João 11
William MacDonald · Citado em PreceptAustin
João 11
William MacDonald - When sickness enters our homes, we are not to conclude that God is displeased with us. Here sickness was directly linked with His love rather than His anger. (BORROW Believer's Bible Commentary) Paul Apple - We want to manipulate the Lord like a rabbit’s foot to act in our timing and to accomplish our own agenda. We fail to see the bigger picture and find fault with the Lord for not taking what we view to be the simplistic approach. Ray
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William MacDonald - The spiritual meaning of the Lord’s words is as follows: The Lord Jesus was walking in perfect obedience to the will of God. There was thus no danger of His being killed before the appointed time. He would be preserved until His work was done. In a sense this is true of every believer. If we are walking in fellowship with the Lord and doing His will, there is no power on earth that can kill us before God’s appointed time (ED: compare the work of the 2 witnesses in Rev 11:7+). (BORROW Believer's Bible Commentary) ESV Study Bible has a slightly different interpretation - If Jesus is the “light of the world” (Jn 8:12+), then to walk in the day means to walk in the light that Jesus gives; that is, to walk in fellowship with him, believing and obeying his words. In contrast, walks in the night means to walk apart from Jesus, not believing him and not obeying him. This is an indication that the person has no spiritual life, for the light is not in him. Most people at this time worked as long as there was daylight; once it was dark, it was time to stop working. Jesus is divinely called to go to Judea; it is part of what constituted walking “in the day” for him, even though he is heading toward the cross (Jn 11:7-8). (BORROW ESV Study Bible) THOUGHT - Let us make a personal application of Jesus' words about walking in the light, knowing He is the spiritual Light of this world, and there is only one way to keep from stumbling and that is by continually fixing our eyes on Jesus the Author and Perfecter of our faith (Heb 12:2+) and be led by His Spirit (Gal 5:18+, Ro 8:14+). Are the eyes of your heart fixed on Jesus today? Or are you looking at the babbles and glitz of this passing world? You can't focus on both at the same time (cf Mt 6:24+, Josh 24:15+, 1Ki 18:21, Jas 4:4+, 1 Jn 2:15-16+)! How can we accomplish this grand objective of fixing our eyes on Jesus? The best way is to daily, prayerfully, fix your eyes on the living Word, for He Himself is the Word of God (Jn 1:1+, Rev 19:13+) of Life. In truth He is our life (Col 3:4+, 1Jn 1:1+, 1Jn 5:12+, Jn 20:31, Gal 2:20+, cf Dt 32:47+)! So daily fix your eyes on Jesus. And all during the day, keep refocusing on Him and the things (including the temptations) of this world will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace (this is the principle of the Expulsive Power of a New Affection and also relates to Vertical Vision that empowers "Horizontal" living). Amen? Amen! NET Note - What is the light of this world? On one level, of course, it refers to the sun, but the reader of John's Gospel would recall Jn 8:12+ and understand Jesus' symbolic reference to Himself as the light of the world. There is only a limited time left (Are there not twelve hours in a day?) until the Light will be withdrawn (until Jesus returns to the Father) and the one who walks around in the dark will trip and fall (compare the departure of Judas by night in Jn 13:30+). A T
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William MacDonald - John 11:9 - Are there not twelve hours in the day? John 11:9) When Jesus suggested going back to Judea, the disciples were terrified. The Jews had tried to stone Him there only recently, and now He was talking about a return visit. In answer to the disciples apprehension, Jesus said, Are there not twelve hours in the day? At first glance, the question seems to be completely disconnected from the conversation. But what the Savior was saying was this! The working day is made up of twelve hours. When a person is yielded to God, every day has its appointed program. Nothing can thwart the accomplishing of that program. So even if Jesus went back to Jerusalem, and even if the Jews tried to kill Him again, they could not succeed. His work was not finished. His hour had not yet come. For every child of God it is true that he is immortal till his work is done. This should impart great peace and poise to our lives. If we are living in the will of God, and if we follow reasonable rules of health and safety, we will never die a moment ahead of time. Nothing can come to us apart from His permissive will. Many Christians worry themselves sick over the food they eat, the water they drink, the air they breathe. In our pollution-conscious society there is always something to suggest that death is knocking at the door. But this anxiety is unnecessary. Are there not twelve hours in the day? Hasnt God placed a hedge around the believer (Job 1:10) which the devil is powerless to penetrate? If we believe this, it will save us from a lot of second-guessing. We will not say, If the ambulance had only arrived sooner or If the doctor had only detected the growth four weeks earlier or If my husband had only taken a different airline. Our lives are planned by infinite wisdom and in infinite power. He has a perfect timetable for each of us, and His trains run on perfect schedule. IMAGERY OF LIGHT Dictionary of Biblical Imagery - page 1722 - LIGHT The Bible is enveloped by the imagery of light, both literally and figuratively. At the beginning of the biblical narrative, physical light springs forth as the first created thing (Gen 1:3–4). At the end of the story the light of God obliterates all traces of darkness: “And night shall be no more; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light” (Rev 22:5RSV). Between these two beacons the imagery of light makes nearly two hundred appearances, with light emerging as one of the Bible’s major and most complex symbols. Physical Light. Light in the Bible is first of all physical, the very basis of life on the earth. This primacy of light to life itself is signaled in the Bible by the fact that God’s creation of light is the first recorded event: “And God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good” (Gen 1:3–4RSV). Here is the wonder of existence springing from nonexistence, breathtaking in its suddenness and illuminating power. The apostle Paul conveys this sense of wonder over the primal creation of physical light when he links it to the life-transforming experience of conversion: “For it is God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Cor 4:6RSV). The first thing that biblical writers note about physical light is thus that God made it. In contrast to the pagan impulse to deify the heavenly bodies for their light-giving properties, the writers of the Bible consistently separate light from its Creator, making it an index to the divine instead of deity itself. The greatest example is Psalm 148, where the sun, moon and stars are commanded to praise the Lord. And why are they thus commanded? “For [God] commanded and they were created” (Ps 148:5RSV). The Conflict Between Light and Darkness. Primitive thinking begins by dividing reality into a dichotomy between light and darkness, viewed as combatants in a perpetual battle for dominance. When light dawns, chaos is again averted. We catch the strains of this primitive outlook in the Bible’s creation story, where “God separated the light from the darkness” (Gen 1:4). It is impossible to understand the biblical imagery of light without seeing it as the great antithesis and conqueror of darkness. With the conflict between light and darkness as a context, light has the properties of rulership over the universe, with an accompanying sense of awe such as a subject might feel toward a benevolent king. We find this motif of rulership in the creation account when on the fourth day of creation God “made the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night” (Gen 1:16RSV). As an image of order, light is the ally of people and their civilized enterprises, protecting them as they battle the forces of chaos and danger. To the primitive mind, moreover, light is shrouded in mystery, and it retains this quality in the Bible. The voice from the whirlwind in the book of Job includes in its catalog of questions about the mystery of the origin of natural forces the query, “Where is the way to the dwelling of light?” (Job 38:19 RSV). And again, “What is the way to the place where the light is distributed?” (Job 38:24RSV). Along with reverence before the mystery of light, biblical writers express a terror about its absence. We catch this strain, for example, in Job’s picture of deposed rulers who “grope in the dark without light” (Job 12:25 RSV) or in Isaiah’s apocalyptic vision of light “darkened by its clouds” (Is 5:30) or in Jesus’ metaphoric vision of good eyesight’s producing a “whole body” full of light and its opposite producing a “whole body” full of darkness (Mt 6:22–23). Related are Jesus’ memorable pictures of the futility of lighting a lamp and putting it under a basket (Mt 5:15) and of the need to work “while it is day; night comes, when no one can work” (Jn 9:4 RSV). Physical Light in the Biblical Story. Physical light retains its life-giving and protective qualities throughout the Bible, and the people who inhabit the biblical world, along with the writers who tell their story, are filled with a sense of reverential dependence on physical light. In such a world, light denotes safety. While the Egyptians were enshrouded in darkness, “all the people of Israel had light where they dwelt” (Ex 10:23 RSV). On the Israelites’ subsequent march through the wilderness, God led the traveling community “by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel” (Ex 13:21RSV). In the elemental world of the Bible, people live in close correspondence to the daily cycle of sunrise and nightfall. The light of dawn signals the beginning of momentous human activity. Thus it is in the early morning that Abraham sets out on his quest to sacrifice his son Isaac (Gen 22:3), that David sets out with his army (1 Sam 29:10–11), that God protects his holy city (Ps 46:5, dawn being the customary time to attack a city) and that Jesus rose from the grave. The light of dawn is also universally a time when the catastrophes of the preceding night are revealed-when the negligent Levite discovers his abused concubine dead at the doorstep (Jdg 19:26–27) and the survivors of the Assyrian army find 185,000 dead bodies in their camp (2 Kings 19:35). The book of Job is a case study in the imagery of light versus darkness. Job’s early speech of despair in which he laments that he was born (Job 3) is a curse on light, which is associated with life, and a plea for darkness, which is associated with nonbeing or death. Job’s deficient pictures of the afterlife are similarly pictured as the extinguishing of light, as in the description of death as “the land of gloom and chaos; where light is as darkness” (Job 10:22 RSV). The ruin of the wicked is portrayed by Bildad in terms of light being put out and of the light being “dark in his tent” (Job 18:5–6RSV). Not surprisingly, the poets of the Bible give us the most rapturous pictures of the life-giving and illuminating properties of physical light. The nature poetry of the Bible and the psalms of praise are the greatest repository: God has “prepared the light and the sun” (Ps 74:16KJV); God covers himself “with light as with a garment” (Ps 104:2RSV); God’s omnipresence is so powerful that “darkness is as light with thee” (Ps 139:12RSV). The ultimate praise of light comes from the pen of an author who is mistakenly considered by some to be a nihilist: “Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to behold the sun” (Eccles 11:7RSV). If the birth of light energized the Bible’s stories of origin, the extinguishing of light is one of the notable archetypes in the Bible’s apocalyptic visions of the end. In the OT visions we read that “the stars of the heavens … will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising” (Is 13:10RSV) and that the heavens will have no light (Jer 4:23). The NT concurs: “The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven” (Mt 24:29 RSV); “The light of a lamp shall shine in thee no more” (Rev 18:23RSV). Physical Light and the Sacred. A final cluster of images of physical light focuses on worship and spiritual encounters with God. It would not be inappropriate to think in terms of “holy light” in these contexts, for although light is physical rather than symbolic, it expresses the mystery of divine presence. Lamps were prominent, for example, in the worship prescribed for the tabernacle: “You shall make the seven lamps for [the golden lampstand]; and the lamps shall be set up so as to give light upon the space in front of it” (Ex 25:37 RSV); “Command the people of Israel to bring you pure oil from beaten olives for the lamp, that a light may be kept burning continually” (Lev 24:2 RSV). The worship at the temple likewise featured lighted lamps (1 Kings 7:49; 2 Chron 4:20). Both the tabernacle and the temple, moreover, faced eastward to allow the sunrise to filter into them. Most notable among the lights of the temple was the Shekinah, the glory of God. This was not ordinary physical light, but it was visible in the form of a luminous cloud that filled holy space. When Solomon dedicated the temple, it “was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud; for the glory of the LORD filled the house of God” (2 Chron 5:13–14 RSV). This is similar to the glorious cloud that settled on Mount Sinai when Moses ascended to receive the law from God (Ex 24:15–18), after which “the skin of [Moses’] face shone because he had been talking with God” (Ex 34:29RSV). In the NT the ritual light of tabernacle and temple worship is replaced by the appearance of extraordinary light on people who encounter the supernatural directly. At the nativity of Jesus, light accompanies the appearance of the angels to the shepherds (Lk 2:9), and a star lights the way of the Magi to the house where they find Jesus (Mt 2:9–10). At the conversion of Paul a light from heaven flashes about him (Acts 9:3). When an angel rescues Peter from prison, a light shines in the cell (Acts 12:7). The Primacy of Physical Light in the Bible. Although references to physical light in the Bible are outnumbered by symbolic references, it would be wrong to minimize the importance of the physical imagery of light that has just been traced. As we travel through the world of the Bible, we move in a world where physical light is a primary stage prop. Furthermore, the symbolic associations of light to which we now turn would never have arisen if light did not possess the physical properties that characterize it: light is insubstantial but real; it emanates from a source; it illuminates darkness and allows people to see; it is a source of life. The writer of Colossians is able to speak of “the inheritance of the saints in light” and of how God “has delivered us from the dominion of darkness” (Col 1:12–13RSV) only because of our experience of the physical properties of light and darkness. Light as Symbol of Goodness and Blessing. At its most general level of symbolism, light represents goodness and holiness as opposed to evil. Evildoers are people “who rebel against the light … and do not stay in its paths” (Job 24:13RSV). “Every one who does evil,” Jesus explained, “hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed” (Jn 3:20RSV). When applied politically light becomes a symbol for the goodness that flows from a ruler who rules justly over his people: “He dawns on them like the morning light, like the sun shining forth upon a cloudless morning” (2 Sam 23:4RSV). In the NT the sanctified life is repeatedly associated with light. In the famous passage on holy living that concludes the epistle to the Romans, believers are commanded to “cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light” (Rom 13:12RSV). Equally evocative is the picture in Ephesians 5:8–9: “Once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and true)” (RSV). The calling of Christians is to “shine as lights in the world” (Phil 2:15RSV). Light is also a symbol of God’s favor and the joy this favor brings. When the Jews were rescued from Haman’s planned genocide, they “had light and gladness and joy and honor” (Esther 8:16RSV). The psalmist does not hesitate to limit the gift of this light to those who live in fellowship with God: “Light dawns for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart” (Ps 97:11RSV; Ps 112:4). Similarly, the book of Proverbs asserts that “the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day” (Prov 4:18 RSV). When Job pictures his former prosperity, God’s favor assumes the qualities of light: “His lamp shone upon my head, and by his light I walked through darkness” (Job 29:3 RSV). In other contexts light is associated with life, and darkness with death. In the book of Job, to be redeemed from going down to the grave is parallel to one’s life seeing the light (Job 33:28), and to be brought back from the Pit is to “see the light of life” (Job 33:30RSV). When the psalmist imagines the rich person’s going “to the generation of his fathers,” it calls to mind the picture that he “will never more see the light” (Ps 49:19RSV). Light as Symbol of Truth. A further cluster of images links light with truth and understanding as opposed to error and ignorance, and to the illumination that comes from embracing the truth. For example, “The unfolding of thy words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple” (Ps 119:130RSV). An OT pilgrim equates truth and light when praying that God will “send out thy light and thy truth” to “bring me to thy holy hill” (Ps 43:3RSV). Daniel is commended as a person in whom are found “light and understanding and excellent wisdom” (Dan 5:14RSV). Because truth is represented in the Bible as being a revelation from God, that revelation itself is pictured as light: “Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Ps 119:105 RSV). God’s law can be characterized as “enlightening the eyes” (Ps 19:8RSV). As with the law, so with the prophets: Peter describes “the prophetic word” as “a lamp shining in a dark place” (2 Pet 1:19RSV). A related cluster of images associates light with revelation of something that had been secret or hidden. In the hymn to wisdom in Job 28, one of the powers attributed to human ingenuity is the ability to bring to light the “thing that is hid” (Job 28:11RSV). In the NT this bringing to light is applied to God’s judgment of the individual heart. The Lord “will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then every man will receive his commendation from God” (1 Cor 4:5RSV). The same motif appears in the OT: “He will bring forth your vindication as the light, and your right as the noonday” (Ps 37:6RSV). God as Light. Light also symbolizes God. In the OT we find the evocative image of “the light of [God’s] countenance” (Ps 4:6; cf. Num 25–26). Isaiah’s vision of the final triumph of goodness includes the assertion that “the LORD will be your everlasting light” (Is 60:19, 20). The most succinct statement is found in 1 John 1:5: “God is light and in him is no darkness at all” (RSV). James speaks of God as “the Father of lights” (Jas 1:17). Elsewhere God is simply associated with light as an image of divine glory: he covers himself “with light as with a garment” (Ps 104:2); “his brightness was like the light” (Hab 3:4); “the light dwells with him” (Dan 2:22). Ezekiel’s vision of the divine chariot (Ezek 1) is a riot of brightness, flashing fire, shining jewels and gleaming metals. By extension, God who is light inhabits a heaven bathed in light. Here light becomes the preeminent symbol for transcendence, dear to the mystics’ and poets’ expressions through the ages. The classic passage is 1 Timothy 6:16, which speaks of God as the one “who alone has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light” (RSV). Colossians 1:12 speaks of the believer’s being qualified “to share in the inheritance of the saints in light” (RSV). As a symbol for God, light takes the more specific form of representing the Messiah. Isaiah’s prophecy predicted, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined” (Is 9:2 RSV). Jesus applied this prophecy to himself (Mt 4:15–16). The song of Simeon calls Christ “a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to thy people Israel” (Lk 2:32 RSV). John’s great prologue in praise of the incarnate Word repeatedly applies the mystical language of light to Christ (Jn 1:4, 5, 7, 8, 9). Christ declared himself to be “the light of the world” (Jn 8:12). Elsewhere he claimed, “I have come as light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness” (Jn 12:46 RSV). The Community of Light. If God and his Son are light, light becomes a natural symbol for salvation and the new life. “The LORD is my light and my salvation,” the psalmist testifies (Ps 27:1 RSV). The person “who does what is true comes to the light, that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been wrought in God” (Jn 3:21 RSV). In Christ’s great discourse on himself as the light of the world, those who follow Christ are defined as people who “will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (Jn 8:12 RSV). According to 1 Peter 2:9, believers are those who have been called “out of darkness into his marvelous light” (RSV). An early liturgical formula, accompanied by its lead-in, is a fitting summary of this motif: “When anything is exposed by the light it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it is said, ‘Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light’ ” (Eph 5:13–14 RSV). The implied message is clear: if God is light, to come to God is to come to the light and to receive life. We might note also the echo of Christ’s resurrection in the picture of the sleeper’s arising from the dead. Those who have been delivered “from the dominion of darkness” and transferred “to the kingdom of his beloved Son” (Col 1:13 RSV) are thus strongly associated with light as the thing that defines their very essence. Jesus called John the Baptist “a burning and shining lamp” in whose light people rejoiced (Jn 5:35). After painting a composite portrait of the ideal disciple in his beatitudes, Jesus added, “You are the light of the world.… Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Mt 5:14, 16 RSV). It is not inaccurate, therefore, to view the church as portrayed in the NT Epistles as the possessor and giver of light. Paul writes to the Thessalonian church, “For you are all sons of light and sons of the day” (1 Thess 5:5 RSV). As prototypical convert, Paul was sent by God to the Gentiles “to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light” (Acts 26:18 RSV). This light is not only part of the church’s evangelistic proclamation but also characterizes life within the church: “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 Jn 1:7 RSV). Light in the Coming Age. The final pictures of light that we find in the Bible appear in the eschatological visions of the new age in the book of Revelation. The New Jerusalem comes down from heaven “having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel” (Rev 21:11). The city, moreover, “has no need of sun or moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb” (Rev 21:23 RSV; cf. Is 60:19). To climax the motif, we read that “night shall be no more; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light” (Rev 22:5 RSV). This echoes Zechariah’s similar vision of a coming time when “there shall be continuous day” and that “at evening time there shall be light” (Zech 14:7 RSV). Summary. In all of the Bible’s references to light, light is not self-generated. It comes (usually unbidden) from outside the earthly and human sphere and transforms that sphere with a transcendent splendor. As a symbol light thus pictures the simultaneous transcendence and immanence of God: it is from above, but it permeates everyday life. A survey of light imagery in the Bible illustrates the implied thesis of this dictionary—that the main outline of biblical belief and the feelings it generates can be traced by following the Bible’s master images. Light in its varied meanings is at the heart of such central biblical themes as creation, providence, judgment, redemption and sanctification. It embodies much of the theological teaching of the Bible about God, which explains why light has been prominent in the history of theology (Pelikan). In its literal, physical manifestations, moreover, light contributes significantly to the elemental quality of the biblical world, keeping spiritual reality rooted in the lives that people actually live. The text within the Bible itself that comes closest to summarizing the range of meanings of light is 2 Corinthians 4:6: “For it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (RSV). Here is the link between creation and the new creation, between OT and NT, between the physical reality and the spiritual symbol. See also DARKNESS; FIRE; GLORY; LAMP, LAMPSTAND; MOON; STARS; SUN. BIBLIOGRAPHY E. R. Achtemeier, “Jesus Christ, the Light of the World: The Biblical Understanding of Light and Darkness,” Interpretation 17 (1963) 439–49; J. Pelikan, The Light of the World: A Basic Image in Early Christian Thought (BORROW)(New York: Harper, 1962). John 11:10 "But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him." BGT John 11:10 ἐὰν δέ τις περιπατῇ ἐν τῇ νυκτί, προσκόπτει, ὅτι τὸ φῶς οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν αὐτῷ. KJV John 11:10 But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him. NET John 11:10 But if anyone walks around at night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him." CSB John 11:10 If anyone walks during the night, he does stumble, because the light is not in him." ESV John 11:10 But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him." NIV John 11:10 It is when he walks by night that he stumbles, for he has no light." NLT John 11:10 But at night there is danger of stumbling because they have no light." NRS John 11:10 But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them." NJB John 11:10 anyone who walks around at night stumbles, having no light as a guide. NAB John 11:10 But if one walks at night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him." YLT John 11:10 and if any one may walk in the night, he stumbleth, because the light is not in him.' MIT John 11:10 If anyone walks about at night, he stumbles because he lacks light." Ps 27:1 Pr 4:18-19 Ec 2:14 Jer 13:16 Jer 20:11 1Jn 2:10-11 John 11 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries Related Passages: Psalm 27:2 A Psalm of David. The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the defense of my life; Whom shall I dread? Proverbs 4:18-19 But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, That shines brighter and brighter until the full day (cf Eph 5:8+). 19 The way of the wicked is like darkness; They do not know over what they stumble. Ecclesiastes 2:14 The wise man’s eyes are in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I know that one fate befalls them both. Jeremiah 13:16 Give glory to the LORD your God, Before He brings darkness And before your feet stumble On the dusky mountains, And while you are hoping for light He makes it into deep darkness, And turns it into gloom. Jeremiah 20:11 But the LORD is with me like a dread champion; Therefore (FUNCTIONS HERE MORE LIKE A TERM OF EXPLANATION) my persecutors will stumble and not prevail. They will be utterly ashamed, because they have failed, With an everlasting disgrace that will not be forgotten. 1 John 2:10-11+ The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. 11 But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes. Jeremiah 13:16 (SPEAKING TO SOUTHERN NATION OF JUDAH) Give glory to the LORD your God, Before He brings darkness And before your feet stumble (Lxx = proskopto) On the dusky mountains, And while you are hoping for light He makes it into deep darkness, And turns it into gloom. JEWISH RECKONING OF TIME But - Term of contrast. What is the "change of direction?" Walking in light of day versus walking in night where there is no light. Jesus was saying, “I have a little window of opportunity to accomplish my remaining work before night falls on my earthly work.” Bob
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William MacDonald adds that "The person who walks in the night is one who is not faithful to God, but is living in self-will. This man stumbles easily because he does not have divine guidance to illuminate his pathway." (BORROW Believer's Bible Commentary) Jesus' description here in John 11:9,10 resonates with the metaphoric use of proskopto in the Septuagint of Jeremiah 13:16 ("Give glory to the LORD your God, Before He brings darkness And before your feet stumble On the dusky mountains, And while you are hoping for light He makes it into deep darkness, And turns it into gloom. "). Without the light (i.e., Jesus) men will “stumble” in this dark world. The corollary is walking in spiritual darkness is potentially dangerous! In the upper room, Jesus dipped the morsel and gave it to Judas, saying "What you do, do quickly." (Jn 13:27+), "And so after receiving the morsel he went out immediately; and it was night." (Jn 13:30+). Judas filled with, possessed by, controlled by Satan (Jn 13:27) was walking in the the darkest night any human has ever walked in, walking into the night to betray the Son of Man and it cost Judas his life in time but also in eternity. Because - Term of explanation. What is Jesus explaining? The light is not in him - Now we know Jesus is using dark/light metaphorically because men do not have physical lights within their being. Therefre, by default, this statement can only be referring to spiritual light. And one who does not have the light in them is one who does not believe in Jesus, the Light of the world (Jn 8:12+) and this why he stumbles (spiritually speaking). Without that inner light we are sure to stumble. -- C H Spurgeon Paul described believers in Ephesians 5:8+ as those "were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk (present imperative see our need to depend on the Holy Spirit to obey) as children of Light." What an amazing description of us as believers (but don't miss the incredible responsibility we have now to walk accordingly)! It is not that we are like lights, but we are "Light in the Lord." ("in the Lord" is locative of sphere = He is the "Socket" so to speak, we are the electric plugs, plugged into Him, so to speak) We shine as "incandescent" ones because we are electrified" or energized by the infinite One, His Spirit continually empowering (cf Php 2:13NLT+) our spiritual light to shine before men and women who are enshrouded in darkness and blinded by darkness (cf 1Jn 2:11+, cf 2Co 4:4+). When there is darkness in the soul, then we will stumble indeed. -- Leon Morris Jesus commanded His disciples "Let your light shine (aorist imperative see our need to depend on the Holy Spirit to obey) before men in such a way that they may see your (VISIBLE) good works, and glorify (GIVE A PROPER OPINION OF) your (INVISIBLE) Father Who is in heaven." (Mt 5:16+).