The third chapter of the gospel of John is where the most known verse in the Bible is.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
A religious leader comes to Jesus by night, so as not to be seen. Jesus tells him He must be born again. Nicodemus can’t get past the physical, and Jesus tells him He must be born of the spirit.
Nicodemus is confused and Jesus says:
John 3:12
I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?
Jesus tells him that he must place his faith in God’s Son. That God didn’t come to condemn but to forgive.
Yet, that forgiveness requires people to come into the light.
John 3:19-20
This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
We see that light has come and people reject the light because it will expose the wrong they do. Not hearing or understanding the great love of God. Jesus just said He did not come to condemn, but only those who come into the light, who admit their wrongs can be forgiven.
John 3:21
But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”
Jesus is holding out forgiveness for our sins, paid for by Him hanging on a cross, yet for fear of admitting our sin, we hide and reject the truth.
May we know the grace of our Lord Jesus and come into the light and receive Him. Let’s step out of hiding, pretending, and our self-defensive postures and walk in the light.
John goes on to tell us in 1 John 1:5-7
1 John 1:5-7
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
