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The truth about the world is that there is great darkness concerning this most important subject. The different religions in the world, and the different philosophies of life in the world, give testimony to this fact. They are all searching but are not finding. Verse 46 of these three verses before us tells us this all important truth, that Jesus came into the world to bring light into this darkness. The darkness is impenetrable without the light which Jesus gives. Jesus said he was the light of the world, and so he is. Not only this, but he is the only light in the world concerning the matter of knowing God and eternal and spiritual things.

Straight away we have to say that there is no light outside of Christ. This means that there can be no true knowledge of God in the sense that we know God and have fellowship with him, outside of Jesus Christ. It is true that creation gives some knowledge of God concerning his power and greatness, but it does not tell us much and certainly does not tell us how we may reach God. The multiplicity of religions in the world reveal how people are seeking God, but can’t find him. It has to be said that all religions and philosophies that deny Jesus Christ and his deity do not have light, and the knowledge of God that they profess is darkness.

On the other hand verse 46 here tells us the wonderful truth that if we believe in Jesus we will no remain in darkness, but will come into the light of the knowledge of God, because Jesus tells us here that he came specially so that he may bring light so that we should not remain in darkness. Faith in Jesus is crucial and essential.

These three verses are so profound and full of meaning, meaning that is too deep for us to ever reach the depth of it. However let us grasp as much of the meaning as we can.

Jesus here reaffirms the importance of believing in him. Faith in Jesus is the only way to have the light of God.

Jesus tells us that when we believe in him we are also believing in God. When we believe in Jesus we are not only believing in him, but also in the one who sent him, which is God. He then tells us that when we look on Jesus we see God - we see the one who sent Jesus into the world.

As we read in the letters of Paul, we see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. God is a Spirit. We can’t look on him, so how can we know him. However, when we look on Jesus we see God.

This tells us so much. It tells us that Jesus is God. It also tells us that, though Jesus is God, there is another person in the Godhead, which is the Father. It tells us also that God is not divided - there are not two Gods. God is one God, but reveals himself as Father and Son. This is totally unexplainable to our human understanding, but it is truth, because God has revealed himself in this way.

However there is no division in God, and no contradiction, for what Jesus reveals in these verses is an ineffable unity of thought and purpose in God. What the Father thinks, the Son thinks. What the Father purposes, the Son purposes, and so on. It is for this reason we see God clearly and perfectly in the person of Jesus.

How wonderful to know Jesus and believe on him. It is the experience of those that believe on Jesus that they truly come into fellowship with God, and know God as friend and Father. We don’t know and understand all that there is to know about God. We would not expect that we would. How can the creature ever hope to understand the Creator. On the other hand we do know that we know God and have fellowship with him.

The knowledge and light that we have through faith in Jesus is one of personal acquaintance and love. When we have a human friend, we get acquainted with that person, and we can say we know that person and what they are like. The more we live with them and have communication with them, the more we can say we know them. This does not mean we know everything about them, but we truly know what they are like. Knowing God through Jesus Christ is the same sort of knowledge.

What we do know is that we have become reconciled to God through Jesus, and that we are loved by God, and that God accepts us as his children. We know that God lives in eternity, and that eternity is where we will be brought when this life is over, to live with God forever. This is true and wonderful light, which those who will not believe in Jesus as God and Saviour can never know or experience.