Bible Studies
The Light of Life (Jn. 1:4)
Series: ResurrectionIntroduction:
1. In September of last year Phyllis and I had the privilege of going to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. 2. Part of the museum is devoted to the discovery of Dead Sea Scrolls and the Qumran community where the scrolls were discovered. 3. The Scrolls are probably the greatest biblical archeological discovery ever, but the Qumran community itself is equally fascinating. 4. Outside the Israel Museum there stands a large black marble obelisk that stands in contrast to the white dome of the Shrine of the Book. The white dome is formed in the shape of the top of one of the clay jars in which the scrolls were found. 5. These two objects symbolize the light/darkness theme that permeated the Qumran community, much like the light/darkness theme that permeates the writings of the apostle John. 6. In John 1:4 John says of Jesus Christ, “In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.” For John, Jesus was the light of Life. 7. This morning we continue our study of the resurrection focusing particular attention on the letter of 1 John where John ties together the themes of light, life, and being born of God.Discussion:
I. John ties together the themes in the very first chapter, but withholds allusion to the resurrection until 2:17.A. Note the close association with John 1.
1. Jesus is identified as “the Word.” Here in 1 John he is “the Word of life.”
2. In John 1 he enlightens every man. Here in 1 John “we proclaim to you the eternal life,” and “announce to you that God is light.”
3. This only begins to scratch the surface of the similarities, but one other I would call to your attention. In John 1 those who believe on His name are born of God. In 1 Jn. 1 those who heed His message have fellowship with Him and are thus cleansed from all sin. I contend that it is this cleansing from sin that brings the new life.
B. 2:17 says, “The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.”
1. In 2:8 “the darkness is passing away and the true Light is already shining.”
2. In what sense is the world passing away? We might conclude that the elements will ultimately be destroyed by fire.
3. But there is another sense in which the light causes the world to pass away. In the same sense that light causes darkness to pass away.
a. This was part of the new creation in the prophets (Isa. 60:1-3).
b. Is this John’s point in John 1:5 when he says, “The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overpower it (comprehend it)?” Indeed the Light overpowered the darkness. The gospel message permeates the darkness of the world (1 Jn. 1:8).
c. Paul refers to those who are perishing because the god of this world has blinded their minds, so that they might not “see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ” (2 Cor. 4:3-6). Cf. Eph. 5:8-8, 13-14.
d. Yes the elements will ultimately be destroyed, but the world is passing away with each mind that is enlightened by the gospel of Jesus Christ. Eternal life is His promise (1 Jn. 2:24-25). It is part of the new creation and being born of Him (1 Jn. 2:29).
4. There is a song that says, “Buried with Christ, my blessed Redeemer, Dead to the old life of folly and sin; Satan may call, the world may entreat me, There is no voice that answers within. Dead to the world, to voices that call me, Living anew, obedient but free; Dead to the joys that once did entrall me—Yet ‘tis not I, Christ liveth in me” (T. O. Chisholm, A New Creature, 487).
II. John repeatedly refers to those who are “born of God.”A. It is a phrase reminiscent of Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus in Jn. 3.
1. There John records Jesus saying, “Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (v. 3).
2. And again, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (v. 5).
B. These new birth concepts seem to be founded on Ezek. 36:25-27 and Ezek. 37.
C. Notice John’s references to being “born of God.”
1. The one who practices righteousness is “born of God” (1 Jn. 2:29).
2. No one who is “born of God” practices sin (1 Jn. 3:9).
3. Love characterizes those “born of God” (1 Jn. 3:9-10; 4:7).
4. Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is “born of God” (1 Jn. 5:1).
5. Whatever is “born of God” overcomes the world (1 Jn. 5:4).
6. He who was “born of God” keeps the one “born of God” from sinning (1 Jn. 5:18). You may recall that being “born of God” is equivalent to being “begotten of God.” And that, Psa. 2:7 (“You are My Son, today I have begotten you.”) is a reference to Jesus’ resurrection (Acts 13:33-34).
7. To be born of God means that we have received Him, believed in Him, and have become children of God (Jn. 1:9-13).
III. For John, the mark of having passed from death to life is love of the brethren (1 Jn. 3:14-16).A. The phrase “passing out of death into life” is used one other place in the N.T.: Jn. 5:24. Note also 25-29.
B. This love of the brethren is not some indefinite emotion with word or tongue, but is a love of deed and truth (1 Jn.3:18, 22).
C. It is the actual practice of righteousness that marks those born of God (1 Jn. 3:9-10).
Conclusion:
1. We are those born of God. 2. We have eternal life. 3. We have passed from death to life. 4. We have overcome the world through faith. 5. When Jesus appears for the final time “we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is” (1 Jn. 3:2).
