Today’s Bible Study, Authored by Arthur
Cincotti. 12/12/2022
Listen to our Bible
Study Discussion at: Light of the World Podcast
Or watch the Video Zoom Session of our Study on YouTube:
Light of the World
“For it is the God who
commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ. II Cor. 4:6
In the Roman worldview everything was about glory
For the Greek, knowledge was preeminent.
For the Jew, it was all about light.
Last weeks study was truly a
precursor for today’s lesson, and anybody who has been putting up Christmas
lights this week will understand the timeliness of this subject!!!
To approach first cause, we
see, in Gen. 1:3 that God said, “Let there be light,” and this, in essence, is
His first blessing upon His creation. Truly He blesses His creation with
Himself, since
I Jn. I1:5 tells us, “God is
light, and in Him is no darkness at all.”
It is as if He enters into
His creation and participates in it.
This is the first inclination
that God is intimately involved in His creation.
Consider the contrast before
light, “The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of
the deep.” This is a bleak picture. He has not yet declared anything as good.
In last weeks study we looked
at the lampstand, or menorah, and it’s placement in the “holy place” of the
tabernacle. We emphasized that it was the only source of light in a
purposefully darkened space. The seven branches signify God’s perfection, and
the source of fuel is a type of the Holy Spirit. It was situated across from
the table of showbread, which is a type of Christ, to shine light upon it. Beginning to get the picture???
The Priestly Blessing, in Num. 6:22-27, the blessing becomes
personnel, and we again engage the usage of light in vrs. 25, “The LORD make His
face shine upon you.”
Ps. 89:15, “Blessed is the
people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the
light of thy countenance.
In the progression we are seeing that light is not just a
general blessing for creation, but it is very personal; for the Nation of
Israel and for all believers individually.
Enter next our Lord Jesus, and in the birth narrative
(Christmas) Simeon prophesies over the baby, when His parents brought Him to
the temple to “present Him to the Lord”; “A light to bring revelation to the
Gentiles, And the glory of Your people Israel.” Lk. 2:22 & 32
John declares, “the Word (which) was with God and was God”
1:1, “Became flesh and dwelt among us” (personal) vrs. 14, and “In Him was
life, and the life was the light of men.” vrs. 4
No wonder we put up lights at Christmas!
Fast forward thirty years and Jesus will leave Nazareth,
departing for Galilee (Mt. 4:12) and fulfill Isaiah’s prophesy, “the people who
sat in darkness have seen a great light, And upon those who sat in the region
and shadow of death Light has dawned.” Mt. 4:16
We don’t need to make any further case that Jesus Christ is
the Light of the world, but in last weeks study we examined a transference of
authority when Jesus said, in Jn. 8:12, “I am the light of the world”, but then
in Mt. 5:14, “You are the light of the world”.
Imagine, for a moment, that
before knowing Christ, we were like the earth in Gen. 1:2, “without form, (or
purpose) void (empty), and dark”
Eph. 5:8 says, “For you were
once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.”
And reading on, Paul equates “darkness” with unfruitfulness.
Here is the Christmas directive for today…Phil.
2:14-15
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Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship
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