John 5:35 Commentary and Bible Study

‘He was a burning and a shining light.’ He was unique, unusual, a shining light, highly influential. But as soon as John began to talk about Messiah having come, Christ the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, they went off John. They did not want to hear about the Messiah. They did not want to hear his talk that they needed to repent before God and to be reconciled with him. And they would be dependent upon Messiah when he came. They did not want to hear that. ‘He was a burning and a shining light,’ or lamp. Of course, ‘light’ is a slightly unfortunate translation, would be better if we followed the original, ‘lamp’, because only Christ is the light of the world – there is a contrast here. ‘John was a wonderful lamp’, says Christ, ‘I am the light’. A lamp in those days burned only for a short time; Christ shines light to the end of the age. A lamp can only influence a small area of space – John only spoke to the Jews. Christ is the light who shines to the Gentiles, and all the way round the world.