In the first few verses of 1 John, John is declaring to us the Word of God, which is the message of God, which is the truth of God. And he says the truth of God produces in us the life of God so that we might have fellowship with God. He said in vs 1, the Word of God is eternal, that which was from the beginning. He said in the gospel of John chapter 1 that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
He goes on to say that the Word of God became flesh and dwelt among us. The Word became manifest. The God which was invisible became visible. God which is Spirit became flesh. Jesus was the Message of God, the Word of God, made flesh. The Word of God became a man and the disciples heard Him, touched Him, saw Him, and studied Him. Jesus spoke the Word of God. Jesus worked the works of God. Jesus’s life was the message of God.
John says that what they had seen and heard they testify to you. The words, the actions, the life of Christ the disciples have proclaimed to you. And this message results in life, which is fellowship with God, and which is eternal life from God. The message, the Word of God imparts this life of God in you if you receive it and believe it. Jesus said in John 6:63 "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” And then back in vs 4 of our text, John said this is the message which we write to you. The message of Jesus, the message of the Word is what John wrote to us in this epistle.
So Jesus is the Message, Jesus is the Word, He is the Life, or as Jesus Himself said, He is the way, the truth and the life of God. And John has proclaimed this message, written this message, and now in vs 5, he says he announces this message. And this is the message; “that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.” John summarizes the entire message of the gospel in one brief sentence; God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all.
It’s interesting that John announces the message of Christ in both a positive and negative way. Let’s look first at the positive. God is light. The order of that statement is important. You cannot reverse it and say that light is God. Otherwise, sun worshippers would be worshipping the true God. But God is characterized as light. John will also present later on in this epistle other defining characteristics of God, such as that He is righteous, that He is Spirit, that He is love.
But to begin John says that the message which Jesus gave, and which he is declaring, is that God is light. God is Light. Such a simple statement, just three words, and yet to expound it fully would take a book full of words and we still might not plumb the depths of it. Like light itself which can be condensed and focused like a laser beam, or which can illuminate the span of the heavens, so the exposition of this doctrine that God is light can be focused with pin point exactness or expanded infinitely. So if the characterization of God is that He is light, then it should provoke the question how does the Bible describe light?
I could spend a lot of time this morning trying to present the physical characteristics of light. But I am not a scientist and to tell you the truth I really don’t understand much about it from that perspective. However, I don’t think that John relates the doctrine that God is light so that we might learn all the physical characteristics of light. But more importantly I believe there is a spiritual dimension of light that we should consider. And so to get the answer to what constitutes light from a spiritual perspective we turn not to scientific journals, but to the Word of God.
The principle that God is light is one that is spoken of throughout scripture, in both the Old and the New Testaments. Let’s consider what the Bible has to say about the relation of God with light.
In Psalm 27:1 we read “The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the defense of my life; Whom shall I dread?” Light there is correlated with salvation. Light is spiritual life.
A few chapters further we read in Psalm 36:9 “For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light.” Light from God is the source of life. God’s light illumines our eyes that we might see light. Light is correlated there with life from God.
Then in Psalm 119:105 we read about another aspect of light; “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Here the word of God is related to light, to light up our way, or light up our life. So to combine those three verses we can deduce that light is the spiritual life of God which is given to man.
Isaiah 9:2 speaks of that divine illumination which shines on men, saying; “The people who walk in darkness Will see a great light; Those who live in a dark land, The light will shine on them.” There light is related to the manifestation of Word of God to the world. The light of God shines on the world which is in darkness. Christ is the light of God which was manifested to the world.
Isaiah goes on to speak of this manifestation of the Light in Isaiah 60:1, "Arise, shine; for your light has come, And the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. For behold, darkness will cover the earth And deep darkness the peoples; But the LORD will rise upon you And His glory will appear upon you.” The light of the Lord delivers the world from darkness. The light revealed to the world is described as the glory of God which is given to men and reflected from men.
There are many more such examples in the Old Testament, but for the sake of time, let’s consider some New Testament references to light.
In the Gospel of John 1:4, speaking of Jesus, the Word, John says “In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it, or overpower it.”
And then down a few verses in John 1:9 “There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.”
As I was studying these passages this week, I was reminded of when Moses was on Mt. Sinai receiving the commandments from the Lord. At that time Moses spent 40 days and 40 nights on Mt. Sinai with the Lord while he received the ten commandments. And in recounting that event Moses said in Deuteronomy 9:9 that he while on the mountain he did not eat or drink for 40 days. That’s the same length of time which the Lord Jesus spent fasting in the wilderness before His ministry. But the thing I want to emphasize is that to not eat or drink for 40 days would kill most people. You can survive a couple of weeks or so without eating, perhaps, but generally speaking, you cannot survive much longer than three days without water.
But when Moses came down from the mountain after being with God for 40 days, he wasn’t so weak that he couldn’t walk. He wasn’t half dead and starving. But he was full of strength to be able to walk down the mountain. And rather than being half dead, his face was glowing so brightly that he had to put a veil over it to keep from blinding people. What that reveals is that the light of God, the life of God that emanated from God, was in itself life sustaining. God is the source of life and to be in the glory of His presence is to receive the fullness of life. You don’t need food and water to live when you are in the presence of the life of God. God Himself is the source of life. And so I think that illustration in the life of Moses is very informative, in light of what we are considering today.
So John says in Jesus was that life, the life of God, the sustaining, source of life. I think that’s the importance of the scriptures which emphasize that Christ is the Creator of life. Listen to what Hebrews 1 vs 1 says about that. Heb .1:1-3 “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.” Such a tremendous passage which tells us so much. God spoke in Jesus Christ. Not just spoke through Jesus Christ, but spoke in Him. His being, His life, was the message, the Word of God. And it says He was the radiance of His glory. That speaks of Jesus as the Light of God.
And back in the gospel of John, chapter 1 vs 4 it says His life was the light of men. Vs.9 He was the true light which enlightens every man. He is the source of light, the source of life which is given to men.
In John 8:12 Jesus said, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” That says that when we follow Christ, when we have His presence in us, then we have the Light of life. As we have the Light of God, so we have the life of God. And if we have the life of God, then we cannot be in darkness, we cannot walk in darkness. That is an echo of the negative aspect of the principle that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If you dwell in the light then there cannot be darkness, because there is no darkness at all in God.
Let’s consider a couple more. John 12:35-36 Jesus said to them, "For a little while longer the Light is among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes. While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of Light.” Notice the progression, walk in the light, believe in the light, and become sons of Light. Light is personified in Jesus Christ. He is the light, and as you believe in the Light, which is His message, His word, HIs life, then you become sons of Light, which is to say, sons of God.
Paul indicates that to be sons of the Light is to be sons of the kingdom of Christ in Col. 1:13 saying, “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.”
Now all of those references show us that the Biblical doctrine of light is very broad. In one sense, and probably the most often used sense, light stands for truth. We still use light as a metaphor for truth in our culture today. We hear expressions like “I saw the light.” Or “a light bulb went off.” We speak about enlightenment, as in the age of enlightenment. So the reference to light means the light of truth, the truth of God, the word of God.
We also see the Bible use light as a reference to purity, to holiness, to righteousness. God dwells in inapproachable light. It says in Psalm 102:1, “O LORD my God, You are very great; You are clothed with splendor and majesty, covering Yourself with light as with a cloak.”
Now the opposite of light is darkness. And darkness in the Bible refers to ignorance. The Dark Ages was a time of ignorance. The age of enlightenment came after the Dark Ages. In the scripture, darkness often is used to refer to sin, to evil. In John 3:19 Jesus said, “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” In the verse we read a moment ago, the domain of darkness referred to the dominion of Satan. Man in his natural state, is in sin, is in darkness, and living under the dominion of Satan. Jesus said Satan is the ruler of this world. He dominates those in darkness, he holds the world captive in sin.
But light speaks of the kingdom of God. Revelation 21:23 speaking of the culmination of the kingdom of God says, “And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp [is] the Lamb.”
So the message that Jesus brought to the world is that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. There is no evil in God. There is no sin. There is only goodness, holiness and righteousness. In darkness there is death, but in the Light there is life. And Christ is the light that gives life. And that life in us is the presence of God, fellowship with God, communion with God. The light of Christ that gives life is the truth of God. In His light, we see light. Jesus said in John 8:31-32 "If you continue in My word, [then] you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” When we receive the light of truth, we are freed from the darkness of ignorance and evil, and we have the life of God in us.
Jesus said that in it’s natural state the whole world lies in darkness. It is held captive by the dominion of darkness, the dominion of Satan. But Truth is the light that scatters the darkness, and the light of Truth sets the prisoners free. The devil wants to keep people in darkness, in ignorance. He wants them to be so confused that they can’t discern the light. But God is light. And God shines His light of truth in the hearts of men that they might see the truth and be set free. Without God’s illumination in our hearts we could not see light of truth. But in His light, we see light.
Listen how Paul states it in 2 Cor. 4:6 “For God, who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness,’ is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”
Then in vs 6 of 1 John 1, John goes on to say about the darkness, that “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and [yet] walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” That statement reveals that if you claim to have the life of God, to be in Christ, to be in the light of God, and yet live in darkness, then you are lying. If we live in sin you are of the darkness. If you live in the light, then you are of the light.
What it indicates is that the life of God in us is not dependent upon what we say, or what we claim, but what we do. How we live. Many people claim to know God, to have a relationship with God. Many people claim to be Christian. But the evidence of the way they live their life reveals that they are still in darkness. You cannot be light and darkness at the same time. If you truly have fellowship with God then you will be living in the Light and not living in darkness. John says, you may say that you have fellowship with God but what are you doing? How are you living? How could you possibly have fellowship with God who is light if you are walking in darkness?
There is a common misconception today that you can live in sin and still be saved. John says that you can’t live in light and darkness at the same time. You can’t live in the light of God’s word and still practice sin. That doesn’t mean that a Christian will never sin. John says later on in vs 8, “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.” If the truth is not in us, then that means the light is not in us, and we are not saved.
But the distinction of what he is saying is what you practice. John says “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and [yet] walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” He is talking about practicing sin or practicing the truth. Practice is deliberate. It’s repetitive. It’s continual. Practice is not accidental. I remember for a short while when I was a kid my Mom had me take piano lessons. And if that wasn’t bad enough, that meant I had to practice my piano lessons. All of the neighborhood kids would be playing ball in the empty lot and my Mom would start calling me to come home to practice my piano. I hated it. And consequently I never learned anything. But what I did learn is that practice is not accidental.
Practice is a discipline. Practice is a commitment. You may make a mistake when you practice, but you correct it, and keep practicing until you get it right. In Heb 5:14, speaking of the practice of a Christian which leads to getting it right, it says, “But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.” In the life we receive from God we are trained in righteousness by practice. By deliberately, consciously following the truth of God’s word. We may mess up, but we correct it, we repent of it, we press on, we practice what we are taught by the Word of God, working through the Spirit of God in us, training us in righteousness. In Hebrews 12:1 speaking of this practice, this discipline, says, “All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”
So the evidence of our salvation is our walk. The evidence of our salvation is whether we are practicing righteousness or practicing sin. We either walk in darkness, and do not have the light and the life of God. Or we walk in the light, and we have the life of God, which is fellowship with God, and we have forgiveness of sin. Vs. 7 “but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”
To walk in the light is to live in accordance to the light of truth, the word of God, the leading of the Spirit of God which is given to us that believe in Christ. Jesus’s ministry on earth was not to get people to simply give lip service to His deity, but to become followers, disciples of His teaching, which is the word of God, the message of God. To walk in the light as He is in the light. To have the life of God in us, living through us, so that we have the presence of God in us, the fellowship of God with us, that we might become like God in all respects. That is the message, that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.
I hope that you have become children of the Light. That you have received the light, believed the light, and are walking in the light. That you have the life of God in you. If you don’t realize that about your life, then call upon Jesus to save you, to give you life, to give you His righteousness, and to give you His Spirit. Call upon Him today and He will shine upon you and give you life in Him.
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