A Light From God, Part 1

He came to his own and those who were his own did not receive him. That's another way of saying he came to his own people, he came to his own nation, even his own family early on and they did not receive him. However, keep in mind, you can understand this in a broader context, Jesus Christ came into the world, he created. In fact, when he came into the world, the world effectively put out the sign, do not disturb. Many people celebrate Christmas and perhaps give a casual acknowledgement that we're celebrating Jesus' birth. Many others celebrate it as a break from work and a chance to give gifts.

But no more than that. When Jesus came into the world, he came as the light of the world and that's the problem many people have. They don't want light shining into the dark places of their soul.

So they ignore Jesus, even at Christmas. Welcome to Wisdom for the Heart. Today, Stephen Davey begins a lesson for you entitled, A Light from God. Stay with us for this lesson coming right now.

This is a wonderful season and I love the fact that the church just sort of stops and pauses and rehearses these wonderful truths of the Incarnation as we try to do and there's so much Scripture to deal with, but this season is a wonderful opportunity to indeed sing joy to the world because he has come. Our traditions change over time. As our kids grow up, it used to be, I don't know, I might do it.

I have one child left, our youngest daughter. We used to go to the mall, which is not my favorite thing, but it would be a tradition to go with them. And I always loved that one place, and I haven't been back in a while, but I wonder if it's still there, that it's the gift wrapping station at the Cary Town Mall. I don't know if it's still there or if they did it. Anybody know? Is it still there?

It's still there, one hand, a guy's hand, by the way. Yes, we love that place. My version of wrapping presents is enough paper and sky tape to disguise the gift and then it's successful. I love the way they do it so perfectly.

Well, I read recently this week all these news reports, some of it very interesting, about this season. One British chain of stores is offering something even beyond wrapping presents and I thought this would be wonderful. They hire for a couple of weeks, and here's the job title, Christmas Light Untangler.

That's perfect. Here's what the website offers as a job description. Thirty-six hours a week for two weeks, this position offers you the chance to lose your mind.

That's my words, I'm sorry. This position offers you a chance to show that every little bit helps by running this unique in-store service with a friendly, flexible approach, making a genuine difference. And the skill set required for the job, I thought this was really interesting. Here it is. Candidates for this job should be able to untangle ten feet of Christmas lights in less than three minutes.

That rules out most of us fellas, it would rule out me. And by the way, at the same time, check the bulbs for signs of breakage. Ten feet, three minutes. Can you imagine the burnout rate and the counseling needed after this job? I think it's a great idea. I found out, related to Christmas lights, there is a battle, evidently, going on. I just learned of it, although it's been going on for quite some time. It's being monitored by the Guinness Book of World Records.

In 2001, it started this battle between two families. The Richards family in Canberra, Australia set the Guinness Book of World Records for the most, they were inducted in the book for this record, they strung the most Christmas lights in a residential setting. Has to happen on your property, in your home, or whatever. 331,000 lights. The record stood for more than a decade, but in 2012, Tim Gay and his family from New York thought that the record ought to belong to the states, and they hung 346,000 lights. And the Richards family retaliated the next year by stringing 502,000 lights. The family from New York said, we will not surrender, and this year, they have created a display that involves 601,000 lights. They were awarded the Guinness World Record for insanity. Well, I made that up, too.

It took them two months to do it. It covers their house, it covers two acres of land, and it is all synchronized to 200 Christmas songs. Now, I'd frankly, I'd like to see it.

You can Google, not now, but you can Google it and find it. But here's what struck my mind. They said this, the display involves more than 40 miles of cord. Imagine untangling 40 miles.

Well, I can't imagine it either. As I read these anecdotes, these news stories that are unique, it did strike me, the most amazing display of light that we remember this season was just one, just one light, and that's enough. The display of this infinite glory is introduced to us in John's Gospel in chapter one. We took a look there last Lord's Day.

I want to look at it again today. He was first, if you were with us, described as the Word, capital W-O-R-D. The text read, and we sort of jumped into it, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Then he makes this stupendous claim on top of these previous stupendous claims. All things came into being by him, and apart from him, nothing came into being that has come into being. Apart from him, the Word, who is introduced later on in this chapter is Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

Apart from him, nothing came into being that has come into being. In other words, when the very first words of creation were spoken back in Genesis chapter one, the first recorded words of God, we now discover in John's Gospel were the words spoken by the Word of God, the Son of God. And the first recorded words in scripture of God as he's introduced to us, spoken through the Son are, let there be what? Light. Let there be light. The words of creation that began that incredible display of his glorious creative ability came from God the Word. In fact, in the Hebrew language, you could simply render it light be. Light be. It's as if God the Son kind of pulls back the curtains in time and space, following verse one, and reveals the splendor of the Godhead. And before God the Son will speak into existence the bodies that provide light, sun, moon, and stars on the fourth day, Genesis 1.14. He literally fills the universe with the light of his presence and his glory.

Let my glory be seen is effectively what's happening there. And it is impossible to describe the glory of God apart from the word that we've been singing about, the word light. In fact, check it back through the Old Testament where David in Psalm 104 writes, oh Lord my God, thou art very great.

How great thou art is our modern hymn that tracks back to that text as inspiration. Thou art clothed with splendor and majesty, covering thyself with light as if it were a garment. John writes in his first letter at chapter five, God is light and in him is no darkness at all.

The unbeliever who comes to faith in Jesus Christ is described by the Apostle Peter in chapter two and verse nine as someone who is being called by God out of darkness and into his marvelous what? Light. You've left the kingdom of darkness. You are heading for this kingdom of light.

In fact, Christians are exhorted as Paul tells us in Romans chapter 13 to put on daily. He describes it as the armor of light. We are John exhorts this verse, John one, seven to walk in the light. We are heading for Colossians one, twelve, the kingdom of light. Like one of my favorite promises from the Lord when he delivered, he was speaking to his followers and he said to them, one day you will shine as the noonday sun in the kingdom of our father. I mean, one day you believe when you're, when you're glorified, you will be a shining immortal one. How is any of that possible?

It's staggering to our imagination. Could we actually be promised this? The one who said let there be light in Genesis one has now incarnated and taken on flesh and he is now the light that has come. Now John changes then his metaphor from describing Jesus Christ as the eternal word to this eternal light. He's effectively telling us that Jesus is fulfilling the messianic prophecy given to us by Isaiah. Luke's gospel records that prophecy in reference to Jesus that he has come to shine upon those who sit in darkness and under the shadow of death to guide our feet into the path of peace.

Luke chapter one verse 79. Jesus Christ then, if I could put it this way, came to earth to turn on the light, to fulfill all that had given glimpses of light now it's seen in its fulfillment in him. Now the apostle gives us in this paragraph and beyond several different reactions to this divine display of light and let me let me highlight them for just a few moments.

First of all we're told that the light is resisted. Look at verse five and the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it. That has a range of meaning that verb in fact there's really not a good English equivalent and the context helps us understand what exactly it means. You could express it as my text translates it effectively the darkness just can't understand it. There would be truth in that by the way.

Any nuance by the way is true. It could also mean depending on the context that the darkness can't overpower it. Phillips translates it the darkness can't put it out. Now given the reaction that John is revealing to us of of the world to the divine display I would prefer this particular nuance in your thinking that the ongoing reaction of the world is to try and snuff out the light. The world can't.

John says it can't be done. World magazine just awarded recently their annual Daniel Award. This is an award they give to some believer who stood the test of endurance and testimony for Christ and this particular year they gave it to 21 men. You subscribe to that magazine and maybe you've even seen the picture it is a rather haunting picture 21 men dressed in orange jumpsuits walking down a Libyan beach flanked by ISIS warriors clothed in black with black masks. They will be executed. What your news reports did not tell you is that they are being executed because they will not recant of their faith in Jesus Christ. And they have a picture where they're kneeling on the beach about to be beheaded. The testimony leaked out and different Christian news organizations picked it up that every one of those 21 believers remained calm and composed. In fact at the very end some of the testimony revealed that these men their last words were oh Lord Jesus.

Oh Lord Jesus. And in a matter of seconds they saw him. The light was not extinguished.

It is multiplied. In fact you could translate verse 5 with the tense of these this original construction and the light shines in the darkness you could render it and the light shines on in the darkness. The light continually keeps shining on in the darkness. I love that. The darkness can't put it out.

Let me illustrate the meaning of what John is trying to say with something very simple. I have a candle in my hand and my wife is in this hour so she'll recognize it came from her arrangement. Honey I'll return it as soon as the service is over.

I grabbed it this morning. They'll fade the lights out. Let me just do something to illustrate what John is saying. There is more darkness in here than light. If we could multiply the size of this auditorium a thousand times, a million times, a billion times over, the darkness of that auditorium still cannot put out this light. In fact the longer we remain here at this moment the brighter this light becomes doesn't it?

Keep that in mind. This is the vision of the Apostle and our Lord who says that we also are the light of the world that is we reflect him. No matter how dark it cannot extinguish even this solitary light. The bad news is we live in a world of darkness. The good news is God has placed us in a world of darkness and the darkness cannot put out the light. Well if people can't put it out, if they can't persecute it out, maybe they can just argue it out. Maybe they can just deny it away. Maybe we can come up with some clever way to fix some philosophical lens or glasses so that we don't see it. We don't notice it. Maybe if I try hard enough I can refute it and that would be the next reaction of our world.

Not only is the light resisted, the light is refuted. Look at verse 10. He was in the world and the world was made through him and the world did not know him. The world did not know him. John is referring here not so much to intellectual knowledge. The world knows a lot about Jesus frankly. I know people who don't even believe he's the son of God have given their lives to studying him which always amazes me. Why not pick a different subject?

There are people in your world and mine who can check all the boxes about Jesus. This isn't intellectual knowledge. This is a word one linguist says is related to a desire. This is a desire to be related to.

That's the idea. John is effectively saying he came into the world and the world didn't want to be related to him. The world didn't want to have anything to do with him.

That's true, isn't it? They didn't want to have a relationship with the light. Why? Because the light, that exposes who we are. That exposes my sin. The more of the light of God through his word I understand, guess what happens to me as a sinner?

I only become all the greater, right? We've got to figure out something here. Maybe instead of just trying to deny it, what if we just downplay it? What if we just say, you people are just talking too much about it or you're just a little too carried away about it. What if we redefine it? What if we say, I know every religion has some light in it and every human heart has a little light in it and that basically strips the meaning of divine light, doesn't it?

Let's try to find out a way to find a way around Jesus Christ. Biologist Richard Dawkins, one of the more well-known skeptics of Christianity, people call him an atheist. He really isn't if you read his writings. He's an agnostic because he isn't quite sure. In his book entitled The God Delusion, he said on the scale of one to seven, one being certainty that God exists and seven being certainty that God does not exist, I am a six.

Not quite there, I'm a six. And then he writes, I cannot know for certain but I think God is very improbable. That's reassuring.

I think God is very improbable and I, here's the key, live my life on the assumption that he is not there. And that really kind of gets to the core of that which light does. I don't really want it to alter my life. I don't want it to reveal to me that I may be in some way, shape or form accountable.

So I'd like to get around it. Like one recent admission, more recent admission kind of cuts to the core issue of rejecting the light in this manner. Thomas Nagel authored a popular introduction to a book on philosophy that's used in universities entitled What Does It All Mean? He wrote this, it isn't that I don't just believe in God. It's that I hope there is no God. I don't want there to be a God.

I don't want the universe to be like that. Then he goes on to talk about how it would alter his life if God existed. See the Apostle John here in this text is revealing the heart of these humanist philosophers. And by the way, these humanist philosophers existed in the days of John, this isn't new. And a lot of times you'll find them providing an apologetic answer, a defense of Christianity. And he basically does that over in chapter 3 of the same Gospel in verse 19 where he says the light has come into the world and men love the darkness rather than the light.

Why? Because their deeds, their lifestyles are evil. We don't want the light. We want to stay in darkness even if it means we're under this shadow of death. The Apostle Paul explains it by writing that ungodly mankind suppresses the truth by unrighteousness, by means of unrighteousness. Let's just hold it down.

Put a screen in front of it. Do something. Suppress it. And so God we're told in that chapter simply turns them over to accomplish what they really want, the lusts of their heart to impurity. We want the darkness and God says you can have it.

Romans chapter 1 verses 18 and 24. Listen, beloved, our world this Christmas season will celebrate the supposed birthday of somebody they'd rather entirely ignore and they will miss the meaning of it. And by the way, that's why I don't think the church should be trying to get people to say Merry Christmas. Why would we want an unbeliever to tell us Merry Christmas when they don't know Christ? It doesn't bother me a bit.

Not one bit. Our culture is dark and we are the light. We are the ones who understand it. But we need to understand what John is saying here. He's basically saying that our world misses the meaning of his light. Our world misses the meaning of him as the word and it misses all of it on purpose.

On purpose. Let's just close the shades and lower the blinds and maybe we won't see the light. That's why Augustine, the fourth century theologian and church leader said, it is of no advantage to be near light with your eyes closed.

Leave us alone in the dark. The light then is resisted. The light is refuted.

Next, the light is outright rejected. Look at verse 11. He came to his own and those who were his own did not receive him. That's another way of saying he came to his own people. He came to his own nation. Even his own family early on. And they did not receive him.

However, keep in mind you can understand this in a broader context. Jesus Christ came into the world. He created.

This isn't your planet or mine. It's his. He created it. He has plans for it. In fact, according to Revelation, he's going to destroy and create a new one. He came into the world. He created. Among the human race he created and nobody put out the welcome mat. In fact, when he came into the world, the world had effectively put out the sign, do not disturb. Don't disturb us. Even in his entrance into the world as a newborn baby, we know the narrative well.

It serves as a metaphor of the human heart. There's no room anywhere. Certainly not at that end which would have been packed with travelers and so they're given accommodation in some outdoor stall or hewn out cave, out in the elements.

No room. If we were God, that isn't how we would travel. In fact, that isn't how any of us travel now. If you're going to take a trip, you're going to go online and you're going to figure out the miles and if you got to stay overnight somewhere, you're going to call ahead and make a reservation in that hotel. You're not just going to assume that if you show up at 8 o'clock or 9 o'clock, there will be room. You wouldn't do that.

You make all the preparations and then you travel. Well, if we were God and the sun is going to incarnate as it were, come here to be born of a virgin, we would make sure that all the arrangements have been made ahead of time. There'd be no surprises. We would be delivered by the finest physicians.

We would be delivered and there would be soft sheets and warm blankets and little footies and baby lotion and all that stuff. Not here. It is part of the meaning and the message of the coming one, that there is no room and still in nearly every human heart you encounter today, they will tell you effectively, leave me alone. I prefer my life as it is.

Don't turn on the light. I hope you know Jesus Christ as your Redeemer today, and I hope that your celebration of His incarnation later this month will be a time of great joy and blessing. This is Wisdom for the Heart, a ministry of Wisdom International, featuring the Bible teaching of Stephen Davey. I'm your host, Scott Wiley. You may not realize this, but the entire archive of Stephen's many years of Bible teaching is posted on our website and on our app. Visit wisdomonline.org for information, and then join us next time for more Wisdom for the Heart.