Go Into The Light

Go Into the Light

Do you remember the movie Poltergeist? It was about a house that was haunted with not just one ghost, but many, many of them because the greedy developer built the entire neighborhood over a cemetery.

The 4’3” actress Zelda Rubinstein plays the eccentric medium hired to help exercise the house. At the height of the movie, the house is shaking, lights are blinking, and in all the chaos, There is Zelda yelling “Go into the light” to all the spirits, “There is peace and serenity in the light”`. When they’ve all transitioned, the house calms down. The wind and the noise stop, and there is Zelda, looking into the camera that’s documenting her exorcism, declaring “This house is clean!”

In movie after movie, you hear people telling their loved ones to go into the light. Even at the end of Ghost, when Patrick Swayze is saying goodbye to Demi Moore, the light begins to shine behind him and he turns and goes into it.

It's been a common in pop culture that when someone passes, their soul separates and sees the white light and feel the warmth of the presence of God. They refer to “going into the light” as rejoining our maker.

But if all this is going to join with God, why would we wait until the end of our lives to join him?

Job 3 asks:

20 “Why is light given to those in misery, and life to the bitter of soul, 21 to those who long for death that does not come, who search for it more than for hidden treasure, 22 who are filled with gladness and rejoice when they reach the grave?

So, should it only be at the very end when we reach the presence of our Creator? What were we doing during our lives? Just marking time?

Light is so important that it was the first of creation. In the 3rd sentence in the Bible says (Genesis 1:3): And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good.

Light is good, but let’s look at light in the context of the opening; being with God.

I think light is where we’ve always belonged. This shouldn’t sound like someplace foreign. It should feel like home to us. If the light is being with God, wouldn’t it make sense is that’s where we began?

In Christian doctrine of many different churches, the debate rages on whether our soul, or spirit, existed prior to birth. All across my research, there were some pretty fiery arguments. There were some people really upset with the position either way. But I look to the Old Testament. What I found is that of course we started with God in the light. He formed us and knew us. I believe this because God told the Prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:5) “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you were born, I sanctified you; and I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”

If God knew Jeremiah before he was born, wouldn’t it follow that he knew us as well? If so, then logic shows that yes, we were in the light before we were born.

But then throughout life, we have encounters with the light. Our first major milestone has got to be baptism.

This is the time when we chose to dedicate our lives to the Lord. We believe that baptism is a choice we make when we reach the age of reason. We need to know what right and wrong is, and then chose to walk with God.

The Greek word for washing is baptismos. The root is bapto, meaning to dip, or baptize, meaning to dunk or submerge. So, the Old Testament in the Greek language would have used something of a derivative of baptizing to wash things to make them clean again from being unclean1.

Baptism cleanses us, washing away the filth of sin that we’ve accumulated living outside the teachings. This washing gives us a fresh clean start. Baptism is the fork in the road of life. It should be that like BC & AD, where your life is measured from that point on. That would be the conversion.

It is such an important event that even the Son of God stepped into the water to lead by example.

In Luke 3:21-22 we are told:

21 When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

That verse in Luke points out something else. For the Holy Spirit to descend upon Jesus at the beginning of His ministry also says a lot about the power and importance. Since the first thing Christ did when he began his ministry is be baptized, He also needed to be filled with the Spirit as well.