Apologetics

Jesus and the Image of Light

by Mike Dewey
03/31/16
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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    "I  "I am the light of the world."   John 8:12   

               The more one comes to know God and learn about this universe which He created, the more one stands in awe at how everything is integrated and fits together.  There is no such thing as chance or coincidence; "chance" is only a term used by people when they don't know the real cause of things.  Even things in the natural world, which are not necessarily critical to Christian theology, can amaze us with the beauty of God's design and its connection with eternal truths.

             Take the image of light, for example.  What part of the natural world is more well recognized and pervasive than light?

              Numerous places, especially in John's gospel, Jesus is associated with light.  In fact, Jesus referred to Himself as light, as in the above quote.  Other examples include:

             John 1:4   In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.

             John 3:19   Light (referring to Jesus) has come into the world, …

             John 5:9    "While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."  (Jesus)

             References to light have two obvious implications that are common to its everyday uses.  Light is in general often used to symbolize "enlightenment" or a revealing of truth.  The cartoon character with a light bulb over his head indicates that something just dawned on him; he just thought of something or understood something.  This symbolic use of light relates to the real world fact that  light enables us to see objects that otherwise would remain hidden or obscure.  Certainly, Jesus as Light has revealed to us, has enabled us to see, the truths of God.

             Light is also used at times to symbolize "goodness", in contrast to the darkness associated with evil.  Suspense movies use dark houses as sources of potential evil and harm.  We see this use of light in the Bible as well, for example in John 1:5:  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.  Here, light symbolizes the goodness or righteousness of Jesus that shines undiminished through the darkness of evil.

             These uses of the image of light in Scripture are well understood by Christians.  But Jesus' own reference to Himself as light, as in John 4:8, spawns an interesting analogy with a scientific view of light, which reveals once again the magnificent way in which God's physical creation is in complete harmony with the eternal truths He wants us to know.

             Jesus Christ is unique.  He is fully God and fully man.  His claim to deity was unambiguous: "I and the Father are one."  (John 10:30)   "Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father."  (John 14:9)  His miracles are testimony to His divine nature.  As man, he knew hunger, fatigue, and the experience of pain.  This dual nature of Christ has always  been a fundamental truth of Christianity, articulated in the church's Chalcedonian Creed of 451 A.D. among other statements of faith.

             If we consider now the physical universe which God has created, we discover that light is unique.  Many scientists including several of the past icons of physics spent decades trying to understand the true nature of light.  The reason it was so puzzling is because light has a dual nature.  When studied by certain types of experiments, such as diffraction when it passes through a narrow slit, light behaves exactly like a wave, and follows well-known equations and theories that describe wave phenomena.  In other types of experiments, such as the photoelectric effect that occurs when light falls upon a conductive metal, light behaves like a stream of particles, with their quantized amounts of energy, quite unlike waves.  Light is the only thing in the created universe that has a dual nature.  It exhibits either wave or particle character depending upon what type of experiment is performed, or under what set of circumstances under which it is studied.

             Jesus is unique within the entirety of absolute reality because of His dual nature of being fully God and fully man.  Light, an image He used to describe Himself, is unique as the only thing within the created universe with a dual nature.  Is this a coincidence?  Of course not.  God's masterful design, with everything created in perfect harmony, created light with its unique and dual nature as part of the master touch that would echo the unique and dual nature of Jesus Christ, who identified with that image to reflect His truth and righteousness.