John 3:19-24
John 3:19 (KJB)
And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
 
Condemnation - Judgment
Loved - “Agapao” in the Greek which means a love that does not require a comparable response
Deeds - Works
 
The Lord now defines the reason for the condemnation that the world is under. Since the sin of Adam and Eve, every person born in the human race has been born with the sin nature and that sin nature causes man to cling to the darkness of evil. As we see above everyone in the human race loves evil to the point of treating it as a love affair. People love evil so much that the evil does not have to requite them for their dedication to the evil. That is, if someone plans an evil work and the work does not yield the satisfaction that was anticipated, man will continue to perform evil and will not turn away from it. The natural man is addicted to evil by means of the sin nature. Now the Lord Jesus Christ comes into the world and brings the light of the Gospel and that Gospel is rejected because light always displaces darkness and since people have the sin nature, they gravitate toward the darkness rather than the light. (1 John 5:19 KJV) And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. Since the whole world lies in wickedness, which means that man is spiritually dead, it is then necessary for God to be the one who initiates and finishes salvation in His Elect.
 
John 3:20 (KJB)
For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
 
Deeds - Works
Reproved - May be exposed
 
Evil deeds are normally done in darkness, in back streets, in homes, or wherever the deeds cannot be discovered. The light of the Gospel shines the light of righteousness on the evil deeds and exposes the evil deeds for what they are. This is why the natural man stays aloof of the true Gospel because it exposes their evil deeds which exposes the fact that they are evil. Evil begets evil! In fact, the reason that unbelievers hate the Gospel is because of the way it exposes their evil nature along with the evil deeds. The natural man thinks that he is good enough and does not need a Savior. They are deceived into thinking that even doing a few good deeds will gain God’s favor but their dark nature must be expunged by the light of the Gospel, for God sees not as man sees. The man sees the outward and judges by that but God sees the inner man and judges by that.
 
John 3:21 (KJB)
But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
 
Manifest - Reveal, show, or disclose
Wrought - Accomplished, carried out, or performed
 
Here Jesus begins with a conjunction contrasting the saved person’s works with the works of the unsaved which we just saw as pure darkness. The one who is saved continually comes to the light, in fact, they live in the light, so their deeds can be revealed. The saved person does not hide their works because there is no shame in sending forth the Gospel nor bringing the name of Christ to a lost world. In fact, the saved person desires their works to be known simply because their works are accomplished in God, that is, when a saved person does a work for the Kingdom, that work’s result are blessed by God. For example, Peter preached one sermon and three thousand became saved. Peter’s boldness in proclaiming the Gospel was accomplished in the Lord because the results were people became saved. This is why the saved love the light and loathe the darkness.
 
John 3:22 (KJB)
After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judaea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized.
 
After the discourse with Nicodemus and others in Jerusalem, Jesus had now gone south in the rural areas of Judah. It is not known how many of the disciples had gone with Him but He stayed with them for a while and the disciples were doing some baptizing. He was probably teaching and preaching along the Jordan river as the baptisms went on. It was at the Jordan river that Jesus brought an end to the old order and established a new order of salvation and the true path to God.
 
John 3:23 (KJB)
And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized.
 
Aenon near Salim was about 60 miles north of where Jesus and His disciples were, although the exact location is not known. Apparently, they made the trip to be with John the Baptist because he baptized the disciples. It was called a place of many springs in Hebrew, since the verse tells us that there was much water there.
 
John 3:24 (KJB)
For John was not yet cast into prison.
 
John had continued to baptize as his ministry was now beginning to diminish as the ministries of Jesus and John were now overlapping and the ministry of Jesus was now beginning to grow. John was still preparing the hearts of Israel as forerunner of the Son of God but soon his ministry would totally end since it hit a crescendo in baptizing Jesus and introducing Him as the Lamb of God.

Back