Sunday Devotional: John 1:4-5

⁴ In him was life, and this life was the light of men; ⁵ and the light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not overtaken it.

John continues his description of the Word who was with God in the beginning in a face-to-face relationship, while also being God (1:1-2), and who is the agent of creation (1:3). He says that the Word had life in him. By this, he doesn’t just mean that the Word was alive, just as you and I have life and can therefore breathe and work and go shopping. Rather, the life that was in the Word was “the light of men.” We see “light” and “darkness” contrasted often in John’s Gospel, here being the first occasion. What John is saying is a profound and important truth, a foundational truth to understanding the gospel and the mission of Jesus. Since the fall, we have been walking around in darkness. Sin has extinguished the light of spiritual truth by which we would readily come to Jesus and serve the Lord. This is why there is so much evil in the world, as man’s darkened heart does whatever is right in its own eyes. There is no love of God, no love of His truth, no love for fellow creatures. Every day we see hate, bitterness, anger, disdain for the things of God, animosity toward God’s people, moral degeneration–and that’s just on Twitter! A dark, dark shadow has consumed the souls of men, and nothing in this world can break its hold. Indeed, fallen mankind enjoys the darkness too much to want to let go (1 John 1:5-7).

The life that Jesus brings to mankind, however, is light-giving life. Jesus’s light can break the hold of darkness and flood men’s souls like turning on the floodlights over a football field. The players don’t have to worry about being able to see the ball or being able to see the posts to make a field goal, even when they’re playing late in the evening in winter. The floodlights are so bright, that they consume every dark spot bringing clarity where there was once confusion, and the game can be played as if it was the middle of the day.

Jesus’s light is gospel light and gospel life. It breaks through the darkness of our hearts, exposes our sin, and turns us into repenting and believing lovers of God. The life-giving light of Jesus melts our anger, softens our hearts, and causes us to bear the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22-23)–the fruit we were originally designed to bear for the glory of God. Let’s not forget that God’s first creative act in Genesis 1 was to bring light to a darkened universe. The gospel light of Jesus creates in us life, true life with hearts whose chief desire is to please the Lord.

Finally, notice that this light not only drives away the darkness but is not affected by the darkness. The verb “overtake” in verse 5 has among its meanings, to take for oneself, to make one’s own, or to seize. I think the idea here is that the darkness has not and cannot consume the light. It cannot take ownership of the light and make it darkness, or use the light for its own purposes. That light is the gospel light of Jesus, and when it enlightens the soul, that soul is forever enlightened. It belongs to the light and can never be snatched away. Sure, the darkness will try to encroach and try to steal some of the joy of your salvation. But it will never finally succeed.

Do you have this life? Has Jesus’s gospel light brought that life to your soul, driving away the darkness, and giving you the joy and peace that only he can give? If not, I pray that the Lord would cause His face to shine upon you, even today.