In his first epistle, John writes, “This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:5-7).
John states, “God is light” (v. 5). In Greek, when you say, “This is that,” it’s a categorical statement of nature, character, or essence. God’s essential character, nature, and essence is light. “God is light” is a very powerful statement. It’s like “God is spirit” (John 4:24), or “God is love” (1 John 4:16).
Physically, light speaks of the glory of God. So, in the creation account, it says, “darkness was on the face of the deep,” and the Creator said, “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:2-3).
When the Lord went before the children of Israel in a pillar of fire and a luminous cloud (Exodus 13:21), it was the Shekinah glory of God. When Jesus was transfigured before His disciples, “His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light” (Matthew 17:2).
To say that God is light is to say that God is glorious, and we should live to glorify God.
Intellectually, light speaks of the knowledge of God. God is omniscient; He knows everything. The Bible says, “All things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13).
And morally, light speaks of the holiness of God. Light is pure, penetrating, and spotless. 1 Timothy 6 says God lives in “unapproachable light” (v. 16). So He’s pure, spotless, with absolutely no flaws to His character.
John amplifies the statement, “God is light,” by adding, “and in Him there is no darkness at all.” God is as pure morally as light is physically. He’s sinless. God “called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). When you come to Christ, it’s like stepping into the light. So we are called to live in the light of God’s glory, of His knowledge, of His holiness.
“But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). John is not saying, “Live a perfect life.” That’s impossible. He is speaking about ongoing conformity to God’s nature. God is light, and the more you love Him, the more you follow Him—you’re going to walk in the light as He is in the light.
To walk in the light, you need to know what He loves and hates. That’s why God gave us the Bible.
Sunlight is vital for life on Earth. We need sunlight. Likewise, John would say, “Son-light” is vital for spiritual life.
When Robert Louis Stevenson was a child in Edinburgh, Scotland, he loved to watch the lamplighters come in the evening, lighting the gas-fired torches. One evening, he yelled out to his parents, “Look, there’s a man out there punching holes in the darkness!”
That’s what I want to do. I want to punch some holes of light in this dark world. Don’t you?
