Warren Wiersbe once said: “Never doubt in the darkness what God has told you in the light.”1 And just what did God tell us about light can be found in (John 8:12) where we read: “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’”
In this world we are surrounded by darkness in many forms. But the great thing about knowing Jesus is that we no longer have to live in the darkness since on Calvary He defeated Satan and his kingdom of darkness forever. In fact, (1 Peter 2:9) tells us that we have been called out of darkness: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” And it is this wonderful light of Jesus that sustains us in a world that is otherwise steeped in darkness.
And not only is Jesus the light of the world, but the Bible, our sourcebook for living, is our light source for our daily walk. (Psalm 119:105) expresses this thought beautifully: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” And without the light of the Lord and the light of His Word, we are hopelessly in bondage to darkness. For you see before we came to Jesus, sin reigned in our hearts, and Satan, the personification of darkness controlled our every move. For sin is darkness and blinds us to the light of the gospel.
On a personal note, right before I gave my heart to Jesus something amazing happened that showed me the power of light. I can remember it well. The date was October 12, 1981 and I was struggling with whether Jesus was truly God. For six months previously, I was on a truth quest to find out what the meaning of life was all about. I had studied Eastern mysticism, transcendental meditation, and Silva mind control and found that they didn’t have any answers to my search for meaning. But fortunately, a friend of mine gave me a copy of the Bible and told me it had the answers I was looking for. And the more I read the Scriptures the more I began to see flickers of light in my quest for meaning.
On that special night I can remember giving a friend of mine some worldly advice on the phone. When I got off the phone I looked myself in the mirror and said. “you hypocrite.” For you see I knew this advice couldn’t help my friend and I struggled with my own shortcomings in life. Well, it was about 11PM and I went to bed, but I couldn’t sleep. For you see I began to realize for the first time in my life that while most people considered me a great guy, my motivations for doing the good deeds I did were all wrong.
You see I wanted to be well liked, and while the good deeds I did benefited others, my primary motive and focus was on me. I didn’t fully understand what was happening at the time but later on I realized that the Holy Spirit was shining His bright spotlight on my sinful heart, convicting me of my sinful lifestyle. That light was not only bright but intense and shattered the darkness in my heart. With nowhere to hide I realized how sinful I really was and how much I needed Jesus. So, on October 12, 1981 the brilliant light of Jesus shattered my personal darkness and I gave my heart to Christ.
My friends, only the light of Christ is powerful enough to shatter the darkness that exists in this world because of Satan and sin. And the exciting thing about the light of Jesus is that one day, when we get to live in the new earth, the lamb of God will become the lamp of God and His brilliant light will vanquish darkness forever for we read: “But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there).” (Revelation 21:22-25).
Imagine, that one day the glory of the Lord will be the only light source, replacing the sun and moon as our light bearers. Until then darkness will always surround us but praise God we no longer have to be bound by it since as Christians we live in the light!