The second “I AM” statement of Jesus is found in John 8:12 where He says, “I AM (what you need me to be) the LIGHT OF THE WORLD. He who follows Me shall not walk IN DARKNESS, but have the light of life.”
The sin problem is described here as darkness—man in spiritual darkness would need God to be his Light!
This metaphor of “Light” is gotten from the Old Testament. First of all, from the Exodus, where God led Israel through a pillar of fire:
Exodus 13:21-22 (NKJV)
21 And the Lord WENT BEFORE THEM by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to GIVE THEM LIGHT, so as to go by day and night. 22 He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people.
Being a type, the Exodus would point to a future fulfillment—JUST AS God led His people from Egypt to the promised land by the light, IN THE SAME WAY, He leads men in darkness to salvation by His Christ. The Exodus is thus the story of salvation in a mystery (a travelling from death and bondage to the Kingdom of Light).
See how the Apostle Paul says this in Colossians 1:12-14: giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints IN THE LIGHT. He has DELIVERED US (that’s the Exodus) FROM the power of darkness (typified by Egypt) and CONVEYED US into the kingdom of the Son of His love, (the Promised Land) in whom we have REDEMPTION (freedom because a price was paid) through His blood, the forgiveness (“aphesis” in the Greek— release) of sins. (NKJV)
So the Light of Jesus is that which rescues men from darkness! That speaks of salvation!
Also, you find that the Suffering Servant passages in Isaiah speak of this Light:
Isaiah 42:6 (NKJV)
6 “I, the Lord, have called You in righteousness,
And will hold Your hand;
I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people,
As a LIGHT to the Gentiles,
Isaiah 49:6 (NKJV)
6 Indeed He says,
‘It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant
To raise up the tribes of Jacob,
And to restore the preserved ones of Israel;
I will also give You AS A LIGHT to the Gentiles,
That You should be MY SALVATION to the ends of the earth.’”
These texts apply to Jesus, the true Israel of God. So Jesus comes as the Light to men in darkness.
“Darkness” in the Bible often refers to what opposes God, or what is not in God’s plan. If God is Light, then anything far from God would be darkness. This is why the realm of Satan is called the authority of darkness. (Not physical darkness but the spiritual).
Jesus is therefore that Light Who shines in the darkness to save the lost.
See how John describes Him in John 1:4-5
John 1:4-5 (NKJV)
4 In Him was LIFE, and the LIFE was THE LIGHT OF MEN. (His life is His Light) 5 And the light SHINES IN the DARKNESS, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
Being the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy, men in darkness can now believe on Him to become sons of the Light:
John 12:35-36 (NKJV)
35 Then Jesus said to them, “A little while longer THE LIGHT is with you. Walk while you have THE LIGHT, lest DARKNESS OVERTAKE YOU; he who WALKS IN DARKNESS does not know where he is going. 36 While you have the light, BELIEVE IN THE LIGHT, that you may become SONS OF LIGHT .” These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them.
So if sin is described as “darkness,” then God’s salvation in Christ is Light.
© Josh Banks Ministries. 2022.
