JOHN 3:16 -- The LIGHT of the World

For GOD so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

For GOD did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of GOD.

And this is the condemnation, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.

But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in GOD. (John 3:16-21, NKJV)

From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that GOD made. They can clearly see His invisible qualities--His eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing GOD.

Yes, they knew GOD, but they wouldn't worship Him as GOD or even give Him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what GOD was like. The result was that their minds became dark and confused.

Claiming to be wise, they became utter fools instead. (Romans 1:20-22, NLT)

JESUS said, Believe in the Light while there is still time; then you will become children of the Light. (John 12:36, NLT)

CHRIST JESUS is The Light.

GOD The Son, through Whom all things were made, Who sustains the universe, Who holds our very lives in His hands -- was ridiculed, mocked, arrested and tied up; spat upon, struck on the face for telling the truth; stripped, flogged with a lead-tipped whip; forced to wear a crown of long, sharp thorns; hit by His captors with their fists; beat on the head with a stick -- with the crown of thorns on His head; unjustly accused, tried and found guilty without proof of any guilt; made to carry His cross, already much weakened after the loss of blood from the scourging...

crucified -- nails hammered into His flesh, through tendons and muscles and bones of His hands and feet...

JESUS was made to be sin for all the sins of humankind (past, present and future)... CHRIST, the Lamb of GOD... unblemished, sinless, perfect -- He was the necessary substitutionary Sacrifice who took upon Himself what was due us sinners. And as He hung on the cross, in indescribable agony -- GOD, The Father, unleashed upon JESUS His intense hatred for sin. Wave upon wave upon wave of The Father's ultimate wrath was poured out upon His own Son.

The Father and The Son, who have never been separated from time eternal, were divided -- separated by humanity's sin laid upon JESUS' perfect holiness.

Is it any wonder that JESUS asked His Father in Gethsemane, "My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want Your will, not Mine." (Matthew 26:36) JESUS was indeed willing to suffer the excruciating torture on the cross, but to do so without the unfathomable spiritual agony of separation from The Father. (Commentary from Pastor Charles Stanley)

"Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani? My GOD, My GOD, why have you forsaken Me?" (Matthew 27:46) GOD, JESUS' Father -- Righteous and Holy -- turned His back on His Only Begotten Son.

JESUS' last words, "It is finished!" (John 19:30)

The sin-debt for your sins and mine have been paid -- in full -- by CHRIST's atoning death on the cross. His blood was literally shed for you and me. By His shed blood, you and i are redeemed... set free from the death penalty of sin.

Death -- physical and spiritual -- is the penalty of sin. Eternal separation from GOD... that place where there is not even a hint of any presence of the Light, but of utter darkness -- an eternal place of total depravity and utmost suffering -- that is the hellish sentence from which we have been set free.

What it cost The Father and The Son is unfathomable to us -- mere finite humans. Yet we don't have to fully understand the indescribable Infinite to be saved from sin's penalty of death. We just have to humbly admit that we are wretched sinners -- repent -- and receive the only Way of redemption -- the substitutionary death of CHRIST JESUS on the cross at Calvary.

Peace or continued enmity with GOD depends on our acceptance or rejection of His Son whom He sent to die for our sins. Believe in The Light -- JESUS, The CHRIST -- while there is still time (for tomorrow may not arrive); then you will become children of The Light (children of the One True GOD -- Creator of Heaven and Earth, Maker of all things seen and not seen).