John chapter 1 verse 9 expresses this in a slightly different way:

The Son of God came into the world. Also, this light shines on each one of us individually. "The true light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man," is given to us on an individual basis.

Let's think about this light. People inclined toward mysticism may decide that it's necessary to see a physical light since the apostle Paul also saw a light. So they go to pray in the mountains or to a prayer house. They close their eyes tight and cry out, "Lord, Lord!" and they see a sudden flash of light. They get excited and take this as an answer to their prayers. The light they've seen, however, could well have been from the headlights of a car passing at the foot of the mountain, or perhaps a firefly shimmering near their closed eyes. This isn't the kind of light that is referred to here in John's Gospel. No light, no matter how bright it may be, is of any use to our spirits without Jesus. The true light is the light of knowing Jesus Christ, the light in the heart of a person who discovers Christ.

When the Israelites were in the wilderness, some fiery serpents came out and bit those who had spoken against God and Moses. At that time, what did God tell Moses to do? "Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole." (Numbers 21:8)

Looking up to the bronze serpent was the only way for them to be healed. Believing also has to be this easy. It's so simple, however, that some people have a hard time with it. If we were to analyze this cure based on our knowledge of chemistry, taking into consideration how the poison from the snake enters the body and causes the proteins in the body to coagulate, it would be difficult to believe in a cure that simply involved looking at a bronze serpent. So it is that a person may perish by depending on his own limited store of knowledge.

In the book of Isaiah there's a verse that says, "Look unto me, and be ye saved" (45:22). It says, "Look unto me."

There's a story about a young man in England who was trying to make his way to church through a snowstorm one winter's morning. It was snowing so heavily that the road was blocked and he couldn't get to his usual place of worship, so he went into a little church that he happened to pass on the way. There were less than twenty people gathered there, and their pastor hadn't arrived yet. In his place in the pulpit stood a shabby man who looked like he might have been a tailor. He was reading from the book of Isaiah: "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth" (Isaiah 45:22), and then he kept shouting, "Look unto me!" His pronunciation wasn't even really correct and yet he repeated these words again and again:

"The Bible says, 'Look unto Me!' It doesn't hurt to look. You only have to look. Anyone can look. Look unto me! I hung on the cross. Look unto Me! I'm shedding drops of blood."

The speaker put everything he had into his sermon. The young man wondered what in the world this preacher was talking about.

"He may be uneducated," he thought, "but how many more times is he going to repeat those words, 'Look unto me'?"

Then, suddenly, the preacher caught the young man's eye and shouted,

"Why are you looking at me? Look to Jesus! Look right now to Jesus who died for you!"

The young man was startled as he realized,

"Oh! That's right! Jesus died for Me!"

At that moment, he came to believe. Later, that young man put everything he had into spreading the gospel and became a great evangelist. His name was Charles Spurgeon. Perhaps you have heard of him.