Light of the World | Dave Sloop

Today, we are looking at John chapter eight, beginning in verse 12. This is the second great I am statement from Jesus in John's gospel. If you remember about seven months ago when we kicked off this series, Tim walked us through the structure of this book and how John brilliantly, like an attorney, put this thing together, making a case that Jesus Christ was precisely who he claimed to be.

The first half of John's gospel, the first 11 chapters, is called the book of signs. We have been crawling through this first section of John's gospel, and we've talked to you quite a bit about the significance of those signs and have even talked about why he calls them signs and not miracles. Because his signs necessarily signify something. They are pointing beyond themselves to something else. They're pointing to a greater spiritual reality than just the mere display of power that Jesus has in his person, which is true. But John invites you not to see them as mere miracles, but signs. They point to something. They're telling us not only that his power is validating who he claims to be, but they're teaching us something about who he is and the kingdom he means to bring.

There are seven of them. Seven in the Bible is the number of fullness or completion. And John is telling you, this is the full testimony about Jesus Christ. This is sufficient evidence for you to bow before him, bend the knee, and make him the Lord of your life.

There are also seven I am statements. And he does that on purpose. When you hear the word "I am," perhaps it evokes God speaking to Moses from the burning bush.

I am that I am

When Jesus says, "I am, I am, I am, I am, I am," do you know what John is telling you? The first thing he's telling you is this is the same person that spoke to Moses from the bush. There are seven of them because what he's telling you is he is the fullness of God in human form. There is no diminishment of his person, his character, his power, his goodness, his beauty. He is God in the flesh, fully God, fully man.

He is the image of the invisible God — Colossians 1:15

The writer of Hebrews would say:

He is the reflection of God's glory, the exact representation of his glory

He is just like him. Like this hand and glove, they are the same.

Now there's something interesting about the I am statements, and it's this: it is not just that Jesus is claiming to be God. The I am statements are necessarily telling us something about what God is like. We've already seen one of these statements:

I am the bread of life — John 6

You see there when he says, "I am the bread," it's clearly a statement of divinity. He is claiming to be God. But he's also telling us something about what God is like. When he says, "I am the bread of life," he is saying, I am the satisfier. That is who I am.

But here's something else I want you to know. All of Jesus' self-revelations about himself, all of his I am statements aren't just revealing something true about God. They are exposing something true about you and about me. When he says, "I am the bread of life," he's saying, there is no other food. He's putting his finger on that hunger inside you and me that food will not touch, neither will success, achievement, romance, wealth—fill in the blank—comfort, pleasure. All of those things are fleeting and they do not last. He's saying, I alone can satisfy the hunger in your soul. It's me. I am the satisfier.

And here's what it teaches you about you: you are starving to death. And that is a fact. And that is precisely what all of John six is about—this conflict that erupts when Jesus makes this claim, not only about himself, but about what's wrong with you.

But I want you to see this. Jesus is not just saying, "Hey, look how great I am, and look how messed up you are." He puts himself forward as the solution, the only solution to what is broken inside of all of us. And therefore, all of his I am statements, whether it's explicit or implied, they come with a sense of invitation, which is why he says, "I'm the satisfier. You're starving. Come. Come. Eat. I am the answer for what you are dying from inside of you that nothing else seems to be able to touch."

Today, we're going to look at another one. But here's what I want you to see: all of these I am statements bear this in common. His self-revelation is at the same time a confrontation and an invitation.

The Light of the World

And today, what he's going to say is this: "I am the light of the world." And here's what I want us to see from this passage. First of all, I want to explore with you what the claim is that he makes, and then I want to watch and see the crisis that it creates.

And then third, I want you to hear the call that he extends, which is just another way of saying revelation, confrontation, invitation. And so with that, let's jump in to John chapter eight, beginning in verse 12.

Here's what Jesus says:

Again, Jesus spoke to them 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

When it says "again, Jesus spoke to them," it's important to understand that this is building on something that he has already been saying. If you remember from a few weeks ago, Jesus said another pretty audacious thing. He said, "If anyone thirsts, come to me and drink." And you may remember that the setting of that invitation was a particular time on the Jewish calendar called the Feast of Tabernacles. And this was a time every single year that the Jewish community of faith would travel to Jerusalem. They would live in tents. They would enact what God did for their forefathers in the wilderness. They lived in tents. They remember how God provided for them in the wilderness. And what we explored a few weeks ago was this daily water ritual. If you haven't heard that sermon, I would invite you to go back and listen to it. It's pretty remarkable what Jesus says. And understanding when he says it and where he says it helps to frame what he meant by it.

Well, I want you to know that what Jesus says here is in the middle of that same feast. In fact, most commentators believe that it either happened that night, the same night that he said "come to me and drink," or it happened the next evening. But in any case, it was during this same feast. And attached to it was another ritual.

The Light Ritual of the Feast

Here's what the ritual was. We know from the text that this statement that Jesus makes, he says it in the court of women, which was the most public place in the temple. It was where people brought their offerings. And it was also the setting for a ritual that would happen every single night during this same feast. And here's what it was.

The priest would take these gigantic lampstands—they're like candelabras. Each of them had four huge, gigantic—I mean, these were enormous, made of gold. And the priest would climb up a ladder and they would fill each of these bowls with oil. There were four of them. So there's 16 of these gigantic lampstands. They would take worn out priestly garments. They would tear them into shreds, turn them into a wick, and they would light these things. And it would light up the city. And I mean that literally. It was said that there was not a courtyard in all of Jerusalem that was not illuminated by the light that was emanating from the temple.

And this in and of itself was a picture of what Israel was supposed to be—a light to the nations. But it was saying a whole lot more than just that. Because remember, this was happening during the Feast of Booths, the Feast of Tabernacles, which was remembering God's faithfulness in the wilderness. What do you think the fire from those torches might have pointed to? That's right. God's presence in the wilderness.

See, the water ritual pointed to God's provision, and it looked back to his provision in the past. It called or thanked God for his provision in the future, and it looked with anticipation to a future provision of living water that would come in the messianic age. This was the same thing. It looked back to the presence of God.

If you look at Exodus 13, I'll throw it up on the screen:

And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light that they might travel by day and by night. — Exodus 13:21

And we are told that the presence of God for the entire time that Israel was in the wilderness did not leave the people. They knew that their God was with them, either by fire or by cloud to give them comfort and shade. God, when he manifests his presence in the Old Testament, especially in the book of Exodus, it is almost always accompanied by light. We see it all over the place.

There's this one in the very next chapter in Exodus 14. I don't have the scripture up there, but there's this incredible picture of the cloud, which is in front of Israel. When Egypt is coming on its heels, the pillar of cloud moves to the back. And it is projecting darkness to Egypt—judgment over Israel's enemies—and it is covering Israel with light. This manifestation of God's presence, they had tremendous confidence and comfort in their God because of the presence that he provided for them in this season.

In Exodus 33, which we also read this morning, there's another great picture of Moses who longed for God's presence. In fact, he longed for it so much that when he thought God might remove his presence from the people, he went up on this mountain. He said to him, "God, if your presence will not go with us into the promised land, we will not go." Isn't that great?

In other words, we would rather die in the wilderness than not have you with us. And God responds to Moses and said, my presence will go with you. And Moses in this moment, just captured by his own love for God and his desire to see him, says perhaps the most audacious thing in all of the Old Testament. He says, show me your glory.

And God responds to Moses and said, I will allow my goodness to pass before you, but you cannot see my face. No man can see my face and live. And so he put Moses in the cleft of a rock. He covered his eyes with his hand, and his goodness passed before him. He declared his name. You heard the passage read. And then once he passed by, he removed his hand and showed his backside to him. And he caught the afterglow of God's glory. And it so shook and impacted Moses that he fell face to the ground and worshiped him.

Moses came down from the mountain. His face was glowing. And as I was studying this passage this week, just reflecting on it, I had this thought. God said to Moses, you cannot see my face. He just caught a glimpse of his glory. But when he came down from the mountain, the people saw God all over Moses' face. Isn't that a great picture of who we're supposed to be? The glory of God would show up. The cloud, it said in Exodus chapter 40, would descend, dwell over the tabernacle, and God's glory would just fill the tabernacle such that Moses couldn't go in there or he would die. He would be consumed by the glory of God.

In First Kings eight, when Solomon builds the temple, do you know what happens? Glory fills the temple. But then something tragic happens. After persistent disobedience, rebellion, idolatry, in Ezekiel chapter eight through chapter 10, we read this heartbreaking description—a prophetic word that God gives to Ezekiel—that his presence, his glory is leaving the temple. It was a sign of judgment. And even in this glory departing, there was a promise in the very next chapter, chapter 11, that says, my glory will return one day.

Jesus Claims the Light

Now, back to the feast. Jesus is standing there in this courtyard where all of this imagery is so rich and full. For seven straight nights, they had been seeing these torches. And it wasn't just light. It immediately erupted in celebration. There was dancing. There was joy. There was worship. And the entire city was illuminated with light.

Tradition has it that on that last night, the night that Jesus said this, they did not light the candles. And this is just my own conjecture. I don't know this for sure. But I think the reason they did that was to acknowledge the glory has departed. But they were looking, just as they were in the water ritual, ahead to the messianic age.

The people who have walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in the land of deep darkness, on them a light has shown. — Isaiah 9:2

They didn't light the candles that night to acknowledge that the glory had departed, but they looked forward to the messianic age that Isaiah foresaw and Ezekiel foresaw—the glory's coming back. And on that night, Jesus says, I am the light of the world.

Does that change? Does that context help you understand how powerful this moment would have been? I am the light of the world, Jesus says. What did Jesus mean when he said that? What was he claiming? What he was claiming is that everything that the presence of God was for Israel in the wilderness, I am for you now.

But here is the great tragedy of that moment. When God said to Moses, I cannot show you my face, here is just the painful reality of that moment. What Moses wanted but could not see, these people saw but did not want. The presence and glory of God was standing in the courtyard proclaiming, I am what this light has always pointed to, and I'm here and I'm face to face with you. And they couldn't see it. They didn't want to see it.

The question is, why? So we're going to look now at the crisis that this creates. And we're going to go back to that same verse, verse 12.

Again, Jesus spoke to them 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 says, whoever follows me will not walk in darkness. What's the implication? You are walking in darkness. You're blind. Your hearts are hardened. You cannot see. And the rest of this passage, honestly, the bulk of it is just Jesus' patient bearing with a people that both will not and cannot understand his plain self-revelation of who he is and therefore who God is and who he wants to be for them.

In verse 13, listen to how they respond.

Jesus essentially says to them, I am the solution for everything that's wrong with your life. And they say, in verse 13, "You're bearing witness about yourself. Your testimony is not true." In other words, there's not two people saying this. Gotcha. Must not be true. See, they so desperately did not want to believe this.

If you were here a couple of weeks ago, let me use language from Tim's sermon. This is juror number three. They didn't have an intellectual struggle with whether or not this Jesus was who he claimed to be. They'd already decided we don't want him to be. And therefore, they looked for evidence to justify or to validate what they deeply wanted to be true already.

Jesus is so patient. And so for the next dozen verses, he goes back and forth with them, trying to help them see. But in verse 27, we read this:

They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the father.

It's not just that they would not believe, they could not believe, they didn't understand. Now I want to show you just a few snapshots of some of the things that Jesus had said to them in this conversation to show you how ridiculous verse 27 is.

Jesus said, "I'm the light of the world." That's a pretty strong claim. Let's just take the sunshine for a moment and consider what that is. That's the light of our world physically. I mean, that we know is because of the sun. If there is no sun, we do not see anything. And if we can't know anything to study and research and understand, without the sun, we know nothing. But also without the sun, there is no life at all. But then also, if you get too close to the sun, what happens? You die. What a great picture. Jesus saying that's who I am. I mean, the metaphor itself just shouts at the top of his life. I am god.

Secondly, he says, "I'm from above. I am not of this world." And by the way, if I'm not from this world, my father's not from this world either.

The father who sent me bears witness about me. He who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I've heard from him.

How obvious, how could Jesus be any more clear? I am talking about God. My father, he's from above too. It's God, the father. And then now let's look at verse 27 again:

They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the father.

They didn't. They wouldn't. They couldn't.

A Story About Understanding

I'll tell you guys a story. Several years ago, I took Melissa to Stanton for a romantic weekend, and I thought it would be really romantic to go see a Shakespeare play. I don't know if you've ever been to the Black Friar in Stanton. It is gorgeous. It's beautiful. It's authentic. It's like what the old Shakespearean theaters used to look like. And we go in there and I'm like, oh my gosh, this is awesome. The lights dim, the play starts. And that's when my confusion sets in. They were speaking English, I think. I mean, seriously, guys, I was looking around like, does anybody else? Am I the only one that doesn't get this? And then I turned to Melissa to see if she understood. And Melissa, this is not a lie, she was sleeping. Okay? So which I feel like, okay, at least I'm not the only one. I just couldn't understand. I needed somebody to help me. Give me like some sort of decoder so I can understand what they're saying and follow the plot line.

These people could not understand and they would not understand. And I wanna tell you why.

The Real Problem with Unbelief

John chapter three exposes the reason for unbelief. And this is the judgment. Hear this:

Light has come into the world and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.

You know what John is saying here? You don't lack intellectual evidence for the existence of God. The problem is you don't want to get too close to the light because it will expose you. And so we keep ourselves at a distance. We don't wanna get too close. And there's a real cost to that, friends.

And Jesus would tell them. In verse 21, he says this:

I'm going away and you will seek me and you will die in your sins. Where I'm going, you cannot come.

He says he told them this again because he said the exact same thing in chapter seven. He expands on this even more in verse twenty-three and twenty-four. I'm just gonna read the highlighted parts:

You're from below. You are from this world. I told you that you would die in your sins.

Jesus wants them to understand the stakes. I'm telling you something about me, which is exposing something about you. You are in darkness. And it's not just that you're a little bit confused, stumbling through life. It's that you're going to die in your sins. You are born into—and you know what's so fascinating about this? In John chapter six, Jesus feeds 5,000, and then he makes his first I am statement. I am the bread.

Right here, he makes his second I am statement. You know what happens in chapter nine? He heals a man born blind, which is another sign that works together with the I am statement to send a single message. You were born blind, and I am the light that can fix it. Death is what's at stake here. A forever death, eternal death. And I want you to see this.

When Jesus says, "Unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins" — he's begging them to consider the stakes.

Maybe, you know, the name Mike Ashburn, real well known Young Life staff guy. Also a really, really good close buddy of Quiggs. And I think he's spoken here before. One of my favorite stories from Ash is he tells the story of his sweet little daughter when she was just a toddler who happened to climb up the ladder he had propped up against the roof. And she went up on the roof and she didn't know that was dangerous. And she was trotting around laughing and did not know how close she was to death. And Ash was terrified that if he said something too loud, it would startle her and she would fall off. You know what he did? He came to where she was, big smile on his face, no fear on his face, and he just did this. Jump. And she did.

Here's how I want you to see that highlighted sentence:

When Jesus says, "Unless you believe I am he, you will die in your sins" — you know what he's doing? He's not just telling you that you're bad and he's good. He's saying, I am good for you. I am all that you need. All that I am is all for you. Come. Jump.

So with that, let's consider the call that he extends. This is the invitation. And by the way, have you noticed all of this is in verse 12? All three of these things—his self revelation, his confrontation, and his invitation—they are all contained within that one little verse. And the rest of the chapters, these guys are just trying to figure that out.

Again, Jesus spoke to them 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 says whoever follows me will have the light of life. I want to answer two questions as we begin to wrap up here. The first one is this: What is it that he gives? And the second question is: How does he give it?

What Does He Give?

Let's look at that verse again. When it says, "He who follows me will have the light of life," I want you to consider the possibility that "light of the world" and "light of life" are synonyms. It is the same thing. And therefore, this is actually what Jesus is saying. He's saying, "He who follows me has me. Not something from me. He has me."

And therefore, when you have me, you have who I am. All that I am, Jesus is saying, is all for you. And it is what you need most. In fact, it is all that you need.

What is it that he is offering? Everything he was to Israel in the wilderness, he wants to be for you. Protection, comfort, joy, celebration, peace, knowing he's got me. Pillar of cloud, pillar of fire, protection. Even he was even concerned about giving them some shade. He cares about everything, and he wants you to know his presence.

How Does He Give It?

So Jesus said to them, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he." — John 8:28

They didn't understand what he was talking about.

"When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know I am he."

Here's the first thing that I want you to know: In order for Jesus to give his life to you, he must first give his life for you. He has to come and die in order that you might receive all that he is.

But can I ask you a question? Are you willing to let Jesus offend you just a little bit this morning? I want you to look at that verse again and notice one word in particular:

When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he.

Have you ever seen yourself as the one who lifted him up? Jesus means to offend. Because as I've said up here before, before he can heal you, he must hurt you. Before he can win you, he must wound you. Would you be willing to allow yourself to be a little bit offended this morning by what Jesus just said?

You know, I've been trying to think of a way to convey this. And the metaphor that came to me, just kind of this image, is that the doorway to experiencing all that God wants to be for you and in your life—it is a mirror. And the reason that we don't come near him is because we don't want to see our true reflection. Because coming close to him will expose who we actually are.

I'm reading a book right now called the Awe of God. And it suggests that every single one of us has three pictures of ourself, images of ourself. We have the perceived image—that's how I see myself. Then I have my projected image, which is how you see me, which is probably more favorable than how I see myself.

But then there's a third. It's the actual. And that is what you and I are terrified to see. And we resist seeing it at great cost. Because here's the reality. Before you can see him for all that he is, you must first accept all that he says you are. That you are the one that lifted him up, that it was your sin. But in that confrontation, there is an invitation. He's saying, you are massively flawed and broken. Come to me. And when you, friends, and I, when we are willing to look honestly in the mirror to see who we are and what we are, we will burst through that door in order to receive all that he wants to be for you and for me.

Jesus said to these guys, where I am going, you cannot come. But praise God, that is not the end of the story. The one who is from above came down to where you are. But he didn't just come to where you are. He became what you are.

He who knew no sin became sin. He became your sin in order that you might become the righteousness of God. — 2 Corinthians 5:21

Who is the righteousness of God? It is Jesus Christ. So let me stitch this together. He said, you cannot come where I am going. And so he came down to where you are to become what you are, that in dying for you, you might become what he is so that you can go where he is going.

Do you know him? Do you understand the stakes? Would you be willing to look in the mirror? Listen. This is for Christians and non-Christians alike because he made all of us. There's freedom for everyone here if you would but look at what's wrong with you and dare to believe that he is the solution to all of it. He will fill you up.

In fact, I'll put it this way, and this will be our final word. If you would be willing to see yourself as the one who lifted him up, what will happen is that he will come and fill you up. It'll change you, I promise, at greater and greater levels for the rest of your life if you will yield more and more.

Prayer

We need you, Lord. In fact, you're all that we need. We concern ourselves with so many things that are trivial and unnecessary. You alone are what we need. And we come this morning. I pray that maybe somebody's here that has been fighting or resisting. I pray that they would put down their weapons, that they would stop arguing like the Pharisees trying to look for some validation for what they've already decided they're gonna believe. I just pray that they would yield, they'd come to you, they'd look in the mirror and they would bust through the door to find the greatest joy, peace, love they've ever known. Do it today, Lord. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.