John 1:4,-5, 9

(All Scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated)

Light and darkness, darkness and light…

This Gem is late! It was due to be published at 8 AM on Saturday, August 21st. But I had a problem with darkness in my study because my fan light wasn’t working. It would come on for awhile, then go off, then start blinking on and off, and then go quit altogether. So last Friday I began to resurrect a nice brass finish fixture that I had picked up from a neighbor who had a major remodeling of his house underway. I lacked a bracket that mounted the fan light to the box in the ceiling of my study. The bracket from the failed fixture was a quarter of an inch too long. So I reconfigured that bracket to make it fit my resurrected fan light. About six hours later, after a couple of more modifications, I finally got the fixture in place. I turned on the circuit breaker, then the wall switch, then pulled the chains to turn on the light and the fan. Nothing worked! That beautiful fixture is now in the trash!

Then remembered two fan lights I had stored in the attic of the garage. I had bought them a few years before to install on the porch of our cottage which we no longer own. So I retrieved one of the fixtures, thoroughly examined it for any mouse or squirrel damage (I found none), and proceeded to install it. That took another two hours of concentrated labor! But it works! I now have light in my study where before there was darkness!

So this is my explanation for the Gem being late.

My recent experience with darkness and light brought to mind a Scripture from John 1:4, 5, and 9, showing forth a great truth concerning spiritual darkness and light! It would do all of us good if we would understand these three verses!

     In Him [Jesus Christ] was life, and the life was the 
     light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, 
     and the darkness did not comprehend it....That was 
     the true light which gives light to every [person]...
     who comes into the world.

John’s gospel opens in the same way that the first book of the Bible begins: “In the beginning….”

• Genesis 1:1 – “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

• John 1:1 through 3 – “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”

We learn that “…the Word [who] was God…” in verse 1, “…became flesh, and dwelt among us…” in verse 14. So the Word can be none other than Jesus Christ!

In both Genesis 1:1 and John 1:1 through 3, “…God…In the beginning…” created everything that is! But it may come as a surprise to some that Jesus was involved in creation to the extent that as explained in verse 3, “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”

• Saint Paul put it this way in Colossians 1:16 and 17 – “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.”

• The writer of Hebrews says the same in Hebrews 1:2 and 3 concerning God’s “…Son… through whom He made the worlds….and [He is] upholding all things by the word of His power….”

So not only was everything created by Jesus, He also sustains everything! If Jesus Christ were to ‘let go,’ everything would fly apart and cease to exist! He is that powerful!

And His light is powerful!

• For by His own lips He declared in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” (see also John 9:4, and in the following verses where He restored the light of sight to a blind man). His light has to be powerful since He “…gives light to every [person]…who comes into the world.”

• In Revelation 21:10 and 23, the Apostle John wrote concerning the vision God gave him:

     An angel “...carried me away in the Spirit...and showed me the 
     great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from 
     God....And the city had no need of the sun or of the moon to 
     shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it, and the Lamb 
     [Jesus] is its light.”  	

But God does not force His light on anyone! He just invites us to come, as in Matthew 11:28 through 30:

     Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will 
     give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I 
     am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your 
     souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

But do not ignore the light! Jesus gives this warning in John 3:16 through 21:

     For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, 
     that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have ever-
     lasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to 
     condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be 
     saved.  He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who 
     does not believe is condemned already, because he has not be-
     lieved in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this 
     is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, 
     and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds 
     were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and 
     does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 
     But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds 
     may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.

Light and darkness, darkness and light…! The choice has eternal repercussions!

Choose wisely!
Choose light!
Choose life!