Jesus was the light of the world

JESUS WAS THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Again therefore Jesus spake unto them, saying, I am
the light of the world: he that followethme shall not
walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life.—
John 8:12.
GreatTexts of the Bible
The Light of the World
Again therefore Jesus spake unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he
that followethme shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of
life.—John8:12.
1. Jesus spoke these words in the Temple at Jerusalem. He was sitting in the
treasury, within the court of the women; and it was the time of the Feastof
Tabernacles,whenthis court was crowdedwith pilgrims.
The purpose of the FeastofTabernacles wasto commemorate a chapter in the
life of the Hebrew nation awayfar back in its history. The observance ofit
was bound up with thoughts of the forty years’wanderings in the wilderness.
It was held at the close ofthe harvest and the vintage, after the farmers had
finished the round of the year’s labours in the fields. When the settime

arrived, the people quitted their homes to go up to Jerusalem;and they lived
there during the week of the festival in small booths made of branches of olive,
and palm, and myrtle, the purpose of this being to recallthe tent-life of their
fathers in the Arabian Desert. The little huts of greenerywere setup in the
open courts of the houses, upon the flat roofs, along the principal streets, in
the open places ofthe city, and in some of the outer courts of the Temple.
Two characteristic ceremonies ofthis Festivalgatheredup in expressive
symbols the lessons ofa Divine sustenance and of a Divine Presence, which
remained as the greatresults of the teaching of the desert, and both of these
were treated by Christ as parables of Himself. Eachmorning waterwas
brought in a golden vesselfrom the Poolof Siloam and poured upon the altar
of sacrifice. Thatwaterrecalledto the people the supply drawn from the rock
at Meribah, and pointed forward to the spiritual waterwhich hereafter men
should draw “out of the wells of salvation.” Forin Christ the living rock, the
image and the prophecy found their accomplishment;and so “in the last day,
the greatday of the feast, Jesus stoodand cried, saying, If any man thirst, let
him come unto me, and drink.” Then again, every evening there were lighted
in one of the courts of the Temple two greatlamps which are said to have cast
their light over every quarter of the Holy City. These recalledthe pillar of fire
which had been in old times the sure tokenof Divine leadershipand pointed
forward to “the sun of righteousness”whichshould “arise with healing in his
wings.” In Christ—the “light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of his
people Israel”—the image and the prophecy found their accomplishment,
“and therefore” He “spake againunto” the people, “saying, I am the light of
the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have
the light of life.”
2. “I am the light of the world.” This is one of those short, pregnant
statements of our Lord characteristic ofthis Gospel, which impress us at once
by their brevity, their beauty, and their largeness ofmeaning. Statements of a
similar kind, of equal tersenessand force, occurto every one—“Iam the good

shepherd”; “I am the resurrection, and the life”; “I am the way, and the truth,
and the life.”
Sometimes Jesus gathers His work and nature up in one descriptive word, and
offers it, as it were out of a wide-open hand, complete to His disciples. In such
a word all the details of His relationto the soul and to the world are
comprehensivelyincluded. As the disciple listens and receives it, he feels all
his fragmentary and scatteredexperiencesdrawing togetherand rounding
into unity. As, having heard it, he carries it forth with him into his life, he
finds all future experiences claiming their places within it, and getting their
meaning from it. Such words of Jesus are like spheres of crystal into which the
world is gathered, and where the past and future, the small and great, may all
be read.
What Divine audacity there is in suchsayings! and how little we cansuppose
them to be the sayings of a mere teacheror prophet! They have no parallel in
the words of even the greatestteachers. One and all imply something which
the most powerful and enlightened, conscious oftheir own capacities to
communicate truth or to do good, would scruple to arrogate to themselves.
They might claim respectfor the truth they speak, andsummon men to attend
to it with a voice of authority. But no merely human teacherwould dare to
make himself the centre of all truth, and the centre of the world.
It was indeed a magnificent word, a stupendous word. It is one of those
sayings of our Lord which prove that never man spake as this Man. It is
utterly unaccountable and inexplicable save on one assumption. It either
makes us tremble with a shock ofsurprise, with a feeling of doubt which we
wish to crush down as blasphemy, or it brings us to our knees in worship, as
before One who is lifted immeasurably above the ordinary limitations of
humanity. There are only two possible conclusions to which we cancome
concerning such words as these. Theyare either the wildest words of audacity

and self-deluded egotismthat human lips ever uttered, or they are the
language ofone who was setfar above all human criticism and judgment by
His realand unmistakable Divinity. Had such a claim as this been made by
the greatestteacher, prophet, or apostle of the ancient world, his words and
memory would long since have perished in the scorn and disgustwhich it
would have provoked; and were such a claim advanced by any personin the
present day, there would be a universal feeling that mental derangementwas
at the base of it. No wonder that the men who listened to Him were either
filled with indignation or inspired with reverential awe. No wonder that He
seemedto them either a blasphemer or the Son of God. There could be no
middle course. It was certainthat the personwho talked in this way would
either be scornedand hated and crucified by the world or lifted by adoring
hearts wholly above the world in love and honour and supremestadoration.
And no middle course has ever been possible for long. Men have never
continued to reverence Him as a man unless they have learned to worship
Him as God. It is difficult to trust Him at all unless we trust Him all in all.
These words are either so extravagantor so sublime, that the Man who spoke
them was guilty of a self-conceitunparalleled in human history, or He was
higher than the highest human thought canreachand not to be addressed
save in the worshipful words of Thomas, “My Lord and my God.” We have
ever to make our choice, and most of us have made it to our heart’s rest and
joy. We are sure that He knew what He was saying and had Divine right to
say it: “I am the light of the world.”
3. What does Jesus mean? How is He the light of the world? Let us
understand what light is and does.
(1) “The light of the world,” “the light of life”—the words send us instantly
abroad into the world of Nature. They set us on the hilltop watching the
sunrise as it fills the eastwith glory. They show us the greatplain flooded and
beaten and quivering with the noonday sun. They hush and elevate us with the
mystery and sweetness andsuggestivenessofthe evening’s glow.

Any one who has watcheda sunrise among mountains will know how the light
opens out depths of beauty and life where but lately the eye rested on a cold
monotony of gloomor mist. At one moment only the sharp dark outline of the
distant ranges stands out againstthe rosy sky, and at the next peak after peak
catches the living fire, which then creeps slowlydown their rockyslopes, and
woods and streams and meadows and homesteads startout from the dull
shadows, and the grass on which we stand sparkles with a thousand
dewdrops.
Walk on the central glacierof the Oberland in the gloomof a summer night.
The grey clouds have hung about the Grimsel, and inflicted on you the sense
of chill October, instead of bringing the sweetclearnessofan August
afternoon. The night has gatheredstarless and cold; but you are bent on your
journey, though it requires all the energy of your determination to carry you
through the discomforts of the march. The path at first is sharp and stony,
then it is steep—steepin descent, steepin ascent—andyour already tired and
aching feetmake you feel that it is hard to know which is the worse ofthe two.
However, you have passedthe polluted moraine, and at lastyou are on the ice.
How cold it is! The breeze comes sweeping down the glacier, and chills you to
the bone. Onward you go. The clouds are clearing. Things are better. Star
after star is plain above you, and the giant mountains towergrim and gaunt
around you, but, at any rate, less wrapped in shrouds. Onward you go, taking
more and more courage. Whatis that shaft of amber, clear and fine as
polished steel? What is that flash of deeper glory which shoots acrossthe
heavens? What is that line of scintillating goldand crimson which marks the
crenulated crests ofthe mountains, and makes their snow-peaksandice-lines
like transparencies drenchedin living fire? How glorious it is, the breaking of
the dawn—the breaking of a real splendid August morning over the region of
eternal snow!Gradually it steals downthe slope of the mountains, till the very
glacieritself is aglow. Now a world is before you, startling in its wildness and
beauty—your gracefulFinsterAar and savage Schreckhorn, andStrahleck
barrier, and then, beyond, the soaring Eigerand the grim and meditative

Mönch. Wild and beautiful in form and strangeness,—itis all before you now.
Ah! it was all there, in its strangeness andstateliness, evenwhen you shivered
in the mist and darkness. It was all before you; but to you it was useless,
unperceived, unwondered at. You needed the magic of light to revealit. You
know what it is, though it was there before you knew it. You are a debtor to
the tender mystery of the dawn.1 [Note: Knox Little, The Light of Life, 4.]
Twice recentlyhas it been my privilege to watchthe sun rise in circumstances
of unusual beauty. Long before his appearing we had tokens ofhis coming.
The horizon, and the clouds that gatheredin little flocks about the horizon,
and banks of clouds further remote abiding motionless in the highest places,
beganto clothe themselves in appropriate raiment to welcome the sovereignof
the morning. Dull greys, gleaming silver, deep reds, dark purple—all
available hues were to be seenin that array. Then in the fulness of time the
greatflame rode out among the encircling glories, making them all appear
dim and faint in the presence of his own effulgence.2 [Note:J. H. Jowett, The
Silver Lining, 69.]
(2) Now the idea of light, long before the time of St. John, had become
spiritual in its religious application; and when Christ speaks ofHimself as the
“light of the world,” it is no darkness of nature that He has in view, but the
darkness that rests on men’s thoughts and life, the darkness that all true men
feel more or less in themselves. Wherevermen have arisento the power of
thought, and are capable of looking “before and after,” there comes home to
them a deep sense of their ignorance. Theiroutlook is fast bound on all sides;
and “more light” is their instinctive cry amid encircling darkness, ora
twilight of uncertainty more perplexing sometimes than darkness itself. They
look upwards, and long that the day may break on their mental struggle, and
the shadows flee awayfrom their hearts. The outward light is not enough. The
eye is not satisfiedwith seeing. There is the conscious needof a higher light
than ever. lit up sea or shore. The darkness ofthe world, in short, is a moral

darkness, in which man is often unable to see his true wayor choose his own
good.
He that has light within his own clearbreast
May sit i’ the centre, and enjoy bright day:
But he that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts
Benighted walks under the mid-day sun;
Himself is his owndungeon.1 [Note:Milton, Comus.]
“I am the light of the world”; and before His coming, His appearance was
foretold in tokens of purple and gold. Here and there, in Isaiahand Jeremiah,
we have great peaks tipped with the light of the coming day, suggesting the
glory in which the whole world would be bathed in after time. “He shall feed
his flock like a shepherd”; is not that a foretokenofthe tenth chapter of John?
“Liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are
bound”; is not this the herald of the wonderful happenings which thrill the
gospelstory through and through? And then, after all these goldenhints of
promise there came the Sun, the Sun of Righteousnesswith healing in His
wings, and the whole world passedinto a new day.2 [Note:J. H. Jowett, The
Silver Lining, 69.]
(3) But Christ’s words must be interpreted by their reference to the light
which was then being celebrated. Of that light we read that “the Lord went

before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them the way; and by night in a
pillar of fire to give them light.” This was a customary mode of directing the
movements of large bodies of men, whether caravans orarmies. In the case of
an army a tall pole was erectedin front of the chief’s tent, and from it a
basketof fire was suspended, so that the glare of it was visible by night, and
its smoke by day. The head of a marching column could thus be descriedfrom
a greatdistance, especiallyin wide level tracts with little or no vegetationand
few inequalities of surface to interrupt the view. The distinctive peculiarity of
the Israelitishmarch was that Jehovahwas in the fire, and that He alone
controlled its movements and thereby the movements of the camp. When the
pillar of cloud left its place and advancedthe tents were struck, lestthe people
should be separatedfrom Jehovahand be found unfaithful to Him. During the
whole course of their sojourn in the wilderness their movements were thus
controlled and ordered. The beacon-fire that led them was unaffected by
atmospheric influences. Dispelled by no gales, andevaporatedby no fiercest
heat of the Easternsun, it hovered in the van of the host as the guiding angel
of the Lord. The guidance it gave was uninterrupted and unerring; it was
never mistaken for an ordinary cloud, it never so altered its shape as to
become unrecognizable. And eachnight the flame shot up, and assuredthe
people they might rest in peace.
There is no difficulty in understanding what was in our Lord’s mind at this
time. Already He had made two distinct allusions to the incidents of the
wilderness journey. In the sixth chapter He spoke ofthe manna which God
had sent down from heaven, and He said: “I am the bread of life.” Then in the
seventh chapter He spoke of the water which gushed out of the rock, and He
said, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink”; as much as to say,
“I am the rock from which the living waterflowed.” And in the text it is said:
“Then spake Jesusagainunto them”—implying that He was taking up the
same subject after a little interval—“saying, I am the light of the world: he
that followethme shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of
life,” alluding, evidently, to the third greatsymbol of the exodus, the pillar of
fire, by which Jehovahguided His people through the wilderness. So it seems

clearthat our Lord is referring here to Himself as the fulfilment of this great
Old Testamenttype—“I am the light of the world.”
4. There are two things, then, that light does, and it seems as if Christ had
them both before Him when He said, “I am the light of the world: he that
followethme shall not walk in the darkness.” The first is that it enables us to
see. Entera dark room and you do not see anything; but bring a light and you
see what the room contains. The other is that it guides us. The lights at the
harbour mouth are there to guide vessels safelyinto the harbour. And one has
sometimes discoveredthe use of a light, even though it were but the glimmer
of a candle in a cottage window, when one has been overtakenby the darkness
on some hillside or unfrequented moor. So we have—
I. Christ is the Light of the world because He enables men to see whatis in the
world.
II. Christ is the Light of the world because He guides men through the world.
I
He Enables Men to See
The lights by the altar in the Temple were memorials of the pillar of cloud by
day and of fire by night. When, then, Jesus says, “Iam the light of the world,”
He would declare Himself as being in reality, and to every soul of man to the
end of time, what that cloud with its heart of fire was in outward seeming to
one generationof desertwanderers. Now, the first thing which it was to these
was the visible vehicle of the Divine presence. “The Lord went before them in

a pillar of a cloud.” “The Lord looked through the pillar.” “The Lord came
down in the cloud, and spake unto him.” “The cloud coveredthe tabernacle,
and the glory of the Lord appeared.” Such is the wayin which it is ever
spokenof, as being the manifestationto Israelin sensible form of the presence
among them of God their King.
1. He enabled men to see God.
(1) He made clearin His own life and words the Divine idea, as no one had
done before, and no one has ever done since. Menhad been struggling with
this idea from the first efforts of religious speculation. It was still unformed
and imperfect. Outside of revelation it fluctuated and took many shapes, now
presenting itself as a multiplicity of Divine energies, withmore or less
coherence;and now retreating into a vague Absolute or Necessity,
encompassing allbeing, but without thought or love for any. Polytheismmore
refined or more sensualistic, and Pantheismmore or less abstract, divided the
thought of the Gentile world. On the other hand, the idea of God had been to
the Hebrews one of growing clearness. He was the God of Abraham, of Isaac,
and of Jacob, the God of Israel, who had given the covenanton Mount Sinai,
who had led their fathers by the way of the wilderness into the promised land,
a “jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the
third and fourth generation,” and yet also “the Lord God, merciful and
gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodnessand truth, keeping mercy
for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin,” a holy God, “of
purer eyes than to behold evil,” even a Fatherwhose pitying mercy was able
to measure all the depths of our weakness. “Like as a father pitieth his
children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. For he knowethour frame;
he remembereth that we are dust.”
This sublime conceptionof the Hebrew mind was perfectedin Christ. Every
attribute of spiritual excellencewas brought out into clearerdistinction, and

every element less exalted was enlargedand purified. Hitherto the Godof the
Hebrews had remained too isolatedand apart. With all their growth of
religious intelligence—the voice of the Divine always speaking more clearly as
we descendthe course of their prophetic literature—there still clung certain
restrictions to their highest conception. Jehovahwas their God in some special
manner—the Giver of their Law, the God of their Temple, who was to be
worshipped in Jerusalem. They had difficulty in enlarging the Divine idea so
as to embrace the human race, in rising above localprivilege and national
prerogative to the thought of God as the spiritual Source and Guide of all men
alike. Christ fixed for ever this great thought. “Godis a Spirit,” He said; “and
they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” “Neitherin
this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem,” was there any specialvirtue, so far as
the Divine presence was concerned. This presence was universaland
universally spiritual, embracing all life, claiming the homage and devotion,
the faith and love, of all moral intelligence—the presence ofthe Father as well
as the Sovereignof men.
(2) How did He accomplishthis? By the manifestationof His person even
more than by His doctrine, since He said, not “I bring the light and the truth,”
but “I am the light, and I am the truth.” He is the light of the world, because
in Him is the glory of God. His words are madness, and something very like
blasphemy, unless they are vindicated by the visible indwelling in Him of the
present God. The cloud of the humanity, “the veil, that is to say, his flesh,”
enfolds and tempers; and through its transparent folds it reveals, evenwhile it
swathes, the Godhead. Like some fleecy vapour flitting across the sun, and
irradiated by its light, it enables our weak eyes to see light, and not darkness,
in the else intolerable blaze. Yes! Thou art the light of the world, because in
Thee dwelleth “the fulness of the Godheadbodily.” Thy servant hath taught
us the meaning of Thy words, when he said: “The Word was made flesh, and
dwelt among us; and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begottenof
the Father, full of grace and truth.”

In that famous picture which Holman Hunt has painted of this wonderful
scene and utterance in the Saviour’s life, there is one fatal blunder, as it
appears at leastto those who read Jesus with clearesteyes.The Saviour stands
in the encircling gloom, lamp in hand, through which rays of light stream out
upon the dusky archways of the Temple, upon the shadowyforms in the
background, and upon His own sad, beautiful face. But it is from the lamp
which He carries that the illumination comes. Thatis the mistake. It ought to
have been shown as the irradiation from His own person, the glory of His own
face, the sunlight of His own matchless purity, grace, and love. He Himself is
the light of the world—not what He taught, but what He was and did. His very
incarnation is the world’s light. The fact that Godcould and did dwell in a
human form, could speak through human lips, and think through a human
mind, and feelthe beatings of a human heart, and suffer all human pangs, and
render into perfect beauty a human life; the factthat God’s great, awful,
mysterious, holy, and loving nature could have its abode in the flesh in a body
like our own and glorify it,—that to begin with, and more than all things else,
is the light of the world, for it lightens the face of every man that comes into
the world.1 [Note:J. G. Greenhough, The Cross in Modern Life, 90.]
2. Christ has made clearnot only the idea of God, but the idea of man.
(1) The two ideas everywhere interchange, and reactthe one upon the other.
The glory of Christ is that He seized so clearlythe spiritual essenceofboth,
and setthe greatrealities of the spiritual life in man in front of the Supreme
Spiritual Reality whom He revealed. There is nowhere for a moment any
doubt in Christ as to what the true life of man is. He is here and now, a
creature of nature, like all other creatures;but his true life is not natural, like
that of the fowls of the air or the lilies of the field. He is essentiallya moral
being, with relations beyond nature, and wants and aspirations and duties
which connecthim with a Divine or Supernatural order. From first to lastthis
spiritual conceptionunderlies the Gospels, andmakes itself felt in them. There
is no argument, because there is no hesitation. “Is not the life more than meat,

and the body than raiment?” The possibility of a negative answeris not
supposed. The claims of the natural order, some have even thought, are
unduly depressed. The spiritual life seems to overshadow and displace them.
But this is only by way of emphasis, and in order to rouse man from the
dreams of a mere sensualexistence. “Afterall these things do the Gentiles
seek”—those who know no better, to whom the meaning of the spiritual and
Divine order has not come. “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his
righteousness;and all these things shall be added unto you.” The spiritual
must be held in its true place as primary; after this the natural has also its
place, and is to be recognizedin addition.
(2) But the greatthought is, that man is the dependant of a Divine kingdom,
everywhere transcending the visible and present world. God has made him in
His own image, and loves him, howeverfar he may have degradedthat image
and wanderedawayfrom Divine good. He claims man as His own—as
rightfully belonging to the higher world of spiritual intelligence, of which He
is the Head. And so Christ came “to seek and to save that which was lost.”
Surely this is a higher conceptionof human life than that of either ancientor
modern secularism—a conceptiontruer to the radical instincts of human
nature, ever looking beyond the present, and owning the powerof more than
earth-born thoughts. From the factof sin itself and a sense ofwrong there
comes a voice which speaks ofsomething better—of a life akin to angels and
to God. The very misery of man attests his greatness, andthat there is more in
his life, which “appearethfor a little time, and then vanisheth away,” than the
experience of a day. Towards this thought the yearnings of all largerhearts,
and the searchings ofall higher minds, had pointed for centuries. It was the
dream alike of Plato and of Cicero, ofEgypt and of Persia. Hebrew Prophecy
and Psalmodyhad graspedit more firmly as the Divine shone upon them
more clearly. Yet withal it remained a comparative uncertainty before Christ.
He, as no one before Him had done, held forth before men the conceptionof a
higher life, greaterthan all the prizes of earth, and more enduring than all the

accidents of time. That which was but faintly apprehended by Gentile
philosopher, or even Jewishseer, was made manifest by the appearing and
resurrectionof our Lord, “who hath abolished death, and hath brought life
and immortality to light through the gospel.”As St. Petersays in his First
Epistle, “Blessedbe the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which
according to his abundant mercy hath begottenus againunto a lively hope, by
the resurrectionof Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance
incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away.”
Christ assertsfor man his true dignity and his rightful place in the universe of
matter and of spirit. There is no single point in respectto which Christ has
wrought so complete a revolution as in respectto the dignity and worth of the
individual man. He effectedthis change, not by teaching a new philosophy,
but by living a new life, and consecrating thatlife by His pitying death. He
came to save man, not because manwas wise or worthy, but because he was
ignorant and lost, and yet could be exalted to wisdom and holiness. Therein
did He declare that the lowliestand the most simple have an intrinsic worth in
the judgment of God, such as the world had never before accordedto man as
man. It was the reproachof Christ, that He consortedwith publicans and
sinners. His eating with them, however, did not signify that He sympathized
with them as they were;it signified that He knew what they might become. To
accomplishHis work for man, Christ not only was found in fashion as a man,
but, being such, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death—even
the death of the cross. In this He attestedstill more strikingly what manhood,
as manhood, is worth in the judgment of God. It is not surprising that the
light that streamedfrom Christ’s life and death slowlybut surely effected
changes so greatin all the estimates that Christendom has learned to put upon
man.
How greatis little man!

Sun, moon, and stars respond to him,
Shine or grow dim
Harmonious with his span.
How little is greatman!
More changeable than changeful moon,
Nor half in tune
With Heaven’s harmonious plan.
Ah rich man! ah poor man!
Make ready for the testing day
When wastes away
What bears not fire or fan.
Thou heir of all things, man

Pursue the saints by heavenwardtrack:
They lookednot back;
Run thou, as erst they ran.
Little and greatis man:
Greatif he will, or if he will
A pigmy still;
For what he will he Song of Solomon1 [Note:C. G. Rossetti, Poems, 121.]
(3) The new ideal of man was set forth by our Lord not only in His discourses
but in Himself. Jesus never taught a systematic and scientific morality. He
simply replacedthe moral world on its true axis, which is the love of God and
of man; but on no occasiondid He attempt a classificationof our duties, a
complete explanation of the motives, aims, impulses, and restraining forces of
our moral conduct. In the Sermonon the Mount, He showedthe inner and
spiritual nature of the law; He pointed out what is true purity and love. In His
inimitable parables He has taught us, by many examples, what are the
conditions of eternal life; but it is, above all, by the manifestation of His
Person, and by the radiance of His life, that He has revealedto us the moral
ideal of humanity. For the first time, a life absolutelyfulfilling the moral law
was seenin Him, a life wholly directed by the love of God and man, a life in

which there is not an action, a word, a thought, or an impulse of the heart
which does not conduce to the glory of God and the good of mankind, and
which is not inspired, filled, penetratedby this love. In Him we see for the first
time the admirable union of all those virtues which seemcontrary to each
other, and which usually exclude eachother—authority and simplicity,
majesty and humility, strength and gentleness, hatredof evil and tender
mercy, purity without asceticism, condescensionwithout servility; so that, to
employ an image which the subjectaffords us, just as the various colours
which are separatedby the prism—red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and
violet—vivid and brilliant as they are, form, when united, a perfectwhite of
spotless beauty, so all those different features which compose the form of
Christ unite and blend in a harmony so extraordinary and so lifelike that it is
imprinted for ever on the conscienceofmankind. Through Him, light has for
ever been thrown upon man. In Him, man has been seenas he ought to be.
This greatexample stands before us; and whereverit is seen, the absolute
return to darkness is impossible. Doubtless the powers of darkness may fall at
times on portions of humanity; baseness, lying, hypocrisy, and violence may
even shelter themselves under the name of Christ; but misconceptionand
confusionwill not lastlong; the light will at length be triumphant, the delusive
shadows, the hideous nightmares, will disappear, and, in the fair and glorious
daybreak of morning, justice, purity, and love will shine forth resplendent.
Science is teaching us lessons concerning the physical structure of the
universe. The same stuff is ablaze in Sirius and the Sun and the flaming heart
of the earth, and so Jesus Christgives us the moral unity of all the worlds. The
setting of the next life we can little imagine, but this we know, that God’s ideal
of life is Jesus Christ. We are to be like Him. That is the real predestination.
He who in both worlds delighted to do His Father’s will, suffered with brave
hope, obeyedwith changelessfidelity, served with supreme, unfailing love, is
the universal type. God tells us that it is enoughto be like Him. The words He
uttered, “Goodand faithful,” are negotiable in both worlds. Characterand
capacityare all of life that we can take with us when death swings open the
door from this into the next room in our Father’s house.1 [Note:M. D.
Babcock, Thoughts for Every-Day Living, 62.]

3. But now, since Jesus has perfectly revealedto us what God is and what man
ought to be, He has lighted up the profound abyss which separates man from
God. The more His holiness is made evident and clear, the more evident does
our own imperfection become;all our virtues pale beside His perfection, as
the false glitter of glass trinkets is outshone by the lustre of a pure diamond.
His purity brings out the frightful and repulsive character, not only of our
crimes, but of those thoughts, evil intentions, hatreds, and covetous desires,
which, though unreached by human law, are revealedthrough Him. He shows
us at once the evil that we have done, and the goodwhich we have neglectedto
do; He casts a searching light on all hollow pretence, on all ostentation,
pursuit of earthly glory, and selfishness more or less cleverly dissimulated.
Neverbefore Him had our nature been so profoundly, so accuratelyjudged;
never before had man been so clearlyrevealedto man. Thus were realized the
prophetic words which the agedSimeon pronounced over the child Jesus—
that by Him the thoughts of many hearts would be revealed(Luke 2:35). Thus
the light which shines forth from His person, and which at first attracts us by
its sublimity, ends by becoming overwhelming and terrible when it penetrates
to the depths of our being, and clearly shows our corruption.
(1) One phase of the mystery of man is that which meets us in the mass of sin,
and seeminglybase, lost life, which there is in the world. It is that same
mystery of man’s moral nature; only not of its struggling, but of where it has
ceasedto struggle. Thatis the terrible thing which one is apt to feel wherever
life is in dense masses, as in large cities—the multitudes who do not seem to
struggle, who are complacentin the hollowestshams of vanity and folly; who
are sunk in low, grovelling tastes, from which nothing seems to rouse them;
who grow up hard, bold, defiant, and despise the very efforts that you make to
help them upwards. And there are yet deeper abysses:all the lost, broken-
down lives that festerin the byways of our cities;the masses ofcrime; the even
more hopeless baseness ofthose who fatten by fostering crime,—whole classes,
lost, lost, so lost that we cannot tell even how to try to save them, how to begin
to try! And what is to be the end and outcome of it all?

(2) This light would be overpowering, and would leave us without hope, if,
after having shownus our misery, it did not at the same time revealthe Divine
mercy, if it did not show us in God a love greaterthan our rebellion, a pardon
greaterthan our iniquity. This is what “Christ crucified” teaches us beyond
all else, and it is for this reasonthat these grand words, “I am the light of the
world,” never appeargrander or more true than when they emanate from the
Cross. At the foot of the Cross the sinner sees andreceives a pardon truly
worthy of God, because it completelysatisfies His justice while at the same
time revealing His mercy.
In the Howard Prize Essayfor 1885, on“The Preservationof Health,” by Dr.
Clement Dukes, the following passageoccurs:“Light is not only the great
preserverof health, but a great preventer of disease;for Tyndall found that
sunlight arrestedthe growthof organisms, so that, as Dr. Murphy states,
sunlight serves the double purpose of aiding the growth of those organisms
which are necessaryfor man, as well as of man himself, while it retards the
production of those which are antagonistic to his existence.” Many
illustrations are given of this in the essay. The author, drawing upon his own
experience, says that when house surgeonin a London hospital, he found that
in one of its wards, which was very dark, simple fractures took sevento
fourteen days longer in uniting than they would have done in a well-lighted
ward, whilst they were afraid to put compound fractures in it at all; and
when, from want of space, they were compelled to do so, they chose a bed
where the light was greatest. FlorenceNightingale,as the result of her wide
observation, remarks:“One of the greatestobservers ofhuman things says:
‘Where there is sun there is thought.’ All physiology goes to confirm this.
Where is the shady side of deep valleys, there is cretinism. Where are cellars
and the unsunned sides of narrow streets, there is the degeneracyand
weakness ofthe human race;mind and body equally degenerating. Put the
pale, withering plant and human being into the sun, and, if not too far gone,
eachwill recoverheart and spirit.” In France there are hospitals where they
trust almost entirely to light for the cure of disease. Surelythere is here an

earthly analogue to a spiritual fact, namely, that only by the beams of the Sun
of Righteousnesscanthe evil growths in humanity be stayedand the good
ones be fostered.
I was talking some time ago to a City Missionary, an earnest-heartedwoman
working in the worstparts of one of our greatcities; and she told me, how, at
first, her work made her utterly despairing. There seemedto be nothing she
could do; and she was among a whole population who seemedjust sinking
down, down to hell—nothing else for it, according to all her old creed. She
told me how she used to go home and be haunted with the horror of it; and
then she went out again, praying, and longing, and trying, but still reaching
only one here and there. But one day it came to her—just the thought of the
Heavenly Father’s love shadowedforth in Christ’s, and comparedto which
her love could be nothing; and like a greatflood of light it all broke upon her,
that she could trust Him. Why should she be racking her soulwith anxiety
almost to madness as if she alone in this greatuniverse cared for them? And
ever after that, she told me, she had laboured on, not less earnestlythan
before, but with an easier, freerheart, feeling the mystery losing itself not in
darkness, but in light. That light was Christ’s. That anxiety of love for sinners,
and that trustful thought of God, are both from Him. There were kind loving
hearts before Christ, sad for human suffering; but nowhere, before, do you
find that peculiar sadness forsin, and for the poor, lost sinners of the world.
That is like a new light upon the great dark mystery, the light of a new love,
which has ever since been working in the world; and, the light of a greater
love still than ours, a love in the infinite Heart of things, a love to which our
hearts go out in that strong trustful plea Whittier has shapedfor us—
Father of all,—Thy erring child may be
Lost to himself, but never lostto Thee!1 [Note: B. Herford, Courage and
Cheer, 144.]

II
He Guides Men
The secondthought is that Christ, like the pillar of cloud and fire to the
Israelites, is a guiding light to us in our march through the wilderness ofthis
world.
But if Christ is to lead we must follow. “He that followethme shall not walk in
darkness.” The first demand is for obedience. How emphatically the Book of
Numbers (chap. 9) dwells upon the absolute control of all the marches and
halts by the movements of the cloud. When it was takenup, they journeyed;
when it settled down, they encamped. As long as it lay spread above the
Tabernacle, there they stayed. Impatient eyes might look, and impatient
spirits chafe—no matter. The camp might be pitched in a desolate place, away
from wells and palm trees, awayfrom shade, among fiery serpents, and open
to fierce foes—no matter. As long as the pillar was motionless, no man stirred.
Weary, slow days might pass in this compulsory inactivity; but “whether it
were two days, or a month, or a year, that the cloud tarried upon the
tabernacle, abiding thereon, the children of Israeljourneyed not.” And
wheneverit lighted itself up,—no matter how short had been the halt, how
wearyand footsore the people, how pleasantthe resting-place—upwith the
tent-pegs immediately, and away. Whether the signalwas given at midnight,
when all but the watchers slept, or at mid-day, it was all the same.
All true following of Christ begins with faith, or we might almostsay that
following is faith, for we find our Lord substituting the latter expressionfor
the former in another passage ofthis Gospelparallel with the present. “I am
come a light into the world, that whosoeverbelievethon me should not abide

in darkness.” The two ideas are not equivalent, but faith is the condition of
following; and following is the outcome and test, because it is the operation, of
faith. None but they who trust Him will follow Him. He who does not follow
does not trust. To follow Christ means to long and strive after His
companionship; as the Psalmistsays, “My soul followethhard after thee.” It
means, the submission of the will, the effort of the whole nature, the daily
conflict to reproduce His example, the resolute adoption of His command as
our law, His providence as our will, His fellowshipas our joy.
Betweenteaching and leading there may be all the difference that there is
betweentheory and practice. A teachermay content himself with the thought,
the attention, the contemplation, of his pupils, but a leader calls for action.
That is preciselythe note which is struck in these words: “he that followeth
me.” Like the host in the wilderness following the pillar of fire, like the
pilgrims to Mecca following the fire-cagesslung high upon the poles, so must
men follow this Christ, that they may not walk in darkness, but may have the
light of life.
1. We have the promise that if we follow faithfully we shall not walk in
darkness. This is true in practice of life and its perplexities. Nobody who has
not tried it would believe how many difficulties are clearedout of a man’s
road by the simple actof trying to follow Christ. No doubt there will still
remain obscurities enoughas to what we ought to do, to call for the best
exercise ofpatient wisdom; but an enormous proportion of them vanish like
mist when the sun breaks through, when once we honestly set ourselves to find
out whither the pillared Light is guiding. It is a reluctant will, and intrusive
likings and dislikings, that obscure the way for us, much oftener than real
obscurity in the way itself. It is seldom impossible to discernthe Divine will,
when we only wish to know it that we may do it. And if ever it is impossible
for us, surely that impossibility is like the cloud resting on the Tabernacle—a
sign that for the present His will is that we should be still, and wait, and
watch.

I only speak my own experience;I am not talking theologyor philosophy: I
know what I am saying, and can point out the times and places when I should
have fallen if I had been able to rely for guidance upon nothing better than a
commandment. But the pure, calm, heroic image of Jesus confrontedme, and
I succeeded. I had no doubt as to what He would have done, and through Him
I did not doubt what I ought to do.1 [Note:Mark Rutherford.]
So the years went on, and the sense ofunreality in my teaching grew steadily
more intense and intolerable. I saw myself continually expending all the forces
of my mind on theories which left me and my hearers alike unchanged in the
essentialcharacteristicsofour lives. I felt myself, like St. Augustine, but a
“sellerof rhetoric.” I was inculcating a method of life which I myself did not
obey, or obeyed only in those respects that causedme neither sacrifice nor
inconvenience. In order to continue such labours at all various forms of excuse
and self-deceptionwere required. Thus I flattered myself that I was at least
maintaining the authority of morals. I did not perceive that morals are of no
value to the world until vitalized by emotion. At other times I preached with
strenuous zeal the superiority of the Christian religion, and dilated on its early
triumphs. This pleasedmy hearers, for it always flatters men to find
themselves upon the winning side. What I wonder at now is that they did not
perceive that my zeal to prove Christianity true was exactlyproportioned to
my fearthat it was false. Men do not seek to prove that of which they are
assured. Jesus neversought to prove the existence ofa God, because He was
assuredof it; He simply assertedand commanded. In my heart of hearts I
knew that I was not sure. But I did not easilydiscoverthe reasonof my
uncertainty. I supposedthe source to be the destructive criticism of the
Gospels whichhad reduced Jesus Himself to a probability. In my private
thoughts I argued that it was no longerpossible to feelthe intense reality of
Christ. Francis might feel it, Catherine might feelit, because they lived in an
atmosphere of poetry, unchilled by criticism. I could never feel as they felt
because I could not transport myself into their atmosphere. Yet as often as I
turned to these greatlives, something thrilled within me, some living

responsive fibre, so that I knew that I was not after all quite alien to them.
Could it be that there was that in me that made me, or could make me, of
their company? But how could I attain to their faith? What could give back to
a modern man, tortured by a thousand perplexities of knowledge ofwhich
they never dreamed, the reality of Christ which they possessed?And then the
answercame—notsuddenly, but as a still small voice growing louder, more
positive, more intense—Live the Life. Try to do some at leastof the things that
Jesus did. Seek through experience whatcan never come through
ratiocination. Be a Francis; then it may be thou shalt think like him, and
know Jesus as he knew Him. Live the life—there is no other way.1 [Note:W.
J. Dawson, The Empire of Love, 112.]
2. But there is a higher meaning in the words than even this promise of
practicaldirection. In the profound symbolism of Scripture, especiallyof this
Gospel, “darkness” is the name for the whole condition of the soul averted
from God. So our Lord here is declaring that to follow Him is the true
deliverance from that midnight of the soul. There is a darkness ofignorance, a
darkness of impurity, a darkness of sorrow;and in that threefold gloom,
thickening to a darkness ofdeath, are they enwrapt who follow not the Light.
That is the grim, tragicalside of this saying, too sad, too awful for our lips to
speak much of, and best left in the solemnimpressiveness ofthat one word.
But the hopeful, blessedside of it is, that the feeblestbeginnings of trust in
Jesus Christ, and the first tottering steps that try to tread in His, bring us into
the light. It is not necessarythat we should have reachedour goal, it is enough
that our faces are turned to it, and our hearts desire to attain it; then we may
be sure that the dominion of the darkness overus is broken. To follow, though
it be afar off, and with unequal steps, fills our path with increasing brightness,
and even though evil and ignorance and sorrow may thrust their blackness in
upon our day, they are melting in the growing glory, and already we may give
thanks “unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the
inheritance of the saints in light: who hath delivered us from the powerof
darkness, and hath translatedus into the kingdom of his dear Son.”

Only he can be a true followerwhose life and love are in union with the life
and love in Christ. He will not be “light in the Lord” until his will is
intermarried with the will of his Lord. Every man who is thus joined to the
Lord is one Spirit with Him, and walks in His marvellous Light. He is inly and
immovably persuaded that nothing can separate his love from the love of God,
which is in Christ Jesus his Lord; and the comforting, assuring light of this
love floods his understanding. The love of God in his will, and the light of God
in his mind, make him a new man. The descentof God’s life and light to dwell
in his soul makes him sure and certainof his final ascentto God.
3. But we have not merely the promise that we shall be led by the light and
brought into the light. A yet deeperand grander gift is offered here: “He shall
have the light of life.” That means, not, as it is often carelesslytakento mean,
a light which illuminates the life, but, like the similar phrases of this Gospel—
“bread of life,” “waterof life,”—light which is life. “In him was life, and the
life was the light of men.” These two are one in their source, whichis Jesus,
the Word of God. Of Him we have to say, “With thee is the fountain of life: in
thy light shall we see light.” They are one in their deepestnature; the life is the
light, and the light the life. And this one gift is bestowedupon every soulthat
follows Christ. Not only will our outward lives be illumined or guided from
without, but our inward being will be filled with the brightness. “Ye were
sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord.”
This is the greatdistinction betweenthe light which Christ is and the light by
which the Israelites were led from day to day. They had an external means of
ascertaining promptly which way they should go. Their whole life was
circumscribed, and its place and mode determined for them. The guidance
offered us by Christ of an inward Kind. A God without might seem perfectas
a guide, but a God within is the real perfection. God does not now lead us by a
sign which we could follow, though we had no real sympathy with Divine ways
and no wisdom of our own; He leads us by communicating to us His own

perceptions of right and wrong, by inwardly enlightening us, and by making
us ourselves of such a disposition that we naturally choose whatis good.
If I had fulness of life I would have perfectness ofvision; I would know what
God is, what man is, what heavenis. Is it not written, “This is life eternal that
they should know thee”? And yet, marvellous to tell, this unspeakable glory
may be mine—be mine now, here, in the midst of the present world: “He that
followethme shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life.” It
is not by dying it shall come to me; it is by following—following the steps of
the Masterthrough life’s strait gate and life’s narrow way. It is by taking up
the cross, by lifting the burden, by bearing the sacrifice, by doing the will, that
the doctrine shall be known to me.1 [Note: G. Matheson, Moments on the
Mount, 251.]
The still commandress ofthe silent night
Borrows her beams from her bright brother’s eye;
His fair aspectfills her sharp horns with light;
If he withdraw, her flames are quench’d and die;
E’en as the beams of thy enlight’ning Sp’rit,
Infus’d and shotinto my dark desire,

Inflame my thoughts, and fill my soul with fire,
That I am ravish’d with a new delight;
But if thou shroud thy face, my glory fades,
And I remain a nothing, all composedofshades.
Eternal God! O Thou that only art
The sacredfountain of eternallight,
And blessedloadstone ofmy better part,
O Thou, my heart’s desire, my soul’s delight,
Reflectupon my soul, and touch my heart,
And then my heart shall prize no goodabove Thee;
And then my soul shall know Thee;knowing, love Thee;
And then my trembling thoughts shall never start

From Thy commands, or swerve the leastdegree,
Or once presume to move, but as they move in Thee.2 [Note:Francis
Quarles.]
4. Christ is our guiding light even unto death. The night cometh. I shall have
to lie down and die. Is there any light? “I am the light.” He claims that to
those who are in Him the night shineth even as the day. What does my Lord
do in the hour of death to break up the reign of darkness? He gives us the
cheerof sovereignty. “All things are yours … death!” Then I do not belong to
death? No, death belongs to me. Death is not my master, he is my servant. He
is made to minister to me in the hour of translation, and I shall not be
enslavedby his approach.
That was a true and beautiful word uttered by Mrs. Boothwhen she was
passing home: “The waters are rising, but I am not sinking!” Deathwas her
minister, floating her forward to glory. “All things are yours … death.” And
my Lord further softens the night by the gracious light of fellowship. “I will be
with thee.” When we are in fine and congenialcompany how the time passes!
The hours slip awayand we marvel when the moment for separationcomes.
And so it will be in death! Our company will be so rich and welcome that the
seasonwillpass before we know it. I think the Christian’s first wondering
question on the other side will be: “Am I really through? Really?” “Eventhe
night shall be light about thee.” It matters not how stormy the night may be,
the Light of Life shall never be blown out. “At eventide it shall be light.”1
[Note:J. H. Jowett, The Silver Lining, 73.]
Whence are we—andwhither? Especially, whither? How that question has
pressedupon the heart of man. Do you remember the first living glimpse that

we get of our old Saxon forefathers, as they stoodfacing Christianity, not yet
convertedto it, but wondering if perhaps it might be true? They are facing it
with this mystery of the unknown beyond pressing on their hearts. I know few
more beautiful episodes in old-world thought. It was a few years after
Augustine had come as a missionary to England, and in the rude North, King
Edwin of Northumbria had gatheredhis chiefs and thanes together in
“Witenagemot,”or“Wise men’s meeting,” that they might considerthis new
faith. One by one they told their faith about it, but the best word spokenwas
this. Said one of the thanes: “Truly the life of man in this world is on this wise.
It is as when thou, O King, art feasting with thy thanes in winter-time, when
the hearth is lighted and the hall is warm; but without, the rains and the
snows are falling, and the winds howl. Then cometh a sparrow and flieth
through the hall; it comethin by one door and goethout at the other. When a
little moment brief and pleasantis passed, it disappears, and from winter
returns to winter again. So is it with the life of man, O King. It is but for a
moment; what goeth before it, and what comethafter it, wot we not at all.
Wherefore, if these strangers cantell us aught, let us hearkento them and
follow their law.”2 [Note:B. Herford, Courage and Cheer, 145.]
5. And, finally, Christ guides His followers to another and a better life.
Through the opened doors of that immortality which He has brought to light
by means of His gospel, there has streamedever since a steady radiance,
towards which the hearts of all men have turned with thankfulness and hope.
Christ has done for immortality what He had done for theism. He has not
demonstrated it to the reason, but He has verified it as a fact. He has not
supersededthe necessityof searching and scrutinizing its possibility or
probability on grounds of reason, but He has enforcedthese demonstrations
by the best attestedevents of human history; and He stands before the
rational faith of men declaring afresh to all the generations, “Iam he that
liveth and was dead,” and “Behold, I am alive for evermore,” and “BecauseI
live, ye shall live also.”

What about the morrow? When the river is crossed, is there any light upon
the regions beyond? Am I to gaze into blackness, impenetrable, inscrutable?
“I am the light.” What kind of light does He give me here? “In my Father’s
house!” Is there not a softening gleam in the very phrase? Look here for a
sheafof rays of welcome light. “In my Father’s house,” there is our
habitation! “I go to prepare a place for you,” there is the preparation for us!
“I will receive you unto myself,” there is a welcome for us! Does not this throw
the softlight of the morning on the Beyond? The same light which has been
given to me along the way of time will shine upon me in the realms of the new
day. “The Lord God is the light thereof.” So you see it is Jesus allthe way; my
light to-day, to-night, to-morrow!1 [Note: J. H. Jowett, The Silver Lininig, 74.]
There is an ancient prayer for the departed which runs: Grant them, O Lord,
eternal rest, and let light perpetual shine upon them.
The Light of the World
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
The World's True Light
John 8:12
J.R. Thomson
Whether this figurative language was suggestedby the morning sun, as it rose
in the eastover the crown of Olivet, or by the greatlamps which were, during
the FeastofTabernacles, kindled in the temple court at evening, in either case
its appropriateness and beauty are manifest.

I. THIS SIMILITUDE EXHIBITS THE GLORY AND POWER OF CHRIST
IN HIS OWN NATURE. Light is a form of universal force, proceeding from
the sun, the vastreservoir of power, and acting by the motion of the ethereal
medium in wave-like vibrations. Artificial light is only the same force stored
up in the earth, and liberated for purposes of illumination. The sun may
therefore be regardedas, for us, the centre and source of all light. By its rays
we know the glories and beauties of earth and sea;and to them we are
indebted, not only for knowledge, but for much enjoyment and for many
practicaladvantages. If, then, anything createdand material can serve as an
emblem of the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, this majestic luminary may well
fulfil this purpose. He who first said, "Let there be light!" gave to mankind
the greatSun of Righteousnesswho has arisen upon the world. None but the
Divine Lord and Saviour of mankind could justly claim to be "the Light of the
world."
II. THIS SIMILITUDE EXHIBITS THE BLESSINGS WHICH CHRIST
BRINGS TO THE WORLD.
1. The world of humanity is in the darkness of ignorance, and the Lord Jesus
brings to it heavenly knowledge. Christis the true Light, instructing men who
are very ignorant of God, of his designs of mercy, of the prospects of the
future, and indeed of everything that is most important for man as a spiritual
being to be acquainted with.
2. The world of humanity is in the darkness of sin, and the Lord Jesus brings
to it the light of forgiveness and holiness. As when a dark dungeon is thrown
open, so that the sunlight streams into it; so was it with the world when Christ
came to the dark places of the earth, and irradiated them with his holy
presence. Theywho sometime were darkness now became light in the Lord.
3. The world of humanity lay in the darkness ofdeath; the Lord Jesus brought
to it the light of life. Vitality is hindered by darkness, and is fosteredby
daylight; the plant which is pale and sickly in the cellar grows greenand
healthy when exposedto the sunshine. Mankind when in sin are liable to
spiritual death. Christ introduces the principle of spiritual vitality, and they

who partake of it, and pass from darkness into glorious light, bear in
abundance the blossomof piety and the fruit of obedience.
4. The world of humanity is in darkness and danger; the Lord Jesus brings
the light of safety. He is a Lamp to guide the searchers,a Lantern to light
upon the path of safety, a Torchto those who explore the cavern, a Pharos to
those who sail the stormy seas, a Harbour light to guide into the haven of
peace, a Pole star to direct the wanderer's course, a Pillar of fire to light the
nation's desertmarch. So our Saviour warns men of spiritual perils, directs
their steps into spiritual safety, directs in circumstances ofdifficulty and
perplexity, brings to eternal peace.
III. THE SIMILITUDE REMINDS US OF OUR DUTY WITH REFERENCE
TO CHRIST.
1. To admire and adore the light. The old Persians worshippedthe rising sun;
Christians may wellworship their glorious Lord.
2. To walk in the light. Let it be remembered that the sun shines in vain for
those who concealthemselves from his beams; and that evento admire is not
enough, if we fail to make use of the heavenly shining to guide our steps
aright.
"Thou Sun of our day, thou Star of our night,
We walk by thy ray, we live in thy light;
Oh shine on us ever, kind, gracious, andwise,
And nowhere and never be hid from our eyes." T.

Biblical Illustrator
Then spake Jesus againunto them.
John 8:12-20
The connectionof Christ's discourse with the previous incident and the feast
R. Besser, D. D.
The feastof tabernacles was over. The waterof Siloahwas no more poured
out by the altar; the golden lights no longerburned in the forecourtof the
Temple. But like as Jesus Christ, the True Well of salvation, offeredfrom His
inexhaustible spring living water to all who were athirst, so also as the True
Light, He shone with a never-dying lustre, in order that He might lead sinners
out of the darkness of death into the light of life. What power the perishable,
earthly light of the Temple had, how impotent it was to enlighten the hearts of
those who participated in the festival, had been exhibited to all in the
narrative of this morning. In the midst of the bright shining of the tabernacle
lights, that woman was wandering in the darkness ofadulterous lust, and her
accusersin the darkness ofarrogant self-conceit. Notuntil the light of Jesus
broke in upon the woman's heart did she become a penitent sinner, or forsake
the love of darkness;whilst on the other hand, the Pharisees,whenshone
upon by the light of the Searcherofhearts, became convicted sinners, and
went out because theyloved darkness ratherthan light. And the requirement
that the Lord made of the womanupon whom the light of His grace had
shone, "Go and sin no more," is now included in the word of promise: "He
that followethMe shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."

Once upon a time, the people had followedthe light of the pillar of fire in the
wilderness;and of this they were reminded by the light of the feastof
tabernacles. Butnow many in the wilderness followedthat light and yet
wandered in darkness, becausethe light of life was not theirs! — they had it
not! How many, too, were there now who rejoicedin the lustre of the
tabernacle light, yet were wandering in darkness, becausethey too had not the
light of life! Yes, how many heard the law read aloud in the assembly of the
feastof tabernacles, and yet learnt it not (Deuteronomy 31:10, etc.), because
they would not learn the End of the law, which was Jesus Christ! Thus they
were shone upon by the light of Divine revelation, and boastedof being a
people of light, and yet remained in darkness. Different is the case with the
true followers ofthe light. Their fellowing consists in faith, and faith makes
Christ to dwell in their hearts (John 12:36, 46;Ephesians 3:17); and because
they then have the light of life, they no longer walk in darkness, neither in the
love, nor in the terror of it; they no longer walk in sins, nor in death, no more
according to the pleasure, no more in the power of the devil.
(R. Besser, D. D.)
I am the Light of the world.
The incident
C. Vince.
When these words were spokenit was early morning. They had parted last
night, after a day of commotion and danger;but at daybreak Jesus was back
againin the midst of the people. "And early in the morning He came again
into the Temple, and all the people came unto Him; and He satdown and
taught them." We can picture to ourselves the unfolding splendours of the
new morning. The eyes of the people gazedas, without wave or sound, as with
increasing vigour and unsullied purity, the light streamedin from the east. It
disclosedthe greenfields and well kept vineyards and pleasantgroves of the
valleys; it lit up the city and its splendid palaces and gorgeousTemple;and it
revealedall around them the majestic forms of the mountains. How it gilded

everything, and beautified the pinnacles of the Temple, and touched the hills
with gold! How it arousedthe wicked, who then as now turned night into day,
and workeddeeds of violence and wrong under coverof black night! How it
cleansedthe earth, and lifted the thick veil of mist, and drove awaythe
pestilential vapours! Even the beasts, savage anddangerous, who through the
night had been seeking and securing their prey, owned its power, and retired
from the light into the caves and dens of the earth. All this was presentto the
thoughts of the people, and standing there in the midst of them Jesus said,
"This is the emblem of My mission: I am the Light of the world,"
(C. Vince.)
The force of the allusion
ArchdeaconPatter.
He was seatedat that moment in the Treasury — either some specialbuilding
in the Temple so called, or that part of the court of the womenwhich
containedthe thirteen chests with trumpet-shaped openings, called
shopheroth, into which the people, and especiallythe Pharisees, usedto cast
their gifts. In this court, and therefore close beside Him, were two gigantic
candelabra, fifty cubits high and sumptuously gilded, on the summit of which
nightly during the feastof tabernacles, lamps were lit which shed their soft
light over all the city. Round these lamps the people, in their joyful
enthusiasm, and even the stateliestpriests and Pharisees, joinedin festal
dances;while, to the sound of flutes and other music, the Levites, drawn up in
array on the fifteen steps which led up to the court, chanted the beautiful
psalms which early receivedthe title of "Songs ofDegrees."In allusion to
these greatlamps, on which some circumstance of the moment may have
concentratedthe attention of the hearers, Christ exclaimed to them, "I am the
Light of the world."
(ArchdeaconPatter.)

The Light of the world
Bp. Ryle.
Note —
I. THE GREAT ASSUMED TRUTH WHICH LIES UNDERNEATHTHE
WHOLE VERSE is the fall of man. The world is in a state of moral and
spiritual darkness. Naturally men know nothing rightly of themselves, God,
holiness, or heaven. They need light.
II. THE FULL AND BOLD MANNER OF OUR LORD'S DECLARATION.
He proclaims Himself to be "the Light of the world." None could truly say this
but one, who knew that He was very God. No prophet or apostle ever said it.
III. HOW OUR LORD SAYS THAT HE IS "THE LIGHT OF THE
WORLD." He is not for a few only, but for all mankind. Like the sun He
shines for the benefit of all, though all may not value or use His light.
IV. THE MAN TO WHOM THE PROMISE IS MADE. It is to him "that
followethMe." To follow a leader, if we are blind, or ignorant, or in the dark,
or out of the way, requires trust and confidence. This is just what the Lord
Jesus requires of sinners who want to be saved. Let them commit themselves
to Christ, and He will lead them safe to heaven. If a man can do nothing for
himself, he cannotdo better than trust another and follow him.
V. THE THING PROMISED TO HIM WHO FOLLOWS JESUS —
deliverance from darkness and possessionoflight. This is preciselywhat
Christianity brings to a believer. He feels and sees,and has a sense of
possessing something he had not before. God "shines into his heart and gives
light." He is "calledout of darkness into marvellous light" (2 Corinthians 4:4-
6; 1 Peter2:9).
(Bp. Ryle.)
Homilist.

Christ as Light is —
I. WONDROUSLYREVEALING. Light is a revealing element. When the sun
goes downand darkness reigns, the whole of the beautiful world is concealed,
all on oceanand land is hidden. The sun arises, and all stands forth to view.
What does Christ reveal? God, a spiritual universe, a moral government, a
future state of retribution, a remedial system by which fallen humanity canbe
restoredto the knowledge, the image, the friendship, and the enjoyment of the
eternal Father. Men have appearedhere in different ages andregions who
have been calledlights. Prophets; John the Baptist; the apostles;some of the
heathen sages;and many of the modern philosophers and scientists. But
Christ is the Light. Other lights are borrowed; He is the original Fountain.
Other lights only revealdimly a few things in some narrow space;He reveals
all things fully through all regions of moral being. Other light shone a little,
and, like meteors, went out; He burns on forever — the "Light of the world."
II. HUMANITY GUIDING. "He that followeth Me," etc. The sun may shine
in its noontide radiance, and yet men may walk in darkness;they may shut
their eyes or keepin cells or caverns. It is so with Christ. Though He is the
moral Sun of the world, the millions "walk in darkness." Christis to be
followed—
1. Doctrinally.
2. Ethically.
3. Spiritually. Men who follow Him thus will always be in the "light."
III. SPIRITUALLY QUICKENING. The natural sun is the fountain of life to
the world; his beams quicken all. Christ is the Life of the world. "In Him was
life." He quickens the intellect, the conscience, the soul. There is no spiritual
life apart from Him. Conclusion: — How greatthe obligationof the world to
Christ I What would this earth be without the sun? Its condition would be
wretchedbeyond conception;and yet it would be better off than humanity
without Christ. Were all that Christ has been to humanity, and still is, to be
withdrawn, into what a Stygian condition it would sink. "Thanks be unto God
for His unspeakable gift!"

(Homilist.)
T. Mirams.
Light and life are intimately associated. "Letthere be light" was the first
creative act — essentialforthe life that was to follow. How true of the scull A
chaos of death and darkness — then the shining of the life-giving Sun of
Righteousness.
I. IN WHAT SENSE IS CHRIST THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.
1. The light He communicates is not derived. Christ is not a reflector, but the
Spring and Source. None ever taught Him wisdom; eternity did not increase
His knowledge,"Godis Light" and Christ is God.
2. He is the Medium through which it is revealedto men. When the world
through sin had become exposedto the withdrawal of all heavenly light, then
by Christ's interposition was a gentle ray preserved. This grew till in His own
PersonHe brought the full and living manifestation of glory.
II. THE CHARACTER OF THE LIGHT.
1. Christ brought into the world knowledge. No smalladvance had been made
in knowledge before Christ came — art, science,and philosophy had
flourished. But the knowledge ofGodand futurity had almost died out. And
the advances ofthe human intellect would seemto have been permitted to
prove that men by searching could not find out God.
2. Christ brought into the world holiness. Light and purity, darkness and
unholiness are synonymous terms. "Ye were once darkness, but now are ye
light in the Lord." The wisdom of the world may exist with the grossest
passions, but the "Light of the world" cleansesas wellas instructs.
III. THE RELATION OF THE LIGHT TO THE INDIVIDUAL SOUL. "He
that followethMe shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."
Following the course of the sun, we cannot but have the "light of life." As the

flowers, drawn by the attracting power of the sun's rays, turn round and
follow the greatlight of day in his course in the heavens, drinking in with
avidity every beam, developing new beauties, giving forth fresh odours with
every ray of light received, so the Christian, drawn by the magnetic influence
of Divine love, living in constant intercourse with the source of all inspiration,
following closelythe light of truth which radiates from the eternal sun,
develops fresh beauties of character, gives forth the sweetperfume of true
nobleness of life, adorning the doctrines of Christ the Saviour.
(T. Mirams.)
W. M. Taylor, D. D.
All that the sun is to the natural world Christ is to the moral and the spiritual.
It is not He that is like the sun, but rather the sun that is like Him. Thus
understood, the words of the text recallthe prophecy "The Sun of
Righteousnessshallarise with healing in His wings." What a marvellous
assertionit is l In the mouth even of an extraordinary man it would be
ridiculous, and no intellectual eminence could redeem it from the charge of
vanity. We cansave it from the accusationonly by regarding it as the
utterance of Incarnate Deity. And it is only in the same way that we can
harmonize it with those qualities of truthfulness and humility by which at all
times the Man Christ Jesus was distinguished. The text suggests —
I. THE PURITY OF THE LORD'S PERSONALCHARACTER. A ray of
light is the cleanestthing we know, and though it may pass through the most
polluted medium, it comes out of it as immaculate as when it entered it. Christ
was from the very first "a holy thing." There are spots on the sun, but nothing
ever appearedto mar the beauty of His holiness, by the constantemanation of
His own purity, he kept the evil from approaching Him. Now this purity
consistednot so much in the absence ofall sin as in the presence of all
excellence. Justas the white light of the sun is composedofthe sevenprimary
colours, eachin its own proportion, and having its own properties, so the

holiness of Christ, when analyzed, reveals the presence in its normal degree of
eachof the virtues. His love contributed warmth, His truth imparts its sharp
actinic influence, whereby the correctoutlines of all subjects on which He
shone were clearly defined! His humility gave its violet beauty to mellow the
lustre of His character;His courage lent its yellow tinge to complete the
harmony; while His meekness contributed its soft greenhue, and His justice
brought the fiery red, which burned in His withering denunciation of all
hypocrisy and wrong. Peerless as the sun in the firmament shines the
characterof Jesus Christ. No keen-eyedsceptic has everbeen able to detect in
it a flaw.
II. THE BRIGHTNESSOF THE REVELATION WHICH HE MADE. His
advent chasedawaydarkness, andbrought new truths into view. We have
been so long accustomedto the lustre of His beams, that it is difficult to
estimate how much we owe to Him in this respect, forthe things which we
now teachto children were far beyond the reach of the educated minds of
antiquity.
1. Look at the views which He has given us of God. By that one utterance
"Godis a spirit" etc. He threw a flood of light on questions which had puzzled
the wisestheathens. Thatwe are not idolators we owe entirely to the light
which Christ has shed for us, on the spirituality, omnipresence, supremacy,
and fatherhood of God.
2. Look at the matter of atonement, and see whatradiance He has caston that
dark subject. When He came into the world, victims were smoking daily upon
altars, and everywhere they were at once the expressionof a want and
confessionofa failure. They gave inarticulate witness to the longing of men's
souls for acceptance withGod, on the ground of expiation, while their
continued repetition acknowledgedthat they who offered them could not rest
long in their offering. But Christ offered Himself, and it was at once seenby
all who believed on Him, that His sacrifice met the case, forHis resurrection
demonstrated that it was acceptedby God, and so they could restperfectly
content. This accounts for the fact, that whereverJesus was receivedsacrifices
disappeared.

3. Look how the revelation brought by Christ has illuminated the future life.
He has "brought life and immortality to light by the gospel." The immortality
of the soul was a wish rather than an object of faith among the most of the
ancients, and they knew nothing whatever about resurrection. But when
Christ rose from the tomb He left its portal open; and when He ascendedHe
took possessionofheaven in His people's name. Absence from the body is now
presence with the Lord.
III. THE BENEFICENT INFLUENCES THAT RADIATE FROM CHRIST.
There are few natural agents more valuable than the light.
1. It ministers largely to health. Even the plants cannot thrive without the
sunshine, and a shrub takento the bottom of a mine speedily withers; while
the very weed that grows in the cave turns ever with a wonderful instinct
towards the light. So it is a common aphorism that the sunny side of the street
or house is healthier. Christ gives health to the soulby bestowing upon it
regeneration, while the influence of His instructions strengthens the intellect,
gives sensitiveness to the conscience, stiffens the will, settles and centres the
affections, and broadens and deepens the character.
2. It contributes materially to happiness. Everybody knows a difference
betweena clearand a dull day. The one, as it were, electrifies the system, and
we go forth into it with joyous exhilaration; the other is heavy and depressing.
We are ill at ease withourselves and cross with everybody else. So again, we
know a difference betweenday and night. The light has that in it which
somehow keeps us up, but darkness has become a common metaphor for
heaviness of heart. Now Jesus is the Author of joy. He takes awayfrom us sin
which is the source of all sadness. He adds the gladness offellowship with
Himself to all our other delights; and when the joys of earth grow dim, He
remains to be to us as full of satisfactionas He was before.
3. It contributes to our safety. Unless we see where we are going we may
stumble or fall, to the serious injury of our bodies; and so, especiallywhen the
way is rough and dangerous, it is always better to travel in the daytime. In
moral things, it is just as essentialthat we see what we are doing. We must
mark the tendencies of things, lestwe should take a wrong direction. We must

look well to our little steps of daily conduct, lestwe should be tripped up, and
bring dishonour on our Lord and on ourselves. And for this reasonit is of the
greatestimportance that we keepnear to Jesus. Safetylies in walking in His
light. It is not earthly philosophy; it is not worldly prudence; it is not caution
or canniness that will keepa man secure. All these are in the main but modes
of selfishness, andselfishness is always like a mole burrowing in the dark and
trapped at last by the higher art of the hunter. But Christ's light is love, the
love of God and our neighbour.
IV. THE MANNER IN WHICH WE BECOME PARTAKERS OF THE
BLESSINGS WHICH CHRIST BRINGS. We are enlightened by opening our
eyes to the light. In the morning we raise our blinds, and let in the blessed
sunbeams, whereby our hearts are gladdened and our homes are brightened.
And in the same way we are to become illuminated by the rays of the Sun of
Righteousness. We must open our eyes and behold His glory; we must open
our intellects to receive His instructions; we must open our hearts to let Him
into our affections;we must open our lives to let Him rule over our actions.
Here our greatduty, as also our greatdifficulty, is to be simply receptive.
(W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
A. Maclaren, D. D.
Christ was His own greattheme. What He said about Himself was very unlike
language becoming a wise and humble teacher. This is only reconcileablewith
our conceptionof His nature that He is God manifest in the flesh. Are such
words as these fit to be spokenby any man conscious ofhis own imperfections.
They assertthat Christ is the only source of illumination for the whole world,
that following Him is the sure deliverance from error and sin and gives the
followera light which is life. And the world, instead of turning awayfrom
such monstrous assumptions, has largely believed them and has not felt them
to mar the beauty of meekness, which, by a strange anomaly, this Man says
He has.

I. THE SYMBOLISM. What was the meaning of those great lights that went
flashing through the warm autumn nights of the feastof tabernacles. All the
parts of that feastwere intended to recallsome feature of the wilderness
wanderings;and the lights by the altar were memorials of the pillar of cloud
and fire. Jesus, then, declares Himself to be in reality, for all, and forever
what that pillar was in outward seeming to one generation.
1. It was the visible vehicle of the Divine presence. It manifestedand hid God,
and was thus no unworthy symbol of Him who remains after all revelation
unrevealed. The fire is ever folded in the cloud, and the thick darkness in
which He dwells is but the "glorious privacy" of perfectlight. That pillar, a
cloud to shelter from the scorching heat, a fire to cheerin the blacknessof
night, spreaditself above the sanctuary, and "the glory of the Lord filled the
Tabernacle,"and when that was replacedby the Temple "the cloud filled the
house of the Lord," and there, dwelling betweenthe cherubim, types of all
creaturallife; and above the mercy seatthat spoke ofpardon, and the ark that
held the law; and behind the veil where no feet trod save those of the priest
bearing the blood of atonement once a year — shone the light of the visible
majesty of present Deity.
2. But centuries had passedsince that Light had departed. Shall we not, then,
see a deep reference to that awful blank, when Jesus, standing before that
shrine which was in a most sad sense empty, pointed to the quenched lamps
which commemorated a departed Shekinah, and said, "I am the Light of the
world." He is that because in Him is the glory of God. The cloud of the
humanity "the veil, that is to say, His flesh," enfolds and tempers; and
through its transparent folds reveals while it swathes the Godhead. Like some
fleecyvapour flitting acrossthe sun and irradiated by its light, it enables our
weak eyes to see light and not darkness in the else intolerable blaze. "The
Word was made flesh and dwelt," etc.
II. THE PRIVILEGE AND DUTY.
1. Christ, like that pillar, guides us in our pilgrimage. Numbers 9. dwells upon
the absolute controlof all the marches and halts by the cloud. As long as it lay
spread above the tabernacle, there they stayed. Impatient eyes might look and

impatient spirits chafe — no matter. And wheneverit lifted itself no matter
how short had been the halt, footsore the people, or pleasantthe resting place
— up with the tent. pegs immediately, and away. There was the commander
of their march — not Moses norJethro.
2. We have in Christ a better Guide through worse perplexities than theirs. By
His Spirit, example, Word, providence, Jesus is our Guide — gentle, loving,
wise, sure. He does not say "Go," but "Come." "Iwill guide thee with Mine
eye" — not a blow, but a look of directing love which heartens to and tells
duty. We must be near Him to catchit and in sympathy with Him to
understand it, and be swift to obey. Our eyes must be ever toward the Lord,
or we shall be marching on unwitting that the pillar has spreaditself for rest,
or dawdling when it has gathereditself up for the march. Do not let
impatience lead you to hasty interpretations of His plans before they are fairly
evolved. Take care of"running before you are sent." But do not let the
warmth of the camp fires or the pleasantnessofthe shady place keepyou
when the cloud lifts.
3. All true following begins with or rather is faith (chap 12:46). Faith the
condition and following the operation and test of faith. None but they who
trust follow Him. To follow means the submission of the will, the effort to
reproduce His example, the adoption of His command as my law, His
fellowship as my icy; and the root of this is coming to Him conscious of
darkness and trustful in His light.
III. THE PROMISE. In the measure in which we fulfil the duty the wonderful
saying will be verified and understood by us.
1. "Shallnot walk in darkness" refers(1)to practicallife and its perplexities.
Nobody who has not tried it would believe how many difficulties are cleared
awayby the simple actof trying to follow Christ. It is a reluctant will and
intrusive likings and dislikings that obscure the way oftener than real
obscurity in the way itself. It is seldom impossible to discernthe Divine will
when we only wish to do it. And if ever it is impossible, that is the cloud
resting on the Tabernacle. Be still, wait and watch.(2)But "darkness" is the
name for the whole condition of the soul averted from God. There is the

darkness of ignorance, impurity, sorrow, thickening to a darkness ofdeath.
To follow Christ is the true deliverance, and the feeblestbeginnings of trust in
Him, and the first tottering steps that try to tread in His bring us unto the
light.
2. "Shallhave the light of life," a grander gift — not the light which
illuminates the life, but like similar phrases, "breadof life," "waterof life," —
light which is life. "In Him was life," etc. "With Thee is the foundation of life,
etc." The pillar remained apart, this Guide dwells in our souls. Conclusion:
Christ, like His symbol of old, has a double aspect — darkness for Egypt, light
to Israel. Trusted, followed, He is light; neglected, turned from, He is
darkness.
(A. Maclaren, D. D.)
W. Hawkins.
(In conjunction with Matthew 5:14): — A startling combination! The two
ends of a chain of teaching, of which the middle links are supplied by the
apostle who speaks of"Christin you," and of the saints as "light in the Lord."
I. WHEREIN DOES CHRIST'S LIGHT DIFFER FROM OURS?
1. As ordinary white light — the light of the sun — is an exquisite blending of
all hues of light, so Christ combines all the varied features of goodness in
Himself. He is the Unity of all enlightening, cheering, quickening qualities.
2. But as the light is broken up and reflected, so the scatteredrays of goodness
are reflectedfrom eachdisciple in his own characterand ministry amongsthis
fellows.
II. WHEREIN IS OUR REFLECTED LIGHT AS CHRIST'S?
1. It may reveal, as He did, the Father.
2. It may guide and cheer, as He did, the sons of men.

3. As His exposedthe evil in men, so may ours expose and shame those who
come into contactwith us.
4. As He, like light, coaxesthe plant to thrive, causes men's natures to bloom
and bear fruit, so may we develop men's latent capacitiesfor goodnessby
contactwith us.
5. As His light was diffused, so may ours go forth-upon unknown ministries.
(W. Hawkins.)
Light for us
W. Hoyt, D. D.
I. CHRIST IS THE LIGHT FOR LIFE WHICH GUIDES.
1. Christ is such grading light because He is the Light. Moral guidance shines
from Him, because He is the one perfect specimenof moral living.
2. Christ is such a guiding Light because He is a light so placed that all may
see it.
II. CHRIST IS THE LIGHT WHICH NOURISHES AND MAKES STRONG
THE TRUE LIFE IN EVERY MAN. Christ promises, if He be followed, a
man shall have the light of life. Here is a pale leaf. Why is it so pale? It has
been denied the sunlight. Put it in the sunlight, and it will grow greenand
strong. Here is a leaf of noble resolution. But it is very pale and sickly. What
will give it strength and colour? Bring it into the shining of Him who is the
Light.
III. HOW WE MAY ENTER INTO THIS GUIDANCE AND
INVIGORATION. "He that followeth Me," etc. Some one has said: "Nobody
who has not tried it would believe how many difficulties are clearedout of a
man's road by the simple actof trying to follow Christ." No doubt there will
still remain obscurities enough as to what we ought to do, to call for the best
exercise ofpatient wisdom; but an enormous proportion of them vanish like
mist, when the sun looks through, when once we honestly setourselves to find

out where the Light is guiding. It is a reluctant will and intrusive likings and
dislikings that obscure the way for us, much oftener then real obscurity in the
way itself. It is seldom impossible to discern the Divine wilt, when we only
wish to know it that we may do it.
(W. Hoyt, D. D.)
Chestthe Light of the world
Phillips Brooks, D. D.
Do you see what I mean? When the sun rose this morning it found the world
here. It did not make the world. It did not fling forth on its earliestray this
solid globe, which was not and would not have been but for the sun's rising.
What did it do? It found the world in darkness, torpid and heavy and asleep;
with powers all wrapped up in sluggishness;with life that was hardly better or
more alive than death. The sun found this greatsleeping world and woke it. It
bade it be itself. It quickened every slow and sluggishfaculty. It called to the
dull streams, and said, "Be quick";to the dull birds and bade them sing; to
the dull fields and made them grow;to the dull men and bade them talk and
think and work. It flashed electric invitation to the whole mass of sleeping
powerwhich really was the world, and summoned it to action, It did not make
the world. It did not sweepa dead world off and seta live world in its place. It
did not start another set of processes unlike those which had been sluggishly
moving in the darkness. It poured strength into the essentialprocesses which
belongedto the very nature of the earth which it illuminated. It glorified,
intensified, fulfilled the earth; so that with the sun's work incomplete, with
part of the earth illuminated and the rest lying in the darkness still, we can
most easilyconceive of the dark region looking in its half-life drowsily over to
the regionwhich was flooded with light, and saying, "There, there is the true
earth! That is the real planet. In light and not in darkness the earth truly is
itself." That is me parable of the light. And now it seems to me to be of all
importance to remember and assertallthat to be distinctly a true parable of
Christ. He says it is: "I am the Light of the world." A thousand things that
means. A thousand subtle, mystic miracles of deep and intricate relationship

betweenChrist and humanity must be enfolded in those words;but over and
behind and within all other meanings, it means this — the essentialrichness
and possibility of humanity and its essentialbelonging to Divinity. Christ is
unspeakablygreat and glorious in Himself. The glory which He had with His
Father "before the world was," ofthat we canonly meditate and wonder; but
the glory which He has had since the world was, the glory which He has had in
relation to the world, is all bound up with the world's possibilities, has all
consistedin the utterance and revelation and fulfilment of capacities which
were in the very nature of the world on which His Light has shone. Do you see
what I mean? Christ rises on a soul. Christ rises on the world. I speak in
crude and superficial language. Forthe moment I make no accountof the
deep and sacredtruth — the truth which alone is finally and absolutelytrue
— that Christ has always been with every soul and all the world. I talk in
crude and superficial words, and sayChrist comes to any soul or to the world.
What is it that happens? If the figure of the light is true, Christ when He
comes finds the soul or the world really existent, really having within itself its
holiest capabilities really moving, though dimly and darkly, in spite of all its
hindrances, in its true directions; and what He does for it is to quicken it
through and through, to sound the bugle of its true life in its ears, to make it
feel the nobleness of movements which have seemedto it ignoble, the
hopefulness of impulses which have seemedhopeless, to bid it be itself. The
little Lives which do in little ways that which the life of Jesus does completely,
the noble characters ofwhich we think we have the right to say that they are
the lights of human history, this is true also of them. They revealand they
inspire. The worthless becomes full of worth, the insignificant becomes full of
meaning at their touch. They faintly catchthe feeble reflection of His life who
is the true Light of the world, the real illumination and inspiration of
humanity. Let us then leave the figure, and try to grasp the truth in its
complete simplicity and see what some of its applications are. The truth is that
every higher life to which man comes, and especiallythe highestlife in Christ,
is in the true line of man's humanity; there is no transportation to a foreign
region. There is the quickening and fulfilling of what man by the very essence
of his nature is. The more man becomes irradiated with Divinity, the more,
not the less, truly he is man. The fullest Christian experience is simply the
fullest life. To enter into it therefore is no wise strange. The wonder and the

unnaturalness is that any child of God should live outside of it, and so in all
his life should never be himself. And yet how clearthe Bible is about it all!
How clearChrist is! It is redemption and fulfilment which He comes to bring
to man. Those are His words. There is a true humanity which is to be
restored, and all whose unattained possibilities are to be filled out. Let us see
how all this is true in various applications. Apply it first to the standards of
character. We talk of Christian characteras if it were some separate and
specialthing unattempted, unsuggestedby the human soul until it became
aware of Christ. The Christian graces are nothing but the natural virtues held
up into the light of Christ. They are made of the same stuff; they are lifted
along the same lines; but they have found their pinnacle. They have caught
the illumination which their souls desire. Manliness has not been changedinto
Godliness;it has fulfilled itself in Godliness. As soonas we understand all this,
then what a greatclearthing salvation becomes. Doesthis make smaller or
less important that greatpower of God whereby the human life passes from
the old condition to the new — the power of conversion? Certainlynot! What
task could be more worthy of the Father's power and love than this assertion
and fulfilment of His child? Greatis the powerof a life which knows that its
highest experiences are its truest experiences, thatit is most itself when it is at
its best. For it eachhigh achievement, eachsplendid vision, is a sign and token
of the whole nature's possibility, What a piece of the man was for that shining
instant, it is the duty of the whole man to be always. Whenthe hand has once
touched the rock the heart cannot be satisfieduntil the whole frame has been
drawn up out of the waves and stands firm on its two feet on the solid stone.
(Phillips Brooks, D. D.)
NoahPorter, LL. D.
Christ is this because —
I. HE BRINGS GOD NEAR AND MAKES HIM REAL TO MAN. Every
scientific discovererhalf acknowledges thatHe interprets the arrangements of

a single intelligence. And yet it is easyto leave out of view the higher relations
of scientific thinking; to stop with force and law, and not go on to the Agent
who is assumedin both. But this Atheism, now so fashionable, brings darkness
into the mind. It may not interfere with a limited department of research, but
it is always held at the expense of liberal thinking. It may now and then
perfect man as an observing machine, but it has never yet brought a ray of
light to the intellect or glow to the heart. Christ teaches no science, no
philosophy, and yet He is a Light to both, not by what He teaches but by what
He is. He simply manifests God as living and personal, and fills the universe to
the believing mind and loving soul with a sense ofHis presence. He not only
tells us of a Father in heaven, but says:"He that hath seenMe hath seenthe
Father." And thus Christ holds the attention of men in every science to truths
concerning God which science assumesand confirms.
II. HE CONFIRMSMAN'S CONFIDENCEIN MAN'S POWER TO KNOW
THE TRUTH. Christ teaches caution, docility, and a certain quality of self-
distrust; but He couples with it the quality of clearand tenacious conviction.
He knows nothing of that fashionable scepticismwhich suggeststhat
knowledge is but uncertain guess work, that thinking is a changing product of
a material organization, that the truths of one generationare the dreams of
the next. The capacityof man to know the truth, his obligationto defend it,
and if need be to die for it is positively enforcedby Christ. It is said that
Christians are committed to a creedand therefore incapable of new ideas. To
one convictionthey are committed, viz., that truth is possible and that man is
bound to attain it.
III. HE ASSERTS FOR MAN HIS TRUE DIGNITY AND HIS RIGHTFUL
PLACE IN THE UNIVERSE. In nothing has Christ wrought so signal a
revolution as in this, and that not by teaching a new philosophy, but by living
a new life and consecrating thatlife by His death. He came to save man
because man was lost, yet could be exalted to wisdom and holiness, and
therein declaredthe intrinsic worth of the lowliestin the judgment of God. He
consortedwith publicans and sinners, not because He sympathized with what
they were, but because He knew what they might become. Before Christ
man's insignificance was contrastedwith Nature's greatness;or when setin
other relations the old thinkers argued"the state, the race remains; the

individual perishes — let Him go. What is one among so many when God will
forgetevery one of us?" Christ has reversedall these estimates. He
emphasized eachman's personality by recognizing his responsibility. As
responsible he is capable of personalrights as the condition of the exercise of
his moral freedom, and the development of his character. As such he is king
over nature, being made in God's image. His educationis the supreme end for
which nature exists and societygoes on;and this educationis the story of
redemption. What we call Christian civilization is either floweror fruit of
faiths in respectto man's place in nature and the plan of God. It is proposed
to change all this. Man is the product and slave of nature, and at length its
victim. Personalityand characterare poetic abstractions;right and wrong are
the outcome of socialforces;conscience the reflex of average judgments of our
community; the right of the individual non-existent as againstsociety;our
protests againstinjustice irrational. That this new philosophy must be
inhuman in its tendency need not be argued. May God spare us when insane
enthusiasts or maddened criminals act it out. After the scenes ofhorror shall
be over and societybegin to reorganize itself, Christ will be the light of its
schools ofthought.
IV. HE IS THE LIGHT OF HUMAN CULTURE IN THAT HE BOTH
STIMULATES AND REFINES IT. So far as art and literature are concerned,
we may concede that Greece gave to the world the perfection of form; but
Christ breathed into those forms a living soul. In manners Christ has done
still more. The graces ofmodern life are the products of the unselfish,
sympathizing, forgiving, patient, Sonof Man. No sooneris Christ received
into any community than the unbought gracesoflife are a natural
consequence.But culture has its dangers. It degenerates as soonas it becomes
an end and not a means. It is substituted for duty or made an excuse for sin
often with terrific results. Some of its devotees are too dainty in their tastes to
do the work of life, and not a few sink into unmanly fastidiousness.Christ
reforms these abuses;in His schoolno man liveth or dieth to Himself, and
man is refined by the presence and approval of his Maker.
V. HE MAKES CLEAR AND POSSIBLE TO MAN ANOTHER AND A
BETTER LIFE. He has not demonstrated it to reason, but has verified it as a
fact "BecauseI live," etc. In former times men were esteemedprofound,

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