The Light of Life
(week 45/05)
Olubi Johnson
John 1:4-5 NKJV: In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
John 8:12 NKJV: Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.“
In these scriptures above, we learn about the ‘light of life’.
What is life and what is the ‘light’ of life?
The life of God is the spiritual substance or ‘liquid’ that flows inside God: just like blood flows inside the physical body, life or living water (Jn. 4.10, 14; Rev. 22.1), as the scripture describes it, flows inside God.
The Greek word translated life is the word ‘Zoe’ and it also translated eternal life or everlasting life.
It is the very substance inside God that makes God, God.
John 5:25-26 NKJV: For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself
It is what enters us when we get born-again and so makes us children of God: partakers of the divine nature.
1 John 5:10-12 NIV: And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
Now, since Zoe is divine life it inherently contains all divine attributes: wisdom, love and power.
It is the knowledge, understanding and wisdom that God gives by the impartation of His life that is called light:
Daniel 5:14 NKJV: I have heard of you, that the Spirit of God is in you, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom are found in you.
It is vital that Christians know that they have access to the life of God and thus to the light of life and can develop to such a great measure that we become signs and wonders to our generation like Daniel and Joseph were to their generation:
Daniel 1:17 KJV: As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom:
Genesis 41:38-39 NKJV: And Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God?” 39 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Inasmuch as God has shown you all this, there is no one as discerning and wise as you.
Most Christians are ignorant of the reality of the life of God in them and how it brings light: knowledge, understanding, wisdom and creativity to their minds.
In fact, because of ignorance and evil motives the light in us becomes darkness because our evil ‘eye’ or will does not allow the life in our spirits to shine into our minds:
Luke 11:34-36 NKJV: The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness. 35 Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness. 36 If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, the whole body will be full of light, as when the bright shining of a lamp gives you light.”
John 7:16-17 NKJV: If anyone wants to do His will, he shall know—
Notice how our willingness to do the will of God causes us to know.
It is a fact of history that in societies where the Word of God is released in the free preaching, speaking and practice of the Bible, wisdom, creativity and scientific advancement always follows:
After the Lutheran reformation (1517) in Germany we see Leibniz (1646-1716) developing the calculus (1675).
Independently and about the same time as the liberty of the Word of God spread into England, Isaac Newton (1666) discovers the laws of motion and the calculus.
With the revival of the Wesley brothers (1739-1800) in England, came the industrial revolution (1750-1900) which, because of the ongoing revival, originated in England and then spread to the rest of Europe and America.
About the time of the Pentecostal revival (1901-1910) the world received the invention of the radio valve by Sir Ambrose Fleming (1904) the principle of which all radios, televisions and computers work, wireless radio transmission across the Atlantic by Marconi (1901), the photo electric effect and special theory of relativity by Albert Einstein (1905) and the airplane by the Wright brothers (1903).
This is all happened even through men who were not all necessarily professing Christians because the light of life was being released into the air by Word of God through revival in the church, causing the city or nation to be exalted:
Psalms 119:130 NKJV: The entrance of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple.
Proverbs 10:11 NIV: The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life
Prov 11:11 NKJV: By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted,
Now it is instructive to note that key breakthroughs were revealed to men who were professing, practicing born-again Christians:
Michael Faraday- invention of the electromagnetic motor.
James Clerk Maxwell—theory of electromagnetism which is the conceptual foundation (the mathematical framework was Riemann geometry) on which Einstein built theory of relativity: Maxwell showed by theory that electromagnetic waves move at the speed of light.
Ambrose Fleming—the radio valve: principle of this device is what all radios, televisions and computers work on today.
Lord Kelvin—theory of thermodynamics and transatlantic telegraphic communications.
Furthermore, over 70% of major inventions that have dramatically changed the world for the better, since the reformation of Martin Luther in 1517 were discovered in Britain (England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland) or America: because of the great influence of Word of God in these nations.
A few key inventions (like the petrol and diesel engines) were revealed in Germany because of the reformation that originated there, but when evangelical Christianity did not flourish there and in the rest of Europe, like it did in Britain and America, God through the light of life, in the air, gave revelation of most inventions to men located in Britain and America.
Others may copy and apply what has been revealed, but creativity comes only from God to those in an environment in which the light of life is allowed to be released in significant measure into the air, through the preaching and practice of living, evangelical or Pentecostal Christianity and not just mere religious formalism.
Now, how do we develop the light of life in us?
By daily, as a habit, developing the love of God using the life of God (1 Jn. 3.22-23 and Jn. 20.31), the written Word (1 Jn. 2.5) and praying in tongues (Jude 1.20-21).
Christians who will develop the light of life will be used by God in these last days to solve scientific, industrial, economic and social problems that the world at present has no answer to.
For example:
Unifying quantum mechanics and general relativity in a unified theoretical frame work that can be practically verified experimentally.
Solving the energy problem of nuclear fission waste, fossil fuel carbon dioxide waste that causes ozone layer depletion, by practically producing unlimited energy using ‘cold’ nuclear fusion with water as a by product to solve the presently increasing water scarcity and desertification problems.
Worldwide revival of genuine, born-again, mature Christianity that will lead to universal religious tolerance (Jn.12. 47) and so rid the world of the present scourge of terrorism fuelled by religious intolerance.
Isaiah 60:1-3 NKJV: So, “Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you. for behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; but the LORD will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you. The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising
