Top 7 Bible Verses About Darkness And Light

Here are my top seven Bible verses about darkness and light.

John 1:5 “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

In the Gospel of John, Jesus uses a lot descriptive language and associates God with light as “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind” (John 1:4) and “While I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (John 9:5) and He most certainly was. Jesus wants us to “Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light” (John 12:36). Even in the creation account, the light and dark had to be separated (Gen 1:4) and it took an act of God to do it.

Luke 1:79 “to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

Jesus came to bring light into a dark, sin-stained world and that’s why He is often referred to as the light of the world (John 8:12). Those who were in darkness were sitting in darkness and the shadow of death was upon them but Jesus brought light “to guide our feet into the way of peace” but it cost Him His life.

John 12:46 “I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.”

This verse is very much like that in Luke chapter one and John chapter one. Jesus, being the light of the world, came into the world so that they would not need to stay in darkness but might be brought into the light, thereby receiving eternal life by repentance and faith. Many still live in darkness today and so we must proclaim this light that is shed abroad in our own hearts and point them to the hope we have in Christ and this “hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Rom 5:5).

Psalm 18:28 “For it is you who light my lamp; the Lord my God lightens my darkness.”

Light always overcomes the darkness (John 1:5). You can walk into most stores and buy a flashlight but I have never seen a flashdark. There is no such thing because darkness cannot overcome the light but light always overcomes the darkness just as “everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith” (1st John 5:4).

John 8:12 “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Since Jesus is God and Jesus is the light of the world, those who follow Him have their path illuminated and thus, all who follow Christ “will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” That allows those who follow Jesus to see the path they are taking and they’ll never stray from that path of righteousness if they are following Christ but the further away from Christ they go, the darker the path becomes and darker is more dangerous when you’re trying to see where you’re going.

First John 2:9 “Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.”

Many people say that they are the children of God but still walk in darkness so if any say that they are in the light but hate their brother or sister, they’re really still in darkness. You cannot say you love God but hate your brother or sister “For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness” (1st Thess 5:5) and being in the light, we won’t be doing works of darkness.

Ephesians 5:8 “for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.”

Paul wants his readers to reflect on how great of a salvation we have in Christ. He said that once we were like those still sitting in darkness but that is history for those who have repented and trusted in Christ. We came out of the pitch black, darkness of sin and entered into the light of Christ so Paul admonishes us to “walk as children of the light” for such we are.

Conclusion

Jesus said in John 3:19 “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” What He was saying was that the Just Judge of all the universe will come someday, perhaps soon, and judge those who loved the darkness because the darkness cloaked their sin just as it did mine. I still sin but I have come into the light, voluntarily, and confessed my sins, repented, and trusted in Christ. For those who refuse to bow the kneed to Christ, their evil works, being done in darkness, will all be exposed someday and be judged in perfect righteousness and that will mean that everyone will be judged for what they have done in this life (Rev 20:12-15) so you can have your sins judged today and removed through Jesus’ work at Calvary or pay for them yourselves and that payment will never end (Rev 21:8).

God is not affected by the absence of light because “even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you” (Psalm 139:12) but the light that is more important is Jesus Christ and He says of Himself “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). I pray you walk into that light if you have not already done so or you will end up in the place of weeping and gnashing of teeth where there is utter darkness and despair (Matt 8:12; 22:13; 25:30) and God doesn’t desire that for anyone (1st Peter 3:9).

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.