Christology Through Imagery
By Jerry Batson, Th.D.
Special to The Alabama Baptist
We continue this week thinking about Christology through imagery. Previously we’ve discussed the images of word, lamb and bread. Today we add light. The Gospel of John opens with the declaration that in Christ “was life and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it” (1:4–5).
Jesus also uses this image of light on other occasions. One such occasion is recorded in John 8. He had just displayed divine compassion on a sinful woman whose accusers interrupted Jesus teaching in the temple by throwing the woman at His feet to test Him on the law’s provision for stoning to death in cases of adultery. Christ was surrounded by spiritual darkness as He sat in the temple. Spiritual darkness blinded the religious leaders who sought to put Jesus on the spot by citing a provision in the Old Covenant law about stoning adulterers.
In front of Jesus where she had been thrown to the ground was the woman whose life was full of moral darkness. In His response Christ chose not to condemn the woman, but to admonish her to quit her sin, at which point Jesus continued speaking to the temple crowd, saying, “I am the Light of the World. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life” (John 8:12). Both religious hypocrites and sinful outsiders were lost in their darkness.
‘Works of God’
Later as Jesus left the temple He passed a man who from birth had been living in physical darkness. He saw in that blind man an opportunity for “the works of God to be revealed in him” (John 9:3).
Just before restoring sight to the blind man, Christ declared to His disciples, “I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the Light of the World” (John 9:4–5). The double use of the claim “I am the Light of the World” on separate occasions reinforces the importance of the image of Christ as light.
During the week before His crucifixion Christ cried aloud to a crowd who demonstrated they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God: “I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness” (John 12:46). Not only was Christ the Light when He walked the earth, He will be so in eternity when new heavens and new earth are lighted by the Light of the World in all His glory (Rev. 21:23).
Be extensions of light
What are we to glean about Christ from this imagery of light? As to His person, the image suggests His divine nature in that the Bible tells us that God is light (1 John 1:5); thus, for Christ to also make a claim to light points to His divinity. He is God come in flesh. Light always operates best where there is darkness. Therefore when Christ enters a believer’s life He dispels the darkness of spiritual ignorance, impurity and falsehood.
His presence in a person’s life brings the light of spiritual understanding, purity and truth. The Light-bearer became the light-bringer in order to be the darkness-dispeller for sinners. As Christ shines through His followers, we become extensions of the light through His life reflected from us.
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