Our sermon Sunday was mostly about John 8:12. I thought it expedient to take a short detour from the Book of Matthew; today that one verse will be analyzed. Jesus was explaining to those around him after the escapade with the fallen woman the following:
KEY VERSE: Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” (John 8:12)
2 …The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. (Gen 1:2-4)
That was how Jesus explained to
Jews that He is the One True God whether He existed in the Person of God or in
the Spirit of God. Since Jesus is no longer with us, we again worship Him in
Spirit just as the Jews did for millennia.
However, let’s examine the key
verse more thoroughly; Jesus said “I AM” (Ego Eimi in the Greek). We now
take that declaration lightly and gloss over it when we speak. When we say “I
am hungry, I am tired, I am sleepy, I am deserving” and such, that is our ego
speaking, the part of us that is as god. Jesus was pointing out,
very modestly, to those who saw the woman accused, that they are not the gods;
that He is the Great “I AM” when Moses encountered Him. Like Moses, only Jesus
would be the Supreme Judge.
Secondly, that they are not the “light,”
but He IS. His exact word was in the Greek, “phos,” metaphorically, “of
truth and its knowledge, together with the spiritual purity associated with it”
At the Creation, Jesus was the “Bringer
of Light” to generate existence. Science uses the Greek word “phos” to
describe light bringing “phosphorus.”
On the other hand, the angel of
death, “Lucifer,” means the same thing. Jesus is the true bringer of life and
Lucifer only a false image — a “shadow” of Jesus.
The Light that Jesus revealed to
Adam was truth… eat and you will die. The so-called “light” that Lucifer
revealed was you will not die. The former was truth and the latter
deception, or “darkness.”
In the key verse, “darkness” is
where we must not walk, according to Jesus. Of course, “walk” is figurative
from the Greek transliteration, peripateo — literally to “tread around”
in life (ibid).
So, we must not live in
darkness, but what is darkness? Again, we turn to the Greek because we
know it does not mean that we must not be nocturnal like the most dangerous beasts.
That would be easy to do but somewhat paranoid. We would be like children afraid
of the dark.
God does not want us to fear the
night but fear the forces of darkness; to “be sober, be vigilant; because your
adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may
devour” (1 Pet 5:8). The “darkness” that the Devil walks in is the darkness,
not of night, but untruths and deceptions.
Darkness is not the night but
“skotia” — the unseen, or things outside the objective senses. The English
word “scotoma” has the same root as skotia — skotos.
A scotoma is “a spot in
the visual field in which vision is absent or deficient”
I saw an accident wherein a young
girl died. Her parent’s lawyer asked of me one question, “Was there anything in
your view between you and the girl’s vehicle?” to which I replied, “No.”
However, the police report indicated that there was another car between me and
her vehicle. That was a scotoma as well, not in a medical sense but
psychologically. My “truth” was false because my mind did not register what my eyes
were seeing. In psychology a scotoma is a spot in the objective field of
thought that goes unnoticed.
Sometimes, we prefer
darkness! Many put their heads in the
proverbial sand to exist. The book, Not My Kid, is the perfect example. Before
this generation, parents refused to accept the fact that their own children use
drugs. It is easier to be a parent if the illusion that it is not your child which
is the problem but 98% of the other children!
Unless the eyes of people are
corrected to see scotomas, they remain in the dark from an objective
standpoint. That is no different than the parents who construct a wall between
them and the truth. Their psychological scotoma must be revealed by accepting
the truth. They must have light shined onto their minds to reveal the truth.
Nobody likes that bright light, either from the chair of the optometrist, from the
couch of the psychologist, or the truth from the mouth of God.
Jesus revealed the scotomas of
those who accused the woman. Before he asked, “Who is without sin?” they only
saw the woman’s sin. After asking that, they all went their separate ways and
walked away because of the truth that they all were sinners. The “Tekton,”
removed the malady from their eyes by making them see the truth. They walked
away but with better inner vision. The scotoma that prevented them to see
themselves in a proper light was removed by the Word of God.
There was an “original sin” and
the Tekton performed the same “surgery” so to speak.
The first scotoma caused original
sin. Eve (the female Adam) had only the knowledge of good. Evil was the scotoma
of which she was unaware because it was not in her range of knowledge. She was
not conscious of wrongdoers or wrongdoings.
“The serpent was more subtil than
any beast of the field which the Lord God had made” (Gen 3:1). Literally, where
translated “serpent,” it is nahas (image)
Lucifer, with his body of knowledge,
knew how to create blind spots. He was not a bringer of light at all but
the bringer of darkness. Eve saw the bright angel, but the image was
hidden out of her field of vision. The “serpent” was not an animal at all but
the image of the alien “Beast” — the dark angel, Lucifer. The image was there
all the time, in the “shadow” (Jungian) of Lucifer. In other words, the “Serpent”
is not a snake at all but the nature of the angel of Lucifer.
That nature remains in us due to
the original sin of Eve. We have that same scotoma in our natures that must be
removed. Jesus came to re-engender sinful mankind to escape from our selves. No
longer is it “I am” but He IS God!
That the cunning nature of
Lucifer is what she could neither see nor understand was the scotoma in the
eyes and mind of Eve.
Jesus fixed that… sort of. Rather
than repairing her limited vision and increasing her knowledge, God put onto
her and Adam coats of skin (Gen 3:21). Some believe that those were skins from
lambs that God killed as a blood sacrifice for their sin, but I see it as the “Comforter”
— the same Spirit of God that Christians “wear” today, according to Jesus, “I
will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may
abide with you forever” (John 14:6).
We still all have scotomas as
sinful beings who are depraved, but “wearing” the coat of the “Lamb of God,”
Jesus, is our protection. His Word allows us to see the entire field of vision
and thoughts. His Spiritual “Coat” reveals the truth and exposes scotomas of
the eye, of the flesh, and of the mind.
One of the worst scotomas exists
in the flesh. Every nuclear cell in our bodies contain lusts in our DNA. The
only way to expose the scotoma of lust is to be born again with the nature of
God in us — to be changed in the twinkling of the eye from an old creature to a
new one, and again in the very image of God; not a perfect image until the
flesh is changed as well at the rapture.
We all lust. The men who ostracized
the adulterous woman lusted as well, probably even as they accused her, they wanted
her. The first step in regeneration is for the scotoma of the flesh to be
revealed to the mind. Jesus did that by asking, “Who is without sin?” There was
none but Him alone!
We all, even Christians, walk as
if we are without sin. We all have that same scotoma. That is the cunning of
the Serpent that still lurks in our genes. He put a scotoma in our minds that
we are without sin or even if we live in sin, God is so gracious that there
will be no death for us!
John baptized for repentance
to obtain the remission of sins. Before anyone can repent, the scotoma must be
recognized, I have sinned and come short of the glory of God… I am not pure and
holy at all as I might seem to be but hidden inside is a genome that I cannot
rid myself of. Jesus can do it! He can change who you are.
(picture credit: Banshee)
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