Battle For The Truth (Part 5)
Notes
Transcript
3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
Introduction
As we continue our series on the Battle for the Truth, we come to the 1st Day of Creation, where God determined the order of creation. With that in mind, the Bible informs us that God in divine order and by fiat or by “the word of His power,” speaks light into existence.
One of the things revealed and should be noticed in the biblical account of Creation is that God is a God of order. His activity is not random, but strategic and purposeful. Thus, in priority order, God in His infinite wisdom chose first to create light.
Observe that light was created before the sun, moon, and stars, which were not created until Day 4. Therefore, light which was created here on Day 1, is the source of light for the eventual light-bearers— the sun, moon, and stars.
It is now a generally accepted truth of natural science, that the light does not spring from the sun and stars, but that the sun itself is a dark body, and the light proceeds from an atmosphere which surrounds it.
“Science tells us that light is constituted of three rays, or groups of wavelengths, distinct from each other, no one of which without the others would be light. Each ray has its own separate function. The first originates, the second formulates, illuminates or manifests, and the third consummates. The first ray, often called invisible light, is neither seen nor felt. The second is both seen and felt. The third is not seen but is felt as heat.”
Light may not have been your or my first choice, but it certainly was God’s. Light with its many valuable properties is the sustaining life-blood for both the plant and animal kingdoms. Without light, all life as we know it would not thrive.
V.3 - “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.”
Examining the text, we discover that this is the first time we are told that God spoke. These are His first words recorded in Scripture.
Further examination causes me to pause at this point because someone may have boarded this series train late and are questioning the very premise--”...God said.” Again, I have to refer you back to the Part 1 of the series where we discuss the person of God and how the Bible simply declares that there is such a super natural Being known as God or Elohim.
It has been my experience that there very likely may be some smart observers or critical thinkers that may have other fundamental questions. Such as where did the darkness come from and the water described in v.2? Those are fair questions that deserve answers.
This is why you have to start with Genesis 1:1 - “In the beginning God...” Because, if you have a problem with this declaration and do not believe it to be true, then you will struggle to accept all that comes afterwards.
Now, I am not dodging the questions, because the answers are in the Bible. Although not stated emphatically in Genesis 1:1, it is implied. Furthermore, it is declared it other portions of Scripture as follows:
“By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; And all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. (7) He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap: He layeth up the depth in storehouses. (8) Let all the earth fear the LORD: Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. (9) For he spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.” (Psalm 33:6-9)
“I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.” (Isaiah 45:7)
“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.” (John 1:3-4)
“For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: (17) And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.” (Colossians 1:16-17)
And there are more references that I could cite, but to what end? For I guarantee you that whomever has a problem with the foregoing Scriptures, has a problem with Genesis 1:1, which again, is where the battle line is drawn in this Battle for the Truth.
Notice, if you will, that God commanded the light to shine forth in the midst of the darkness without eliminating the darkness. Mr or Ms. scientist, let me see you pull that one off or explain it through natural processed. What a mighty God we serve!
Israel would give testimony to the power of God to control the distinction shown in His first act of creation, because according to Exodus 10:21–23, He gave them light in their dwellings in Egypt when there was darkness on the Egyptians and their sun-god.
“And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt. (22) And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days: (23) They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.”
Also, and it was His light that led them through the wilderness (Exodus 13:21–22).
“And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night: (22) He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.”
In his many meditations about God, David writes in Psalm 139:11, 12, “If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. (12) Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.”
The Light of Life
The Scriptures also reveal that light has spiritual relevance as well. In fact, what occurs in Genesis and the entire OT for that matter, is revealed or unfolds in the NT.
In Genesis 1:3, we see that God via His word spoke light into existence. Whereas in the NT John declares in John 1:1-4, that the word which was with God in the beginning, was in fact God. And that “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.”
John goes on to write in John 1:6-9, “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. (7) The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. (8) He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. (9) That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.”
Then in John 1:14, John provides further insight about this “Word” in Whom was life and Whose life was the light of men that lighteth every man that cometh into the world, when he explains, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” Theologically, this is known as the Incarnation, where God becomes man in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Although we have not yet arrived at the text, Genesis 3 reveals the fall of man into sin which plunged him into darkness away from God. And since the fall, all of humanity has been in darkness in need of the light of God, who is Christ.
C.H. Spurgeon, affectionately known as the Prince of Preachers, observed, “the state of the world is said to have been “...without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.” Such is the state of every human heart till God the Holy Spirit visits it. So far as spiritual things are concerned, the human heart is in a state of chaos and disorder."
As we see in the text, the darkness did not make an appeal for light, it was all God’s doing. So it is with fallen man, he knows not what to ask for as he ought. Without the God’s grace and mercy of God, man left to himself would remain darkness and thereby perish.
Conclusion
I pray that you are able to see the significance and necessity of light—physically as well as spiritually. In John 8:12, Jesus said, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” Jesus also said in John 12:46, “I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.”
I understand that spiritually speaking, grasping this concept of light is unattainable without God’s grace. For the enemy of men’s souls is in the blinding business. The Apostle Paul was trapped in spiritual blindness until the Lord Jesus Christ encountered him on the Damascus Road and exposed his darkness and called him into his marvelous light.
Having this understanding of man’s lostness without Christ, Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:4-6, “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: (4) In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. (5) For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake. (6) For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
I heard John say, in 1 John 1:5, “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.”
Jesus died for our sins out on Calvary’s Cross. He was buried in a borrowed tomb, rose fro the dead on the third day, according to the Scriptures, ascended on High, and is seated at the Right-hand of His Father. The same Jesus is coming back again to receive His Bride—the Church; and, forever will we be with Him.
As God started with the light in the Beginning, so He will end with the Light in the end. The Apostle John writes in Revelation 21:22-23, “And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. (23) And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.” AMEN. May the Lord bless and keep you is my earnest prayer.