John 1:5 ¶ And the light shineth in darkness; and the
darkness comprehended it not.
Whether or not this refers to spiritual darkness as Paul did
later;
Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood,
but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness
of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Galatians 1:4 Who gave himself for our sins, that he might
deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our
Father:
…the first reference to darkness comes in the first few
verses of the Bible. While that is a literal reference to literal darkness as
in distinguished from light a spiritual application can be that there is a
spiritual darkness in the universe and Christ, the Word, was that light that
was separate from it.
1John 1:5 This then is the message which we have heard
of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at
all.
In the Bible comprehend means to understand.
Job 37:5 God thundereth marvellously with his voice;
great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend.
Spiritual darkness is ignorant. It neither understands our
need for Christ nor does it understand God’s love for us. It cannot. The
natural man is blanketed in spiritual darkness and cannot comprehend the things
of God.
1Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things
of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know
them, because they are spiritually discerned.
Just so, the carnal Christian does not realize that he or
she has cut themselves off from understanding.
1John 2:11 But he that hateth his brother is in
darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because
that darkness hath blinded his eyes.
The light of Christ is a beacon in a world of shadows and
darkness. Unfortunately, for many conservative Christians, fundamentalists, the
light is very dim in their fear of man, bigotry, hatred, paranoia, and
elevating culture and politics to the level of Bible doctrine.
John 1:6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was
John.
This is a reference to John the Baptist, who paved the way
for Christ’s appearance. He fulfilled several Old Testament prophecies such as;
Malachi 3:1 ¶ Behold, I will send my messenger, and he
shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly
come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in:
behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.
Isaiah 40:3 ¶ The voice of him that crieth in the
wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a
highway for our God.
…which verses are referenced later in this chapter and,
similarly in Mark 1:2,3;
Mark 1:2 As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I
send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. 3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness,
Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
John the Baptist came as a type of Elijah the Old Testament
prophet, with his spirit and power, prophesied before his birth;
Luke 1:17 And he shall go before him in the spirit and
power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the
disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the
Lord.
…and revealed after his death by Christ Himself;
Matthew 17:10 And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then
say the scribes that Elias must first come? 11
And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and
restore all things. 12 But I say unto
you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him
whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them. 13 Then the disciples understood that he spake
unto them of John the Baptist.
Mark 9:11 And they asked him, saying, Why say the
scribes that Elias must first come? 12
And he answered and told them, Elias verily cometh first, and restoreth
all things; and how it is written of the Son of man, that he must suffer many
things, and be set at nought. 13 But I
say unto you, That Elias is indeed come, and they have done unto him whatsoever
they listed, as it is written of him.
Elias, or Elijah, did not perish like other men but was
taken to heaven without dying.
2Kings 2:11 And it came to pass, as they still went on,
and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire,
and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
However, coming in the spirit and power of Elijah, based on
the definitions of power and spirit in the Bible, does not necessarily include
John being possessed by Elijah and certainly doesn’t refer to reincarnation as
Elijah didn’t die but was carried up bodily into heaven in a type of the ‘rapture’
of the believing Jews in Revelation 11.
The definition of spirit can be an attitude, a demeanor, and
character as Caleb having, “another spirit.”
Numbers 14:24 But my servant Caleb, because he had another
spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land
whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.
Power can be ability as in Acts 1:8, speaking in authority
as in Acts 4:33, and being filled with faith as in Acts 6:8, among other
things.
John the Baptist did not have the spirit and power to call
down fire on those who wanted him dead as in 2Kings, chapter 1, nor was he
called to confront pagan prophets and have them killed as in 1Kings 18. He came
to pave the way for Christ, to rebuke the hypocrites, and call the people to
repentance and he did it forcefully and in opposition to not only religious
authority but secular authority.
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