WEDNESDAY February 1st
1 John 1:5
‘This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.’
As we come to the second section of this short chapter, we see how John has moved from the word life, in the first few verses to the word light in verse 5. He makes this statement ‘God is light, and in him is no darkness at all’.
As the Father is, so is the Son, so hence Jesus when he came into the world could declare ‘I am the light of the world.’ In the opening chapter of his gospel John says concerning Jesus, ‘In him was life and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not’ (John 1:4-5).
Both our text for today and these verses from John’s gospel give comparison to light and darkness. God is light, Jesus is light, there is no darkness in God, darkness cannot comprehend or cannot extinguish (NLT) the light, Jesus who was the true light which gives light to everyone, he was coming into the world. (John 1:9)
Light here with reference to God speaks of his perfect holiness. There is not the slightest hint of anything evil in or with God, he is perfect in who he is and in all that he does, he is perfect light, because he is eternal, he is uncreated light, the light that has been created such as the sun, is inferior to him, and as such God stands in stark contrast to anything and everything else, in God is no darkness at all, not even a hint of grey.
In Psalm 27:1 we read ‘The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?’
The wonder of the gospel is that the One who is light, stepped into the darkness of this world as the light of the world, he stepped into the darkness of sin, and as a result of his atoning death and triumphant resurrection he will come into our sin-wrecked lives and dispel the darkness, he will come and dwell within us as our light and salvation. Can you say today as the psalmist could say, the LORD is my light and my salvation? God is light and he is waiting to come and to fill each one of our lives, to dispel the darkness of sin.
The wonder of the light stepping into the darkness and bringing deliverance from darkness also means that all who put their faith and trust in him will be found one day in the eternal environment of heaven that is recorded by Isaiah ‘The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give you light; but the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory’ (Isaiah 60:19), this is what John says in Revelation 21:23 ‘And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.’
God is light and one day we will dwell eternally in that light! I say we, the ‘we’ will only be those who have come to believe on his Son, who is the light of the world who stepped down into darkness.