One day I was singing the song, “Walk in the light, beautiful light…come where the dewdrops of mercy shine bright…shine all around us by day and by night…Jesus, the light of the world” and the Holy Spirit whispered Jesus is not the light of the world. I was troubled by the Spirit’s words so I went to my Bible because I believe that scripture will support any principle that Spirit is sharing with me.
The first scripture that read was John 9:5 where Jesus stated, “As long as I AM in the world, I AM the light of the world.” For the first time my eyes were opened to the truth that Jesus set a time limit to how long he would be the light of the world. Jesus being the light of the world was contingent on him being in the world.
The second scripture I read was Matthew 5:14-16 where Jesus stated, “You are the light of the world…let your lights so shine before people that they may see your good works and glorify your Father…” The third scripture I read was Philippians 2:15 where Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ said “in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, you shine as lights in the world.”
The life-changing conclusion that I came to from reading these three scriptures was that when Jesus and the disciples were on the earth that they were the lights of the world. Now that they are no longer here in a physical sense, I AM the light of the world (individually) and we are the lights of the world (collectively). I changed the words of the song to “I AM the light of the world” and alternated with “We are the light of the world” to reflect the truth that had been revealed.
