Light Has Come into the World

Photo by Rohan Makhecha on Unsplash

Recently, I was able to serve at a Christian camp (which was amazing!). I was a faculty member for the junior high week. I led recreation, was a tent mom to several energetic girls, helped with tasks when I could, and gave this lesson Wednesday morning…

John 3:16-21

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.”

John 3:16

God’s love is the reason and drive for sending Christ to us. He wanted to be reconciled to us so much, that He was willing to give up everything to have us back with Him.

Where we stood in our sins, our deeds condemned us already. The things we had done had already earned our punishment. We were laboring for wickedness, so the wage we earned was death. That’s what we deserved.

My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from me, nor is their sin concealed from my eyes. Jeremiah 16:17

God saw us in our sin and wickedness, yet He still loved us and wanted us. So much so, that He took the punishment we deserved and suffered in our place. The death our deeds called for was taken by Jesus on the cross, when He died in our place.

John 3:17

Jesus came to bring about our salvation not our condemnation. Although we deserved death and destruction for our deeds, He offers life we don’t deserve and couldn’t earn. Because of where we stood in the darkness of our deeds; we were already perishing. The sin that we loved was the cause of our death. And not just a future death—which is a deadness in the body—but a present state of death. We were living in the darkness of the tomb that we had dug with our own hands. Though we loved to dig with shovels and spades, we were actually digging our own grave. Life in the darkness of a sarcophagus is not real life, but only a slow suffocation.

For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1:13-14

Living in the dominion of darkness is the equivalent of living in death. This darkness completely covers and surrounds you. It’s like when a child covers himself in a blanket and thinks he’s found the greatest hiding place in the world, even if he’s lying in the middle of the floor. The darkness of the blanket conceals him and covers his eyes so he can’t see.

You don’t know it’s dark, if you’ve never seen light. You have no reference for what darkness is, if it’s all you’ve ever known. You don’t even know there is another way to live life. And everything looks different in the dark. Your sight is so limited, that it is hard to distinguish what is real and what is merely a shadow.

But then we see that Christ came to take us out of the death and darkness and brings us into the light of redemption and forgiveness.

John 3:18

Lecrae is a Christian raper who wrote the song ‘Boasting’. Here’s a few lyrics:

Every day that I lie, every moment I covet

I’m deserving to die, I’m earning your judgement

God has never been obligated to give us life

If we fought for our rights, we’d be in hell tonight

Mere sinners owed nothing but a fierce hand

We never loved Him, we pushed away his pieced hands

I rejected His love, grace, kindness, and mercy

Dying of thirst, yet, willing to die thirsty

Eternally worthy, how could I live for less?

Patiently you turned my heart, my heart away from selfishness

I volunteered for your sanctifying surgery

I know the Spirit’s purging me of everything that’s hurting me

Remove the veil from my darkened eyes

So now every morning I open your word and see the Son rise

I hope in nothing, boast in nothing, only in your suffering

I live to show your glory, dying to tell your story

John 3:19

If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. Psalm 139:11-12

Just because we can’t see God, does not mean that He can’t see us. He can. We are never out of His sight. The blanket we hide beneath is deceiving us into believing that we are concealed. We believe that since we can’t see God, that He must not be able to see us. The darkness that covers and conceals us, cannot cover and conceal us from His eyes. But it does cover our eyes, so that we can’t see things correctly or see Christ offering salvation from the darkness that is insnaring us.

Jesus is called the Light of the World, and when He entered the world, He brought Light with Him. We didn’t know we were living in darkness, until the Light of Jesus shines on us.

We rejected His light, because of the wickedness of our dark deeds. In the Light, everything seems to be exposed. The darkness seemed safe somehow. We hide in our shame just as Adam and Eve hid in the Garden. We think that the Maker of the Garden won’t know how to find us in the very place He designed. So, we try to stay hidden. We try to find places in the world where we will be “far away” from God. Though God made the world and everything in it, we are foolish enough to think we can hide from Him in it.

John 3:20

We hated the Light that exposed our hiding in shame and the darkness we used to conceal ourselves.

 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Romans 3:23

Every person who has ever acted in selfishness. Who has ever put themselves above others. Who has made anything other than God Himself the most important thing in their life. Anyone who has ever made a mistake, messed up, sinned, hurt somebody, hurt themselves, acted unkindly, or in any other way missed the mark of perfection cannot save themselves. Everyone who participates in evil—every human being who has ever sinned—is in the dark.

From our perspective, we are covered by a blanket of darkness. This blanket feels safe and secure, but it’s not. It’s actually slowly smothering and suffocating us. We are afraid to let Christ remove the blanket that is actually hurting us not hiding us. Because we fear the exposure. We are afraid that our deeds would be exposed, because the light would expose them. This is an irrational fear, because our deeds are seen plainly already. Just as the blanket with a very oddly human-shaped lump is clearly seen on the floor.

John 3:21

But those who live by the truth—which is the Gospel of Christ—will also live in the light. Living in the light, your deeds can be seen plainly. And others will be able to recognize that what we have done is done in the sight of God.

We will become a beacon. Because the world is living in darkness and the death that comes about when sin is present, someone living by the truth will be like a Lighthouse shining into the lives of other people, helping them to acknowledge the darkness they themselves are living in. A Lighthouse points the way to shore, leading boats safely to port. Warning them of the dangers ahead. When we start to become like Christ and begin to be sanctified, we begin to point others toward God. Who is our unmovable shore.

so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky

Philippians 2:15

By the very way you live, others will recognize Christ’s Light—the Light of the World—in us. Our Lighthouse beacon comes from the Light of Christ.

When we allow Him to remove the blanket of sin, death, and darkness we become free. Free from all that held us captive. We become, instead, captivated by the love of Christ. Free from the sin that deceived us, convincing us that satisfaction could be found in it. Free from death and welcomed into eternal life in the very presence of God. And free from the darkness that was slowly suffocating us and depriving us of any real life.

In Christ’s light is the fullness of life. The rich abundance of real joy, peace, love, and truth. He has redeemed us from the life of sin, shame and death, when He died in our place. And He offers us a life we could never earn, and His very presence in our lives.

---

Personal Experience

·         Personally, I have experienced this in my own life. This sanctifying process of the Light of Christ entering my life. Before I met Jesus, I was one way, and now I am so different

·         Before I met Jesus, I lived with an ember of rage in my heart that never burned down. It was a constant undertone of each day. And that anger would seep into conversations and elevate situations beyond proportion. After I met Jesus, I was filled with overwhelming joy. More joy than I thought my heart could bear. And that joy took the place of the anger in my heart and began to seep into my relationships and experiences.

·         Before I met Jesus, my mind was constantly spinning and overwhelmed with so many thoughts, many of them not uplifting or encouraging. The most impure, filthy, unkind things constantly bombarding me. There was never a quiet moment, but always something horrid would steal the stillness. After I met Jesus, He slowly began replacing the worldly things with good, wholesome, uplifting, and encouraging things. Verses from the Bible would come to mind when I most needed to be reminded of them. And I began to experience peace. Not fleeting peace, but real peace. Peace that had no end, and no thought or situation could steal that peace from me.

In Conclusion

When Jesus removes the blanket of darkness—the very thing suffocating you and stealing your life—He makes it possible for you to fully know Light. The darkness flees in the Light. He offers freedom from all that binds you. His Light will ignite your heart and set you ablaze with His Light.

When you live in Light your whole life changes. Maybe the situations won’t change, but the person living them will. The joy, peace, love, and truth you find in the Light is unlike anything else. It is real life. Light has come into the world and come to live in you. Sanctifying your heart so that His Light will shine through you. Life with Christ is the only real way to live.