Our Security for Eternity - the Gospel of John Sample

Week 4

Read: John 7:53–8:59

SOAP: John 8:12

Then Jesus spoke out again, “I am the light of the world! The one who follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

At the very beginning of the Gospel of John, we get a glimpse of the scene we read about today. John introduced the Word calling Him “the light of mankind” (John 1:4). John tells us that the Light “shines on the darkness, but the darkness has not mastered it” (John 1:5). In today’s reading, Jesus declared to the world that He is the Light.

As we’ve mentioned, John’s Gospel is not a retelling of the events in Jesus’ ministry; it is a thought-out theological argument explaining why Jesus is the Son of God and the only way to eternal life. In the scene we read today, Jesus addressed the crowds and religious leaders during the final day of the Feast of Shelters.

The closing day of the feast included ceremonial lighting of candles in the outer court of the temple. This was a reminder of the way God led the Israelites in the wilderness as a pillar of fire. He provided light in the darkness, a way for them to see the way they should go (Exodus 13:21-22). The people would worship God and recommit to Him, the God of Light.

In the middle of this day celebrating the God of the Exodus and the Light that leads His people out of darkness, Jesus made this claim: “I am the light of the world! The one who follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”

The Pharisees objected to Jesus and denied He had any authority on which to claim Himself as the Light. But Jesus did. He is the One who illuminates the darkness, providing the way to salvation and eternal life. By making this claim near the temple, Jesus declared that the light would no longer come from the temple, but from Himself, the Holy One of God.

John used Jesus’ claim about Himself to show his readers again how Jesus is the God of deliverance. When Jesus claimed to be the Bread of Life, it reminded the Jews of the way God provided manna in the wilderness. When Jesus claimed to be the Light of the World, He again reminded the people of the way God delivered His people from slavery and provided for their needs. He is the One who leads us out of darkness even when we don’t recognize the darkness we are in. He is the Light, the Life, never mastered by darkness and evil, but instead, conquering it so we might have eternal life with Him.