The opening of John’s first letter is full of remarkable statements about earth-shattering realities. He speaks of the life that was manifested to the disciples and clarifies it as the eternal life. I have a life, and you have a life. The ant has a life, and the deer has another life. But for every living thing we know, its life is very fragile, dependent on many conditions and elements and circumstances to keep it going, and without variation, each life has a beginning and an end. John’s earth-shattering statement is that he has experienced the life – the life that is from the beginning, the eternally-existing life, without a beginning and knowing no end, self-sustaining and dependent on nothing else. The eternal life is indestructible and unstoppable. John declares, “This life came to us in such a way that we were able to touch it, see it, and hear it speak to us!” This eternal life is Jesus Christ.
The unthinkable happened. The very life of the true, living God made Himself tangible in our finite, sin-stained world. By all rights, this should never be. It is an act of immeasurable grace and mercy from God.
But John goes further to tell us of the nature of this life. In experiencing Jesus, he saw that God is light. What are the attributes of light? When light shines, it does two things: it makes everything exposed and visible, and it also casts out darkness. John defines the "darkness" for us when he writes, “if…we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth” (1 John 1:6). Lies and practicing of sin are the defining factors of spiritual darkness. When spiritual light is received, everything is naturally seen for what it really is. Walking in the darkness means there is something we do not want to see as it really is. We have rejected the light of God, at least in part, and the only alternative is darkness, of course. In this state, we cannot see things as they truly are, so we believe lies and begin telling lies. Our reception of lies over truth, darkness over light, leads to practicing sin. We hide like Adam and Eve hid after the awareness of their sin brought guilt to their consciences. They preferred to keep their deeds hidden rather than let the light of God expose them.
We must realize that to do right is to “practice the truth”; to sin is actually to put a lie into practice! The result of not practicing truth will always be a desire to hide things. But when we obey the truth, the end result is precious fellowship with God as His light shines on us, without fears or secrets. That is why the Lord tells us, if we are in that state of walking in darkness, but say, “Hey, I know the Lord,” we are lying. As we receive Jesus and walk with Him, our lying and practicing of sin will come to an end, because the light naturally casts out all of that darkness. Today, if you are struggling with darkness, the answer is not to swat your fists at it, but rather to let the light of Jesus shine on you.
Pastor Alex
Teaching Pastor
The Rock Church