Chapter 51—“The Light of Life”
This chapter is based on
John 8:12-59
;
John 9
.
“Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the
world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have
the light of life.”
When He spoke these words, Jesus was in the court of the temple
specially connected with the services of the Feast of Tabernacles. In
the center of this court rose two lofty standards, supporting lampstands
of great size. After the evening sacrifice, all the lamps were kindled,
shedding their light over Jerusalem. This ceremony was in commem-
oration of the pillar of light that guided Israel in the desert, and was
also regarded as pointing to the coming of the Messiah. At evening
when the lamps were lighted, the court was a scene of great rejoicing.
Gray-haired men, the priests of the temple and the rulers of the people,
united in the festive dances to the sound of instrumental music and the
chants of the Levites.
In the illumination of Jerusalem, the people expressed their hope
of the Messiah’s coming to shed His light upon Israel. But to Jesus the
scene had a wider meaning. As the radiant lamps of the temple lighted
up all about them, so Christ, the source of spiritual light, illumines the
darkness of the world. Yet the symbol was imperfect. That great light
which His own hand had set in the heavens was a truer representation
of the glory of His mission.
It was morning; the sun had just risen above the Mount of Olives,
and its rays fell with dazzling brightness on the marble palaces, and
[464]
lighted up the gold of the temple walls, when Jesus, pointing to it, said,
“I am the light of the world.”
By one who listened to these words, they were long afterward re-
echoed in that sublime passage, “In Him was life; and the life was the
light of men. And the light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness
apprehended it not.” “That was the true light, which lighteth every man
that cometh into the world.”
John 1:4, 5
, R. V.,
9
. And long after Jesus
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