Creation and Re-creation: Bodies of light
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Main idea: We can meet God in the here and now, because the Son of God was exalted then and now.
Scripture reading: Gen. 1:14-19
Scripture reading: Gen. 1:14-19
And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.
This morning we’re looking at the fourth day of creation, where God separates between the day and night. On the first day, God separated between the light and darkness. On the second day, God separated the waters above from the waters below. And then on the third day, He separated the dry land from the sea. And you’re probably thinking, ‘How can God separate day and night on the fourth day, when there’s already been three days and nights in the creation story?’ And you’re right. There was already day and night, but the difference is that God is now appointing the governer of the day, and the governer of the night.
And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years,
And these governors of day and night are called the greater light, and the lesser light. The word for these lights is maor, meaning source of or, which is the Hebrew word for light. And these lights, the sun moon and stars, have a role 'Let them be for signs and for seasons.' Now, a sign points your attention to something else. A sign doesn’t keep your attention for itself. And these lights in the heavens point to a moed. The English translation usually translates moed as seasons, but it literally means 'place of meeting' or 'appointed time.' And in the Old Testament, God would meet His people at a moed, whether it was an appointed time or an appointed place.
You shall beat some of it very small, and put part of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting where I shall meet with you. It shall be most holy for you.
What will you do on the day of the appointed festival,
and on the day of the feast of the Lord?
So like the star that led the three magi to the baby Jesus, the lights in the heavens tell us about the moed where we can meet with God. And we can discover this moed if we follow the rest of the creation story. When does Adam meet with God? It’s on the Sabbath day. God finished all His work, and God meets with Adam and tells him to tend to the garden of Eden. The Sabbath day was on day number 7. For the first six days of creation, there was evening, and there was morning. There was darkness, and there was light. But the seventh day, the Sabbath day, does not end with darkness. Why? It’s because God finished all His work. What’s the work? It’s the work of bringing order to chaos.
The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
And as the Spirit of God hovers over the chaotic waters in Genesis, Jesus stands upon the waters in John 6:18-20 and He says what only God can say.
The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened. But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.”
Jesus stands upon the chaotic waters and says ‘ego eimi’, meaning ‘I am who I am.’ And Jesus goes on to say, ‘My Father is working until now, and I am working.’
But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”
So what we see here is that where God in the Old Testament does the work of creation, Jesus comes in the New Testament and does the work of re-creation, otherwise known as redemption or restoration. And on what day does Jesus work? On the Sabbath day. Let’s take a step back and read the previous verse as well.
And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”
The Sabbath day was supposed to be the day of rest, but Jesus takes it as His time to do the work of re-creation. Why? It’s because the Sabbath day was a day to put aside your worldly work, and to meet with God. The Sabbath was the moed, the appointed time for God to meet with His people. And so Jesus meets with His people on the Sabbath to heal, and to restore, and to recreate that which is broken. That’s in John 5.
So the question is ‘How can we meet with Jesus?’ Did you see Him this morning in church? Did He park His car at level 5? What is our moed, where we can meet with God? The creation story gives us the answer: we need to read the signs of the greater and lesser lights. They will tell us about our moed. They will show us the way to the garden of Eden, the eternal sabbath on unending day.
But the problem is that the sign of the sun, moon and stars is a spiritual sign. That’s why not everyone can read it. See what Jesus says in the book of Matthew.
And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.
If the stars all gathered and said, “Jesus Christ is real”, then we wouldn’t have any empty seats in church. But that’s not the case. So how can we read the spiritual sign of the heavenly lights? We need to see what they do. The Bible says that they do three things.
And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.
The bodies of light illuminate
The bodies of light govern
The bodies of light separate
In doing these three things, the sun, moon and stars signal to us about the moed. And what’s interesting is that in the Bible, there were three kinds of people who performed these roles.
The bodies of light illuminate (prophet)
The bodies of light govern (king)
The bodies of light separate (priest)
So these people were the spiritual lights who told us how to meet with God. How did they do that? The prophets gave us the Word of God. The bridged the gap between spiritual blindness and spiritual sightfulness.
the precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
And so what about the kings? Well, the kings governed according to what they saw. Their job was to govern the hearts of the people in a way that let them see the reality of God. And isn’t that true for everyone? You live according to what you see.
If I see that there are lots of dishes in the sink, then what would I do? I’ll call my wife.
And then if I see the expression on her face, I might run away and hide. Our sight governs our actions.
But what if you’ve gained a spiritual sightfulness? Well, now you’re seeing the spiritual world. You’re seeing the reality of God, and that reality is going to govern your actions.
And depending on your spiritual sightfulness, you’re either going to be separated from your sin, or you’re going to be separated from God. That’s where the priests come in with the sacrificial offerings, whose job it is to take your sin away from you and to set you apart for God. That’s what it means to be made holy. To be set apart.
So we have the three kinds of people who are represented in the creation story as the heavenly lights. And they lead us to the Sabbath moed by their work of illuminating our eyes, governing our hearts, and separating us from our sins.
So then comes one person in the New Testament who does all three, and He does such an excellent job of it that all the prophets, all the kings, and all the priests before Him pale in comparison, like the moon and stars fading out when the sun rises. And this is what He says.
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
So what Jesus is doing here is He’s making a separation between day and night. He’s saying, ‘If you follow Me, you will never see darkness again.’ And of course He’s not talking about the physical day and night – He’s not actually shining. But what He says here tells us about who He is in the creation story.
If you got onto a jet and followed the sun around, you’re not going to be in night time anymore. The darkness will chase you, but it will not grasp you. And this is illustrated in the opening sequence of John’s Gospel.
In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
The word ‘overcome’ here is katalambano, which literally means that the darkness has not grasped it. Some translations will take it to be a mental or cognitive grasping, which reads as ‘the darkness has not comprehended it.’ But in this case it’s better read as a physical grasping. The darkness chases after the light, but does not grasp it. Why? Because wherever this light goes, there it is day. Where Jesus goes, there is the eternal Sabbath. Jesus is the spiritual sun, s-u-n, who illumines our eyes, governs our hearts, and separates us from our sins. And He says to us, ‘Follow Me, lest you walk in darkness.’ So let’s see what it means to walk in darkness, and then what it means to walk in light.
Walking in darkness
Walking in darkness
The creation story tells us that the moon governs the night. And we’ve already seen how the moon represents the prophets, kings, and priests. But the Bible says that it’s not enough to live in the moonlight. It’s not enough to have a moonlight understanding of God. Why is that? It’s because the moed for meeting God is in the day, when the sun is up in the sky.
And what we see in the Bible are people who refuse the sun and choose to live in the moonlight. Why? Because it’s comfortable to live with a moonlight understanding of God. It’s incomplete enough that we can do what we want and live the way we want. And so we choose to be governed by it. And here are some examples of moonlight understandings of God.
Atheists live under a new moon, with no light at all. They completely reject the light.
Some people like the idea of karmic justice. What goes around comes around. If you do wrong someone now, you’ll be wronged later in life. It’s not inaccurate when placed side by side with God’s justice. But they don’t like Jesus because Jesus tells them to love their enemies. So that’s like a crescent moon kind of understanding of God.
Another crescent moon example can be found in the liberal churches where they teach that God wants what you want. God supports you and doesn’t hold you to a higher standard. God’s love is only about acceptance, and so you can live however you want.
And what about us? What is it about our idea of God that lets us serve Him in a way that’s less than what He deserves?
It’s like that story of a bunch of blind guys trying to describe an elephant. One grabs the leg and says it’s like a tree. One grabs the tail and says it’s like a whip. One grabs the trunk and says it’s like a rubber hose.
But what about those who received the full moon, and still rejected Jesus? The thing is that Jesus shone so bright. He went around healing on the Sabbath, performing signs and miracles, teaching the Word of God and gathering crowds about Him. And the religious leaders of Jesus’ time hated that. Why? Because the moon revolves around the earth. They had a self-centered faith and used God for their own purposes and agendas. And they hated Jesus because He caused them to lose their followers.
So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”
They hated to see the spiritual sunrise, because it exposed their wickedness which was hidden in the darkness.
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. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.
So what about us today? Are we living comfortably under the moonlight and walking in darkness?
It’s like a nightclub that reaches the closing hours at some unearthly hour in the morning. They cut the music. They cease the alcohol. They turn on the lights. And when the lights come on, it’s not so fun anymore. You see things you don’t want to see. People see things you want to keep hidden.
The Word of God does the same thing to us. Our sins, our selfishness, our greed is all exposed when the spiritual sunlight shines upon us. The need for painful spiritual transformation is evident, given the state of our hearts. And so we need to stop deluding ourselves and come to Jesus for healing.
See, the thing about darkness is that even though you don’t see something in the dark, it doesn’t mean it’s not there. An ostritch sticks its head in the ground when it doesn’t want to see what’s in front of it. It’s delusional. And we human beings like to play ostritch when it comes to the things of the spirit.
The Apostle Paul tells us in Rom. 6:23 that the wages of sin is death. And we know that death is coming for us. We know that unless we deal with the problem of sin, death remains a terrible reality that makes us want to stick our heads in the sand.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
So we must walk in darkness no longer. We need to stop having a moonlight incomplete understanding of God. The problem with the moon is that it revolves around the earth. We must not shape God according to how we want Him to be, so that we can live however we want.
Jesus shows us that God is much greater than that. He is the spiritual sun, and we need to revolve around Him.
So how can we stop walking in darkness? How can we follow Jesus? We need to believe in Him. We need to trust His Word.
I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.
Walking in light
Walking in light
The key difference about walking in the darkness and walking in the light has to do with confidence. Light is about sight, and sight is about faith. You believe in something because you see it. Confidence is a combination of the Latin words con and fide, which means ‘with faith.’
When you see Jesus in the Gospels, who do you see? Many people saw a fool, a cult leader who died for his ideas. They call Jesus a heretic and a loser. But that’s because they didn’t read the signs of the heavenly lights. And what is that sign? The moon testifies of the sun.
You know the pattern of the moon. It takes two weeks to go from a new moon to a full moon, and then another two weeks to go back to being a new moon. And the size of the moon affects the brightness of the night. And what happens in the Old Testament is that the people’s understanding of God goes from a new moon to a full moon. It gets brighter and brighter. And that is exactly what goes on when God makes the covenants in the Old Testament. God promises Adam that the Messiah would come as the woman’s seed. He promises Abraham, the descendant of Adam, that the Messiah would come through Abraham’s line. And then He promises Moses that the Messiah would be a prophet like himself.
I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.
And so on and on it goes. With each promise we get a clearer and clearer picture of who this Messiah is supposed to be. Why is that? It’s because the moon reflects the light of the sun. And so the fuller the moon, the more sunlight it reflects. This is called progressive revelation, whereby the identity of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, becomes clearer and clearer as the Old Testament goes on. And this progressive revelation is the signal from the moon and stars about the moed where we can meet with God. That’s exactly what we see regarding the final prophecy in the Old Testament. The lesser lights would precede the great and awesome day of the Lord, when the sun rises in the sky.
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.
So how can we believe in Jesus? We must recognize Him as the spiritual sun, whose light has been reflected constantly by the prophets in the Old Testament. This is why Jesus said that the Scriptures testify about none other than Himself.
You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me,
This is why Jesus said that Abraham, who was born 2000 years before Him, rejoiced to see His day. Abraham trusted in the promise of God, and in so doing he had faith and confidence in Jesus Christ, the fulfiller of that promise.
Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.”
In other words, we must first understand the Old Testament before we can understand the New. To study the Word of God in the Old Testament is to read the signs of the moon and stars, signs that lead us to the moed. And so the more we study the prophets, the more we see about Jesus, and the more we see about Jesus, the more confidence we have in Him. So that when we look at what Jesus does, we can say with confidence, ‘This is the Messiah, the spiritual sun who recreates the sabbath day where we can return to the Garden of Eden.’
Conclusion: Let us welcome the spiritual sunrise
Conclusion: Let us welcome the spiritual sunrise
So in conclusion, what is the moed? What is the meeting place for God to meet with us? We already said that it’s the spiritual Sabbath day when there is no more darkness, when all of God’s work is done, and when redemption is complete. But what does that really mean? Where on earth is this moed? That’s a bad question. The real question is who on earth is this moed, and where is He? Well, He’s not here. Jesus, when He was on earth, spoke of a certain hour. And this hour was so precise that even though the people wanted to arrest Him, they couldn’t because it wasn’t the correct hour.
These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.
This hour of Jesus’ ministry was the very reason why Jesus came to this earth.
“Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour.
And what was that hour? It was the hour of the sunrise, when the spiritual sun, Jesus Christ, was lifted up.
So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me.
And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
Jesus recreated the fourth day of creation by coming as the spiritual sun to be lifted up. And how was He lifted up? It was on the cross. The bodies of light created on the fourth day symbolized the prophets, kings, and priests who would illuminate the eyes, govern the hearts, and separate the people from their sins. This Jesus did when He was lifted up on the cross to die for our sins. He opened our eyes to the love of God, a love that had been shrouded in darkness until that moment, that God loved us so much He would die for us. He governed our hearts not by a crown of gold, but a crown of thorns. And on that cross, He bore our sins upon Himself. And the spiritual sun of the fourth day died in darkness, so that we could live in light. And that day on which He was crucified was called the day of preparation, right before the Sabbath. His death on the cross paved the way for us to enter into the eternal Sabbath.
Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away.
Our moed is the cross of Jesus Christ. The cross is the very place of the spiritual sunrise, where the spiritual sun was lifted up into the sky, to usher in the eternal Sabbath day. If we believe in the cross of Jesus Christ, if we believe that Jesus died in darkness so that we may live in light, then we can truly say that the spiritual sunrise has taken place in our lives. That is the true sabbath rest, because we no longer have to work to earn our place before God. Christ died for us while we were still sinners. He is our great high priest who passed through the heavens for us, to separate us from our sins.
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
And in the end, if we hold fast our confession that Jesus died for you and me, we will enter into the eternal sabbath. In the end, Jesus Christ will welcome us into the heavenly city where night is no more, where darkness is no more.
And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.
And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.