The Light

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5). What a joyous statement to meditate upon this day, the day after Resurrection Sunday. Jesus came into the darkness of a sin oppressed world, one in which the Spirit of God was seldom seen or experienced. The darkness of sin and Satan came against Jesus, especially on the Cross. Yet Jesus defeated sin completely on the Cross and then He defeated death completely at the resurrection. Darkness could not overcome the light of Jesus. Darkness still rages against the light. However, this time darkness is fighting as a defeated foe in its last gasp for some semblance of victory.

We cannot read this passage without connecting it to 1 John 1:5-10, where John talks about the light and walking in the light. When we read the two passages side by side we begin to get a picture of what it means to walk in the light. We are to walk in the light of the truth, truth of sin defeated and Jesus as Lord. It is more though than just walking in truth, it is walking in The Truth, The Light of the world (John 8:12). We are to walk in Jesus by Him living in us. The glorious wonder of our walking in the light is not just that Jesus is in us; it is also that darkness cannot overcome us! Specifically that we do not live like children of the devil and we love our brothers (1 John 3). We can walk in the light, because The Light dwells within us who believe in Jesus Christ the risen one.