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Author: Stephen Weller
746 words, 4 minutes read time

Believe In the Light

Scripture: John 12:35-36

In the previous lesson we considered the meaning of the “Son of Man.” In this lesson Jesus responds without answering their questions with more information about himself.

^{Jn 12:35} So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. ³⁶ While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.”

“[Jesus] came into the world as light, so that whoever believes in [him] may not remain in darkness” (John 12:46 ESV). This darkness is spiritual darkness and is the result of spiritual death due to sin. This darkness is often spoken of as blindness in which we cannot see spiritual truths or understand them. “The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4 ESV).

While Jesus walked among them he provided light for them to walk by and that walk was to lead them into belief so that darkness would not overtake them when Jesus returned to heaven. If one continues to turn away from Jesus, they remain in darkness and do not realize that the path they are on will suddenly end and drop them into the pit of eternal destruction.

While Jesus is with them, his light is with them and they have the opportunity to believe. Their believe is important because when born spiritually the light comes into their soul to replace the darkness that was there. Those who believe become sons of light and are instructed to “let [their] light shine before others, so that they may see [their] good works and give glory to [their] Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16 ESV).

¹ “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1 – 2, 14 ESV). In addition to being full of grace and truth, Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12 ESV), and having that light, we “are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14 ESV); the “sons of light.”

^{Jn 12:36} When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them.

John seems to indicate that Jesus leaves the temple as Matthew indicates when he says, “Jesus left the temple and was going away” (Matthew 24:1 ESV). Back in lesson H568, I stated the following: “About halfway through this major section, I will ask the question for us to think about that concerns whether it might now be Wednesday. I am concerned that this harmonization guide does not show any activity on Wednesday. We will consider that later.”

The later has come and I suggest you take the link to Mgev031 – Tuesday and notice that it contains gev172 to gev198. Notice that gev199 does not begin on Wednesday but on Thursday. Since Jesus left the temple and was going away, is it possible that he was heading back to Bethany for the night, leaving gev184 to gev198 to be covered on Wednesday? It is the opinion of some that the material you see listed under Mgev32 – Thursday actually happened on Wednesday and not on Thursday. I will present their argument when we reach gev199.

Conclusion

It is my opinion that there is something wrong with the harmonization at this point because it is not logically possible that Jesus did nothing worthy to be recorded on Wednesday. When Jesus departed and hid himself from them, was that to suggest a change in day from Tuesday to Wednesday or as some think that the activities on Thursday occurred on Wednesday instead? Whether the remaining activities of Tuesday are moved ahead to Wednesday or the activities of Thursday are moved back to Wednesday, it is my opinion that something worthy of note had to happen on Wednesday.