John began his gospel with imagery to show how creation tied to salvation. This devotional reading looks at the the connections between the Word, Light, darkness, and life.
Nuggets
- Yeshua was present and working at creation.
- The Word and Light are connected.
- If the Word did not give life, nothing would live — and without His life, we remain spiritually dead.
- The opposite of Light is darkness.
- Jehovah is Sovereign God, meaning He is sovereign over Satan as well.
In the last devotion, we saw that Yeshua was present at creation alongside Jehovah. Now John shows us what that means — that everything was created through Him, and that His life brings Light into the darkness.
The Word has two purposes with regard to creation. The first is that it serves as a record of what occurred.
The second purpose is to interpret creation and life. John used light and darkness to give that interpretation in the next three verses.
John showed how the Word, through Light defeating darkness, brings life.
Let's Put It into Context
To read devotions in The Battle for the Heart theme
Devotions in the Preparing for the Christ Child series
Created Everything Through Yeshua
“God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him” (Jn. 1: 3 NLT)
Yeshua was present and working at creation.
However it was created, Jehovah created the universe. Jehovah purposed creation, Yeshua carried it out, and the Holy Spirit was actively present in the work.
This is highlighted more in the Hebrew than the Greek. The Greek translates to through him – just as used in the New Living Translation.
However, the Hebrew word, al-yado (עַל־יָדוֹ), means by and through. Jehovah worked by Yeshua as Yeshua carried out Jehovah’s plan.. We would think of that more as by His hand.
It was like my supervisor once on her performance evaluation. She included a couple of projects I had completed by myself. She put them on her evaluation to her supervisor because I had completed them at her direction.
We just looked at several verses in Proverbs 8. Let’s look at a couple of more.
“I was there when he established the heavens, when he drew the horizon on the oceans. I was there when he set the clouds above, when he established springs deep in the earth. I was there when he set the limits of the seas, so they would not spread beyond their boundaries. And when he marked off the earth’s foundations, I was the architect at his side. I was his constant delight, rejoicing always in his presence. And how happy I was with the world he created; how I rejoiced with the human family!” (Prov 8: 27-31 NLT emphasis added).
In everything that Jehovah created, Yeshua was right here by His side. Yeshua not only existed, but Jehovah worked through Him to organize and actively make everything.
Let’s take a second and look at what an architect really does.
An architect does more than just draw the pictures of what is to be built. Before he ever puts pencil to paper, he has to understand how it will be lived in. He has to see the whole picture first:
- What is the building for?
- Who is going to use it?
- How many people will move through it – and how?
In other words, it is his job to figure out the life of the building. How are people going to experience it?
Then, when he begins to design, he ensures it holds together and makes sense. Function has to take precedence over appearance.
Yeshua is the perfect architect. He did not just design the place we will one day inhabit. He designed the pathway that leads us to Jehovah.
The structure that Yeshua was building in creation was Sovereign God’s truth. We each come to it through different explanations, but the structure itself does not change. That is where the personalized aspect of salvation meets the unchanging truth of Jehovah.
Erskine articulated the doctrine that supports that. He wrote, “That as Christ is the everlasting God, so, from all eternity, He was foreordained and set up for the great service of man’s redemption.”
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Yeshua is the message and Messenger of the Gospel. He is the entire meaning itself, and the Gospel is how He communicates that meaning to us.
In Elaine-speak, if Christ created everything, then nothing that He made can harm His kingdom.
Yeshua, as Creator, is in control of creation. He is the architect and the plan.
Yeshua as Light and Life-Giver
“The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone” (Jn. 1: 4 NLT)
The Word as Light
The Word and Light are connected.
In Yeshua’s time, Jews saw themselves as sons of the Light. They believed they were faithful and obedient to the Torah, walking a path that aligned with Jehovah’s purposes.
First-century Jews recognized the connection of the Word, Light, and darkness. Jehovah used the Word as a form of self-disclosure.
The Word – dvar in Hebrew and memra (מֵימְרָא) in Aramaic – describes how Jehovah creates, reveals, judges, and saves. Light – אוֹר (אוֹר) – and darkness – choshekh (חֹשֶׁךְ) – were seen as deeply theological categories.
In other words, Jehovah reveals Himself through Yeshua as the Word and the Light – Yeshua is both.
A Second Temple Jewish understanding was that Sovereign God spoke, appeared, or acted through the memra. Therefore, when referring to Jehovah taking some form of action, they would say, “The Memra of the Lord did such and such.”
We know the prophets used this phrase – the word of the Lord – to identify revelations from Jehovah.
- “Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying,” (Jer. 1: 4 ESV)
- “The word of the Lord came to me:” (Ezek. 36: 16 ESV).
Jehovah reveals Himself to us through the Word.
Gave Life to Everything
If the Word did not give life, nothing would live – and without His life, we remain spiritually dead.
The Word is the source of life and gave life to everything.
Everything that exists received its life from Him.
The life the Word gives is not just physical – it is life that leads to salvation. It goes beyond mere existence to spiritual life.
The Word shines light on humans to give them life. It enters the darkness and illuminates all who will look on it.
The life that the Word gives is salvation.
Life Brought Light
As we saw before, the light Jehovah calls forth in Genesis is not merely physical – it was Yeshua, the true Light, Who entered the world.
The first thing Jehovah introduced after He created the heavens and earth was light. His exact words were, “Then God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light” (Gen. 1: 3 NLT).
As we saw before, it was spiritual light – it was Yeshua.
- “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world …” (Jn. 8: 12 ESV).
- “The light shines in the darkness …” (Jn. 1: 5 ESV).
- “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Ps. 119: 105 ESV).
- “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (Jn. 9: 5 ESV).
- “The Lord is my light and my salvation …” (Ps. 27: 1 ESV).
- “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light ….” (Isa. 9: 2 ESV).
This is also seen at the end of God’s Word. “… They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light …” (Rev. 22: 5 ESV).
Light and dark are contrasts. Light represents life, order, truth, and the presence of God. Darkness represents chaos, death, ignorance, and judgment.
But it goes a step beyond that. Jehovah reveals Himself through the light. In this way, the hidden things will become visible.
The Battle for the Heart
When we think about the ongoing battle for our hearts, light and darkness describe the condition of our hearts – both morally and spiritually.
Allen described the contrast this way. He wrote, “When Christianity is not, there are darkness and death; where Christianity is, there are light and life.”
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Each of us is born with a part that recognizes our Creator. When sin entered the world – and our lives – it goes to the darkest spot within us – our hearts. “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” (Jer. 17: 9 NLT)
Jehovah created the heavens and earth, bringing the Word. The Word breaks through the darkness as Light.
Without Light, there is darkness and death. With Light, there is light and life.
Darkness
“The light shines in the darkness ...” (Jn. 1: 5 NLT)
The opposite of Light is darkness.
The Hebrew word used here for darkness is choshekh (חֹשֶׁךְ), which leads to death and destruction. It is more than just the absence of light.
Darkness is equated to sin. It is the absence of the life that comes from being apart from the Word.
If Satan is darkness – choshekh (חֹשֶׁךְ) – then Jesus is Light – or (אוֹר).
Darkness takes away our ability to see. Satan does that by trying to blind us to the truth of the Gospel. He takes away the sharpness with which we hear and understand God is telling us.
“Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe …” (II Cor. 4: 4 NLT).
In other words, Satan tries to make us ignorant of God’s Word.
Darkness, as we said, is more than just an absence of light. It is also a spiritual absence – an absence of goodness and virtue.
Think about when light meets darkness. Sometimes, the light dispels the darkness. But other times, shadows are created.
Shadows are dangerous because they don’t remove the light – they distort it.
Depending on their strength, they can corrupt our perception of the light. They remove texture and color – the nuances. We begin to see something that looks true but is not.
Shadows in our hearts are where we keep a place for Satan to get a toehold in our lives and sin to take root. It is where we either have compromised with the world, or we have kept our hearts closed instead of surrendering our will to Jehovah.
We cannot make God’s Word fit our preconceived notions without distorting it.
This is where the struggle takes place. We may not always recognize it, but there is a battle between light and darkness within us.
We see hints of this even in everyday life. During the winter months, the absence of sunlight affects how people feel. As children, we are afraid of what we can’t see in the dark.
Spiritually, the same is true.
Darkness clouds, distorts, and pulls away from the truth.
But thanks be to God – He leads us out of the darkness through the light of redemption and forgiveness.
Never Extinguish It
“… and the darkness can never extinguish it” (J. 1: 5 NLT)
Jehovah is Sovereign God, meaning He is sovereign over Satan as well.
Jehovah has plans and works His plans. “… It will all happen as I have planned. It will be as I have decided” (Isa. 14: 24 NLT).
Satan’s defeat has already been declared. “Then the devil … was thrown into the fiery lake …” (Rev. 20: 10 NLT).
Satan’s defeat is part of the plan.
True. Satan currently isn’t fully defeated. He is still allowed his victories. “And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel” (Gen. 3: 15 emphasis added).
But that was never going to be the final outcome.
The Light shines in the darkness – and the darkness can’t overcome it.
Making the Connections #1
Ryle was correct. These verses slammed the door shut on three heretical arguments.
- John showed Yeshua was not inferior to Jehovah.
- He showed Yeshua was separate from Jehovah.
- He showed Yeshua was God and man.
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These arguments are crucial to be found and won if we are going to believe in Yeshua as our Savior. If we can’t believe these, the doctrines following will be harder to believe.
Making the Connections #2
Remember, Jews saw themselves as sons of the light. John challenged that.
Yeshua is Creator (v. 3), life-giver (v. 4), and Light (v. 5). We can’t be sons and daughters of light if we don’t have the Light within us.
Light v. darkness isn’t abstract – it defines who we are.
Yeshua has authority over us, regardless of whether we are believers or non-believers.
Melvill called for us to be cautious. He wrote,
“The theology of conscience, creation, tradition, type, fade away from the revelation of these last days. The true light now [shines]. How? Men are insensible to it. By placing men under a variety of dispensations God would prove that no amount of light will suffice to illuminate fallen creatures unless the Holy Spirit purge the sight.”
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Only Yeshua through the workings of the Holy Spirit can reach those darkest places within our darkest places because He is the true Light.
Making the Connections #3
“The light shines in the darkness and the darkness can never extinguish it” (Jn. 1: 5 NLT)
Satan may be the prince of this world (Jn. 12: 31), but people have not been given over to him. He must fight for us.
Satan doesn’t want to give up those dark places in our hearts. Yeshua as the Good Shepherd (Jn. 10: 11) wants to wrestle us back into His fold.
That makes our hearts the battlefields. This is what we call spiritual warfare. We may know some of these battles are raging within us.
We don’t know about all of them.
It comes down to this question – what is the condition of our hearts? Are we sons and daughters of light, or are we sons and daughters of darkness?
Don’t miss what verse 5 is telling us. This is a strong declaration of victory in the war against Satan.
Satan can’t win – unless we let him win the battle. Satan can’t win the war, but he can gain ground in the battles if we refuse to surrender to Yeshua.
If we do not allow Yeshua to fight the battle for us, we will lose the spiritual war – but Yeshua won’t.
What helps us allow Yeshua to battle Satan for us?
- We can’t make God’s Word fit our preconceived notions without distorting it.
- Before we surrender our lives to Yeshua, we are filled with darkness. When we allow Him into our hearts and lives, we are filled with Light.
- Light and dark are contrasts. Light represents life, order, truth, and the presence of God. Darkness represents chaos, death, ignorance, and judgment.
The choice is up to us. Choose wisely.
Making the Connections #4
It is true that Yeshua’s light shines on our lives, covering the good and the bad. We can try to rely on our own morality and abilities.
Only through Yeshua can we find the way, truth, and life. Jehovah reveals Him to us through the Holy Spirit.
I like what Allen said. In Elaine-speak, he said
- Each word spoken and every emotion Jehovah reveals to us conveys life flawless goodness.
- Complete holiness merges with compassion, resulting in perfection.
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Jehovah will reveal to us Who He is.
Even after we surrender our lives to Yeshua, disciples still sin. That doesn’t take away our moral character. It may tarnish our moral character until we repent and turn everything over to Jehovah.
But if our hearts are aligned with Jehovah, we are still His. It isn’t because we do the do’s and don’t do the don’ts.
We remain Jehovah’s after we commit another sin because our hearts are in the right condition.
How Do We Apply This?
- Trust in the Being Who is Creator of all things.
- Step into the Light.
- Stop reshaping Truth.
- Stop allowing distortions to pull us away from Jehovah.
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Father God. Thank You for being concerned about the condition of our hearts. More importantly, thank You for sending Yeshua as Light in this world to save us from our sins — the darkness. Amen.
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