Darkness and Light

The primeval creator is called “Atum” who is equated with “Nun” the unordered watery substance from which all thing emerged. This “non-creation” was a chaotic watery condition devoid of elements or structures necessary for life, but it possessed the potential for development.

Atum began to evolve and differentiate himself from his watery incubation onto a primeval mound of dirt, which is symbolized as the prototypical pyramid, and from there he began a process of self-development, or “creation.” He generated the rest of the “Ennea” (a cluster of 8 other deities) by self-impregnation: he swallows his own reproductive fluids and generates Shu (goddess of Air) and Tefnut (goddess of moisture), from whom come Nut (goddess of Sky) and Geb (god of earth). Atum took his role as the “eye” of all creation, as the sun-god Re, and they all worked together in a form of “order” called “ma’‘at): the eternal divine order that undergirds all creation.

Babylonian cosmologies (Graphic)

Enuma-Elish = Babylonian Genesis or “the Combat myth”:

This ancient cuneiform tablet text adopted the Egyptian and Sumerian traditions of the primeval waters generating the pantheon of old deities, which are going to be taken over by a young upstart god named Marduk, patron god of Babylon. It begins with the “un-created” state:

(1) When on high no name was given to heaven, Nor below was the netherworld called by name, Primeval Apsu (deep abyss) was their progenitor, And creator Tiamat (salty ocean) was she who bore them all,

(5) They were mingling their waters together, When no gods at all had been brought forth, None called by names, none destinies ordained, Then were the gods formed within these two...

Eventually, the gods all develop with Ea and his son Marduk at the head of the pantheon. Tiamat threatens to take over with her chaos waters, and she becomes a giant sea dragon. Marduk battles and destroys her, using half her body to make the waters above and the waters below.

When we read Genesis 1 we can see and know that they were in part writing to counter these ancient cosmologies with what God did in creating everything that we can see.

Egyptian Comsmology

Babylonian Cosmology

What Genesis does (Chart):

(Insert Chart Here)

This is helpful for us in realizing that God calls us into a specific time and place with His word, being truth, we can speak to some of these things that our world, culture, and assumed theories and bring truth which in turn brings freedom.

Is God this violent being to where humanity is born out of violent travail?

Is God ambivalent to us as people and we have to go to extremes to get his attention?

Or are we fearfully and wonderfully made, where he knows the number of hairs upon our head, he knows our lying down and getting up, where he would leave a place of awe and wonder to put on flesh, live, die, rise again, that we might have life and know Him intimately. Do we see the hope that it can bring?

Moses is speaking to that in his day, and we can speak into that in our day.

We’re going to jump right into our text this morning. If you are able and/or willing, would you please stand with me as I read Genesis 1:1–5 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.”

This is the word of the Lord. Let’s pray. You may be seated.

Light & Darkness

We’re going to start seeing how Days 1, 2, and 3 are an ordered element to the disorder we encountered in verse 2.

Genesis 1 is actually going to give us categories to think through the rest of scripture.

We saw the disordered chaos of Genesis 1:2 and how God is beginning to order it. His Spirit hovers over the waters and we start to see order coming about.

When man seeks to order things, we get it all wrong and from our order comes chaos and disorder.

In verse 3: God says, “Let their be light”…

In Psalm 74:13-18

Psalm 74:13–18 NIV

It was you who split open the sea by your power; you broke the heads of the monster in the waters. It was you who crushed the heads of Leviathan and gave it as food to the creatures of the desert. It was you who opened up springs and streams; you dried up the ever-flowing rivers. The day is yours, and yours also the night; you established the sun and moon. It was you who set all the boundaries of the earth; you made both summer and winter. Remember how the enemy has mocked you, Lord, how foolish people have reviled your name.

Here God is rebuking, being called upon to exert His force and will upon a situation, but the words used in Genesis 1 is very much an invitation. “Let there be light”

God is ordering these things for the benefit for life to flourish.

On day one, God himself provides the light of his divine glory that meets the darkness and fits it within the larger divine purpose. God names it, and limits its scope by containing it within the cycle of alternating periods of darkness and light.

When days 1 and 4 are compared, based on the clearly parallel vocabulary, we see God’s attention return to the heavenly realm, as he fills it with inhabitants, namely, the lamps. It is significant that God delegates to the lights the role that God himself played on day 1, that of of separating light and dark.

Throughout we will see agents of disorder and chaos. Those can be found in verse 2 but again we carry those throughout the rest of scripture… Darkness, Waters, Formless/Dessert/Wilderness, Empty…

One of the other literary things that we can bring out that bears significance is God naming things. Again, names bring purpose, order, and create things (as before existence to the ANE is in purpose/function).

Evening and Morning

Throughout we will see agents of disorder and chaos. Those can be found in verse 2 but again we carry those throughout the rest of scripture… Darkness, Waters, Formless/Dessert/Wilderness, Empty…

But now we see the days ordered. We see that we have the first day. The day has been made up of darkness and then light.

Then light invades the darkness. We don’t have the creation of the Sun or the Moon at this moment. But there is a light that is coming in and overtaking the darkness.

I love that the darkness can not overtake the light… but that darkness is the absence of light. God spoke, God created, and light comes forth to overtake the agent of disorder and chaos.

It is amazing what light does. Often times when we are confused, things seem disordered, things are going the way we know deep in our hearts and guts that they are the way they are supposed to be, it can be helpful as simply bringing exposure and light to a thing/situation.

Over the last few years as I have navigated things at church, in personal life, in relationships with friends, that when I encountered issues and problems I didn’t have solutions to, I reached out to trusted people and people involved in the issue/conflict/problem and said, “This is what I’m seeing, feeling, and hearing, and I don’t know what to do with it?” In bringing things to the light, darkness/confusion left, and resolution was made.

John 1:4–5 “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

Revelation 22:5 “There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.”

One last observation that I have for the first day. God marks the beginning of the day with darkness. For the ANE person, this is when they start working their way to bed. There was not electricity, there were lamps, but it was not common to stay up super late (like we do) but that they would look to be up with the sun or just before.

The late pastor, theologian, and scholar Eugene Peterson wrote this in his pastoral book Working the Angles, “The Hebrew evening/morning sequence conditions us to the rhythms of grace. We go to sleep, and God begins his work. As we sleep he develops his covenant. We wake and are called out to participate in God’s creative action. We respond in faith, in work. But always grace is previous. Grace is primary. We wake into a world we didn’t make, into a salvation we didn’t earn. Evening: God begins, without our help, his creative day. Morning: God calls us to enjoy and share and develop the work he initiated. Creation and covenant are sheer grace and there to greet us every morning.”

Peterson, Eugene. Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity (pp. 68-69). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Kindle Edition.

Conclusion

God has given us light and darkness to help order the world. In the evening time we are to rest knowing that He is at work and in the morning we awake to be welcomed into the work in which he has already started.

Darkness has a purpose in God’s ordering of the day. It also speaks to the overwhelming sense we can feel when the light is absent. In those moments we allow the light of God, the holiness of God, to invade that darkness and bring light. We will find that the day and night are not done with, but that this in process for this whole creation moment.

God has given us the creation narrative so that we might know exactly how He feels about you and me. How he feels about this planet. That we are, as we will find, to cultivate and tend this garden that is the Earth. That we are to steward the gift that God has given us, this life. Not to eject and think/say, “It’s all going to hell”, “Don’t need to steward or care for this place because it’s just temporary.” But that God loves creation, that God loves humans ultimately, and has asked us to join Him in care of this world that He is actively redeeming. That as we will uncover in the months to come is that creation care is actually a tangible way that we love our neighbor, that we love those that we have not yet met, that we care for those who are adversely affected by the lack of care that we can often show when we disregard creation care.

God loves you. If you find yourself in darkness, lost, and the feeling of hopelessness, I want to remind you of John’s words in the gospel of John in chapter 1 vs 4-5. In him is life. His life is light for mankind. It is now shining in the darkness, head to the light. Head to Jesus. Give your life, allegiance to him. See what he won’t do, bring peace, order, rest, and a peace as he subdues the darkness and disorder in your life.

We will see that we were created for relationship and he has a purpose for us… there’s function, purpose, calling, and a deep love relationship to have. Let this begin today.