“For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He remained with them and baptized. Now John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there. And they came and were baptized. For John had not yet been thrown into prison. (John 3:17-24)

It’s easier to believe that God loves sinners than to believe that God loves liars. But the popular belief, expressed by the Pharisees and the rest of the religious establishment, was that God hated sinners, regardless, and was bent on their destruction. They believed that when the Messiah came, among other things he would destroy the sinners and see to it that they were all appropriately judged.

Instead, Jesus explained to Nicodemus, the representative of the religious establishment that had come to meet with him, that God’s plan for the human race—for sinners—was radically different than what they all imagined. Yes, sinners would be destroyed, not by killing them, but rather by killing their sin. Belief in the Messiah would bring righteousness, while condemnation was merely the natural state of people before they believed. Jesus used the imagery of light and dark to differentiate between those two states of humanity. It was imagery that came from the Old Testament, as for instance with the creation story, when God said “let there be light”—and he saw that it was good. Jesus knew that such imagery would make sense to such a “teacher of Israel” as Nicodemus.

Jesus was the light of the world and he brought light to everyone who listened and believed his message. Nicodemus had come to Jesus at night, but Jesus vanquished the darkness from his heart.

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