What Happened When the True Light Arrived

What Happened When the True Light Arrived

Posted on by Michele Morin

When the Apostle John picked up his pen and began his first letter to the church, light was one of the metaphors he turned to. As the only remaining living witness to Jesus’s life and ministry, his goal was to establish a solid base of truth concerning the Word of Life in a post-apostolic world in which deceivers were lining up to spread false gospels and to make a profit from distorted messages.

John had seen the “true Light” (John 1:9), and knew that his experience as an eye-witness gave him a distinct advantage in determining what was true—and in filtering out all that was untrue. He bent over backward to establish the record of his three-year discipleship training time with Jesus, not sparing one bit of the full sensory detail:

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life.” (1 John 1:1, emphasis mine)

He heard with his ears, saw with his eyes, and touched with his own rough, fisherman’s hands the reality of God incarnate!

Even today, the Holy Spirit continues to use the witness of John the apostle concerning the light and life that come from God, available to us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, for John’s letter marks a passing of the torch. John shares the good news that even though two millennia separate us from sharing his unique eye-witness status, it’s not too late for us to have a personal experience with Jesus Christ.

The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.” (John 1:9)

He came, and he’s here! He’s coming again! Let’s celebrate his arrival together as we await his second coming!

Welcoming the Light

I want to invite you into a meaningful Advent practice I’ve adopted. It’s simple and yet so lovely: I have made a point of looking out the window early in the morning.

As I pack lunches and prepare breakfast, I will also be watching for the arrival of the light.

Once the first rays of sunlight are visible in my east-facing window, I will scribble my observations into a tiny notebook and then get on with the business at hand. The point is to notice how uniquely each day’s sunrise appeared, some days with brilliant golden rays, others in an apricot haze, and some mornings the only sign of light is a pink glow across the frozen ground.

I believe this is a fitting metaphor to help us understand the impact of Jesus’s arrival. Certainly, for Mary, even the announcement of his birth would have been life-altering. The shepherds who were alerted by angel messengers, Simeon waiting for the Messiah in the Jerusalem temple, and everyone whose life was touched by the True Light had a different experience. And everyone was changed by it in some way. Over the next few weeks leading up to Christmas, I’ll be thinking and writing about some of those people and how the arrival of the True Light makes a difference for us in 2025.1

May you find the practice to be enriching as you meet with the Lord of this season, in celebration of his incarnation. He became like us so that we could become like him.

John shares the good news that even though two millennia separate us from sharing his unique eye-witness status, it’s not too late for us to have a personal experience with Jesus Christ: “The true light…was coming into the world.”

Holding You in the Light,

  1. This means that there will be no Wednesday book reviews until December 31, so thank you for grace as I take a step back from reading and reviewing during the Advent season. ↩︎

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Published by Michele Morin

Michele Morin is a Bible teacher, writer, reader, and gardener committed to the truth that women can become confident Christ-followers and students of God's Word. She has been married to an unreasonably patient husband for thirty-plus years, and together they have four married sons and a growing fleet of adorable grandchildren. Michele loves hot tea and well-crafted sentences, poems that stop her in her tracks, and days at the ocean with the whole family. She laments biblical illiteracy and advocates for the prudent use of “little minutes.” She blogs at Living Our Days, and you can connect with her on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter.

23 thoughts on “What Happened When the True Light Arrived”

  6. I love what you are going to be writing about in the next few weeks – the record of the people touched by Jesus – I want to read that to my grandsons! Your scripture choice: “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life.” (1 John 1:1, emphasis mine)” – that we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the Word of life – No, we don’t have primary source experience of Jesus’ hands and works – but it made me think of the birth of my 4th son – and what a miracle that was that my hands held and I looked upon the tiny life God saved during his delivery. Maybe advent is a good time to list those experiences! Bless you, my friend, for your keen insight!

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  8. 1 John 1:1 always gets to me. Imagine being those who saw, heard, touched, and handled the word of life. I am so grateful they were moved to be sure to record their witness of it all. And I love that you are looking for the first peeks of light each day. I have been watching the sun rise over our woods for years. They still amaze me – each one slightly different and coming up in a different spot as the seasons change. May the Light continue to bless you, Michele!

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  11. What a beautiful & mindful practice you have each morning Michele. I do similar as I open the blinds & curtains each morning seeing how the light dances upon our garden, revealing the beautiful spider webs full of dew droplets but I’ve not equated it to Christ’s second coming.

    I love your following statement;
    “He became like us so that we could become like him.” Amen! So true!
    Blessings, Jennifer

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