Light of the World

Posted on by Japanese Congregational Church

John 8:12

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” 

What do we know about light?

  • Behaves both as a wave and a particle
  • If we focus on visible light, the basic colors are red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue and violet
  • Speed of light in a vacuum is 186,282 miles per second

But the scientific facts about light are interesting but do not shed any light as to what Jesus is saying in our passage. If we go back to Genesis, we see that on the first day of creation, God created light to separate the light from darkness. Most people listening to Jesus would have this simple dual concept of light and dark.

What Jesus tells them is that He is the light of the world, and that whoever follows Him will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.

From this, we can glean that without Jesus, we are walking in darkness, and that we lack the light that will give us life. Since all the hearers were alive, we know that Jesus was not talking about physical life, but spiritual life. Before we become followers of Jesus, even though we are physically alive, we are spiritually dead. For followers of Jesus, when life on earth ends, we have eternal life with Jesus and other followers. For those who do not follow Jesus, when life on earth ends, they will have eternity away from the Lord.

When we do not have Jesus’ light we are in spiritual darkness. We have no idea as to how to live nor what happens to us when we physically die. Many have guessed throughout the ages. Many have been confused by Satan and believe things that are contrary to the truth. This is why there are so many different religions and so many different philosophies for how to live our lives.

There are those who believe that when this life is over, then one is born again. What they are reborn as depends on how well or poorly they lived their previous lives.

There are those who believe that there is a heaven and a hell and if their good deeds outweigh their bad deeds, they get to go to heaven.

There are those who believe that humans start out as purely spiritual and the ones who are good will be given physical bodies. And those who follow the teachings of their church, they will one day become gods of their own universe.

There are those who believe that they will be deemed righteous if they follow all the laws of their religion. Their sins and oversights can be cleansed by a priest who offer animal sacrifices on their behalf. And one day, a savior will appear that will establish an eternal kingdom with those who have been faithful to their laws.

There are also those who believe that they are given one life and once it is over, they are extinguished.

There are many other beliefs besides these. And they are all incorrect because they do not have the light that gives life, and the truth is dark to them.

Today, we have the twenty-seven books of the New Testament. The four gospels tell us about the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. The book of Acts tells us about the Holy Spirit and how He worked with Jesus’ followers to establish the church of Jesus Christ and how it spread. There are twenty-one letters that teach us about the truth and how to live as one living in the light of Jesus. Revelation tells us about how the end of this age will come and the glorious future that awaits the believers.

Importantly, we have been given the Holy Spirit, who comes to dwell in us when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. The Holy Spirit will guide, teach, explain the truth and how to live for the Lord, just like He did for those who started the church as well as write the words that became our New Testament.

Through these teachings, we know that:

  • We are all born with a sinful nature
  • We cannot be made righteous by any acts that we perform
  • Jesus came as fully God and fully man – The only man with no sin who is worthy to take the penalty for humanity’s sins
  • Jesus took the punishment we deserve and died, but was resurrected
  • Anyone who repents and accepts Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior will be saved
  • We are only given one life to live, and where and with whom we spend eternity depends on whether we believe or not
  • Until our physical death, our task in life is to be witnesses to the world that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the savior of the world, and the Holy Spirit will empower us to do so

For those of us who consider Jesus as our Lord, we are called to reflect the true light of the world – Jesus Christ – Like a mirror and shine His light into the dark places around us.

For those who have not yet accepted Jesus Christ into your hearts, do so now, and you will no longer walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

(the above is a summary of the message shared by Pastor Shun Takano during our worship on August 10, 2025.)