The Glorious Light of God – Week 50 / December 9th

by admin

“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

2013Devotional