Now if you would take a Bible in hand and turn with me this time to John’s gospel, chapter 12.
Growing up in Scotland meant that around this time of year in December it starts getting dark at 2:30 in the afternoon. I see the Brock family down here; they know exactly what I’m talking about. Welcome back. It’s good to see you all. But around 2:30 in the afternoon it starts to get dark and the sun is completely set by 3:45 in the afternoon. It does not rise again until usually around 9 o’clock in the morning the next day. Winters are cold and wet and dark and they seem to go on forever. And as a child, I used to go to school in the morning and come home from school in the afternoon in complete darkness. That’s why for me, and probably for most Scottish children, Christmas has always been a time of bright light erupting into the gloom of the darkness of December. It was always such a relief in the bleak midwinter for me.
In my childhood home, a big part of all of that was putting up the Christmas tree, and though I have to admit, the process for us was typically a bit of an ordeal. Inevitably, the lights would need to be untangled and then there was always at least one bulb that was out that had to be replaced or else none of the lights in the string would work. I think today we just buy a new set of lights, but when I was small, that was out of the question, and so you had to test each bulb until you found the one light bulb that wasn’t working in the chain and then replace it. And then eventually they would all work together and finally the tree was up and decorated and we’d turn on the lights and it made everything beautiful. It made everything magical for me as a little boy. Christmas in my childhood was an oasis of light amidst the dank, dark Glasgow winters.
As you may know, this Advent at First Presbyterian Church we’ve been looking at some of the words of Jesus that tell us how He Himself understood the meaning of His coming that first Christmas. We’ve been thinking about Christmas according to Jesus. And I want to turn with you to this passage in John’s gospel – it’s actually a chapter we’ve looked at a few weeks ago and at another saying of Jesus – this time I want you to look with me at John 12 verse 46. If you have a church Bible, you’ll find that on page 899. John 12:46. Jesus says, “I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.” So here is Jesus telling us what Christmas is really about. Jesus was born that first Christmas to bring light into the darkness. These words probably were spoken around the same time as Jesus’ speech earlier in the chapter, although we can’t be entirely sure about that. This was His last Passover in Jerusalem. He is about to be betrayed, arrested and crucified. These words are provided in a context where Jesus is making a speech on that occasion. We can’t be completely sure because verse 36 tells us there was a break. We’re told Jesus departed and hid Himself. And between His words in verse 36 and His speech beginning in verse 44, we really don’t know where He was or what He was doing or how long has passed between them.
What we can be confident about, is that when Jesus does speak again in verse 44, it really matters. It really matters. Look at verse 44. You’ll notice John’s preface to Jesus’ words – “Jesus cried out and said…” In addition to this one time, he only does that twice elsewhere in John’s gospel, and each time it is full of urgency and authority and actually words of great hope. So the first time in John 7:37, “Jesus cried out, ‘If anyone thirsts let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me as the Scriptures have said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’’” Jesus cries out because He wants to offer thirsty, parched, starving people living water, and it’s a matter of great urgency to us and for Him. The other time is right before this incident in John chapter 11 verse 43. It’s the incident that causes, that is, the turning point in John’s gospel, that will cause the Jewish people, the Jewish leaders to determine to crucify Jesus. It’s the raising of Lazarus. Lazarus has been dead for three days and Jesus cries out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” and the man Lazarus came out alive again from the tomb in obedience to his master’s sovereign summons.
And now here, one more time, Jesus lifts up His voice and He cries out with all the same urgency and the same hope, the same offer of good news, this time to summon us to step out of our darkness and into His marvelous light. Here is an impassioned call from the lips of Jesus to you and me this Christmas Eve. “Jesus cried out and said, ‘I have come into the world as light, that whoever believes in Me will not remain in darkness.’” Now all I want to do is ask two questions of Jesus here and then we’re done. I know you’ve all got places to be and things to do. Two questions. Number one – What does it mean that we are walking in darkness? Jesus came as light that we might “not remain in darkness.” So we are in darkness. What does that mean? And secondly – What does it mean that Jesus is light? “I came as light.” What does it mean that He is light?
Well before we get to that, let’s pause and pray and then we’ll read the Word of God together and we’ll ask these two questions. Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, would You come now please and shine Your light into our hearts that we may know indeed the Light of life. For we ask it in Your name, amen.
John chapter 12 at verse 44. This is God’s Word:
“And Jesus cried out and said, ‘Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment – what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.’”
Amen.
What Does it Mean that We are Walking in Darkness?
Okay, so Jesus came as a light “so that whoever believes in Him may not remain in the darkness.” So what does it mean that we are in darkness? Well you might know that light and dark and favorite images in John’s gospel to describe the grace of God in Jesus, that’s light, and our sin and need, that’s darkness. So for example, John 1 verse 5 that we read as our call to worship, in a passage speaking about the coming of Jesus as the light, we are told, “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.” The darkness is opposed to the light. It would, if it could, overcome it, though it cannot do so. A little later, John 3:19, “Men loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds are evil.” So the darkness is the realm of evil deeds where rebellion and sin belong, toward which our hearts all naturally incline. Or even later still, John 8, Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but have the light of life.” So the light is life that Jesus gives, therefore the darkness is spiritual and everlasting death.
So this is the bad news. This is what it means to be in darkness. This is the bad news without which the good news of great joy that will be for all people, about which the angels spoke to the shepherds that night in Bethlehem, this is the bad news without which that makes no sense at all. Without understanding the nature of the darkness, we are always, always going to struggle to understand the meaning of Christmas. You see, the hard truth is, we were born – you and I – we were born in sin, in the darkness of sin. We walk the paths of our lives in the darkness of spiritual ignorance and we dwell every day in the darkness of spiritual death if we do not know Jesus Christ. That is my native condition and it’s yours too. But Jesus says in our text no one needs to remain in that darkness a single second longer now that He has come. That’s what Christmas is for – to chase away your darkness. “I have come as a light, so that whoever believes in Me may not remain in darkness.” Christmas is about shining the light into the dark.
What Does it Mean that Jesus is Light?
I read about a home in Hudson Valley in upstate New York that holds the Guinness World Record for the largest number of Christmas lights on a private residence. They put up – listen to this – 700,000 Christmas lights all over their property! I’d hate to see their utility bill come January. People come from all over to see this extraordinary home – 700,000 lights. Our passage is telling us we only really need one light to scatter the darkness of our sin and our guilt in the sight of God. In fact, it’s telling us there is only one light capable of piercing the darkness of our spiritual condition. Jesus has come as that light. And that’s the second thing to see here. What did Jesus mean when He said, “I have come as light”? What was He talking about?
Well the context helps us a little bit. First of all – how does Jesus shine His light? Verses 47 through 50 – “If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment – what to say and what to speak.” How does Jesus shine His light? How do you get His light shining into your heart? The light of Christ dawns in our lives by His Word. He speaks it into our hearts.
And how we respond to His Word determines everything. It’s very clear in our passage, isn’t it, that you can’t believe in Jesus and not receive His words and not keep His words and not trust His words. I fear that’s actually the absurd position many people do hold, especially perhaps at Christmas time. They want to say, “Oh yes, I believe in Jesus. I just don’t believe a word He has to say.” That’s absurd. It just won’t do. The way Jesus shines the light He came to give into your heart is through His Gospel, through His Word, through the Scriptures. You might be listening to me right now with a great deal of impatience. Maybe you have a family dinner to get to. Maybe you have guests arriving soon. Maybe there are grandchildren to hug and gifts to give and traditions to keep. I certainly don’t want to delay any of that unduly. But if Jesus’ light pierces the darkness by His Word, well then surely the presents can wait for three more minutes, four more minutes. If His Word shines the light of life into the grave, dark, blackness of our hearts, surely we can linger a little longer just to listen to Him, the One whose birth we came to celebrate, to listen to Him. The Light of the world is shining in His Gospel this Christmas Eve. What a shame if we decorate our homes with lights and ourselves stay in the darkness of sin and death because we refuse to listen to Jesus.
And what does Jesus’ light reveal? Verse 44, “Whoever believes in Me believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me. Whoever sees Me, sees Him who sent Me. I have come as a light.” So Jesus’ light helps us to see God. In fact, there is no other way to see God, to know God the Father, but through Jesus. “No one comes to the Father,” Jesus said, “but by Me.” If you want God, you must have Jesus. Do you have Jesus? You need the light of Christ shining into your heart.
One more thing that Jesus’ light reveals. If you do not respond to His light by trusting Him, bowing before Him, embracing Him that you might see the Father in Him, His light will one day expose you. You know we try to cover our broken, messy lives, our sinful, guilty hearts with a nice veneer of Christmas festivity and hope that it will not be exposed. But Jesus says here in verse 48, “The one who rejects Me and does not receive My words has a judge. The word I have spoken will judge him on the last day.” Do you see why Christmas is actually a matter of extraordinary urgency? Jesus came as a light and the light shines as an emergency into our darkness because judgment is one day coming for you and me.
It’d be easy, I think, to give you a Christmas Eve homily filled with silly jokes and fuzzy feelings, calculated not to disturb our nostalgia or disrupt the festive mood. But I want to give you something far better, something far more joyous, far more satisfying, far more enduring. I want the Light of the world Himself to shine into your hearts tonight so that you in longer remain in darkness and will never walk in darkness again but have the light of life. And so as you go from here into all the fun and celebration of the season, I do with you a very merry Christmas indeed. I trust that it will be full of much happiness. But oh, how sad, if when the parties and the festivities are finally over you’ve actually missed the point of Christmas entirely. Jesus came as light. May the Light of Life pierce the darkness in your heart. “He came as light that whoever believes in Him may not remain in the darkness.” And so, brothers and sisters, friends and guests, may the light of Christ chase away the dark shadow of sin’s curse for every household represented here, that we may, all of us, truly have the merriest of Christmases.
Let’s pray together.
Our Father, we bless You that Jesus was born. God took flesh and dwelt among us so that now, right now, reigns the God-Man, glorified and exalted, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, that His light still shines in the word of His Gospel, shining the light of hope and the light of life into every heart that trusts in Him. Help us now together tonight to trust in Him that we may indeed have a truly joyful Christmas. For we ask this in His name, amen.