In John 8:12, Jesus assured us that "I am the Light of the world..." By saying this, Jesus meant that He is the medium by which a person can come to see God spiritually and to know God personally. Those who have repented of their sins, who have put their faith in Christ's sacrifice and resurrection in their place, who have received cleansing of their sins by Jesus' blood, God's forgiveness, and reconciliation with God: they possess the Spirit of Christ in their hearts and salvation by grace while still in their flesh in the world. These are the "born again" believers who possess the Light of the Spirit of Christ in their hearts, and who know God personally. Salvation by grace constitutes God's highest form of salvation. II Corinthians 4:6.
However, John 1:9 extends God's Light much further than just salvation by grace when it teaches that God "lighteth every man that cometh into the world..." Genesis 1:2-5 records the fact that God created the light, divided it from darkness, called the light Day and the darkness Night. Physical light; that is, electro-magnetic energy, constitutes the medium by which the consciousness of man can experience the world. God did not create the darkness. He divided the light from the darkness which already covered the earth. But God took power over the darkness when He named it Night. God gave the Day and the Night to every man He created. In this way, God demonstrated by His physical creation of light that in the future He would bring all the goodness that He would ever put into man back to the Light, and He would gain power over darkness. John 1:9 reflects God's original creative project.
In the gospels, Jesus taught us a lot about the meanings of Day and Night, light and darkness. Jesus repeatedly associated night and darkness with sin and an inability to be creative in doing good works. In this way, Jesus related sin to the darkness and chaos which originally covered the earth. In John 3:19-20, Jesus taught that those who love darkness, which is symbolic of sin, refuse to come to the Light, which is symbolic of goodness and truth, because they are too proud to have their sins reproved by Christ. In John 8:12, Jesus taught that He is that Light to which men should come by faith in order to get out of the darkness of sin. In John 9:3-5, Jesus taught that God only does creative work in the Day since Christ is the Light of the world. Jesus related the night to a time when no man can do creative works. In John 11:9-10, Jesus taught that the day and the light specify a specific time that God gives to man to come out of darkness toward the light. In John 12:35-36, Jesus taught that those who believe in the light, symbolic of Himself, can see clearly and know what they are doing while those who walk in darkness remain confused and disoriented. In John 12:46, Jesus taught that the only way to get out of darkness is to come to the Light of Christ by faith.
In all of His teachings about light and darkness, Jesus demonstrated with spiritual truths the same creative approach that He had when He overcame the darkness and chaos of the earth by His creation of light to penetrate the darkness so that He could do His creative work in the Day. Genesis 1:1-5. Jesus taught that everyone who sees the light can chose to either move toward the light and obtain spiritual salvation or retreat from the light into deeper, chaotic darkness. But John 1:9 also teaches that God will give every human the ability to see the light. God absolutely divided the light from the darkness. This truth can only mean that no matter how far any person may move into the darkness, he will still see the light of God's goodness that He originally put into him, and that his goodness will eventually move back into the Light.
Some will move into the Light while still in the flesh and become Christians. Some will move partly toward the Light and after physical death Christ will judge them to be cast into a place called the Sea. Micah 7:19; Hebrews 9:27; Revelation 20:13. Others will see the Light but will retreat from it into deeper darkness and Christ will judge them after physical death to be cast into a place called Death. Matthew 22:13; Matthew 25:30; Revelation 20:13. Still others will rebel against the Light and become cruel sinners whom God will cast into a burning Hell. Luke 16:23; Revelation 20:13.
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