The True Light

Recently, my wife and I have been talking about a particular verse in John 1. It is the 9th verse. Here it is with verses 10 and 11:

"There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him."

Perhaps we've wondered about how such an awesome God, full of mercy, grace and love can put on human skin and come to this world and be so rejected and despised. Aside from the Biblical knowledge that Christ has to be rejected by the world, it seems strange to me that we as humankind could treat our Creator so cruely. Yet we did. Simply reading verse 9, it seems like such a nice thought. Jesus, the True Light, shining his light into our hearts. Well, to those of us who love him, we want that light to shine. But he came to a world that did not accept him. He came even to his own people, Israel, and found rejection. Think about that. These were the people called out by God and separated for his purposes. They saw God's miracle power. The Word of God came through them. They had the prophecies. Yet, when Jesus the Messiah did appear, the Bible says the rejected him. One would wonder why.

Here's my take on it. Let's read a passage from John 3:18-20:

"He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed."

The people of Israel were a very religious people. As I said already, these were the people God chose as his people. And beyond the common man, there were the religious leaders of the day, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the priests and teachers of the Law of Moses. In short, these people thought they were the real picture of righteousness. Think of a comfortable, old pair of white shoes. You may love those shoes, and think that they are great. Then you compare them to a brand new pair. What a contrast. That is kind of what happened when Jesus interrupted the religious folks idea of righteousness. Some "whiter" than them showed up, to use the white shoe terminology. Simply, as the True Light, Jesus shined into the dark hearts of these people, and they hated the light. Their "deeds were evil", as the above quoted verse says.

It is said that cockroaches will scatter when the light is turned on. I haven't experienced that, I don't let my house get so dirty that roaches would be comfortable. Those bugs hate the light. But those who love Christ will always come to him. Even if it means that dark areas, hidden from the view of others, but unhidden from the Light of Christ. Friends, let's not be like those that ran from the light that was meant to expose their darkness, so that they could be made truly righteous. Come to Jesus. Read his word. Let his Spirit mold you into his likeness. He wants to make us all like him. May God bless you all today!