"The Light Unto Man"

"In Him was Life, and the life was the light of men." (John 1:4) There are a dozen or more variations of the word 'light' that are given in the New Testament writings, some more bright than others. The meaning of "the light of men", for instance, is directed towards man and his ability to savour immortality; in other words, the eternal life was brought to light by Jesus Christ and made reality unto man. What are we really talking about, anyways? Is it not eternal life? If you became a Christian to have a better life here on this earth, you might have jumped upon the wrong train that just happened to be passing by; because the only thing that Jesus promises us for this life is the Holy Spirit. Other than that, He makes nothing else guaranteed except Eternal Life. But Rich; What about joy, peace, and all the other things which come from knowing Jesus? Oh yea, I almost forgot; those things which come from knowing Him, and from believing that He has given us eternal life; which therefore makes the cares, worries, deceases, and any other thing that might be associated with this world, of no affect!!! So, given your ability to believe that He has given you eternal life, has a great influence upon whether or not you will experience the joy and the peace that He makes available to you. Eternal Life is not earned! You either have received it or you have not; and the only way to know for sure, is to receive Jesus Christ into your heart; believing Him to have died for your sins; to have raised up from the dead, defeating death; and to have given you eternal life in Him!!! To better illustrate this point, we should look at the next verse in John's Gospel: "And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." (John 1:5) The darkness that John is speaking of here is associated with unhappiness or ruin; it really speaks beyond what sin is, and deals more with the consequences of sin; which include things like death, decease, and unhappiness. Some people may have thought that this verse was proclaiming the power of the light over darkness; but it actually is the opposite, because it is saying that the darkness did not receive the light or admit the light. The darkness is here presented as being so thick that the light could not penetrate it. To better understand the darkness that can not be penetrated, we should understand why, which can be taken from the portion of Scripture where Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus, saying, "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." (John 3:19) Do you see the promise being smothered by the darkness? On the one hand we have the promise of Eternal Life; which brings with it the real joy and peace that can only come from knowing Life Eternal. Then, on the other hand, we have the darkness, which for a moment the light might have entered into, but had no ability to take over the darkness, because the darkness did not want to be removed. Therefore; the light which is to be onto the man as the ability to see eternal life, is not given that opportunity; hence, eternal life in Christ is really never realized; which means that real joy and real peace are not known...