PAPER 162: Section 5.
Sermon On The Light Of The World
P1794:4, 162:5.1 On the evening of the next to the last day of the feast, when the scene was brilliantly illuminated by the lights of the candelabras and the torches, Jesus stood up in the midst of the assembled throng and said:
P1794:5, 162:5.2
"I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness but
shall have the light of life. Presuming to place me on trial and assuming to
sit as my judges, you declare that, if I bear witness of myself, my witness
cannot be true. But never can the creature sit in judgment on the Creator. Even
if I do bear witness about myself, my witness is everlastingly true, for I know
whence I came, who I am, and whither I go. You who would kill the Son of Man
know not whence I came, who I am, or whither I go. You only judge by the appearances
of the flesh; you do not perceive the realities of the spirit. I judge no man,
not even my archenemy. But if I should choose to judge, my judgment would be
true and righteous, for I would judge not alone but in association with my Father,
who sent me into the world, and who is the source of all true judgment. You
even allow that the witness of two reliable persons may be accepted -- well,
then, I bear witness of these truths; so also does my Father in heaven. And
when I told you this yesterday, in your darkness you asked me, `Where is your
Father?' Truly, you know neither me nor my Father, for if you had known me,
you would also have known the Father. P1795:1, 162:5.3 "I have already told you that I am going away, and that you will seek me and not find me, for where I am going you cannot come. You who would reject this light are from beneath; I am from above. You who prefer to sit in darkness are of this world; I am not of this world, and I live in the eternal light of the Father of lights. You all have had abundant opportunity to learn who I am, but you shall have still other evidence confirming the identity of the Son of Man. I am the light of life, and every one who deliberately and with understanding rejects this saving light shall die in his sins. Much I have to tell you, but you are unable to receive my words. However, he who sent me is true and faithful; my Father loves even his erring children. And all that my Father has spoken I also proclaim to the world.
P1795:2, 162:5.4 "When the Son of Man is lifted up, then shall you all know that I am he, and that I have done nothing of myself but only as the Father has taught me. I speak these words to you and to your children. And he who sent me is even now with me; he has not left me alone, for I do always that which is pleasing in his sight."
P1795:3, 162:5.5
As Jesus thus taught the pilgrims in the temple courts, many believed. And
no man dared to lay hands upon him.