“And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
In the last passage, Jesus showed how condemnation works. Those who believe in Him are not condemned but those who do not believe in Jesus, His death and resurrection are already condemned. In this next passage, Jesus is going to explain why this is true. It is important to understand this because people who do not think they have to be saved from anything will not pursue salvation. It is not that those who believe in Jesus have a chance another way. Jesus is saying that there is only one way to the kingdom of God if someone desires to enter and that is through salvation in Jesus.
Jesus started out the passage by saying “this is the judgment.” The Judgment in this passage is the condemnation He mentioned in the previous verse. Judgement and condemnation can be interchanged and mean the same thing—an official ruling. So, what Jesus was saying was the rest of the passage will entail that judgment, or condemnation, on the world who does not believe in Him. After this Jesus said, “the light has come into the world.” This light is Jesus himself and is part of the description of Jesus given in chapter 1 where John said, “In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.” The life from Jesus is the light being talked about here. Then, we get a contrast at the end of verse 19. Even though the light came into the world, people in the world loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. In Ephesians, Paul expanded on this idea of those evil works when he said, “no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolator has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God” (Ephesians 5:5). The official ruling is that they are wicked because of their actions—they loved the darkness and their evil works rather than coming to the light, Jesus.
The next verse expands even further on the judgment. People who love the darkness do not want to come to light because their evil works will be exposed. It is not just that people like what is in the darkness; they also do not want to be faced with what they are, which is wicked because of the wicked deeds outlined before. Instead of clinging to the true God, they shrink into the darkness where their idols reside and make them feel better about themselves. These are the ones Paul describes as the sons of disobedience that have provoked the wrath of God (Ephesians 5:6). They love the darkness so much that they would rather stay in disobedience and provoke the wrath of God than change. Jesus left hope, though, at the end of the passage when He elaborated on how there are those who do what is true and come willingly to the light to show their works. These works are not the same because these works are done in God. Paul also mentioned what this looks like in Ephesians when he said, “for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth, trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:9-10). This is the contrast between those that truly want to be pleasing to the Lord and those who want to stay in their idolatry. The reality is, this is already the condemnation for them, but this is why Jesus came: to die on the cross to save us from the darkness.
For Christians, we must remember this condemnation for the world is why the world works as it does. People do not want God in their lives and they shrink away from the name of Jesus because He exposes them. At the same time, though, we must boldly read the words of Jesus to expose our inner darkness so that all our works can be brought into the light. As Paul says, “for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of the light” (Ephesians 5:8). We might find other people that agree with us on family or politics that are still walking in darkness. The reality is, we must love the light and the source of the light which is Jesus and His life. Our desire needs to be aligned with His and we only do this when we read the Word of God and are in community with other believers.
For non-Christians, you are in the darkness and unlike what others might say it is not because of just the things that you do but because of who you worship. You are in darkness because you worship yourselves and what you like and what gives you pleasure in life. This could be the sexual things you like, or the way you like to talk, or even just a mindset that makes you feel good. This is your judgment, though, where you have already been condemned and the only way out is to come to Jesus. Look for His light and He will save you from yourselves and draw you to Him where you can start to live your life for His pleasure. This in turn will give you a new pleasure and enjoyment out of life looking towards Him instead of yourself.
The Traveling Mountains 
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