Rabbi Schneider — The Light

We are starting Season 2 of a series that I'm calling Mysteries in the Gospel of John. I know we're probably not supposed to have a favorite gospel, but I have to say my favorite gospel is the Gospel of John, and it's because of the mysteries.

I love the truth that the Lord brings forth through John's Gospel. But listen, before we get started today I've got to tell you something that was so funny last night.

I was watching 60 Minutes and they did a special on this art show. And you know all these really, really wealthy people were invited to this art show, buying pieces of art. And they had the most ridiculous things that they were selling as art.

For example, they had three urinals put together and it sold for like over $100,000. But the funniest one was this. I'm thinking of mysteries. They had this, this, this canvas. It was a pure white canvas with a frame around it; nothing on the canvas at all, nothing, just a white canvas. It sold for $2 million. And the art connoisseur that was there trying to convince Morley Safer what a great piece of art it was, she said to him, well the artist was a minimalist. And you know, a minimalist, there was nothing on it.

Well it was a mystery to me how people could be so mindless to spend money on other people, what other people would be able to see common sense wise is just kind of worthless. Well let's move on to a more serious note today, Mysteries in the Gospel of John.

Now in Season 1, I left off with the mystery of the Trinity. How can God be one God yet be three persons in the persons of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit? I encourage you to get Season 1 in this series where I explore the doctrine that the church calls the doctrine of the Trinity; really a beautiful, beautiful teaching.

And it brings me peace to be able to speak on it because I know that that doctrine is confusing to so many of you. But I believe that the revelation of the Lord brought forth on that mystery, beloved, really will give people comfort in their heart.

Now I want to pick up now fresh as we begin Season 2. Again, I'm picking up now in verse number 6 of John, chapter 1.

Let's begin there. Hear the Word of God: There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, listen now, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light. There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.

And I just like this concept that John uses when he speaks about the fact that John the Baptist came to introduce the world, listen now, to the Light. Do you know, those of us that have visited Israel realize that at the time of Jesus's coming there was a sect there called the Essenes. And the Essenes lived in caves.

Many people believed that the discovery of the Qumran Scrolls came from this group that they called the Essenes. And the Essenes wrote much about the darkness versus the light. And some people believe that Jesus actually was touched by this culture. Whether that is fact or not is just conjecture. What we do know for certain is that Jesus came, listen now, church, to manifest the Light.

The Bible tells us that the people that sat in darkness saw a great Light. So I want to step back for a second and I want to focus on Jesus, get this now, hear me now, as the Light. Jesus said, I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. But now we're speaking about him also, get it now, as the Light.

In the first few verses of John, John said: And the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never been able to overcome it. This is John, chapter 1, verse 5. So John brings out this mystery of the light coming into the world. Remember in the beginning God said, let there be light. So Jesus, hear me now, he is the Light. What I'm trying to do is to elevate us to begin to think spiritually.

Many people when they study the Bible, they're not really thinking spiritually. They're limited to thinking in the natural. You know, they know Jesus's name, Jesus or Yeshua. They can identify the physical places that Jesus walked. They can study his words and even look at what the original Greek or Hebrew meant in the New Testament or the Old Testament. But there is a, there is a dimension that we need to understand, beloved, if we're ever gonna get free. And that dimension is we need to learn how to think above the natural into the supernatural.

You see, God's Word can either, either be perceived naturally or supernaturally. In fact, Paul speaks about the fact that, that those that try to walk out their faith by the letter are gonna be trapped. But he says, but those that walk out their faith in the spirit are gonna reap love, joy, and peace. In other words, we are elevated to a place of understanding beyond just a physical letter to understand the spirit underneath and behind the Word.

Jesus is Light. Jesus said, you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. Light, beloved, is revelation. So let's think of all, first of all think about Jesus is the Light that's come into the world, listen now, to bring revelation. And John says in the very next verse, get this now, the very next verse he says: to enlighteneth every man.

We need to understand that God wants to call us out of darkness into his marvelous light. Listen, this is real, and it's revelation knowledge, and it can only be received by the Holy Spirit. Now stay with me.

The Bible says this: Eye has not seen and ear has not heard, neither has it ever entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those that love him. And these things he has revealed to us, get it now, by his Spirit. What I'm trying to do is to elevate you now to think out of the box and to begin to think of God as Spirit and as light.

Remember Jesus said that those that walk by the Spirit are the children of God. Those that are led by the Spirit, in Romans, chapter 8, are the children of God. We need to begin to understand the nature of reality in terms of darkness and light.

The Bible tells us that our fight is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and forces of spiritual darkness. So we need to begin to perceive our atmosphere, to perceive circumstances, to perceive the way that people relate to each other either in terms of is this darkness or is this light. God wants to bring us up, beloved ones, to a greater level of spiritual sensitivity, of divine intuition, of being able to perceive, get it now, the light from the darkness, of having our spiritual senses trained so that we can live by the Word of God as we perceive it in the spiritual sense.

So once again as we continue in the Gospel of John, John's Gospel is a book of mystery. He brings forth truth that previously had been concealed but now reveals it. And that's what a mystery is. A mystery is when something that has been previously concealed is now being revealed.

John comes to reveal this mystery to us and he points to Jesus as the one that is Light and can give us revelation so that we now can see in the light and see clearly. And seeing clearly we can live in victory and in dominion over the darkness.

Let's read it again, John, chapter 1, beginning here, and I'm gonna read here in verse number 8: He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light; the Light being Jesus. So once again, John says, listen, I'm not the Light. I came to testify about the Light.

And then he goes on in verse number 9: There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. So get this now. Jesus is Light. He's not just a human being. He's God in the flesh, and he's spiritual light.

Now he's God in the flesh. He's a real human being. But he's Light. He gives light and revelation. And John goes on to say about Jesus that Jesus is the one whom the world was created through. You and I were created through the Light, and the Light that we are created through who is embodied in Jesus, listen to this now, church, enlightens every man that comes into the world.

So listen what John says, once again: There was the true Light, verse 9, which coming into the world, enlightens every man. What does this mean? John said, by the inspiration of Jesus's Spirit, that every man that comes into the world, get this now, has been enlightened by the Light.

How is this practically meaningful? It means this, that deep down inside, I want you to hear me now, church, deep down inside everybody knows there is a God. Now we know that many people deny that there is a God.

Many people have even convinced themselves that they don't believe in God. The Bible talks about these people in the Book of Romans as those that suppress the truth in unrighteousness.

But the Scripture teaches both here in John where John says that the Light has enlightened every man that's come into the world, as well as in the Book of Romans, where the Scripture tells us there that through man's intuition and through his conscience, he knows the difference between right and wrong and he knows there is a God because it's evident within them by the Creator who has enlightened every man that's come into the world.

The point that I'm trying to make, beloved ones, is this. People might get angry when you begin to testify and witness about God and about his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. They might deny that there's a God. They may try to make you feel intimidated, insignificant, and dumb for believing in Jesus. But here's the truth.

No matter what they say, deep down inside in the heart of their childhood make-up, because deep down inside everybody's still a child, deep down inside, everybody knows there's a God because when they came into the world they were enlightened with that God-consciousness.

Now as time goes on people can suppress it, maybe they get angry at God, maybe they get hurt, maybe they get confused, so they begin to suppress it. But deep down inside everybody that has ever entered the earth, beloved, had that inner witness, that inner enlightenment that there is in truth a God.

And I'm saying this to you because I don't want you to be intimidated when you share your faith with people and people get angry, people try to cast you, once again, as insignificant or as small-minded, or as narrow minded, or as a bigot because the reality is you are right, and deep down inside everybody knows the truth about the reality of a Creator.