Jesus: The Blinding Light
Jesus is the Light of the World
John 1:1-9 (BSB)
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
There came a man who was sent from God. His name was John. He came as a witness to testify about the Light, so that through him everyone might believe. He himself was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light.
The true Light who gives light to every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God— children born not of blood, nor of the desire or will of man, but born of God.
Jesus is the true Light who gives light to every man. He shines in the darkness. We understand that this related to Him being the Word and bringing the truth of God to man. This truth is available to every man.
2 Timothy 1:10 (BSB)
And now He has revealed this grace through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has abolished death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the gospel,
Jesus illuminated the way to life and immortality. He did this through the gospel. Bringing the good news of salvation and reconciliation to God through grace brings light to the way to life.
2 Corinthians 4:4-6 (BSB)
The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not proclaim ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
We see again that the light is the gospel of the glory of Christ. The knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ is the light. But while the light is available for all men, the god of this age (essentially Satan) has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light.
However, we find that Jesus also blinds in a certain way.
Jesus is the Blinding Light
John 9:5-7 (BSB)
While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” When Jesus had said this, He spit on the ground, made some mud, and applied it to the man’s eyes. Then He told him, “Go, wash in the Pool of Siloam” (which means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came back seeing.
Jesus heals a blind man in John 9. He makes the connection between being the light of the world and giving sight to the blind. While He physically healed this man, He is demonstrating something spiritual. This man who had been blind could see from the clear evidence (light) who Jesus was. The Pharisees refused to look at the light.
John 9:39-41 (BSB)
Then Jesus declared, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind may see and those who see may become blind.” Some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard this, and they asked Him, “Are we blind too?” “If you were blind,” Jesus replied, “you would not be guilty of sin. But since you claim you can see, your guilt remains.”
Jesus says that He came so that the blind may see. But He also says that He came so that those who see may become blind. Surely, He does not mean that anyone who understands the truth will stop seeing. So how does He blind those who see? The Pharisees were blind in the sense that 2 Corinthians 4 spoke about. They were unbelievers, blinded by the god of this age. However, Jesus says here that they are not blind. In fact, if they were blind, they would have no sin. The blindness that Jesus brings is not an evil blindness. It does not interfere in knowing what God wants us to know. The problem of the Pharisees is that they were not blind. They said that they could see and that kept them from being blind and being healed from that blindness.
In Acts 22, Paul talks about the way that he was brought to faith in Jesus. When he talks about thist ime of his life, he was on the road to Damascus, going there to arrest those who were following Christ. Let’s pick up the story while he is on the way.
Acts 22:6-11 (BSB)
About noon as I was approaching Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?’
‘Who are You, Lord?’ I asked.
‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,’ He replied. My companions saw the light, but they could not understand the voice of the One speaking to me.
Then I asked, ‘What should I do, Lord?’
‘Get up and go into Damascus,’ He told me. ‘There you will be told all that you have been appointed to do.’
Because the brilliance of the light had blinded me, my companions led me by the hand into Damascus.
In this story, we see a physical light shining down on Paul. This is a light that even Paul’s companions could see. This light was so bright that it blinded Paul. What this is talking about is a physical thing that happened, but it represents a spiritual thing that was also happening at the same time.
Acts 22:12-16 (BSB)
There a man named Ananias, a devout observer of the law who was highly regarded by all the Jews living there, came and stood beside me. ‘Brother Saul,’ he said, ‘receive your sight.’ And at that moment I could see him.
Then he said, ‘The God of our fathers has appointed you to know His will, and to see the Righteous One, and to hear His voice. You will be His witness to everyone of what you have seen and heard. And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized, and wash your sins away, calling on His name.’
After Paul has been blinded by the light of Jesus, he is now healed from that blindness. At the same time he is learning about Jesus, the gospel, and what he needs to do to follow Jesus. So we see in the story of Paul that there is a physical thing happening that represents the spiritual thing happening. Jesus has given Paul so much evidence of who He is that Paul can no longer deny that Jesus is the Christ. Paul is now a believer, but he is blind. The difference with this blindness and the kind of blindness he had before is that he was in the darkness and did not know it. Now that Paul has been blinded by the light of Jesus, he knows that he needs to learn from Jesus. Now his eyes can be opened by Christ spiritually as well as physically as it is in the story.
If we are blind, it means that we recognize that we do not know the truth, who God is and what He wants. If we think we see, we are blind, but not in the way Jesus is talking about in John 9. In fact, we need to become blind so that our eyes can be opened and we can see the light.
As long as we already think that we know, we cannot learn. We need to look at the Bible, the word of Christ, with the attitude of humility and a willingness to learn whatever He has to tell us. When we approach the Bible with the idea that we already understand everything, we either dismiss what disagrees with what we think we already understand or we don’t even see what it says because we’re only looking for the things that we already believe to be true. We need to learn to be blind.
Luke 8:16-18 (BSB)
No one lights a lamp and covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, he sets it on a stand, so those who enter can see the light. For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be made known and brought to light.
Pay attention, therefore, to how you listen. Whoever has will be given more, but whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken away from him.”
Don’t cover up the light when Jesus is shining it through His word and the things He did. Pay attention how you listen.
Jesus has given us so much evidence of who He is, that even though we may think that we know, He helps blind us through the brilliant light that He has brought. As long as we are truly committed to following Him, we will be able to see.
John 8:12 (BSB)
Once again, Jesus spoke to the people and said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.”
We Must Become the Light of the World Also
Matthew 5:14-16 (BSB)
You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a basket. Instead, they set it on a stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
When the light of Christ has shone in our hearts, it should change us. Knowledge of the gospel and of Christ should cause us to be like Him. Just as we are not to cover the light as it shines in us (when we listen), we must not cover the light as it is supposed to shine out of us. God gets the glory because He sent the Light in the world and since that light has shone in our hearts, we do what we do because of Him.
Ephesians 5:8-14 (BSB)
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth. Test and prove what pleases the Lord.
Have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that is illuminated becomes a light itself. So it is said:
“Wake up, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
We used to be darkness, but now we are light in the Lord. So we need to live like it. We are light because the light of Christ has illuminated us. Part of the responsibility of the light is to expose deeds of darkness. We should be showing others how bad these things are and refusing to have any fellowship with them.
Jesus is the light. If we are blind, He can give us sight. If we think we see, His light is so great that it can blind us and then we can be healed. But we are still responsible for listening carefully and not covering the light. Then we we truly follow Him, we become the light as well. Let us live as children of light.