9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
There was once a famous photo of a volcanic eruption that was used by news agencies worldwide. It depicted volcanic ash hovering menacingly over some mountains and valleys in Northern Europe. The dark ash clouds were ominously surreal, while the terrain below was innocently unaware of the impending disaster. It was discovered that this photo was tampered with, modified to make the volcano seem more destructive than the original. The colours and light in the photo were manipulated with Photoshop, creating a false image. Many news agencies had to retract the picture and apologize.
Jesus is not a false light. He is not a false image. He was not an impostor that conjured up a new religion. John’s testimony to us is that Jesus was the true light. The word used for “true” (Greek: alēthinos) can also be translated as “genuine.” In other words, Jesus is genuinely the light that “shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5). So, if Jesus is truly the light, then he is truly God, omnipotent in every way. This God audaciously made himself known in the world. He lived among us.
Further along in our passage, we read in verse ten that he created the world, and in verse eleven that he chose a certain people to call his own. For the former, he graced mankind with life; for the latter, he blessed a chosen people (The Israelites) with election. Yet, both these groups rejected him. In context, verse ten specifically refers to the world’s rejection of Jesus’ divinity. Today, we see the same kind of rejection in the belief that Jesus was nothing more than a good person. Verse eleven tells us that even his chosen people did not accept him as their saviour, despite the many signs that substantiated this claim (John 12:37-43). In more than one way, God was rejected.
Fortunately, John’s gospel does not end with verses ten and eleven. There is hope given in the next two verses. There were people who did not reject the true light that lived corporeally amidst humanity. We are told that these saints received him and believed in his name. “Receiving him” (Gk: alēthinos) has a threefold meaning: (1) entrusting oneself to him; (2) knowing who he is; (3) confessing to him. In other words, these saints had a relationship with Jesus. And in no relationship does one partner disbelieve the existence of the other. Thus, it is requisite that these saints believed in Jesus as they received him. More than that, John tells us that these saints believed that Jesus was God, which is what he meant by the phrase: “believed in his name.” As a result, these saints were adopted into God’s family as children of God. Elsewhere in the Bible, Paul tells us that all Christians have been blessed with this same adoption:
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (Romans 8:14-17)
God adopts us. What a glorious truth this is! Those that are in God’s family are “born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” For the flesh leads to death, and the will of man leads to folly. But God, in his mercy, gives us an undeserved inheritance. In him is salvation.
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