Matthew 5:14-16 (KJV) Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it gives light unto all that are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
As we explore the pronouncement of Jesus that we are the light of the world it would be good to remember John 8:12
“Then Jesus spoke to them again and said, I am the light of the world: he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”
Jesus was standing in the Temple when He spoke those words but the story of why he was chose that location goes far in explaining what He meant. He was in the Temple on the morning after a night time ceremony called the Illumination of the Temple. On that night in the Temple treasury the people would gather around four massive golden candelabra that were topped with huge torches. It is said that the candelabra were as high as the temple walls and the bowls mounted on them each held sixty-five liters of oil. When night came and darkness covered the temple a priest would climb to the wicks and light them. It is reported that the light that came from these massive oil lamps would light not only the temple but all of Jerusalem. Men would dance before the candelabra with torches in their hands singing songs and praises while countless Levites would play on harps, lyres, cymbals, and trumpets. This elaborate celebration was to commemorate the great pillar of fire that led the people of Israel as they journeyed through the wilderness. Remember that the cloud and the pillar were the glorious presence of God in the midst of the camp.
In the morning with the burned out candelabra at His back Jesus stood and proclaimed, “I am the light of the world!” This was an earth shattering announcement that could not be misunderstood. Jesus was revealing Himself as Messiah! He was the pillar of fire that came between them and the Egyptians at the Red Sea. He was the cloud by day and the pillar by night that lighted the camp and led the way. He was the cloud that filled Solomon’s Temple. He was everything that they longed for, everything they needed, everything that they had been promised. He was the Light of the World, gloriously shining in the darkness.
To know that Jesus is the Light reveals another fact. This world is in darkness. Hanging in the darkness of space there was no light until God said, “Let there be light.” The darkness of this world stifled all hope, all beauty, all life. There was not one ray, not one ember of hope that could fight back the darkness. What a vivid picture that depicts the spiritual darkness of the world that we live in today. Even worse than the spiritual darkness of this world is the fact that men intentionally live in darkness.
John told us “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”
Imagine the tragedy played out every day as people love the darkness that enslaves them so much that they reject the light sent to deliver them. This is far worse than the darkness itself. Forging through the darkness of the night just before dawn is difficult but imagine choosing to live in caves where the light cannot shine and hiding from its warmth, refusing to see. For those who seek the light we can understand the horror of Paul’s statement when he penned
“They have crucified the Lord of Glory!”
It is beyond our wildest imagination that men would try to extinguish the light.
It is in this context that we must try to understand what Jesus tells us when He proclaims that “You are the light of the world.” We cannot be the light unless we dwell in the light and the light dwells in us.
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