We are continuing this month's theme with "Light in the Darkness" in the book of John by jumping back to the very beginning...
When the world began, it was dark and formless. John 1:5, in it's context, gives dept to our understanding of the Light. It is HE is a power beyond comprehension and this power... His power is alive in us today.
One of my favorite parts of digging into these passages is defining the words which stand out most and what strikes me about darkness when we look closer, is how it is not merely an absence of light. Darkness, in its full sense as used in the John passages we are studying (and referenced last week) is symbolic of ignorance of divine things. When Jesus was in the beginning, it was to set light and life and truth into motion in the dark formless void. When He came, thousands of years later, feet on soil that was created through Him, He came as light and life and truth into the dark void in the hearts of men.
...and the darkness CAN NOT overcome the light.
Have you ever noticed how shadows do not overtake a patch of light? You can sit all day and watch a patch of shade as it shifts with the hours under an apple tree. Yet, it isn't the darkness invading the light, it is the lack of light which leaves a void for darkness. And even with the branches and leaves stretching to block the ground below from the sun's persistent rays, shade itself is not a lack of light either because the darkness is not complete. One would have to go to an inner room, boxed with thick walls and no windows, and shut the door tight with thick seals in order to find complete abysmal darkness.... everywhere rays of light can potentially reach, darkness CANNOT be complete, it cannot hide. It cannot fight back and have victory - light is too powerful.
In that regard, my favorite translation of our verse comes from the NLT:
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.
Extinguish. I believe this is the best word to define "overcome" as seen in the original Greek, "katalambano" which means, "to lay hold of so as to make one's own, to seize upon..." Darkness cannot make light it's own.
As born-again-believers we actively pursue to open all the doors of our heart and of our lives so that the light may pour in and overtake even the darkest corners of our former self. As light overtakes us, we use it to spark the wick of a candle and we set it in the windows of our life so that the flame may permeate the darkness around as well.
We are not suppose to keep the light to ourselves. And as that darkest night of the year approaches, let us set a blaze in the darkness, to shine forth the life-giving Light and Truth to a depraved world.
It can be scary to open up and let the light in and to let it out. But this is the supreme purpose of all life, as set in motion in the beginning... and as exemplified when Jesus came to a dark and parlous world 2000 years ago. HE is worth it, eternity is at stake... let your light so shine.
Walking through the Word is a series I started some years ago on my original blog as an opportunity to share a weekly devo. I'm excited to bring it back here on the new blog! For October we will be exploring the idea of LIGHT in the darkness personified through Jesus in the book of John.
Do you have a particular or unique way you like to shine the light of Jesus to others? Comment below!
Let the Light shine through,
Greek concordance references from blueletterbible.org
By the way... have you seen? My first KDP (Amazon) book released last month! TWO actually. The second is a a guided journal/planner ideal for homeschool families to help remember their homeschool days! Click on images to learn more....
