“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 described Himself as God here, and, as in several instances, He declared Himself to be The Light.
A quick side trip: The meeting between Moses and God.
God appeared to Moses as a burning bush because no human can withstand the power and glory of being in His physical presence.
Moses said to God, Behold, when I come to the Israelites and say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they say to me, What is His name? What shall I say to them?
And God said to Moses, I AM WHO I AM AND WHAT I AM, AND I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE; and He said, You shall say this to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you.“
(Exodus 3:13-14)
Jesus declared Himself as “I AM” seven times in the book of John. Capped by this profound statement:
“I AM THE WAY, AND THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE! IF YOU HAD KNOWN ME, YOU WOULD HAVE KNOWN MY FATHER, AND FROM NOW ON, YOU KNOW HIM AND HAVE SEEN HIM!
BACK TO THE LIGHT:
Now, Jesus’s dear friend Lazarus was dying. His sisters, Martha and Mary, sent a messenger to Jesus to report the situation. Jesus sent the messenger back and told him to tell the sisters that this illness would not end in death but that God would be glorified by it.
The sisters did not pay attention to or believe Jesus because they were led by their flesh and believed what they saw more than what Jesus said, and they went home and unbelieved Lazarus to death.
Jesus, knowing what would happen, stayed where He was teaching the Gospel for two more days. He knew that if the sisters believed and shared their belief with Lazarus, he would live. If they chose to believe their eyes instead of Jesus, He would raise Lazarus from the dead. In either case, God would be glorified.
When the time had come for Jesus to go to Lazarus, who was about two miles away, this scene happened:
“Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister (Mary) and Lazarus. They were His dear friends, and He held them in loving esteem.
Therefore, when He heard Lazarus was sick, He still stayed two days longer in the place where He was.
Then, after that interval, He said to His disciples, ‘Let’s go back to Judea.’ The disciples said to Him, “Rabbi.” The Jews had only recently were planning to stone You, and You are going back there again? (More evidence that the disciples still did not believe Jesus. They were in fear for their own lives. They believed what they saw more than they believed in Jesus. They remembered that the Jews had planned to kill Jesus and them probably as well. Their minds and memories generated their fear. They had walked beside God in the Flesh, seeing all of the miracles, signs, and wonders He performed and still did not trust Him.)
Jesus answered, ‘Are there not twelve hours in the day? Anyone who walks about in the daytime does not stumble, because he sees The Light Of The World.
But if anyone walks about in the night, he does stumble, because there is no light in him.’
To demonstrate the power of seeing and walking in the light, Jesus continued: He said these things and added, ‘Our friend Lazarus is at rest sleeping; but I am going there so that I may awaken him out of his sleep.’
The disciples answered, ‘Lord, if he is sleeping, he will recover.
“However, Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that He referred to falling into a refreshing and natural sleep.
‘So then Jesus told them plainly, Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there; it will help you to believe, to trust Me. However, let’s go to him.’
Then Thomas (Yes, doubting Thomas who refused to believe that Jesus had risen until He touched the wounds in His body.), who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, ‘Let’s go too, so that we may die along with him.’
This event is recorded in the eleventh chapter of John; it is a sterling example of the power of belief and unbelief, of walking in The Light and walking in darkness, of believing circumstances or believing Jesus and His Word.
As the report continues, Jesus encounters His dear friends Martha and Mary, who accuse Him of murder by negligence. The truth is that their worry, anxiety, fear, and unbelief were responsible for Lazarus’s death.
Then came one of the most quoted of all verses, and the shortest of all: “JESUS WEPT“. Contrary to what you may have been taught or believed. Jesus did not weep because He was sad about Lazarus’s death. He wept because His heart was broken by the stunning unbelief of those closest to Him.
Jesus went on to raise Lazarus from the dead. Then all those who doubted Him and trembled in doubt and fear and worry, suddenly claimed to believe Him!
WALKING IN THE LIGHT MEANS TO BELIEVE IN, AND BELIEVE JESUS WITHOUT DOUBT.
Jesus and His Words are Light and Life. He taught us that unless we eat His Words and drink His blood, which means to read them, believe them, and act on them as the most important things in our lives, and to choose to believe that Jesus guaranteed every word and promise He made with His blood, we have no life in us. He taught us that our flesh counts for nothing, but that His Word is Spirit and Life.
Our challenge is to believe the Truth of His Words or the circumstances, challenges, doctors’ reports, news, or the voice of the evil one ringing in our ears.
THAT IS ALL FOLKS, END OF TEACHING
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