THURSDAY 13th
John 12:27-50
NIV (v35) – ‘Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light. When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.’
ESV (v35) – ‘So Jesus said to them, The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.’
Within the context of this verse, we know that Jesus was predicting that the moment for his appointment at the cross was drawing near. He the Light of the world, had been with them from his birth, but more particularly during his three years of earthly ministry, but he was soon going to be leaving, via the cross, the resurrection and then his ascension. So, he tells the disciples and those hearing him, ‘The light is among you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light.’ Thankfully, Jesus also made a promise to the disciples that as he the light left them, he would not leave them alone, but that he would ask the Father to give them another Comforter or Helper, the Holy Spirit who would be with the disciples to help them to survive in the world that was full of darkness. (John 14:16)
On another occasion, Jesus had told those who followed him that they were to be light, Matthew 5:14 ‘You are the light of the world’, and it is within this context I want us to consider the importance of light, for as the Holy Spirit came from the Father as Jesus had promised, one of his tasks was to enable the disciples to be light in the darkness, it was to equip them and enable them to be bearers of light and truth in a dark world and rebellious generation.
Today the world is still a dark place, and the light needs to shine in the darkness, and we are called to be that light. I have touched on the subject a few times over the period of lockdown while doing these devotions that the unbelieving world is seeking to do what it can by any way or by any means to try to snuff the light out, we have seen it, and still see it through the regime of communism, we see it through the efforts in countries controlled by other religions where Christians are persecuted, and Christianity is banned. We see it in the Western world where effort is being made to marginalise Christianity. Just like a butler would have gone through a mansion late at night snuffing the candles out, so the devil is roaming this world using all the effort he can to snuff out the light of the Christian gospel, but thank God he will never succeed in blowing every candle out, for Jesus has already declared that the ‘gates of hell will not prevail against him’ and against the building of his Church. May we ever be willing to continue to shine as individual lights in the darkness, but may God by his Spirit help us as Emmanuel Pentecostal Church, a local Church family to be a bright light shining in the dark community around us, so that as a result of the light shining from that place many will yet come out of darkness and be joined with us.
That same verse in Matthew 5 continues, ‘. . . A city on a hill cannot be hid. Nor do people light a candle and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others , so that they may see your good works and give glory to your father who is in heaven.’ ‘Lord, may we Emmanuel Pentecostal Church, Gateshead, shine like a light on the hill, so that those around us will see what we are, and may come to know you as the true light, that brings hope to all who believe, in Jesus name.’