The Light of the World.

Thoughts on the Gospel for Last Week.

See our page on Spiritual Coaching.

John 8:51-58
In this review, we will expand our reading of this weeks portion to include most of Chapter 8 of John.  And our focus will be the use of the word Light as it relates to Messiah Yeshua.  We'll look at some of the concepts in the Torah to build a foundation and extend our view with the New Testament.  

---

Lets begin with the short video on John 8:12-58.

The 8th chapter of John seems to be a series of riddles about who and what Yeshua is.  But if these questioning men had a spiritual understanding of the scriptures - Tanach - they would have recognized the promised Messiah.   


Light of Life
​Yeshua said of himself to be the Light of World and then declared that men would have the light of life  - v.12.  We also see a similar statement made at John 1:4

                                            In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

Those Jews who had spiritual eyes at that time would have recognized an immediate connection between what Yeshua said and the Torah - the Law - for the Book of Deuteronomy is replete with statements that the Law would give Israel "life".  Now Yeshua is making this similar statement about himself.  If we were to merge these concepts together, we would realize that what Yeshua is saying is that by following His example (light) of living the Law, we would have life in mortality - we would have food, live long lives and be protected from enemies.

Yeshua is also the light of life that through His Atonement and Resurrection, mortal man can receive immortality and eternal life.

And finally, in another aspect, it is through His Word that the physical world is governed that the sun exists that the planets were made and maintain their orbits provides the earth with gravity and gives physical light to mortal man that allows man to produce food.


Light of Truth
Yeshua is also called the Light of Truth.  In a broader and all encompassing context, Yeshua is declaring that He is the revealer of all truth to mortal man.  We see this concept set out in v.31,32

Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;  And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Yeshua is declaring here that by acquiring His Word that we will know the truth and the truth will free us of the effects of lies.  We can also deduce from this verse that the more of the truth that is in us the more we are own agents because we can control our own lives in greater degrees based on an ever increasing knowledge of the truth and less and less on the ideas of men.  We see this same concept in John 16 about the Spirit teaching us all truth.

Yeshua further commands us to be a light to the world - Matt 5, which is the same words that he uses for Himself.  Indeed, the more truth that is in us, the more we become like the Messiah until we receive a fullness of truth.  Not only are we admonished by Yeshua to be Perfect - by doing the right things (law) for the right reasons (heart) - like Him and the Father, additionally, we should be constantly acquiring a knowledge of truth until we know all things.

​
Light/Spirit of Messiah
Our last concept that we see in the Gospel of John when referring to the Messiah is that He is a Light that enlightens all men who come into the world - John 1.  This enlightenment is an influence that emanates from the presence of the Son - Messiah - His Spirit that helps all men to know right from wrong.  We generally refer to this as our conscience.  It is this Light that can lead all men and women to Yeshua Messiah and accept His truth and salvation.


An Endtime Test
The big test all humanity will be faced with during the Endtimes winding up scene is to be able to discern God's truth and the ideas of men.  All of us will be faced with the choice of following light and truth that is righteous and the ever growing wickedness of the world.  Commenting on this Endtime test, Dr. Gileadi wrote,

A paradox of life is that God allows lies and falsehoods to exist alongside the truth. Often, the truth of God’s “good news” lies buried beneath a heap of misrepresentations, while the purveyors of these falsehoods cast in a bad light those who adhere to the truth. The Accuser makes sure that those whose lifestyles are less than impeccable will fall prey to his deceptions, while persons who desire to know the truth will discover it for themselves. When Jesus says of the end-time that, if it were possible, the very elect would be deceived (Matthew 24:24), he at once defines the elect as those who have processed through the lies and can no longer be deceived.
​
According to Isaiah, leaders who mislead and prophets who deceive will be the order of the day (Isaiah 9:15–16; 28:7, 15; 32:6). The poor and needy—God’s favored candidates for his covenant people (Isaiah 14:30; 25:4)—are also the favored targets of his people’s reprobates: “Rogues scheme by malevolent means and insidious devices to ruin the poor, and with false slogans and accusations to denounce the needy” (Isaiah 32:7). Lies predominate in the time that precedes Jehovah’s coming to cleanse the earth of wickedness: “[He comes]to sift the nations in the sieve of falsehood; with an erring bridle on their jaws [he will try] the peoples” (Isaiah 30:28).

One of the big ways were can avoid being deceived during the Endtimes, is to live as much of God's Law in the Torah as we can especially by following the example of Messiah Yeshua for living it.

---

Resources for this Weeks Portion

Luke 17:28-37

Read and Listen