(Verse 12) - From verse 20 we know that Jesus was teaching in the Temple Treasury in the Court of the Women. At the Feast of Tabernacles there was a huge, brilliant candelabra lit in that court as a part of that ritual. That feast being being just over, that image would have been quite fresh and useful. The image of light as that which dispels darkness would be quite quick to come to mind.

Additionally, the particular image would have been one of overwhelming brilliance and dazzeling brightness. This is no merely adequate light, nor just another of a number of light. Jesus' reference to Himself as "the"  light would have suggested this biggest and most brilliant of lights, readily at hand. They would have understood that Jesus was claiming to be the best and brightest light.

Some years ago, President Bush Senior launched a campaign designed to bring out the best in Americans. It was called the ''Thousand Points of Light Campaign". The imagery was obvious and quite obvious. There are many commendable and useful lights  out there. Much of what man does and what he accomplishes is wonderful and should be recognized as such. There is indeed much ''light" in the world on all sides of us.

However, the Light that Jesus brings to us is an entirely different order of light. In the old days, people, if they read by night, did so by candle or by firelight. When the electric light was invented, it was an order of magnitude greater and provided a different kind of light that allow for a whole new way of living. In a much greater way, the light that Christ brought to men fulfills the same transcending function. It is greater and brighter and lights both to a degree and in a way that no other light can.

There is also the imagery of the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night that led the Israelites in the wilderness. Just as those God-provided lights paved the way for Israel's journey to the promised land so also the Light that Jesus brings is, as a fulfillment of those prefigures, that which leads God's children to the real "promised land", namely, eternal life.

Jesus has already been called the true light of men in John 1:4, 9; 3:19. The OT preachers called God their light (Psalm 27:1; Isaiah 60:19). By "true" is meant as opposed to those who purport to be lights but really are not. Jesus is not only a greater and truer light, but those other ''lights" are actually not really lights at all! All they succeed in doing is causing men to stumble around in even greater darkness!

''Of the world" is a reference to Christ being the Light of the Gentiles as well as the Jews, not necessarily a reference to His being a light to each and every person. This is not to say that Christ does not light every man for indeed, at John 1 proclaims, He does light every man who comes into the world. It is simply to say that here, the idea put forth is that Christ is not lighting only the Jews, but also the Gentiles. No doubt this is a part of what so infuriated the Jewish leaders.

He proclaims He is "the" light. This is a claim to exclusivity. It is not so much that that are no other lights that are available to man, as we have already noted. Many of those lights could even be said to have given true light. In fact, believers are called the light of the world as well! But this light, the light of Moses, David, Daniel, and so many other faithful servants of the truth, is but a reflected light. It is not a light of their own, that originates with them, but is the light of God as manifest through them. Jesus, and Jesus alone, was ''the light". He was, Hebrews 1 tells us, the very radiance of God's glory. No other person or thing was ever the "light" in the way that Jesus was the light.

The mention of ''walking in darkness" is a tacit statement that the Jews (and anyone who does not follow Him) were, indeed, walking in darkness. This implication was one of a couple of things that Jesus said that really angered the Jewish leaders. They understood that He was not only saying that they were in error but that they were actually in darkness and did not really know God! No one likes to be told they are wrong, especially on what they take great pride in knowing and putting forth. Yet, this is precisely what the Law and the Gospel must do if we are to come to salvation. 

''The Light of Life" is the light that originates in and issues from life. The reference here is not to that which sheds light on physical life; but to that light which emanates from the spiritual life that comes from the new birth. Jesus is the source of that life, as He is the Bread of Life.

How do those facts apply to my life?:

If Jesus us the light of men, and He is, then He must be my light. I must eschew all other lights, except as they are accurate reflections of the light of Christ.

I need to identify and evaluate the "lights" I allow and have allowed into my life. Those which are false I need to cast aside.