“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God. He was
in the beginning with God. All things were made
through Him, and without Him nothing was made
that was made. In Him was life, and the life was
the light of men. And the light shines in the dark-
ness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”
John 1:1-5

John’s opening words in his Gospel are very often thought to have a Grecian philosophical influence because of his concept of “the Word” by which he introduces us to the life and times of Jesus of Nazareth. But this is not true, not true at all, as indeed John’s concept of the creating Word really comes from the opening lines of the book of Genesis! John is in fact attributing the Word that created the worlds in Genesis to Jesus; that is God Himself!

“In the beginning God created the heavens and
earth. The earth was without form, and void; and
darkness was on the face of the deep. And the
Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the
waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and
there was light. And God saw the light that it was
good…..”
Genesis 1:1-4

In Genesis one then God commands light to shine in the darkness and God calls this light good. It is to be noted that this is before He created the luminaries a few days later by which to give light to His created order. So, who or what is the “good light” that shines with a glorious radiance over the building blocks of creation? According to John, it is Jesus the very Word of God by which all of creation came into existence. God the Father was well pleased with His Son at creation by whom He made the universe just as He was well pleased with Him when He took a human body and presented Himself to John for baptism. The “Excellent Glory” said,”This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” This is the “Shining Good” of Genesis. (Hebrews 1:1-3)

Paul also picks up on the Genesis narrative when, in 2Corinthians 4:6 he writes….”It is the God who commands light to shine out of the darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” Here, as in John’s Gospel, the light that broke out to create the worlds is Jesus. He penetrates the “deep darkness” and creates the earth, the sun, moon and stars and humankind. This is no Greek philosophical notion but an Hebraic one! By His life the Light creates the world and all that is in it but by His death He re-creates lives that have been utterly ravaged by the darkness of sin and rebellion against God (Romans 3:23-26). This glorious light, released by His resurrection, shines into our hearts and sweeps away a universe of sin and darkness within us.

It is precisely for this reason that Jesus again as recorded in John’s Gospel, declares that He is the Light of the world (John 8:12). Soft and tender hearts, thirsting for help and meaning to life, run to this Light and allow it to shine into all the chambers of their hearts; but the cowardly and hardened lovers of sin and darkness reject this Light preferring the darkness which indeed they will inherit eternally (John 3:19)! They will have their share of the “darkness of the deep”, as Genesis puts it, or of the intense “outer darkness” as the Gospels put it. (Matthew 8:12)

At Christmas time we celebrate the coming of redemptive light into the world. It is a celebration about the Word that became flesh and is the Light of men. We must not neglect this Light and we must ensure that as time passes it shines more brightly from our lives.
Merry Christmas,

Malcolm Hedding

©Malcolm Hedding Ministries

“Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with
Me. And having turned I saw seven golden-
lampstands, and in the midst of the seven
lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed
with a garment down to the feet and girded
about the chest with a golden band.”
“The mystery of the seven stars which you saw
in My right hand, and the seven golden lamp-
stands: The seven stars are the angels of the
seven churches and the seven lampstands
which you saw are the seven churches.”
Revelation 1:12-13; 20

In the first chapter of Revelation Jesus is discerned or seen by John in the light of the seven lampstands. These seven single standing lampstands we are told are the Seven Churches of Asia. The more brightly they burn so the more clearly Jesus is seen. The message is therefore inescapable; Jesus is seen in the world by the light of His people! The question then must be, “How great is this light?”

The nature of this light
Naturally then, this light is not just any light; no, it is the light of holiness or godly living. In the following chapters of Revelation Jesus addresses this very issue when He turns His attention to the spiritual state of His body on earth. Sadly only two of the seven churches of Asia that He scrutinizes escape His rebuke. That is, the church at Smyrna and the church at Philadelphia. This in turn means that by the end of the first century the light of His glory and presence had been severely diminished in His people the church. There were many reasons for this not least of which the pride and arrogance of leaders, immorality, lack of zeal, rejection of authority and false doctrine.
Do we for one moment think that things are different today? The world desperately needs the light of Christ but it cannot see Him because the church is too far from God in distance and likeness! This should cause us to weep.

The words of Paul
Paul tells us that Jesus must become four things to us:

1. Wisdom from God
2. Righteousness
3. Sanctification…..and,
4. Redemption

1Corinthians 1:30
Wisdom from God means that Jesus alone is the ultimate truth. When we know Him the truth about all other things becomes clear. For example; a person who knows the truth of Jesus will never condone or endorse abortion. The light of Jesus’ truth teaches us that to abort children is in fact murder. The same is true about family, marriage and most importantly salvation. Jesus is the only way to God the Father since He Himself declared that He is the way, the truth and the light and the only way to His Father. Those who truly know Jesus declare these truths no matter how unpopular they may be in the world. Wisdom is defined as the ability to apply truth correctly.
Righteousness is a gift given to us when we embrace Christ by repentance and faith. First of all it is imputed and thus covers all of our sins as a gift. Because of what Jesus has done for us on the cross our Father in heaven sees us as perfect and spotless all the time. We are therefore, as Paul put it in his Ephesian epistle, “accepted in the beloved.” (Ephesians 1:6) However, righteousness is also imparted to us in that we become “the thing” that God sees when He imputes righteousness to us.
This real impartation of actual righteousness to us is a lifelong process called sanctification. The light of Jesus teaches us that we have not evolved but have in fact devolved and are thus in desperate need of character transformation which is defined, measured or understood by the perfection of Christ. Jesus, by His Spirit, changes us, cleans us up and empowers us. In short, He is our sanctification and as we walk with Him on a daily basis by prayer, fellowship, Bible study and communion we become like Him. (Acts 2:42)
The light of Christ therefore redeems us or buys us back from darkness, wickedness, sin rebellion and the devil. Jesus’ people are therefore a redeemed people or a people who have found friendship, wholeness and meaning to life in Him. Blessed are the people who live like this!

A world shone upon
When the local church becomes these four things its light burns brightly and suddenly Jesus appears in the light. As a consequence the world is shone upon and is drawn to what it feels and sees in the lives of God’s people. This is a challenge and high calling that we each one should aspire to. As the people of God we count it our chief joy and privilege to please God, shine for Him and by so doing reveal Him to a lost world. As we speak His word the world should turn, look and see Jesus. This is our calling and we must embrace it fully. This is why we exist as a church and we must never forget it and therefore remember that Jesus warned the church at Ephesus that a lack of love and zeal for Him, if remaining unchecked, will force Him to remove its place of witness in the world. He would remove the light of His glorious lampstand (Revelation 2:5) and they would become irrelevant!

Christmas time
At Christmas time we rightly celebrate the light of God revealed to the world in Christ. Angels sang of the light as the glory of God broke upon shepherds in the fields, Wise Men followed this light as it, in the form of a star, led them to a manager where the Christ-child lay and men and women have rejoiced in this light down through the ages as it has impacted and transformed their lives. Jesus is the only light of the world so let us embrace Him anew this advent season and give His light to a dark and dying world.

Merry Christmas,

Malcolm Hedding

©Malcolm Hedding Ministries