This series is based on the Gospel of John, the third chapter verses 15-21.  This very important passage involves three words found in the passage: “faith,” “light” and “works” which, together, form the basis for salvation.  In the first posting we studied what God says about FAITH (belief), specifically, how it has been MISUNDERSTOOD and transformed into a license to sin by ungodly and condemned men as the Apostle Jude noted had already happened in the church of his day (vs 4).  Nothing has changed except the extent to which the heresy has spread throughout professing Christendom.  At the time that Jude was writing His epistle–between 70 and 80 A.D.– the error had not been embraced by the entire church.  God had His faithful remnant who clung to His Word in spite of the mounting pressure to alter it.  Today God’s remnant makes up less than 1% of professing Christianity.  These are His true saints, His Very Elect who remain true to His Word (Mat. 7:13,14) in the face of billions of church people who hate the Scriptures and their Author (Lk. 10:17).  In this posting we will study what the Almighty says about His LIGHT which, as the series heading reveals, has been REJECTED by the other 99% of professing Christendom.

In verse 17 of the focal passage we find Jesus explaining to a Pharisee named Nicodemus that He had come into the world so that the world could receive salvation “THROUGH HIM.”  It is important that we understand the exact wording found in that Truth.  “THROUGH HIM” is stated in other places as “IN HIM.”  One must be “in” Christ in order to arrive at the Kingdom of God “through” Him.   Words such as “through” and “in” are symbols.  Symbolism plays a big part in Biblical writing.  For example, the entire Book of Revelation is symbolic, as was much of the Book of Daniel.  Jesus used symbolism extensively in His earthly proclamations.  He Himself is described symbolically as a mountain, a lamb, the Word, the way, the Truth, the life, etc.  Therefore I feel free to use a symbolic mountain to clarify the meaning of “through Him” and “in Him” as they are presented in Scripture.

Salvation-seeking man stands at the side of a mountain.  On the other side of the mountain salvation awaits the man who can find his way to it.  The seeker has two choices: He can meet the very stringent requirements that must be met in order to walk through the “strait gate” God has placed at the mouth of an opening at the base of the mountain.   After passing through the gate, he can enter a tunnel which, though narrow, is well lighted (Mat. 7:13,14).  The “strait” (difficult) gate can be entered only after the seeker has crucified the “old, sinning man”–his former, pre-conversion life (Rom. 6:6-18) and has allowed God to create a “new man” in His spiritual image (Col 3:9,10).  Then the seeker would receive His Holy Spirit with which to resist the “fiery darts” of temptation (Eph. 6:16) Satan will cast at him during his walk “through” the mountain along the winding path, being sure to obey the well-defined instructions posted along the way.  Those instructions can be summed up in one statement: OBEY GOD’S WORD.  This is the way God’s Very Elect choose to WALK.  It is the way Christ walked while on earth, thereby qualifying to be God’s Messiah (1 Jn. 2:6).

The salvation seeker has another option.  He can choose a much easier way to reach what is advertised as salvation.  He can ride one of the comfortable, air conditioned trollies (churches, denomination, faiths, etc.) Satan has provided which, his prophets proclaim, will CARRY the seeker to a destination his prophets call “heaven.”  Satan’s people choose to RIDE rather than walk (1 Jn. 2:6).  Adam and Eve were the first humans to ride his trolley.  He assured them that they could do whatever they wished and “You shall not surely die.”  They could defy God, partake of the forbidden fruit and live forever in the paradise God had prepared for them.  Sound familiar?  If not, attend any church anywhere on earth and you will hear one of Satan’s false prophets make the same promises the devil made to Adam and Eve.

In order to get from the starting point (conversion) to the promised destination (salvation) by way of God’s tunnel the seeker must enter and remain “IN” the tunnel during his journey.  By doing so his walk will take him “THROUGH” the mountain in which there is no darkness, only light.  At all times during the WALK he will be following the printed instructions provided for him (the Holy Bible).  One must walk “IN” the well-lighted tunnel in order to pass “THROUGH” the mountain.  Which brings us to the “light.”

In verse 19 of the focal passage Jesus explained that He had come into the world as God’s “LIGHT.”  Unfortunately, men loved Satan’s darkness and hated God’s Light because they lived in sin, which was exposed by that Light.  As Jesus said, because their “DEEDS” were evil they did them under cover of darkness.  More on those deeds and the darkness that hides them in the next posting.

In John 1:7 we are told that Jesus walks “in” the light and that we must walk “in” that same light in the same manner as does He in order to receive salvation upon His return.  Then in 9:5 He says to His disciples who would carry His Word to the world: “As long as I am in the world, “I AM” the light of the world.”  In Matthew 5:14-16 we find Him telling them, “YOU ARE” the light of the world.”  What is this LIGHT He is talking about?  We will take a round-about path to answer that question.

John calls Jesus “the Word” in John 1:1-4,14.  Jesus calls Himself the “Truth” in John 14:6.  In John 17:17 He states that God’s “Word” is “Truth.”  The pattern is unmistakable: the Word of God is the Truth of God.  But what does that have to do with the “LIGHT?”

Jesus told the disciples (and us) that, while He lived as a man, HE was the light of the world.  He also told the disciples that (while they were living as men) THEY were the light of the world.  Christ’s disciples were 12 different, individual beings.  He asked the Father to “… make them (the disciples) ONE as We are ONE.”  God and Jesus comprised two separate, individual beings.  How can God and Christ, as well as the 12 disciples be ONE?  There had to be a unifying factor that made, in one case, two separate beings, and in another case 12 separate beings. “ONE.”  What was it that bound them together into one entity?  What was it that Jesus had that made Him the “light?”  What did the disciples have that made them the “light.”  Notice that He referred to “THE” light, not lights.  What was the factor that made more than one being a single SPIRITUAL entity?”

A clue to the answer is found in Matthew 5:14-16 where Jesus is speaking to the disciples, telling them that they were the light of the world, that they were not to hide their light, but to elevate it so that others could perceive that light as it was manifested through their “good WORKS.”  Those WORKS would glorify God.  Now we see that the LIGHT and WORKS go hand-in-hand.  So what is that light?

The light that God, Christ, the disciples of old and God’s true saints today all have is THE WORD/TRUTH/GOSPEL/LAW OF GOD.  God’s Word is His light.  This is the same light which Jesus, His ancient prophets and apostles and His present day ministers all possess and proclaim.  This is the light that He reveals to them privately, then tells them to speak it publicly.  They are to “preach it from the housetops.”  Thanks to the printing press, radio, t.v. and the internet, that commission is being carried out now, in the final days of this age.  This is the fulfillment of Christ’s prophecy found in Matthew 24:14: “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the would for a witness unto all nations, and then the end will come.” The gospel of the coming Kingdom of God on earth is being preached throughout the world.  You are among the minutely few who choose to hear it.  Those with spiritual ears will receive that light, believe it and obey it.  They will put the old man to death, allow God to created a new man in their temple (body), enter the Lord’s strait gate (church) and walk the Lord’s narrow tunnel lighted by His Holy Scriptures until Christ returns.  Those who reject His light/Word will remain on Satan’s trolley system lighted by church doctrine–the dark cloud within which “Sinners Saved By Grace” do their “works.”  The protective “building” within which the darkness resides is the Counterfeit Church, that two-headed religious serpent called Catholicism and Protestantism.  L.J.