JOHN viii. 12. “I am the Light of the world: he that followeth Me
shall not walk in darkness.”
It was early morning and the Lord had come in from the
Mount of Olives to the Temple Court, where He sat teach-
ing the multitudes that thronged Him. What a marvellous
assertion He makes here! “I am the Light of the world.”
It is one of the I AM’s by which again and again Jehovah
revealed Himself through the manhood of Christ.
I. These words suggest the purity of the Lord’s personal
character. A ray of light is the clearest thing we know.
It is undefiled and undeniable. Through the most polluted
medium it comes out as immaculate as when it entered.
This purity of Jesus was not merely a negative thing. It
consisted not so much in the absence of all sin, as in the
presence of all excellence. Still through all the centuries
Jesus stands challenging investigation,—”Which of you
convicteth Me of sin.”—and still even the Pilates who
laugh at the very idea of truth are constrained to say “We
find no fault in Him at all.”
II. They suggest the brightness of the revelation which
He made. “That which doth make manifest is light.”
And we see how His advent chased away darkness, and
brought new truths to view. He has brought life and
immortality to light by the Gospel.
III. They suggest the beneficent influences that radiate
from Christ. There are few natural agents more valuable
than light.
1. It ministers largely to health.
2. It contributes materially to happiness.
3. It contributes to our safety.
And from “the Light of the world” soul-health, soul-
happiness, and soul-safety are derived.
IV. They suggest how we become partakers of the
blessings which Christ brings. As we are enlightened
by opening our eyes to the light, so we are to become
illuminated by the rays of the Sun of Righteousness.
We must open our eyes to behold His glory, our intellects
to receive instruction, our hearts to let Him in to our
affections, our lives to let Him rule our actions. Here our
great duty is to be simply receptive.
We take in the light, but that is not enough; we must
follow it. We must ever keep our faces to Christ, as
the heliotrope to the sun, and soon all shadows shall fall
behind us.
W. M. Taylor, D.D.