He himself was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light.He was not the light, but was sent that he might testify about the light.He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.He was not the light, but came that he might bear witness of the light.
3 sermons cite this verse
… and the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. The question we have is, is that worth the wait? Like, is what God has done, is that worth the wait? Because think about this, from the beginning of the story, from the actually very first story. Here's Genesis chapter one and two, chapter three, everything falls apart. But in the midst of Genesis chapter three, Genesis chapter three, verse 15, God promises, he promises that there is going to be one who crushes the head of the serpent. There is gonna be one who restores all things. And then the whole rest of the story is people waiting from Abraham to Isaac, to Jacob, to the judges, to the kings, to the divided kingdom, to the civil war, to exile, through all the whole entire story, all the way to Jesus. is that worth the wait? I was thinking about, you know, this, think of right now, Christmas Day. I think a lot of us, we get really excited. …
… He's referring to John the Baptist. This man came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all through him might believe. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light which gives light to every man coming into the world." Now this metaphor of light and darkness is not found simply in the New Testament or in Christian literature, but it's found in other sources and other philosophies, and it was certainly one of the favorite metaphors of the philosopher Plato. Some of you may remember from your studies in college or even in high school of having read The Republic of Plato that Plato has a famous analogy or a parable where he tells the story of slaves who are confined to their quarters within a cave. and there's a little fire going in the cave, but these men are tied up in there, and the only light that they have is a vague light that reflects shadows on the wall of the cave. …
… created the heaven and the earth. John is saying, in the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God and the Word was God. That sentence in and of itself was enough to keep the theologians busy for three hundred years because on the one hand the Word is distinguished from God and then from a different perspective is identified with God. And since we looked at that somewhat closely during the Advent season, I'm just going to remind you that it's there as pregnant as it is in significance and is the basis basically more than anything else for the church's confession of Trinity. We read, He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him. Without Him nothing was made that was made. So that Jesus who came to this earth is now identified as the incarnation of that member of the Trinity for whom, by whom, and in whom all things were made. So that what John is saying in extraordinary ways is this, the one I'm going to tell you about, the one that I want you to believe in, and the one in whom there is life is the one who created you in the first place. …