for sake of showing off His glory (John 11:4, 6). Mary and Martha were in the darkness of grief, and though they believed truly, they did not see fully. Jesus did have power to heal Lazarus and keep him from dying, but preventative miracles weren’t the full display. Jesus told Mary that He is the resurrection and the life. He is the bring-back-from-the-dead one, the come-back-from-the-dead Lord. It is as much a part of His nature as being the Shepherd of the sheep.
So we’ve got resurrection-life and light. As John opens his account, he starts with a summary of what’s going to be seen. These are not coming attractions, but coming attributes. Jesus is God, He is the revelation of God, He is the Creator God. He is “the true light” (John 1:9, and John said “We have seen his glory” (John 11:14).
“His life is the light of men.” At first it might seem backward; His light would be life. And that is true. But His life is our light. In the life of Jesus we see heavenly wisdom, creative power, divine love, perfect holiness, redeeming grace, eternal truth.
Light is essential for life. Sunlight is the source of energy used by plants to convert light energy into chemical energy that enables growth and fruit. As grass and trees catch the light and grow tall and fruitful, so the Son of God is light to our souls for strength.
His light has caused us to be born again. His light has taken us from dead to alive; what greater energy is there? His light has transformed our hostility into love, our unbelief into submission and worship, our despair into joy. It is a supernatural light, a divine light, imparted to our hearts that we might live. His life is light that is our life.
As the sun—or a candle or a lamp or an always-on flash bulb—shines, so we can see. Darkness is blindness, and those who are in darkness stumble (Proverbs 4:19). Those who are in darkness hide where it’s hard to see (John 3:20). Light exposes. Light shows what’s there. Light opens our eyes.
His light has pierced the underground caverns of our ignorance and our uncertainty. We know good and evil, we know heroes and villains, we know male and female. The light shines on our history, on our present, on the telos of all mankind. We see how things fit together, how they work together for good for those who love God. The light shines on our risen Savior, the King of kings and Lord of lords.
His light reveals what our real problem is: we have all broken His law. His light reveals the only solution: one Mediator between God and man, the man Jesus Christ. His light reveals the way for disciples: walk in the light as He is in the light and we have fellowship with Him and with each other.
Light shatters illusions. We are not dreaming. We believe in the light and in His light we see.
The light was given to mark the days. On the first day of creation God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light, and it was good. God separated the light from the darkness. On the fourth day of creation God gave “lights in the expanse of the heavens” to “be for signs and for seasons, for days and years.” These lights rule over the day and over the night; the rosy dawn signals the new day. It is not the clock (or coordinate signal from satellites) that runs the world, the sun defines our rhythms and our rejoicing.
Why are we here today? It is because of the Resurrection Light! When the Son of God rose from the grave on the third day in accordance with Scriptures, nothing could remain the same. The first day of the week, Sunday, sets the tone of the whole weekly cycle.
BC and AD are only the match tip (or BCE and CE - Before Christ Embodied / Christ Embodied if you prefer). Every Sunday Christians gather because the Light of the world crushed the darkness on His way out of the tomb. We assemble for oil in our lamps, for a corporate visit with the Light that our faces would shine when we return to our vocations in His light. His light regulates the rhythms of our days.
Only those in the light can be tempted toward discouragement like we are. Because of the light we see the deceit of darkness, the despair of those in darkness, the dead end of darkness. We can see enough to see that men with buckets on their head become bizarro world, clown world, upside down world.
But this is part of the glory of the light. Of course you can see the bad beside the good. Of course you can see the destruction and waste chosen by those who hate the Light. That’s because of the life you have in His light.
When “pitch darkness” was over Egypt for three days, “a darkness to be felt,” all the people of Israel still had light where they lived (Exodus 10:21-23). There was light in Goshen! Beloved, we have the Light.
There is light in Christ Jesus who “abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Timothy 1:9-10). Death is dead and darkness is on the run. Let the world bring its biggest bucket. They already tried to bury the Light in a tomb; the grave could not hold Him. Blessed are all who take refuge in Him (Psalm 2:12).
”A dark hour makes Jesus bright.” —Robert Murray M’Cheyne
He is the light of the world, the resurrection and the life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in darkness, and the light has conquered.
Jesus came into the world as light so that all the ones believing in Him may not remain in darkness (John 12:46), so you who believe have been delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of His beloved Son (Colossians 1:13). “At one time you were in darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true (Ephesians 5:8-9).
[May you be] strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. (Colossians 1:11–12, ESV)