https://odb.org/MY/2023/07/10/from-darkness-to-light
I’m 55 this year, and my first exposure to John 3:16 was when I was 12. That was 43 years ago. I was corresponding with a classmate of mine after leaving town for a small town in the East Coast of Malaysia, and she always ended her letters with John 3:16. That piqued my curiosity, and although I claimed I was a Christian (as my dad was from a Catholic background), at that point, I had not accepted Jesus into my life yet.
John 3:16 remains my favourite verse in the Bible and stands as the motto for my blog – that God sent His only begotten son to the world that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. It’s a simple verse and yet so profound as it encapsulates the whole message of the Gospel in those few words.
In reading and expounding Scripture, it is necessary to read even well-known verses in context. The context of John 3:16 was a response of Jesus to a Pharisee of the Sanhedrin named Nicodemus, who was half convinced that Jesus was the Messiah but was afraid to be seen with Jesus in the open. Thus, he came in to see Jesus under the cover of darkness, in secret, away from the public to ask Jesus questions. But Jesus was fully aware of Nichodemus’s situation and predicament and told him that to enter the Kingdom of God, he just needed to believe in Him as He was sent by God to the world so that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have life eternal. It is, however, in the context of that time, a proclamation and belief that needs to be made public in daylight, not in darkness. This is because it was important for Jesus that the religious authorities believe that He was the Messiah, although He knew that they were against Him and would oppose Him – in fact, they ultimately persecuted and crucified Him!
Believing in Jesus should be done in the light as we are the light of the world. We should be proud of our beliefs and take pride in Jesus as our Lord. There are, however, closed countries and societies where this may not be permissible and may actually result in death. It is understandable that there are people who need to keep their belief in Christ a secret. Nevertheless, some still take the step of faith to come out in the open despite the threats and end up dead. Ultimately, eternal life is more important to them than this temporal world. They were killed because they stood for their faith, not killing themselves while killing others for their faith. That’s the big distinction.
Thank you, Father, for sending Your only and beloved Son to the world to die for our sins on the cross that many among us may live and have eternal life – instead of leaving us on the road that leads to destruction. To those who are on that road or who may be leaning towards that, I pray that in Your grace and mercy that You will, with the power of the Holy Spirit, bring all of them onto or back onto the narrow path that leads to eternal life. Amen
Ronnie's Thoughts 