Response To The Light

John 1:4: In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

Because of His nature as God, our Lord has life in Him, and those looking upon Him will either see that life that enlightens every man (v. 9) as illuminating them, or blinding them (v. 10); it may also be said that, since the light of our Lord shines upon them in revealing fashion, it shows that which is true of them – whether they are of the darkness that hates the light or of God, and so rejoice to be seen and made manifest by the shining of the light.  The fact that He has life in Himself does not mean that everyone who looks upon Him will receive that life – they must look upon Him in a certain way, and to do that, they must have the eyes which will see, the ears that will hear, and the heart that will turn and be healed. That not all see Him as being the Life-giver is due to the nature which looks upon Him – the nature which is of the darkness – of the world that does not know Him – cannot overcome the Light, and so cannot see the light – it is trying to overcome the Light, and cannot, resulting in spiritual blindness.

 

Unregenerate eyes cannot look upon the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ; it takes eyes that have been made anew to view the brilliance of  that Son.

 

This is not a general grace given to all men which is only effective as they empower it by faith common to that of trusting in a chair to hold one when they sit down, for all mankind has this type of faith, which believes in that which it can see, experience, taste, touch - in fact, though our Lord shines upon everyone, the very next verses show that the world does not know Him and His own do not receive Him, which shows the mishandling of this text by some who try to make it seek to mean a generic type of grace that can be resisted or accepted by the natural man.

In truth, this light is that which, as said above, reveals that which is already true in those it penetrates - grace has occurred for some of these, for they are, as John 3:21 tells us, those who do what is true and rejoice to have it clearly shown by the light; in this same chapter, however, this same light is shunned by those who love darkness  and evil, thus hating God and His truth (John 3:19-20).

So, this light is that which either reveals that the grace of God has been given by Him, or that darkness and corruption and hatred of God resides in the vessel it is shining upon. Jesus Christ is the Light of the World, who Himself is the grace of God (John 1:14, 15), and whose radiance shines upon each person to reveal what sort they are of: light which loves God, for it has been formed of Him, or darkness which hates God, for it has yet to be formed by that grace that redeems unto faith and repentance. Our Lord is light, and life, but that He shines upon all is not an indication that all have the potential for life everlasting, for in both these contexts, we see those upon whom the Lord shines who remain in darkness and love evil, rather than coming to that Light who is the Life-giver.

Thus, we preach that gospel  of grace to all who will listen, trusting God to give the revelation of His light to show those whom He has given life to in His Son.

Thanks be to God for His inexpressible gift (2 Corinthians 9:15)!