The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light had dawned. Isaiah 9:2
One of the remarkable things about life today is the fact that science knows so much about some things and so little about some other things which are very common, and we tend to take those things for granted—not sensing how very important they are to our survival.
Light is a typical example. And what is light? You may respond, “Well, that’s easy! Light is … uh ….” But then you stop and think about it and you’re not quite sure how to finish that statement. A definition of light from either a practical or a scientific viewpoint isn’t easy. People once thought that light was something that traveled from a person’s eye to an object, then back again. And if anything blocked the rays from the eye, the object could not be seen.
What we know about light from a scientific perspective has come in the last 350 years. In 1666, the English scientist Sir Isaac Newton discovered that white light is really made of many colors. About the same time, a Dutch physicist contended that light consists of waves; he proposed a wave theory to explain the behavior of light. Christiaan Huygens’ theory held up for about a century, but then in 1864, the English physicist James Clerk Maxwell proposed the mathematical theory of electromagnetism which became the basis of modern scientific data.
However, scientific definitions are not altogether satisfactory. Say, for example, if your lights go out and you find yourself in a very dark room. You are not satisfied with a theory—you just want a match or a candle. Forget the theory; just get the lights on! That’s the way many are today. Regardless of the explanation—they just want light in a dark world.
Simply stated, light in the world falls into three categories: that’s natural light, such as the sun, moon and stars, artificial light, which is another form of energy, and spiritual light. The Bible actually has a great deal to say about light and what it does to darkness. John, writing the introduction to his gospel, pictures Jesus Christ as the spiritual light of the world—the One who came into a world of darkness. John says the true light is Jesus Christ who will give spiritual light to every person. Christ Himself said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will [not] walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).
One of the most practical definitions of light is simply that it embraces the cessation of darkness. Actually, that definition is more practical than scientific, but in simple terms, it does tell us something of the impact of Jesus Christ and His life and teaching in our world.
As Newton discovered, when light passes through a prism, a variety of colors emerge: some are brilliant and some are subdued with shades in between. Each one is a particular manifestation of light. Should I ask 100 different people, “What has Jesus Christ done for you?” and I would probably get 100 different answers. Some would say, “He’s my friend,” or “He’s my Lord and Savior.” “He’s the one who turned my marriage around.” Another might say, “When doctors gave up, Doctor Jesus became my healer!”
“Just a minute,” you might think. Can He be all of that and even more? Remember the light passing through the prism? Same light—many different manifestations. God is sufficient and able to meet you at the point of your need.
Resource Reading: John 8:12-22
