God of God, Light of Light

(Gen 1:1-4;Joh 1:43-51)*Today westartwiththe storyI usedonceas an illustrationforthe article posted in ourNewsletter datedlast month.The story was toldby a man whoheard the conversation of three little girls when hewalked downthestreet.The girlswere staring ata shop window filled withChristmas decorationsand talking. The mannoted thattwo of themdescribedthetoys and giftsin the window;meantime the thirdwas quiet about.It arousedtheman’s attention; so,hestopped behind themand listened.As he followed thattalk,he notedthatthe silent girlcouldn’t see.Laterthe mansaid,

It was most interesting to hear how two girls described the different articlesto their blind friend

.Surelyitisa difficult task fortheyoung tellersto describea“twinkling star”andespeciallyfortheirblindlistenerto understand because shecannot helpherselfevenwith a touch.*Speaking broadly it is again quiteright thatif there is a vacancy in knowledge or vocabulary,anarratoris not able to break down the subject in fashion way.Similarlyalistener cannotunderstandasubject astheresultof a vacancy in his/herknowledge.Butwherethe WordspeaksofGod’s work of art,achancetounderstand itcorrectlyiscompletelyhopelessuntilthestumblingblock isremovedand wereceiveanabilitytoget a handle onthat matter,(Mat13:13).*According tothe Scripture,at the beginningtheworldsatin darknessup to the time when Godcreatedthelightmaking the invisible thingsvisible.The same idea flashed throughdarkness where thehuman racewas foundbefore Christ’s advent.Peoplewere hopelesstoseeand understandthevitalthingsdue to theirspiritual blindness.That is why God sent the Lightwhich was foreseenby the prophets,

The people whowalked in darkness have seen a great light; those whodwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined

,(Isa 9:2).Herethe prophetdidn’tspeak of the sunlight,buttheLight mentionedinthe prologue of John’s Gospel as well asinthe Nicene Creed.The firstmentionedsourcesays,

In him was life, and the life wasthe light of men

,(Joh 1:4).And with the second,it says,

I believe, …. in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only– begottenSon of God, …God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God …

.*Thanksbe toAlmighty God whohasalreadycome inthe flesh, full of grace and truth.He was namedbythe Father–“Savior,” (Mat 1:21); and he hasdweltin the worldas oppose tothe darkness,(Joh 1:11,12).So the Light has come, the Light is shining,andthe stumbling blockisremoved from a‘cave,’andboththe living and the dead areable to see,(Mat 4:16; 1Pe 3:19).When Jesus began the ministry of our salvation,he called people tohisattention, saying,"Repent,for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,"(v.17).Fromthattimeup tonow the Light is shiningmakingthe workof proclamationacceptable to thehumanmind.

*And herewecall your attentiontothe meaning ofEpiphany so farasall togetherwe are travellingthrough the Epiphany season.While on this earth and going out, sometimes you will hearof Jesus inthesymboliclanguage ofEpiphany.Youmight havenoticedthatin the course ofthisdiscussionthe Christwaslinkedto the Light.We did itbecause there is the undoubtedconnectionbetween the meaning oftheGreekwordε

πιφαίνωandthe very natureof our LordJesusChrist.Thus the combination of the verb

phaínō

to shine

,withthe preposition

epí

over, upon

,points atone who shines light uponmen’s spiritual andintellectual faculties.The Christcame into the world asthe naturallight comes withthe risen sun pouringeverlasting day forall people,Jews and Gentiles, (Lk 2:32).*And hereisanotherinsight;speaking ofthe first day of creation,the Scripturetraces thenewbornlightback tothe Son of God who has this light within himself.As he entered intothe realm of darknesspossessedbyhuman flesh,hebrought the ongoing conflictwith the diabolic forceswithin itto the next point,-thepeople’scraftythoughts andwilddesires he hasrevealed along withthevictory over the king of darknessand all his forces.Byvirtue of Jesus’death on the cross andhisresurrection from the dead, agreat number of hopeless peoplehave beenfreed from theirspiritual death and led bytheway ofrighteousness.Nowit makes sense toproclaim theway of lifefor there is no time like the present.* Thanksbe toGod the Father oftheLight; withHis comingHe hasshone upon usin His Word and deeds.We’vesomehow perceived Himby ourinnersenseand followedHimby faith.The Scriptureabundantlyassures us that whatwe have seenand experiencedare notnight dreamsalong with fiction,but therealityhasbeen seen and experiencedbymanyother people-bytheapostles andevangelistsin the first placeand then those who have been able to see and understand after them.Significantly,our gospel reading from(Joh 1:43-51) is a remarkable illustration of how the

Light of Light,

and

very God of very God

have beenperceived and followed.*Actually,the story took its start from (v. 36) wherethe Baptist pointed atJesus passing him.

Behold,

he said,

the Lamb of God!

This utteringproducedtheamazing effectuponAndrew and John as theysomehowperceived

“the light of man”

inJesus,(v.4);and theycame closer.WhenJesus saw them following, he asked,

"What are you seeking?"

And they said to him,

"Rabbiwhere are you staying?""Come and you will see,"

wastheanswer,(vv. 38, 39). Being kindly invited,theexplorerscame near to the Lightproceedingto his dwellingplace. Then, it says, theyabided with Jesus all day. It isbelievedthata place where Jesusstayed was nota house but a caveor tent;and they atenottoastedbread withgoatmilk butthewild honey and figsfromthe trees.Soon theyrealizedthe great benefits of beingwith Jesus.