The Light of the World

André H. Roosma
13 May 2012 (NL orig.: 24 Dec. 2011)

The people walking in darkness have seen a bright Light;
they who dwell in the land of deep darkness, on them the Light has shined.

Yesha-Yahu (Isaiah) 9: 2; cf. Mattit-Yahu (Matthew) 4: 12-17

At the celebration of His birth we celebrate that Jesus came to us. He became most literally Immanu’el, which means: God with us. We could say: Jesus brought God near to us, by removing the barrier that we had erected towards God.

The above Bible text speaks about Him as the Light that came into the world. Many hymns affirm this as well, as this classic one by Joshua Stegmann, from 1628:

Abide with us, our Savior,
Thou Light of endless Light;
Increase to us Thy blessings,
And save us by Thy might.

(From: Ach bleib mit dein­er Gna­de, German;
old Eng­lish translation from the Dal­ston Hos­pi­tal Hymn Book, 1848.
)

The famous Adeste Fideles praised: “God of God, Light of Light”.

We also find it in contemporary songs, as in this beginning of one sung by Chris Tomlin:

Light of the world
You stepped down into darkness.
Opened my eyes, let me see.
Beauty that made this heart adore You
Hope of a life spent with You

But what is then that Light, of which the above text and all those songs speak?

As Christians we can simply say with the cited hymn, or with John 8: 12, that Jesus Christ is that Light, but how come, that He is called The Light? Which deeper connection is there between Jesus and light?

To find that answer we have to go back in time. The largest part of the Old or First Testament of the Bible was originally written in an old form of Hebrew. The letters or symbols of this old script were originally pictures or pictographs.* One could understand the words by combining the meanings of the pictures.
When we look at the original form of the Hebrew word אור - ’or, which is the word translated as light in English, we see: alp: ox head; first, most prominentwawu: ten pin, connection, attachment, covenantraisu: face (sideways) – from right to left: an ox head, a tent pin and a face (sideways). These three symbols represent, in this order:
alp: ox head; first, most prominent - an ox head; the first, the most prominent, the dearest;
wawu: ten pin, connection, attachment, covenant  - a ten pin, signifying security by connection, attachment, or covenant;
raisu: face (sideways) - a face (sideways): a (higher) Other (mostly God, sometimes a fellow human).

The entire word alp: ox head; first, most prominentwawu: ten pin, connection, attachment, covenantraisu: face (sideways) thereby represents: ‘our first, most precious attachment/ belonging to God (and to each other)’. And implicitly that includes the notion that that attachment provides security and safety.
It is clear, that this gives a description of what Jesus means to us, as He provides our connection with God indeed.

Now it will be interesting to use this insight, to have a look at the very beginning of the Bible. Genesis 1: 3 says that the first thing that God created by His Word (compare John 1: that Word is Jesus!), is this light, this first attachment/belonging to Him.
Without attachment to Him, nothing can even exist. As Paul said: all exists in Him (Colossians 1: 17). Jesus Himself said that we have to stay connected to Him as tendrils onto the vine (He Himself!), if we want to live, flourish and bear fruit (John 15 cf. also what Jesus prayed in John 17, after the unity and intimate connection shared by Him, the Father and the Holy Spirit).

Let us now look at the following texts in this light.

And this is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all..

1 John 1: 5

We can read this as: „... God is 100% attachment/connection”.
He does not want any division, no distrust, no enmity...
His entire Being, all His Character is only aiming at connection.
That is why it was the very first that He created!

Isn’t He a marvelous God to know and worship?!
Hallelu-YaH!

Here is another wonderful passage, this one by Peter:

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for possession, so that you might speak of the praises of Him Who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; you once were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once without mercy, but now accepted by His mercy.

1 Peter 2: 9-10 (cf. Colossians 1: 9-14)

Jesus transferred us from darkness and death – that hideous condition of being separated from God, where there is no life. And He put us again into the light; connected once and forever again to God the Father!
And that not to keep this glory quietly to ourselves... But when we really tasted this glory, we will not even be able to; we will share from the abundance given in our hearts! :-)

In December the Jews celebrate the Chanukah festival. This is a festival com­memo­rat­ing what God did in the year 165 before Christ, at a re-consecration of the temple, when He let the great Menorah burn for eight days on an amount of sacred oil sufficient only for one day. My research* has brought to light in a rather unique way that the light of the great, golden Menorah in the temple in Jerusalem, with its seven oil lamps on top, was already a unique symbol of the presence of God from early on. Unfortunately the Jews gave another meaning to it and even replaced the seven-branched Menorah by a candle with nine branches (8+1). In my view it is a pity that Chanukkah pressed the Festival of Tabernacles (Sukkoth) as the great festival of the Light into the background (note: Jesus probably was born at or just before Sukkoth; the celebration of Chanukah in December seems, just like Christmas, mainly inspired by pagan midwinter festivals).
The most important in this context is that in Jesus God gave more than only a shining symbol of the Light of His presence. He, Who is The Light, came Himself! That was an infinitely greater miracle!

Paul later tells the Roman king Agrippa, that he saw a great Light, when he was on the way to Damascus to persecute the followers of Jesus:

“Thus I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. At midday, O king, I saw on the way a Light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining round me and those who journeyed with me. And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It hurts you to kick against the goads.’ And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus Whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand upon your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you to serve and bear witness to the things in which you have seen Me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from the people and from the Gentiles – to whom I send you to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to Light and from the power of satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.’.

Acts 26: 12-18

God came real close, and even the fanatic Jewish theologian Saul could not resist that. And God made His purpose known to him: to bring people back from darkness – being separated from God – to the Light – life, closely attached to God.

About the new Jerusalem that will once descend from heaven, John says:

And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is YaHUaH, the Almighty God, and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb.

Revelation 21: 22-23 (cf. Yesha‘-Yahu (Isaiah) 60: 19)

Of John the baptist it was said, with a hint to the text from Yesha‘-Yahu (Isaiah), cited at the top:

“... And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation [Jeshuah] to His people in the forgiveness of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God, when the day shall dawn upon us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

Luke 1: 76-79

In the light of that old word light, alp: ox head; first, most prominentwawu: ten pin, connection, attachment, covenantraisu: face (sideways), it becomes clear immediately what this light has to do with peace (Hebrew: shalom). Preciously connected to God we experience shalom. The reverse is true as well: when we break down shalom by doing things that are against the Character of God, and which He has not meant for us, then we also hurt this connection.

Think about this, if you like; e.g. when singing about the Light.


I pray God’s rich blessings over you and the people who are precious to you!
And that you may fully enjoy Immanuel Who came to this world a little more than 2000 years ago (probably around Rosh Hashanah (Jom Teru‘ah), the Day of Atonement (Jom Kippur) or the Festival of Tabernacles (Sukkot)), and Who still wants to be with us every day. In love He loves to give us that life in close connectedness with Him!


Notes

* More information on the old Biblical script, as referred to here, in the Hallelu-YaH Draft Research Report: ‘The Written Language of Abraham, Moses and David – A study of the pictographic roots and basic notions in the underlying fabric of the earliest Biblical script.pdf document, a living document by André H. Roosma, 1st English version: 18 April 2011 (1st Dutch original: January 2011).

Reactions

24 Jan. 2016

Derek Townsend

Excellent and simple! I’d like to offer the understanding of darkness here as well: Being the chet - shin - kaph ( chet: tent-panel/wall shad: breasts (?) kaph: raised hand, ed.). Darkness, then, is separation from the source of blessing – or – separation from the Life that covers us. So true, if Immanuel means Elohim (God) with us, then the only way we can dwell with Him is ‘through’ the Light of Life – Hallelu Yah!
24 Jan. 2016

André (author)

Thanks Derek Townsend!
A good and affirming supplement indeed!
Blessings!

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Previous articles: Tsitsit – A sign of flourishing, to remember the blessing and reigning hand of YaHUaH, The Palm Tree in the Bible (5) - The ‘language’ of the palm tree, Psalm 118 – A wonderful, prophetic-Messianic Hallel Psalm around Pesach, and Psalm 117 – Another wonderful Hallel Psalm.

 
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