The Gospel of John speaks of a war between light and darkness, in which the darkness is unable to conquer the light (John 1.5). What is the darkness of which John is speaking, and what is the light that is stronger than the darkness? We are told that LIFE is in the WORD, that which existed IN THE BEGINNING (1 John 1.1), and this LIFE was the Light that was “THE LIGHT OF ALL MANKIND” (John 1.4 NIV). This light came into the world to save the world (John 3.18).
If the LIFE, the source of which is God, is the LIGHT, then what is the darkness? Darkness is the opposite of light, or the absence of light, and it is a realm where evil deeds are hidden, and people whose deeds are evil love the darkness and hate the LIGHT, since LIGHT exposes their evil deeds (John 3.19-20). Those who practice doing what is true come to the LIGHT, so that their deeds will be seen as deeds that are “done in the sight of God” (John 3.21 NIV). If darkness is the opposite of LIGHT, which is LIFE, then darkness must be the realm of death. What do YOU REALLY WANT? Which do you choose, LIFE or DEATH? Joshua, who was the successor of Moses, said to his people: “This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now CHOOSE LIFE, so that you and your children may live” (Deuteronomy30.19 NIV).
In the Fourth Gospel, we learn of a man named John who was sent by God to testify to the LIGHT (John 1.6-8). Johnʻs testimony about the LIGHT, the Word, the Son of God, was that he was “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1.29). The Holy Spirit descended on Godʻs Son, for he was chosen by God to baptize people, not with water, but with the Holy Spirit (John 1.33-34). The Holy Spirit is “living water” that God gives to people who believe in the Son, “living water” that becomes a “spring of water welling up to eternal LIFE” (John 4.10, 14). Thus we see that the Son of God is the one who gives the Holy Spirit, the “living water” that lives within believers, water that is “eternal LIFE”, LIFE that comes from the ETERNAL GOD. It is only the Son of God, the Messiah, the one chosen by God, who gives the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of LIFE (John 7.38-39).
“What are you looking for?” Jesus asked two of John’s disciples, Andrew and John, (son of Zebedee), who followed him as he walked by, for they heard John the Baptizer point to Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1.35-38; Matthew 4.21; Mark 1.19). Andrew and John answered, “Teacher, where are you staying?” This echoes Jobʻs words, “Oh that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his dwelling” (Job 23.3 NRSV), Job was seeking God in order to learn from God the reason for his suffering, Andrew and John, son of Zebedee, had been taught well by John the Baptist, a man called by God to persuade people to repent and get ready for the kingdom of God. What Andrew and John wanted was to be with Jesus where he was staying. Since John proclaimed Jesus to be the “Lamb of God” who came to take away their sin, Andrew and John wanted to follow him so that their sins would be forgiven and they could then enter the kingdom of God. Jesus accepted not only Andrew and John as disciples but he also accepted Simon, Philip and Nathanael. And they and others began to follow Jesus, going with him wherever he went (John 2.2. 11, 12, 22).
When Nicodemus came to Jesus, however, Jesus did not welcome him but told him he needed to be born anew, “born from above” (John 3.3). Jesus knew what was in Nicodemusʻs heart (John 2.24. 25). Jesus knows your heart. What is Jesus seeing in your heart? What qualified Andrew, John, Simon and others to be disciples of Jesus, thus to enter the kingdom of God, whereas Nicodemus was not qualified? Was Nicodemus not yet prepared to acknowledge that he needed to repent of his sins? Was it Nicodemusʻs pride and self-righteousness as a Pharisee and a ruler of the Jews that kept him outside the kingdom of God?
In contrast to the self-righteous Nicodemus was the woman of Samaria, who met Jesus at the well. This woman knew she was a sinner, for she was an outcast who went to the well at midday, when no one else from her village would be present, because she was living with a man to whom she was not married, after having had four husbands (John 4.17-18). Jesus knew what was in her heart, just as he knew what was in Nicodemusʻs heart (John 2.25). She was surprised, first of all, that a Jewish man spoke to her, a stranger, a woman of an ethnic group that was despised by the Jews, and furthermore, he asked her for a drink of water and then invited her to receive eternal life, which meant her many sins would not be counted against her. Overcome with gratitude and joy, she left her waterpot at the well and hurried to proclaim to her fellow townspeople that she had found the Messiah.
The fact was that she had not been looking for the Messiah, not even expecting ever to find him, but he was sent by the Father to seek her and to save her. The Greek verb δεῖ (it was necessary) (John 4.4) shows that it was a divine imperative for Jesus to go out of his way to pass through Samaria instead of taking a long way around, avoiding the country where the Samaritans lived, for they were a people despised by Jews. This implies that it was Godʻs will for Jesus to find the Samaritan woman at the well in order to save her and bring her and her fellow townspeople into Godʻs family. We read in Psalm 34.18 that God is near to the brokenhearted, and his desire is for everyone to come to him and be saved (1Timothy 2.4). God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4.6; 1 Peter 5.5). Typical Pharisees like Nicodemus had as their goal to achieve their own righteousness by keeping the Law and their religious tradition. Thus they were “ignorant of Godʻs righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they do not submit to the righteousness of God” (Romans 10.3).
What are your credentials? Are you like Paul before he met Christ? Paul boasted of his spiritual legacy: He was “a Hebrew of the Hebrews, circumcised the eighth day, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Pharisee who kept the law, a zealous persecutor of Christians, and was blameless in keeping the Law (Philippians 3.3-6). But when Christ appeared to him and manifested his glory, the Pharisee Saul was blinded by the majestic splendor of the risen Lord. He came to realize that he was the “chief of sinners” and all his credentials were only refuse because of the excellence he discovered in Christ, who imparted to him the righteousness which comes through faith in him. righteousness which is from God. Compared to knowing Christ and being in Christ, all his former gains were worthless as trash. People of the 21st century may boast that their parents and grandparents or they themselves are pastors, missionaries, Bible teachers, pillars of the church, youth leaders, members of church councils, chairs of committees. You have read the Bible through umpteen times. You give generously to support your church and to feed the poor. You pray every day.
Yet are you like Nicodemus, a lifetime believer who follows all the commandments in the Bible but has not yet received the Spirit of Life, the Holy Spirit? Do you seek more theological knowledge? Are you looking for spiritual gifts, greater spiritual power?
Thus says the Lord, “Do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them.” (Jeremiah 45.5) Instead of seeking great things for ourselves, we are to “delight ourselves in the Lord,” for he will grant us the desires of our hearts” (Psalm 37.4), and he “will bring forth your righteousness as the light” (Psalm 37.6a). If we seek the Lord, he will “make known to [us] the path of life; in [his] presence is fullness of joy; at [his] right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16.11). Our faith will be found to result in “praise and honor and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1.6-7).
There is no greater gift than that which God gives to all who believe in His Son, the Word who was in the beginning and was God. The GIFT GOD GIVES IS LIFE, THE ETERNAL LIFE THAT IS IN GOD. “THIS IS ETERNAL LIFE: to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth” (John 17.3 NLT). It is possible to be religious and even zealous like the Pharisees Nicodemus and Saul, and yet not know God, for “that which is born of the flesh is flesh,” and unless we come to Christ in humbleness and penitence and admit we are sinners and have sinned, like the Samaritan woman who had nothing to her credit, but in her close encounter with the Lord, she saw his glory and was given LIFE. As Jesus offered the “water of life” to the woman of Samaria, he likewise offers us the “water of life,” the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, which becomes in us a spring of water welling up into eternal LIFE.”
Hear the words of Jesus: “I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began! O righteous Father, the world doesn’t know you, but I do; and these disciples know you sent me. I have revealed you to them, and I will continue to do so. Then your love for me will be in them, and I will be in them.” (John 17.22-26 NLT)