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THE K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
course, th is is all as clear as mud to most of us. We do know, however, what ligh t can do. In natu re, all depends upon the ligh t of the sun, and in the spiritual realm , all depends upon the Son of God. No o th er man ever made such a claim ; no prophet, no priest, no philoso pher. Prophets and priests were but reflected lights of Jesus, th e l i g h t of the world. As L ight of the world, He’ is the re- vealer of tru th , the quickener of life, accessible to all. He reveals sin in all its hideousness. He reveals God in all His holiness. “L ight is come into the , world and men love darkness rath e r than light, because th e ir deeds a re evil” (John 3 :1 9 ). Light is free. Christ is a gift. He was a ligh t for th e Gentiles as well as for the Jews (Luke 2 :3 2 ). He is the ligh t of love to the h ea rt; He is the light of righteousness to th e conscience. W ithout Him, all is darkness (John 1:5)'. This dark world is dependent upon believers who should be light-bearers. No man has a rig h t to hide his light under a bushel,— the bushel of selfish ness, of worldliness, of indifference. As light-bearers, we must walk in love, in fellowship, in tru th , in Himself. (2 ) THE CONTROVERSY OF THE JEWS, vs. 13-20, “Thy record is not tru e .” The Pharisees objected to th e claim of Jesus. They charged Him w ith te sti fying of Himself and th a t such a record was not true. Jesus had before adm itted th is (John 5:31) bu t th a t was when He was speaking of Himself as a man. Now He is speaking of Himself as the Son, of God and He Himself was the evidence th a t His record of Himself was true. To the Jews, Jesus was only a man, and th eir testimony is valuable in prov ing th a t He was tru ly man. But He was also th e Son of God. They were prejudiced against Him and would not
In trodu ction : The incident of the woman tak en in adu ltery who was brought by th e P h ari sees before the Council, is th e back ground of th is lesson. The them e of th e lesson is the outgrow th of the cir cumstances attending His interview with th e woman. (1 ) THE CLAIM OF JESUS, .v. 12, “ I am th e ligh t of the world.” Several tim es in this Gospel of John Jesus has made th is same assertion, always followed by the affirmation of His power to meet the need of men. It is morning. He is again in the temple. Perhaps th e sun is rising, or it may be th a t th e great lamp used at the F east of Tabernacles is being lighted. Or perhaps they are pu tting out the candles. The Lord was a wonderful teacher. He always moved n atu rally to th e elucidation of some g reat tru th . H ear Him now: “ I am th e ligh t of the world.” He had claimed before to be the Bread of Life, (John 6:48 ) and the W ater of Life, (John 4:10) now He claims to be the L ight of th e world, and these th ree things are the g reat es sentials fo r the wilderness life: Bread (the m a n n a); w ater (from the R ock); light (from th e cloud of fire): All who would give light to a dark world must bring th e ir torches and ligh t them a t His fire. The names of the days of the week suggest light wor ship: F irst, Sunday (Sun-day); then, Monday (M oon-day); and, last, S atu r day (Saturn-day). The Arab poet called th e rainbow ‘‘the angels’ bridge over which th e souls of the blessed passed to th eir home w ith God.” Scientists tell us th a t the universe is filled w ith eth er; th a t some m ighty force starts the vibrations of eth er and th a t these vibrations en ter the eye, touch the nerve, carry the impression to the brain and we see. Again, they tell us th a t light is force; th a t so many billions of vibrations pro duce red, so many blue, and so on. Of
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