Years back when our two youngest children we rather small, we visited Oudtshoorn to see the Ostrich farms followed by a visit to the Kango Caves. Once all on the tour were assembled in the entrance hall (cavity) of the cave, they told us they would be switching off the lights for us to see what real darkness looked like. It was deathly dark. Months later was I taken over four kilometers down a gold mine shaft. The decent in the cage was terrifyingly dark … as we were lowered at great speed into what seemed like the “heart” of the earth.
It is difficult to appreciate light and darkness until you are confined in a place that never has natural light. Underground we were only permitted to switch on our head lamps once the cage has stopped. Even then the visibility was poor. The same is true with the Kango Caves. The lights are lights … creating visibility but nothing like the light of day outside in the open.
As we come to the next passage in Genesis one, God deals with … darkness was over the surface of the deep … in the following way:
Ge 1:3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
1) Day One … the creation of light. Light is created by the Divine Word. This is so remarkable … light is a material … light before beauty … light before the sun, moon and stars. Maybe the question we ought to ask is … “Why did God create light before He created anything else?”
(1) The creation of days. God separated the light He created from the darkness that was. This light did not annihilate the darkness. God did not take the darkness and turn it into pure light. Rather he separated the darkness from the light He created. Here we find an alternating effect. There was evening (darkness) and after the evening there was light. Light followed darkness. This happened on the first day … darkness then light … morning … day light (v5), this happened the second day … darkness then light … morning … day light (v8) and this continued as we see in verses 13, 19, 23 and 31. Darkness and light alternated with each other causing different days.
(2) Day one through three were not solar days. We have already mention it, before the sun and moon existed, there was no solar days though these first three days would have been 24 hour days.
(3) Without light there cannot be life. On day three God separated the water on the earth into seas and although not mentioned, we can assume rivers and dams because of:
Ge 2:10 A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.) 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Asshur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
So there was land and water and on this third day God created vegetation in the shape of seedbearing plants and fruit trees. These plants and trees need warmth things to exist. There cannot be organic life (or animal life) without light because light provides warmth after the cool nights of darkness. Parents remember how their young children needed to plant beans in cotton wool as a school experiment. The means were dampened with water and it sprouted … darkness was followed by light … night followed by day … causing light and warmth needed to cause life.
2) Light created light!
Jn 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. 6 There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 9 The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.
This is profound … The Son of God, Jesus, created everything that exists. This means that Jesus created the light of Genesis 1v3. Yet at the same time Jesus is Light.
Jn 8:12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
This means that when a person comes to faith in Jesus Christ, that person receives light … spiritual light, which is the opposite of darkness … spiritual darkness. Spiritual life equates to spiritual light! The difference between the light of Genesis 1:3 and Jesus as light is that in Genesis 3:1, light follows darkness and it’s a physical thing whereas the spiritual light Jesus provides for the saved soul is spiritual … and spiritual light does not alternate with spiritual darkness! It annihilates it! It removes it! However there is a caution … consider this seriously:
1Jn 2:8 Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining. 9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.
If God “in love … predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ” (Eph 1:4-5), love must be the operating relational factor within the Body of Jesus Christ and through the Body of Jesus Christ. The lack of love demonstrates the person is in darkness … spiritual darkness … which is an unsaved state.
3) Light requires creativity. Consider:
Jn 9:4 As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
Whilst it is Gospel Day, Gospel people must be doing Gospel work. Once the Gospel Day ends, the night arrives meaning “the last days” have ended and the Judgment is about to begin. All believers have Gospel Light and all believers are called to evangelize the world!
This is what I mean by “light requires creativity.” From personal experience as a pastor, many, if not most in the Church reject this. Why? Whatever argument they present is another excuse for the real reason … “I don’t want to!” “I’m comfortable knowing I’m going to heaven and I don’t feel anything for the next person going to hell!” Am I being cruel and unkind? Let’s see what Jesus says:
Mt 5:14 “You are the light of the world.”
Our Father, thank You for pouring light into our souls. Help us never to rest whilst the Day of Opportunity exists to get the Gospel out to lost souls so that some might believe and be saved. Amen.