Everything is set in the midst of a disturbing and tremendous debate between Jesus and the leaders of Israel, who by now were Jesus' sworn adversaries. 

It is clear in this chapter and in subsequent chapters, that the Jewish leaders did not always fully understand what Jesus was saying, but at the times they did understand, they rejected his teachings and deliberately misinterpret everything he said. 

At the end of chapter eight, the Jewish leaders will try to stone Jesus.  This extreme act of  hostility leaves an uneasy feeling about what is going on and we are left troubled by the reaction of his countrymen

to the truth that Jesus is the “Light of the World”. 

We should ask ourselves the question why is light is so important.  This will help us understand why Jesus' claim to be the ‘Light of the World’ is significant.  Let us simply remember that ‘God is light’. 

John seems to stress the themes of “light” and “darkness” at several points in his ministry and we will look at the two incidents which sandwich this teaching, to get some indication as to the timeliness of this discourse. 

As we begin to define in practical terms what light and darkness is, we note first that the scribes and Pharisees wanted to “test” Jesus, so that they could make an accusation against him.   

It was still early morning when Jesus went into the temple to teach the people and in the middle of this, the scribes and Pharisees dragged a woman they accused of being caught in the act of adultery and placed her before him. They pointed out to Jesus that the law required that the woman be stoned to death and asked him if he agreed with the law supporting the death sentence. 

If Jesus agreed with upholding the law, the authorities would likely have complained to Pilate that Jesus who the people wanted to appoint as King, was challenging their edict that the Jews were not allowed to exercise the death penalty.  If he did not support their interpretation of the Law, that would be used to discredit him. 

Note that the scribes and Pharisees were misrepresenting the Law, for in a case such as this, the Law stated that both the man and the woman should be put to death.  Moses never commanded that only the woman be stoned and so this convenient omission of the adulterer amounted to a breach that would have brought the scribes and Pharisees into condemnation on several counts.  They were certainly not acting in the light of God's law. 

The matter of judgment was now at the fore.  Jesus reacted by writing something on the ground with his finger and then telling the scribes and Pharisees that anyone that was without sin should  cast the first stone; in effect to begin the execution.  In Jewish law, witnesses to a capital offence had to take a hand in the execution and Jesus was simply reminding the scribes and Pharisees that everything had to be done right and according to the law. Those who witnessed the crime and who had brought only the woman to him, should cast the first stone. 

Note that Jesus was judging both the woman and her accusers. Their consciences convicted them and it would not allow them to do anything else but to slink away into the “darkness”. They realized, when they considered the Law, that they were hypocrites. After all, they knew that Exodus 23:1. “Do not put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.” The scribes and Pharisees cared little for righteousness and the woman was merely a pawn. 

With no true witnesses according to the Law and with no one to condemn her, Jesus’ display of mercy showed the righteousness of God. He would have known that she had sinned and he would also have known that she had been set up in a scheme against him. Likely it involved a man who was close enough to the scribes and Pharisees to commit adultery and not be afraid of any repercussions. 

When Jesus asked the woman where her accusers were and whether or not there was any one present to condemn her, she wisely replied before the observing crowd that there was no man to accuse or condemn her. 

So Jesus mercifully told her that in view of this, he was not going to condemn her, but he called her to repentance by warning that she should sin no more. 

We see in this story that Jesus had judged the scribes and Pharisees to be still walking in darkness and their actions had shown that they were not prepared to come to him, but instead were actively turning away from him and scheming to destroy him.  They had chosen “darkness”. 

The woman did not try to defend herself or excuse her sin and so she left her fearful life and death situation quietly.  She had been exposed before the crowd and had been granted mercy.   

This is what light does.  It reveals sin and it calls for repentance.  When there is acceptance of sin and mercy is shown, the ‘light’ has done its work. 

It is generally held that this incident occurred at the end of the Feast of Tabernacles.  At this feast there would be impressive displays of light, with the light from the Temple area visible all over Jerusalem.  During this feast there would be exuberant celebrations under the four huge lamps or candelabras in the Temple's court by women and men would hold burning torches in their hands, dancing and singing songs of praise every night during this Feast. 

This great festival of lights in the temple was symbolic of the glory of the presence of God in the cloud that led the people to the Promised Land and protected them.  The people would be remembering

Psalm 27:1 “The Lord is my light and my salvation”, and

“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” as well as the many scriptural teachings of the light at the coming of the Messiah.

So as Jesus faced the Jewish leaders, he brought the facts about judgment to them, pointing out in no uncertain terms that he was the promised light as prophesied in Isaiah 42:6-7, Isaiah 49:6 and other passages. 

There were only two alternatives and they had to make a decision, whether they wanted to reject him and walk in ‘darkness’, or whether they wanted to come to him and walk in the ‘light’.   

We will of course see their continued rejection, their base accusations (some of which we have previously studied) and finally their attempts to actually seize and kill him. 

The behaviour of the scribes and Pharisees was very different from that of the woman caught in adultery, at least she did not refuse the light but accepted mercy from Jesus. Their behaviour was even more markedly different from the man born blind who was healed by Jesus in chapter nine.  That man publicly rejected the blindness of the scribes and Pharisees and bore the tremendous cost of expulsion from the synagogue without complaint. Further he worshipped Jesus when Jesus declared to him that he Jesus was the Son of God.  So it is when light shines on good soil. 

Our text deals with judgment on the Jewish leadership and proclaimed in the Temple itself.  The text is very important for it tells us that Jesus came into the world to provoke judgment, to get men to choose sides.  

In our text discussion we will see Jesus giving gracious words of promise and offering men the opportunity to walk in the ‘light of God's path’. 

Jesus words are serious.  People are walking in ‘darkness’, going along a road which will lead them to certain death.  This is a turbulent world with false attractions and multiple illusions and Jesus words are words of life that teach us how to distinguish between the false and true.  God aims to show us the way, so that we will not walk in darkness.

THE TEXT

Verse 12.   Jesus continued his discourse, but it seems as though there was a new set of scribes and Pharisees, as the others that came to him with the ‘woman caught in adultery’ all went away. It is unlikely that they would be so bold to return so quickly, but this is merely speculation.   

The people that He was talking to in the temple still remained listening to the teachings. So they were the people that witnessed what went on with the trial of the adulterous woman and her accusers.

To them He said that He was “the light of the world”.  Light in this case is significant on many different levels.  From Genesis we saw that light was the critical first step in a perfect creation. Light was used to separate the darkness, leading to night and day.  

Light is critical to existence and in fact reflects the beauty of God. Light is equivalent to life. The promise of light that God brings fulfills the most cherished promise to man imaginable. 

Without light in the world organisms cannot survive.  The sun which God created after he created light is a source of warmth and light, so that creatures can hunt, play, grow and fulfill their role in life.  Seasons and weather patterns occur in nature in part, due to the sun.  Light in this case completely symbolizes a direct source to life.  

This explains why it was so easy for Satan to persuade men that they should worship the Sun God and how that led to the corruption of Christianity as exemplified in the pagan  Sunday worship, rather than seventh day Sabbath worship.   

Light provides us with a distinct separation between things.  Several texts of scripture let us understand clearly that Jesus knows what is present in the darkness. He existed when there was no light and he created light as he began creation.  He declared this good. He created the light and separated it from the darkness, therefore it is safe to say that in Christ there was light and that he was its source.   

Christ is the light of the world.  He provides us with the ability to see where it is we are going in life.  He provides us with the opportunity to go in the right direction, that is, towards God and the heavenly kingdom.  Without that ability given to us by Christ, he says that we would be walking in darkness and that path will eventually lead us to hell. 

‘Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path’ declares

Psalm 119:105, so that we can see that it is the light from God who will guide us to the path we must go.  

Note that in Genesis and in the book of John, we learn that God the Son, Christ was the one who created.  The Bible refers to Him as the Word.  When the word of the Lord goes out it never returns to Him again without accomplishing what should be done.  In this case, the light helps to direct our feet, so that we may find and do the will of God.  

Christ says that whosoever follows Him shall have the light of life.  Christ is not only light, but He is also life.  It is Christ that gives us life and the ability to have life abundantly and eternally.  We look to Christ for both physical as well as spiritual light and life.

Among the scientific community it is agreed that the sun, our star, is the source of life in this solar system.  Along with a few other factors, it provides us with the necessary requirements to sustain life on earth.  To Christians, Christ is the light and the source of life.  Without Him we could not survive or hope to walk in a way that would please our Father in heaven.   

Undoubtedly then, Jesus is making tremendous claims for himself, for he has taken this important symbol from nature, so that everyone could understand and applied it to himself.

Verse 13.   The Pharisees recognized the gravity of Jesus’ ‘light and life’ claim and immediately attacked his credibility. They were clearly refusing to come to the light.   

Note that they did not directly attack or argue about who Jesus’ actual claim.  They probably knew that if they did this, Jesus would again point them to the works that he had done and to the perfect synchronization between what was predicted about the work of the ‘Servant of Jehovah’ and the work he had done.  

They choose to grab hold of a technicality and argued about his credibility as a witness in his own defence.  They focused on the fact that He gave a testimony about himself, when he himself was the one being accused of something.  They were saying that his testimony was biased and hence could not be trusted.

Verse 14.   Jesus response was interesting.  He did not deny that this was indeed unusual, if they interpreted Jewish law in a certain way, but Jesus states the reason why He could do this without breaking any laws.   

Jesus has already conceded in John 5:31, “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true.” It appears that the Jews were using this concession to trap him.  Jesus will have to show them now that they do not understand the law properly. 

Jesus presents two reasons to explain why they were blind and in darkness.  He pointed to the fact that first, they were ignorant of the facts and secondly, they were so proud that they were refusing to accept the facts and change their attitude and behaviour in light of those truths.

Let us not fool ourselves, ignorance keeps people in darkness.  A special kind of ignorance might even involve people having a distorted, unbiblical and unreal picture of Jesus, obtained from sources in the world that are not of God.  This also keeps people in darkness.

So we have here the scribes and Pharisees attacking Jesus on the matter of his being a witness in his own defence.   

Jesus starts by pointing out that though he was testifying about himself, his testimony was true.  Of course we are dealing with the matter of witnessing and one would have thought that after the incident with the ‘woman caught in adultery’ the Pharisees would have avoided any discussion about “witnessing” and the issues that it raises.  Instead we have them attacking on the same issue, even though they had totally compromised themselves just a little while before.  Such is the nature of people who are blind and ignorant. 

We should note that a witness is a person that is called on to give evidence about something that they actually saw or experienced.  A witness is not a person who is called on to give an opinion about something that they never saw or never experienced. 

Jesus is now teaching them that he is a “witness”, for he is speaking of the things that he had seen and heard from His Father.  We can refer to John 1:18 and John 3:9-13 in this regard.  He Jesus is a witness.  He had personally experienced the things of which he testified.  His Father would corroborate his testimony. 

Jesus acknowledged that he was bearing record of Himself but he did so because it was the truth. They might have been in ignorance about certain aspect of Messiah’ mission, but the undeniable historical facts about himself was available. If only they had opened themselves to the Holy Ghost, then the facts would have been confirmed.  

Jesus said that He knew where He came from.  Jesus was saying He had control over what He did.  He possessed intimate knowledge about Himself, as no other human could about himself.  Jesus also controlled when He would leave this particular plane of existence.  Once again, no other human being could rightly make that statement.  They could not say when they would die. So he told the Pharisees that only he, not them or anyone else had such intimate knowledge.  He was a perfect witness for he knew as did his Father.  

They were rejecting him without truly knowing or understanding the mass of evidence about them.  They only had a portion of knowledge and they needed to get more evidence before using their approach.  Jesus is in fact suggesting that it would be advisable for them to go and seek for more evidence before they made any judgment. 

Verse 15.   They were not there to learn about God and understand their relationship to him.  They were against the words that were spoken by Jesus and so they tried to judge Him.  They attempted to judge him as if he were only a man, when Jesus was both man and God.  Second, they were judging him by standards they set for themselves in order to maintain their status in life, not in terms of true justice, the justice of God.  

Jesus told those men that they are rejecting his claims because they were only looking on appearances.  They judged according to the ‘flesh’. 

They considered him simply as a rabble-rouser that intended to destroy their position, that he had no wealth or political power and thinking wrongly that he came from Nazareth in Galilee and not from Bethlehem as the prophecies predicted. 

They thought wrongly that the Messiah would be sent to lead a revolt against Rome and because he was not doing that he could not be the true Messiah. 

Jesus now says that unlike them who judged by appearances, ‘He judges no man’.  He does not practice the same kind of judgments that the Pharisees did.  He did not come to do like them and condemn people. At this time Jesus was not here to judge in the sense of condemnation. He did not have a poor opinion of people like the Pharisees did. They thought that the average Israelite was an idiot and was born in sin.  Jesus’ task at this time was to bring the Gospel to others and to die for our sins, that we might be redeemed to God the Father.  

The second component of His response is that there is unity in His judgment and the Father’s.  If Jesus was to make a judgment and God was to make a judgment on the same situation, then the resulting assessment would be the same.  That is the closeness of the communion that Jesus is saying He has with the Father.   

This is the same sense of intimacy that we should strive to have with the Father, so that when we make a decision we are confident that it is something that fits into his will. 

Verse 17 -18.   To give credence to His argument Jesus quotes passages from the Old Testament which gives authority to the testimony of two individuals. He refers to Deuteronomy 17:6 and 19:15. 

In this case, the two who would provide the witness is Jesus and God the Father.  Jesus uses what is in their own very law to defend His decisions.  Since He knows Himself, unlike any other man on the planet knows himself; Jesus says that gives him the right to speak about himself.   

The Father who also knows Jesus, can attest to the claims of Jesus and thus by Jewish law he could submit that as evidence of the truthfulness of His statements.   

Note the emphasis that the Father had sent him.  We try to shy away from the fact that the Father  is the author of our salvation. He  loved us and sent his only begotten son to die for us, (John 3:16). So when Jesus completes his work he will hand everything back to the Father, says the Apostle Paul. 

We should pay more attention to the work of the Father. 

The Father bore witness about Jesus.  So John 3:2 reminds us that people realized that no one could do the things that Jesus did, unless God the Father was with him.  Every miracle that Jesus performed pointed to the Father, showed the kind of person the Father is, revealed the Father, (for that is something that Jesus came to do)  and was itself a testimony of the Father. 

Let us remember that there were times when things happened that Jesus did not directly control, but these things completely fulfilled the predictions in the Old Testament. 

So the Father was always there, always watching, always looking over his son and always making sure that everything went exactly as he wanted.  Even in Gethsemane, the Father sent angels to minister to Jesus when he saw the agony that he was undergoing.

Verse 19.   Note the low personal attack which came because the Pharisees and scribes could not answer Jesus’ defence. When the Pharisees asked Jesus where His father was, they were referring to His earthly father Joseph who they knew had died. They would be saying that Jesus was communicating with the dead if this was the case.  Some feel however that this question was a cruel jab at Jesus, who they thought had a scandalous birth.  In that case they felt that these words implied that Jesus was the illegitimate child of Mary and some unknown lover would embarrass and silence him.  They were obviously not prepared to accept that Jesus was of a virgin conception. 

Clearly, they were blinded to the fact that Jesus was speaking of God the Father.  Jesus answered them directly, telling them plainly that they did not know who he Jesus really was.  They misunderstood his reference to the Father, because they did not know the Father and neither did they know him. 

If they had been able to see the Light, which is a reference to the Messiah and hence Jesus, then they would have seen the Father through Jesus.  Because they did not know who Jesus was and it seems did not have any real desire to know Him or listen to His words, hence they would remain in darkness. 

Verse 20.   John's statement here is intended to remind us that Jesus did  not consider himself to be a victim, one under special fire and desperate to defend himself against these powerful leaders.

He was actually dealing with these leaders in the treasury, right where the offering boxes were kept in the treasury courts.  This was an open, frequently traveled and conspicuous place where both men and women had access.  He was certainly not afraid of these powerful rulers and was quite prepared to challenge them directly.

He did not shy away from telling them that they were ignorant about many things, that they did not know him and that they certainly did not know His Father.  They should have but they did not. 

Just remember that these religious and political elite were the top authorities in charge of the nation. Yet here was Jesus right beside the hall where the Sanhedrin met for sessions, teaching and challenging the hostile leaders right where they could hear his voice if they were meeting in the Sanhedrin Council room. 

It is probably there that they would plot to kill Jesus, but here he was telling everybody loudly that he was the “Light of the World”. He was in easy reach of them, but yet they could not touch them, even though they wanted to kill him. John tells us that his hour had not yet come.  He would work until it was the time to sacrifice himself for the sins of his people.   

So we know that Jesus was fearless, determined and not afraid. As Isaiah said he had set his face as a flint and he would complete his work.  He was in charge.  He would do his work and nothing would deter him. 

We should learn a lesson from this.  We should never bow to darkness.  We must always fight for truth and do the work that God has sent us to do without fear or favour.

Chapter 12:44-46

We are now at the time when Jesus had made what is called the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, when people had welcomed him with open arms crying: “Blessed is the king of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord”.

We're also told that the people had heard that Lazarus had been raised from the dead and the Pharisees were exceedingly scared at the impact this was having on the people. (12:36) 

It is also clear that Jesus was now focusing on his fast approaching death and even ignored some Greeks that came and wanted an audience with him, saying to the disciples that the hour was come that the Son of Man should be glorified. 

John introduces the section of our text by saying in verse thirty six that Jesus had withdrawn himself from the people.  The leadership was in unbelief, having chosen to remain in darkness.  ‘The light’ therefore withdrew from them. 

Jesus had done so many miracles but yet many of the people as well as the leadership still refused to believe.  Verses 34-36 is an amazing and remarkable instance of unbelief, for Jesus had so clearly fulfilled the prophecies about Messiah, that there was no reason that they should have failed  to recognize him. 

From their words we can deduce that they choose to believe some but not all of the words of God, focusing on the prophecies that promised great victory and ignoring those that spoke of suffering and trouble. 

Today we fall into the same trap.  We are quick to claim the promises of peace, joy and the good things of life, but we choose to ignore the statements which speak of the ‘hard’ things Christians must endure  in order to follow God.

John points out that this persistent unbelief of the Jews, this continuing unbelief despite the signs that Jesus performed, was predicted by the prophet Isaiah in 53:1 and 6:10 about seven hundred years earlier. So we know that Jesus did not fail in any of his work, but the unbelief of his people was simply a fulfillment of prophecy, it was something that had to happen. 

Then John points us to the camouflaged Christians, those rulers who believed, but would not openly confess that they believed.  They remained silent because they were afraid.  They went along with the unbelieving nation who didn't care what they believed, as long as they kept quiet about it. God's plan still came to fruition despite their behaviour. God was in complete control of everything.

Verse 44-45.  Jesus’ last words are a passionate appeal to his people and from John's point of view, these were the last words that Jesus spoke to the public.  He never spoke to the multitudes again.  They had lost the opportunity. 

Jesus made it clear that he revealed God and when a person believed on him they were really believing on the Father that had sent him.  This was a stress on his unity with God the Father.  To place their trust in him was to place their trust in the Father.  To look upon the Son is to look upon the Father.

Verse 46.  Again Jesus identified himself as the light of the world.  He had come into the world and the way that a person responded to him determined their destiny. 

Light reveals truth and men have to follow the light.  Jesus unveils all things and shows things the way they are.  He is the central fact and  there is no ignoring him. 

Men seem to be bound and blinded and therefore resist God, but Jesus came to liberate man and to show them God. 

So this brings us back to Isaiah who tells us that the resistance to Jesus was caused by two powerful factors; the first being pride and the second being fear. Stubborn and prideful resistance will lead to blinding of the eyes and hardening of the heart.  Settled rebellion brings death.

CONCLUSION

So let us understand clearly that John has told us how God shows himself to us and how we are to understand and know him. God is revealed in Jesus and his life.  

Jesus is not simply a great teacher, a great religious leader or an example of a man devoted to God. 

He tells us that when we believe in him we are believing in the One who sent him, namely, God the Father.  He is the incarnate Son of God who came to reveal God fully. 

He reveals God and dispels darkness.  Darkness means confusion and misunderstanding.  It is moral irregularity or sinfulness.  It means not living rightly, being led by  personal lust, passions and frailties. 

It also means emotional confusion, going here and there, trying this and trying that to see what life is all about and chasing off to what makes one feel good if only for the moment. 

Darkness means living in relationships with other people that are not fulfilling, be hurt and always unsatisfied. 

So Jesus enters this land of confusion and darkness and light shines calling on everyone to come to him, look at his glory and let him lead out of the darkness. 

Jesus reminds us that he is not speaking on his own.  He is speaking exactly what the Father told him to speak.  God the Father is the originator of the message and so we need to hear and obey it.

Jesus brings us face-to-face with God the Father and the revelation of the Father.  It is in these words that we have eternal life, the kind of life that connects us with God himself. We are taken into the very presence of the Living God, giving us personal relationship and community with God the Father and all those who belong to him. 

So we close this lesson by asking believers to refocus themselves, to hear the call of God, to completely focus on Christ as the central one in their lives. This requires us to make it a priority to day by day love Jesus and to work on advancing his kingdom. 

This is our power of decision.  We have seen what has been written about Jesus.  God is in control of all events and he is sovereign.  We are told clearly that these people of Israel wilfully rejected Christ and they are accountable.  Though prophecy said that the nation would reject their Messiah, let us pay special attention to the fact that Jesus still appealed to these men to believe in him for eternal life.  

It is not too late for you.  Make your decision for Jesus today.  Turn away from your unbelief.  Stop doing the things that are against the word of God.  Never break any of his Commandments.  Never maltreat any of his people for they are all important to God, from the least to the greatest. Spend time in his word and be faithful.