Light – and the source of light, the sun – has been treasured by cultures for centuries. Many civilizations even considered the sun “god” to be the greatest of all. Perhaps that’s because in darkness there is danger, insecurity, and uncertainty. Jesus, the Light of the World, is the One who can shine light into our hearts and guide us on our way.

<p>Light – and the source of light, the sun – has been treasured by cultures for centuries. Many civilizations even considered the sun “god” to be the greatest of all. Perhaps that’s because in darkness there is danger, insecurity, and uncertainty. Jesus, the Light of the World, is the One who can shine light into our hearts and guide us on our way.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Dalton SDA Church

Chester Clark

The Characteristics and Titles of Jesus

Jesus: The Creator

Jesus: Prince of Peace

Jesus: The Promise Keeper

Jesus: The Good Shepherd

Jesus: Older Brother

Jesus: Wonderful, Counselor

Jesus: The Truth

Jesus: Light of the World

Jesus: The Morning Star

Jesus: One of Them

Jesus: Promised Seed

Jesus: One of Us


It was early in the morning when Jesus went to the temple, and as He began His work of ministry and speaking and sharing with the crowds that gathered to see Him there, The sun began to rise on the horizon, and with it came the warmth and the hustle and bustle of the town, of the city. I suppose that it was a few minutes, maybe an hour or 2, before the sun began peeking over the walls of the temple and right shining into the space where Jesus was. You know the story, it's here in John chapter 8 of that woman that was caught in adultery and the accusers brought her there and Jesus wrote in the sand with His finger, the dust. And the fact that Jesus wrote in the dust tells me there was dust there, right? Can you get this picture in your mind's eye as the sun begins to rise over the temple walls And the shafts of light start to stream into the very space where Jesus was.

People are milling about, He's been ministering and working, and you know what dust does in the sun, right? You can just see these bright beams of sunshine streaming into the temple. Have you ever been in the desert? You know how it's sort of cold at night and when the sun comes up, there's an intensity of sun that maybe you haven't felt before? Here in the Middle East, that sun is strong, that sun is powerful.

In fact, that sun is so strong that many people considered it the most important thing that brought life and health and growth and healing and all the rest. There's something about the sun that inspires us. There's something about darkness that we just don't like. Something about darkness multiplies our worries and magnifies our fears. Something about darkness gives us reason to question our security.

It enhances our insecurities. I remember 1 time I was 10 or 11 years old. I got out of bed in the middle of the night and I didn't have a nightlight in my room. I remember this very vividly. I had to go to the bathroom.

And so I got up out of my bed, and I started walking towards the door, and I ran into something. As I felt what I had ran into, I became convinced it was my desk. And in my befuddled, half-awake, half-asleep mind, I thought, who in the world would have put my desk in front of the door? So I still remember, and I don't know if I had a problem with sleepwalking or what, but I still remember I said, that's okay, I'll go under my desk. And so I ducked down and started heading through the desk only to run into something solid.

That's okay, I said, I'll go over my desk. And sometime about now, I realized my orientation in the room was 90 degrees off. When it's dark, you don't know where you're going. When it's dark, you don't see the pathway. When it's dark, you don't know where you're going.

When it's dark, you don't see the pathway. When it's dark, you don't know the troubles even that are between you and where you are headed. There is something about darkness, but, oh, there is something even more important about the light. There's something very special about the light that God can give us. You see, My friends, when we think of the darkness, we think of perhaps fears and anxieties and things that are uncertain.

When we think of the light, we can come to those things that are more positive. There was in the time of Jesus a great respect for the Son, and if someone…did I leave a remote there on the bench as well? Is there any small little…maybe my technology will cooperate here and I won't need it. There's something about the sun that brings us hope and satisfaction. And in the ancient world, when they thought about the sun, they thought this was what brings life.

It was the sun that made things grow. It was the sun that brought warmth. And so the ancient world began to worship the sun. The father of King Tut, Pharaoh Akhenaten, he was the 1 who destroyed all of the Egyptian gods and made the sun god the monotheistic cult of Egypt. This was about 1300, 1350 BC.

And as we look at ancient history, we see that cultures and civilizations, whether it was the Egyptians, whether it was the Assyrians, the Phoenicians, whether it's the Babylonians, all of them had this fascination with the sun. Why? Because it was light, and light dispelled the darkness. When Jesus came, he was speaking in the time of the Romans. And the Romans had their own sun gods that they worshipped.

They worshipped the sun and even the emperors and others who they depicted as gods, they depicted as suns. Because God and sun in their mind and their thinking were so synonymous. You see these beams coming out of Jupiter's head, right? Today that's the statue of Peter, but it was a God and so they depicted Him as the Son. And Jesus here is standing, and as He's in this culture, in this time frame, when the people are familiar with how everyone looks at the Son as being the source of life, Jesus teaching in the temple makes this very radical proclamation.

The proclamation is that the sun doesn't bring life, at least not the sun in the sky. The proclamation is the sun isn't the 1 that really brings us hope and freedom from fears. The proclamation that Jesus makes here in the temple on that day is very simple as he says, I am the light of the world. I am the light of the world. The sun may be important, but there's something more important, and that's Jesus.

The sun may be important, and it may expose the things that are between us and our destination, but Jesus is the 1 that can open our minds' eyes, open our hearts to be able to understand the things that are in our lives. Jesus says in John chapter 8 and verse 12, I am the light of the world, he who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life. Oh, when we think of that sun coming up after weeks of rain, we enjoy seeing the sun, right? In the springtime, we enjoy the warmth of the sun and we see the flowers pushing through the soft earth and We see them blooming and we see everything turning green and we think, oh, I'm so glad for the sun. But I'm going to ask you a question this morning.

Is the sun, the light of the world, shining in your life today? It will dispel fears. He will dispel fears. He'll show you where to go. And I think that with Jesus, the light of the world shining in our lives, He will also make us bloom and blossom and grow.

I don't know about you, but I'm thankful for Jesus. I'm thankful that He is the light of the world and that we need not walk in darkness, but we may have the light of life. Or if you

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Series

The Characteristics and Titles of Jesus

Jesus: Light of the World

Description

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Other Teachings in Series

Jesus: The Creator

45m

Jesus: Prince of Peace

45m

Jesus: The Promise Keeper

45m

Jesus: The Good Shepherd

38m

Jesus: Older Brother

50m

Jesus: Wonderful, Counselor

54m

Jesus: The Truth

52m

Jesus: Light of the World

1m

Jesus: The Morning Star

27m

Jesus: One of Them

42m

Jesus: Promised Seed

46m

Jesus: One of Us

41m

Sound Doctrine