Light Has Come Into The World
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
Genesis 1:3-5
Instead of reading this you can watch the video.
Everything is not physical
We as humans are consumed by the physical. We always want the tangible and dismiss the spiritual. In John chapter six Jesus starts to teach about spiritual bread, but the disciple and the Jews could only think of physical bread. We need to be careful about jumping to a conclusion base on the physical. This is true with the creating of light. We need to ask ourselves was God creating just a physical light or was it more than that? First, we need to realize that no source of light is defined. I think that if God wanted us to understand it as physical, He would have described an object for the light. Second, we read that God defined the light as being good. Good is not a physical concept; it is a moral and spiritual concept.
God then divides the light from a thing called darkness. Here we find the principle of contrast or sanctification. Sanctification means the separation of opposing things. When you introduce contrast or separation, you are defining order. In a book or paper, the headings are more significant and bolder than the text to create an order. When you clean a cluttered drawer, you separated the things you want to keep from the things that need to be discarded. You are setting the drawer in order. This is exactly what God is doing here, defining an order for His new creation.
The pattern of light and darkness
This light and darkness set up a new pattern that is carried out throughout the rest of the Bible. If you are familiar with the Bible, your mind is probably remembering so many passages that use this metaphor or pattern. That is the power of the Bible. It is written in such a way as to conjure up imagery that conveys a deep truth. In modern culture, we often think of metaphors being deceptive or less accurate, but that is false. Which is more accurate, saying “the dictionary is a light,” or “let the dictionary shed some light on the subject?” The former, if it taken literal, conveys the idea that the dictionary is an actual light while the second is a metaphor that more clearly describes its purpose. The literal is false, and the metaphor is true.
So when reading the Bible we can look for light being used as a metaphor, and it is usually easy to tell because a no source is given or the source is known not to be an actual light. Let us look at a few verses.
A Psalm of David.
1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?Psalms 27:1
NUN
105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet,
and a light unto my path.Psalms 119:105
The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light:
they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.Isaiah 9:2
The greatest commentary on this narrative in Genesis is John chapter one.
In the beginning, was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
In the beginning, was the Word and the Word is truth; “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” The Word or the truth was with God and is God. It was through this truth or this light that God created the world; “All things were made by him.” The light defined what the world should be. This light in Genesis tells us there is an order to creation and that order comes from the mind of God.
From out of this light comes life as we will see as the story of Genesis continues. What is strange and tragic is man chooses darkness over the light later in the story.
5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
John 1:5
Today each of us at some point has chosen darkness over light. Because of this, the offspring of men are born in darkness, and we cannot comprehend the goodness of God. We hate the light, and we hate the love of God. Please accept the light that is the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will see, and you will live.
He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
John 3:18-21
This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
1 John 1:5
Please take the time to read the Bible, the most amazing story ever told.