Jesus’ love, the True Light.

1 John 2:8 On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true Light is already shining. Greetings on this Easter Sunday, another day to celebrate the gospel and the transforming power of Jesus’ death and resurrection. The ultimate experiential power of the cross is to liberate from sin’s power and enable us to live with Jesus, expressing His love and light. Yesterday, we were encouraged that as we live to love with Jesus, we are fulfilling an old commandment, the commandment to love God with all of our hearts. Today, we learn from John that in some sense, the commandment to love with Jesus is a new commandment. It’s new in that Jesus commanded us to love one another as He loves. This is only possible or true with Jesus in us. He is the true light of the world. Prior to His coming, the world was in darkness. But when Jesus came into the world, darkness was put on the run because the light was shining. Jesus gave new meaning to loving God with all your heart. We love God by keeping Jesus’ word and loving others as He loved them. He also gave a new quality to loving God. We are commanded to love to the same measure as Jesus loved God by loving those the Father loved. Jesus revealed God’s love to be selfless, self-sacrificing even to the point of death. The love of God revealed in Christ extended past those who are like us to all those whom God puts in our paths. Race, status, or gender is overlooked when we love like Jesus. John’s readers understood that with the coming of Jesus, a new age began—a time when God no longer was revealed in types, shadows, and parables, but in truth. John uses the word truth or true, not in contrast to false, but to communicate reality. Jesus reveals the reality of God. He is God in the flesh. He’s the true light, the true bread, and the true vine. So what John was saying is that Jesus is the reality of all that the commandments of God require. That’s a new thing. The old commandments of God fulfilled in love through the Son of God, the true reality of what the commandments of God were meant to accomplish and reveal. Amazing! God is producing the fruit of love in His people for His glory. This is the true Light in the world—you and me with Jesus. This is what Easter is all about.