STUDY THEME: WHO ARE YOU JESUS? 4-06-03
"THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD." JOHN 8:12; 9:1-7, 35-41.
John 8:12; 9:1-5 6-7, 35-38, 39-41
PLEASE OPEN YOUR BIBLE TO JOHN 8.
Last Sunday we completed our series of five lessons on prayer. This Sunday we are beginning a series of four lessons from the Gospel of John, which focuses on four of the famous "I am" sayings of Jesus. All four lessons are under the general "Study Theme" entitled "Who Are You Jesus?" We will be studying the important question of who Jesus truly is.
People often superimpose their ideas upon Jesus and do not examine the testimony of intelligent eyewitnesses concerning who He really was. Jesus was confronted by some religious leaders of Israel, who had closed their eyes to His true identity. They were unwilling to see the truth. Jesus would not conform to their preconceived ideas of what the Messiah should be like. They wanted a political or military leader who would run the Romans out of the country. But Jesus came "to seek and to save that which is lost."
The suggested "Biblical Truth" for this lesson is that Jesus is God and He summons people to believe in Him as the One who reveals the truth and gives them life. The suggested "Life Impact" is to help us to testify through our faith and worship that Jesus is God.
In non-Christian world-views, Jesus is viewed at best as the human founder of one of the world’s major religions. The N.T. accounts of His life, ministry, death, and resurrection are viewed either as false or as irrelevant to modern life. For some people, Jesus is only a swear word.
In the biblical world-view, Jesus is the divine Son of God who became fully human while retaining His full deity. He calls people to follow Him as Savior and Lord, and He is worthy of believer’s sincere worship.
John in his book loves to quote Jesus’ use of the two English words "I am." He emphasized these things for a theological purpose. In the Hebrew language, that was the verb that God used for Himself when He spoke to Moses in the book of Exodus. Thus Jesus made a play upon these words and John recorded them because he knew their implications.
1. PLEASE READ JOHN 8: 12.
One summer we visited Carlsbad Cavern in New Mexico. In the very depth of the cavern the guide asked us to pause and he turned the lights off. I have never experienced such darkness. You could not even see your hand in front of your face. No one moved. We were all relieved when the lights were turned on. Today we live in a world of spiritual darkness as perilous as the physical darkness in that cave. There is only one Light that can direct us to safety and solutions.
John’s purpose in writing this Gospel was to reveal the true identity of Jesus in order that those who read it might believe He is the Son of God.
John 7:2 says that Jesus was in Jerusalem celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles. Vs. 14 says He was in the temple teaching the people. This feast commemorated God’s protection during Israel’s journey from Egypt to the Promised Land. It was also a time of thanksgiving for the summer harvest.
The religious leaders were seeking an opportunity to kill Jesus. Nicodemus, a member of the Sanhedrin, the supreme court of Palestine, tried to defend Jesus in John 7:51 but was silenced by Vs. 52 when it was pointed out that no prophet had ever arisen out of Galilee. They were overlooking the prophet Jonah who had come from Galilee.
After the scribes and Pharisees had sought to trap Jesus by bringing a woman taken in adultery, Jesus stated one of the seven "I am" statements found in the gospel of John. The Gospel of John emphasizes Jesus’ unique nature and mission as "the One and Only, who came from the Father.
When God called Moses to be the human leader through whom God delivered Israel from Egyptian slavery, Moses asked God to tell him His name. God replied in Exodus 3:14 that "I AM" was His name. By using "I am" Jesus was claiming to be Deity. He was claiming for Himself the identity of the covenant God of the Jews.
John recorded in his Gospel seven "I am" statements by which Jesus answered the question, "Who is this Jesus." John 6:35,48,
"I am the bread of life." John 8:12, 9:5, "I am the light of the world." John 10:7, 9, "I am the door." John 10:11,14, "I am the good shepherd" John 11:25, "I am the resurrection, and the life." John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." John 15:1-5, "I am the vine." An excellent Bible study this week would be to look up each of these statements and find the context in which it is used.The scripture in John 8:12
"I am the light of the world" reflects one of the rituals of the Feast of Tabernacles described in John 7. At the lighting of the golden lamps in the temple Jesus made this statement. We can’t conceive of how dark nights were before modern means of illumination. Jesus was probably using that ceremony as a background to His claim to be "the light of the world." To claim "to be the light" is a divine claim. The Scripture states that "God clothes Himself with light, dwells in light, and is the light."The Feast of Tabernacles reminded the people of their experiences on the way to the Promised Land. The lights reminded them of the pillar of fire. The pillar of fire signified the presence of God among His people.
Both light and the pillar of fire were also symbols of divine deliverance or salvation. Psalm 17:1 says,
"The Lord is my light and my salvation." The pillar of fire stood between t he pursuing Egyptians and the Israelites in Exodus 14:19-20. Light in the Bible is set over against darkness, which signifies sin or evil. We see this in passages such as John 3: 17-21 and many others. Thus Jesus is the light in the sense of saving from the darkness of sin. As Peter wrote in 1 Peter 2:9 "He called you out of darkness into His marvelous light."Don’t overlook the words of the world. In John 4:42 Jesus claimed to be the divine Son of God who is also the Savior of the World. The benefits of Light of the world are not automatic. People must follow Jesus in order to be promised that they shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. The light of life can mean "light is life," or "life comes from light." Either way, those who follow the light of the world find the life that only Christ can bring. Life is one of the themes of the Gospel of John. The word refers not only to physical life but also to abundant and eternal life in Christ. This life means a transformed life and a life in right relation to God.
Jesus is the Light of the world who dispels the darkness in the lives of those who follow Him. Philip P. Bliss had John 8:12 and Ch. 9 in mind when he wrote the hymn, ‘The Light of the World is Jesus."
The whole world was lost in the darkness of sin, The Light of the world is Jesus.
Like sunshine at noonday His glory shone in. The Light of the world is Jesus.
Come to the Light, ‘tis shining for thee; sweetly the Light has dawned upon me.
Once I as blind, but now I can see: The Light of the World is Jesus.
PLEASE TURN TO JOHN 9.
2. PLEASE READ JOHN 9: 1-5.
The whole story begins at Vs.1 in Ch. 9 and ends at Vs 21 Ch. 10. The whole story moves in the same atmosphere in which we have been following our Lord in connection with the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem. Our Lord was always doing things apparently incidentally. He found His opportunities every where. "He saw a man blind from birth." That the man was blind from birth pointed out his hopelessness. This illustrates man’s spiritual blindness from birth.
This man was born blind. This, the disciples recognized when they said, "
Who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he should be born blind." In all probability they had often seen the man, because he was gaining his living by receiving alms. Their philosophy of life was that all disability was the result of sin. They said "Rabbi, who did sin…..that this man was born blind."This was a theological problem. Believing that sin directly caused all suffering, how could a person be born with a handicap? Therefore either this man sinned in his mother’s womb or his parents sinned.
Jesus answered that this man was not born blind because of his own sin or his parents’, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. God could display His glory in the midst of seemingly impossible tragedy. What Jesus said was, I am not here to answer that kind of question. It may be perfectly justifiable. I am not here to explain the mystery of evil. I am not here to solve those problems. I am here to remove the cause of them.
"We must work the works of Him that sent Me while, it is day."Involved in that answer is a revelation that blindness from birth is not the will of God for any man. But the mission of Christ was not that of solving the problem, but that of removing the disability that created the problem.
Jesus was committed to acting while it is day because the night cometh, when no man can work. Jesus knew that His earthy ministry was drawing to a close. He wanted to take advantage of the time remaining. This principle applies to all of us. Life is short and uncertain. We often cross paths with someone only once: we should allow God to work through us to witness or minister to that person while we have the opportunity. Vs. 5 then shows how Jesus applied this principle to Himself. "
While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."John 9 tells of the only time that is specifically stated Jesus healed a man born blind. There is no miracle of healing a blind person recorded in the O.T. But the O.T. prophecies in Isa. 35:5 and 42:7 that the Messiah would open the eyes of the blind. Jesus did that more than once.
3. PLEASE READ JOHN 9: 6-7.
Jesus made clay with spittle, and anointed the eyes of the man, and told him to go and wash. This was an occasion when Jesus made use of means. The particular value of the means I do not pretend to know. We do know that spittle was looked upon at the time as being remedial. Whether our Lord was accommodating His method for the sake of those around Him at the time, I cannot say. Some times He removed disability without any means. At other times He used means. That illuminates the whole region in which we discuss healing.
Without means, or with means: it is always God Who heals. After the anointing he was to go and wash. He obeyed, and came back seeing. It may have helped this particular man to have something to do himself "by going and washing." The man clearly considered his sight as a miracle wrought by Jesus. The use of mud and water does not diminish the miracle. The miracles of Jesus clearly demonstrate His deity.
This story is too good to skip from Vs. 7 to Vs. 35 so will you follow along in your Bible as we continue the story?
Now immediately a discussion arose. First of all we have the question among his neighbors in Vs., 8-9. Evidently he went back to his own neighborhood, and they were amazed and their amazement created uncertainty as to the identity of the man. He settled the whole thing when he said, "I am he." He then told them how his healing was done. We see how little he knew; "A man called Jesus." He knew that much, and that was his first witness.
Then they took him before the religious authorities, and at once we see the reason. Vs. 14 says this thing was done on the Sabbath day. This question of the Sabbath persists all through. It began in Ch. 5, when Jesus had caused a man to carry his mattress on the Sabbath day.
A man born blind, his eyes were open, he was looking at them; but failing to see him, they were concerned with the method. This Man made clay on the Sabbath day. In the traditions of the rulers one thing specifically forbidden was to make clay on the Sabbath day. That is what Jesus had done. That is all they saw. The man had his eyes open. They could not see that. They saw the violation of the Sabbath.
Arraigned before the Pharisees, this man came to the second stage of his development. They said, "What sayest thou of Him?" He replied, "He is a prophet." Then in Vs. 18, perplexed, the rulers called the parents. The story of the parents may be dismissed very briefly. It is quite natural. They knew perfectly well, as John tells us in Vs. 11, that it had been decided by the authorities, that anyone who claimed that Jesus was Messiah should be excommunicated, put out of the synagogue. The terror of that was upon them. They nevertheless corroborated the fact of the wonder wrought. Two things they were certain about. One was that he was their son. The second was that he had been blind and now saw. They were not prepared to say how. "He is of age, ask him."
Then came the re-arraignment of the man. First, in vs. 24 they laid on him the charge,
"Give glory to God, we know that this man is a sinner." His first answer was a restatement of the fact, and a refusal to discuss the question raised as to whether Jesus was a sinner. In Vs. 25 he replied, "Whether he be a sinner, I know not; one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see."That body of religious rulers could not get beyond that. The fact was attested by the man himself, and by his parents. What did they then do? They went back to the old position, and said, "How did He do it?" Because in the how lay their cause of complaint, that He had broken the Sabbath.
Then the man became satirical, and out of patience with these rulers. He was gaining ground. He said, I have told you. Would you like to hear it again? Then came that thrust in Vs. 27. I wonder what part of the soul it came from
. "Would ye also become His disciples?" Then they were angry! They reviled him. They claimed to be the disciples of Moses, and repudiated Jesus. This reviling carried the man further. He began to think aloud; thought it out for himself. "Sinner? Did I say I did not know? If this man were not from God, He could do nothing."Then they excommunicated him; they cast him out. The Jews had agreed already, that if any man should confess him to be the Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue. The putting out there, means excommunication in the full sense. So they cut that man off. From that time he had no right to cross the threshold of temple or synagogue. From that moment he was cut off from all the privileges of his religion, excluded from the society of devout and decent souls. This was like being treated by the entire community as if the person were dead.
He had come to that position of certainty that the One Who healed him was of God. On that basis they excommunicated him. In Vs. 35 we come to the action of Jesus. Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and Jesus found him. Jesus found him as a part of His mission to seek and to save the lost. Jesus found him as a part of His mission to bring the man to light of salvation.
Jesus was committed to acting while it was day because the night cometh, when no man can work. Jesus knew that His earthly ministry was drawing to a close. He wanted to take advantage of the time remaining. This principle applies to all of us. Life is short and uncertain. We often cross paths with someone only once; we should allow God to work through us to witness or minister to that person while we have the opportunity. Jesus applied this principle to Himself:
"While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."4, PLEASE READ JOHN 9: 35-48.
Jesus found the man, and finding him, He said to him, "Dost thou believe in the Son of God: This question was designed to bring the man to full faith in the economy of God that never fails. The man’s response in vs. 36 shows his openness and eagerness to believe. Throughout the events of John 9 the man responded positively to each new bit of light as he received it. He walked in the light he had and moved forward each time he received more light. The man replied, "And who is He, Lord that I may believe on Him? Now mark the claim, positive, and unequivocal. "Thou has both seen Him, and He it is that speaketh with thee." Then all the doubts vanished. He had gained the soul of the man, and he said, "Lord, I believe. And He worshipped Him." He made an immediate profession of his faith in Jesus as the Son of God. So the greatest thing that Jesus did for the blind man was not simply give him his sight. The greatest thing was that He saved him from his sins.
Observe the ascending scale in this man’s consciousness of Jesus. "A man called Jesus"; "He is a prophet"; "If this Man were not God, He could do nothing"; "Lord, I believe. And he worshipped Him."
Thus the scene ends with Jesus receiving the worship of a man. An excommunicated man, a man put out of the synagogue, is received into relationship with God, in the act of his submission and his worship.
5. PLEASE READ JOHN 9: 39-41.
In the presence of the man, excommunicated by organized religion, and received by Himself, He said, "For judgment came I into this world, that they which see not may see; and that they which see may become blind." When talking to Nicodemus in John 3: 17 He had said that He was not sent to judge the world; in His teaching He had said in John 8:15, "I judge no man;" yet now He declared He came for judgment. There is no contradiction whatever between the two statements. The word He employed here describes a result, rather than an action.
He had not come to act in judgment, but His coming did create a crisis. Those who reject Him through unbelief choose darkness rather than light and thus bring judgment upon them selves. There was the blind man; he knew he was blind; and he had received his sight. That was a physical fact, and our Lord here employed the physical to illustrate the spiritual. The man born blind was conscious of his blindness, and had received his sight. On the other hand, those who saw, that is those who claimed to see, claimed to know, these critics round about our Lord were unconscious of their blindness; and Christ said His coming, in their case, did but seal their blindness.
The Pharisees immediately raised a protest. Their protest was a question; "Are we also blind?" Whoever these Pharisees were, it is evident that they had caught the spiritual significance to what He was saying. Because the answer is yes and no, Jesus was careful how He answered this question. His answer to them is revealing.
"If ye were blind, ye would have no sin."
He virtually charged them with willful rejection. If you were really blind, if you really had not apprehended the things I have been saying, and the teaching I have been giving, you would have no sin; "but now ye say, We see; your sin remaineth." I cannot read that without realizing that these Pharisees whomsoever they may have been; had seen clearly the spiritual significance of His teaching. If you were blind, you would have no sin; but because you have apprehended, and are still rejecting the thing you have seen, "your sin remaineth."As a result of being able to distinguish truth from evil, they were accountable for choosing evil. and thus Jesus announced, "Therefore your sin remaineth." They had been able to see God’s light in Christ, but they closed their eyes against the light. As a result, they lived and walked in darkness. In this sense, they had eyes that once could see but now are blind from living so long in darkness.
While the blind man was moving step by step toward full light, the Pharisees were moving deeper into spiritual darkness. Vs. 41 does not deny that they were the spiritually blind of the final part of Vs. 39. Vs. 41 stresses that they were accountable for becoming blind. They saw the light and truth in Jesus, but they chose to reject Him. Their persistent rejection sealed their condemnation. God said in Genesis 6:3
"My spirit shall not always strive with man."The Light of the world came into our world of darkness and sin. In blind hostility, men wanted to extinguish Him and the light. The world rejected and killed Him. But John 1:5 says "The light keeps shining in the dark, and the darkness has never put it out."
In fact, not only is the world unable to put out the light, but the Light of the World is able to bring sight and light to many who walk in darkness.
WE CONTINUE THIS LESSON NEXT SUNDAY IN JOHN 10 WHERE JESUS ANNOUNCES "I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD." A.V. DAUGHERTY 4-06-03