The Witness to the Light, The Light, The Response
After John’s preamble, he focuses in on the Light. He records for his readers details surrounding the true Light. This writing of John, depicts a man who is the witness to the Light, another who is the Light and the response of His world to the Light.
“That was the true Light which gives light to every man who comes into the world”
The Witness
First of all, John writes about the witness to the light. Simple and straightforward, he writes, “there was a man, sent from God, whose name was John”. If we want to know the history of this John’s life we go to the Book of Luke. If we want to know his ministry, we can go to the Book of Matthew. Here however the apostle John’s focuses on the mission of the man named John. He came for a witness. His purpose in this life was to showcase the Light. He desired all mankind, through the Light, to believe. John did not claim to be the Light. He claimed only to be a witness.
The Light
Secondly, he writes of the true Light. In Genesis, even before the sun was created there was light. In Revelation 21:23 we read “And the city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God, illuminated it, and the lamb is its light”. This Light gives light to every man that comes into the world, everyone. Yet, He arrives in the world He created with the words of His mouth without recognition.
The Responders
Finally he writes of the response to the Light. God had prepared a people. He called out Abraham and David and promised a Messiah through them the Jewish people and a light to the Gentiles. It the fullness of time. Jesus comes, born into the Jewish community. His reception? John tells his readers He came to His own. They did not receive Him. His own reject Him.
This, however, was not the end of the story. Anyone; Jew or non-Jew, man, woman, or child, who received Him was given the authority to become children of God. Anyone who received Him, believed in His name, its power, and its revelation became a child of God. The ability to become children of God does not come to us naturally. It is not determined by our natural birth in the flesh, it has nothing to do with our physical conception. This birth is from God. It is revealed through the Light of the world – Jesus. One need only receive Him and believe on His name.
Thus, in John chapter one, we read of a man who is the witness, another Who is the Light and the response of His world to the Light.