In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.

 John 1:1-28 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. ⁴ In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. ⁵ The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

⁶ There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷ He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. ⁸ He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light.

⁹ There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. ¹¹ He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. ¹² But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, ¹³ who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

¹⁴ And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. ¹⁵ John testified about Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’” ¹⁶ For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. ¹⁷ For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.

¹⁹ This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” ²⁰ And he confessed and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” ²¹ They asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” ²² Then they said to him, “Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?” ²³ He said, “I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”

The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. Some other translations use different words than comprehend. The Amplified version says:  The Light shines on in the darkness, and the darkness did not understand it or overpower it or appropriate it or absorb it [and is unreceptive to it].      The Light shines on in the darkness, it continues. It, He Jesus, the Word was in the beginning, is and always will be. It, He, the Word and the Light is/are eternal and unchanging. Darkness neither understands the Light nor is it receptive to the Light.

In John 3:16, Jesus Himself speaks of His coming as Light and life:  “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.       This of course is one of the most simple and often quoted salvation verses in scripture and it is truth. Jesus though continues in the explanation of the eternal conflict between light and darkness, good and evil, truth and deception. In verses 17-21, He says:

 “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. ¹⁸ 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. ¹⁹ 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. ²⁰ For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. ²¹ But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”     

Today’s text says:     There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him…¹⁴ And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.      Jesus, the only begotten of the Father, the Son of God, the Son of Man, the Light coming into the world, the Word made flesh, these are all names of the same one, inseparable He is all these and more. We cannot fully comprehend, Jesus nor can we properly represent Him as only any one aspect of who He is. Hebrews 13:8 says:  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  

One of the problems in our current culture and society is that even with all the accumulated wisdom and knowledge, all the information which is available to people, we are a sound bite oriented culture. We receive and believe information based on single sentences or phrases, headlines or catchy memes. Jesus, God, the I Am, cannot be understood or explained that way and we are mistaken, deceived if we do. We cannot even comprehend Jesus, the Son of man, God in flesh by what He did as a man. We must seek to know the unchanging eternal Jesus, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. Who He was and who He will be is inseparable from who He is.

In the same way we cannot understand or describe Jesus based on single verses from scripture. He is the Word, all of the Word.  2 Timothy 3:16 says:  All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness

Genesis through Revelation, all scripture, not only the New Testament Gospels reveal the nature and character of God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. The Bible cannot be accurately represented, or understood in sound bites and catchy phrases. We cannot and should not build doctrines based on singular aspects of God’s character represented by portions of His Word. We cannot treat Jesus, God or His Word as if it were a buffet where we get to choose only the things that appeal to us and satisfy our desires that day.  

The Light shines on in the darkness, and the darkness did not understand it or overpower it or appropriate it or absorb it [and is unreceptive to it].    Jesus came as the demonstration of God’s love, He came as Light to overcome darkness. Darkness cannot absorb the Light, darkness is not receptive to Light. The two cannot coexist. Light does not absorb darkness, it does not take it in and so become diminished, a combination of Light and darkness. Light dispels darkness. Jesus, the Light did not come to abide with darkness, He came to dispel darkness.

In today’s text when John the Baptist was asked to describe himself he said:  “I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”    That too, should describe us. Jesus says:  “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; ¹⁵ nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. ¹⁶ Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:14-16)    We cannot be representatives of the Light if we hide ourselves in darkness. We must allow the Light of Christ to shine.  As Jesus says, some will choose darkness over light. It is not our responsibility to make their choice, neither is it our job to judge the darkness. We are to be light, representing all of who God is to the darkness, light, truth, love, mercy, grace…

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ the Light, the Word, the Son of God, the Son of man, my Redeemer, my Savior, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, the Truth, the Way and the Life the I Am thank You for all that You are. Thank You that You are all and everything I need. By Your indwelling Spirit may I be a representative of all that You are in and to the world.  Amen.