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Verse:“I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.” —John 12:46
Light is a form of energy that travels in waves and allows us to see the things around us. We depend on light to discover the world and to explore what we can of the infinite universe. You can read this book because of the light shining on its pages and your eyes that can see. All that we know of the universe and its dimensions are due to the light of the stars that reach us and our understanding of the speed of light.
Until the seventeenth century, it was believed that light could travel any distance instantly, and there was no speed of light.
Early attempts to measure it were made by the Dutch scientist Isaac Beeckman and Italian astronomer and physicist Galileo Galilei.
Precise measurements were begun by the Danish astronomer Ole Rømer (1644–1710) at the Royal Observatory in Paris.
Through his observation of the movement of planets themselves, Rømer estimated that light travels at about 136,701 miles per second (220,000 kilometers per second). On August 22, 1676, he announced some of his basic discoveries at the Royal Academy of Sciences in Paris. Later studies by other scientists helped determine the speed more accurately. In 1983, the seventeenth General Conference on Weights and Measures adopted 299,792,458 meters per second (186,282 miles per second) as the exact value for the speed of light in a vacuum. It is remarkable that Jesus spoke of Himself as “the light of the world” (John 8:12). And He explained further, “I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness” (John 12:46).
As physical darkness is the absence of light, spiritual darkness is the absence of Jesus from our lives. Conversely, when He comes into our lives, light shines and darkness is expelled. As Christians, we must not only receive the light of Christ but also reflect it, like mirrors, to others. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus declared, “You are the light of the world. . . . Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:14–16).
So, people should see the direct light of Christ reflected in us and through us, indicating the right way to the heavenly home.