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EVERY good sermon has an application, and an urging of the hearers to receive the word of truth. What we have in these verses is the application Jesus gave to the words he has just spoken. The application is prompted by the response of the Jews to his words. Their response was one of unbelief and refusing to receive the truth.

It is plain from verse 34 that the Jews understood that when Jesus was speaking of the ‘Son of Man’ he was speaking of the Messiah, and that he was clearly showing them that he was the Messiah. The response of the crowd shows how unwilling they were to receive this light and truth that they were being given. Many people say they have no light, and do not believe because they do not know, but in the honesty of eternity, like the Jews here, they will not be able to plead that they did not know. The truth is that people love darkness rather than light.

It is a strange fact that people will hide behind one truth in order to deny another, and will refuse to look for the reconciliation of two truths which is there for those that seek and inquire. The Old Testament is full of places where the reign of the Messiah is declared to be forever. Here Jesus was telling the Jews that the Messiah was to be lifted up on the cross. They understood both these facts, but were not willing to inquire how they could be reconciled. They hated the idea of Jesus being the Messiah, and so they used the truth given in the Old Testament that the Messiah’s reign would be forever, to bolster their unbelief. If they had inquired they would have been taught that the Messiah’s kingdom was not of this world, and that the Messiah would rise again and ascend to the throne of God, there to reign forever.

Because of this rejection and unbelief Jesus urges the Jews to receive the light he was giving them, and receive him as their Messiah, the Light of the world. He speaks to them of the urgency of receiving the light, because the light would not be with them much longer. Jesus was not simply talking of his death, but the fact that when he had died and completed his work of atonement, he would rise and then ascend back to the glory of heaven. The Jews were now privileged to have the light with them, and to become sons of light, that is sons of God and inheritors of the kingdom of light - the kingdom of heaven.

When Jesus tells the Jews here to ‘walk while you have the light’, he is telling them to believe and receive the light when they can, because the opportunity would not be there much longer and then it would be too late. In the same way people now need to be told to walk while they have the light. The light of Christ and his Gospel of salvation for sinners is made known now, but it will not be forever. The opportunity to believe and receive light and life is fast running out. Death will come. It may be tomorrow. If it is when a person is well into old age it is still not very far off. Jesus may return to this earth before death overtakes us. The time is short, and if people do not come and walk in the light - receive Jesus as their Saviour now - then the time of opportunity will end and the opportunity will be lost forever with all the dreadful consequences of remaining in darkness forever. There is a further thought in this urgency to ‘walk while you have the light’. The Bible indicates that a time comes when opportunity is withdrawn even in this earthly life. The offer is not open necessarily always, and a time may come when the Spirit of God will turn from tenderly calling a soul to be saved, to hardening that soul in unbelief.

Jesus makes another very cogent statement in these three verses. In verse 33 he says "The man who walks in dark does not know where he is going". Jesus was referring to the Jews in their rejection. They thought they were being clever in their rejection, but they were in the dark, and so they did not know where their beliefs and ideas were leading them. They thought they knew, but they were walking in darkness and did not know that they were going to hell and not to heaven. So it is with all who think they know, in their rejection of Jesus. They do not know that they are walking to hell.

The crunch line in the exhortation is in verse 36. Jesus calls the Jews to trust in the light, by which he meant that they should trust in him. This is so urgent for all, because it is only by trusting in Jesus that we can become sons and daughters of light. There is no other way, whatever the wisdom of the world or religion in the world may say. Jesus is the only way into the light.

How we need to become filled with this urgency which Jesus shows here for all the people around us walking in darkness. For everyone in our church who is a child of the light, there are thousands in the locality which remain in darkness. Should we not be more concerned for these people who are in the dark concerning their eternal welfare. How to reach people with the Gospel is a very difficult subject, but having a deep concern for the lost will at least mean that we inquire how they can be reached, and will mean that we will be earnest in prayer for the lost and how to reach them for Christ.