Lesson 2: The Darkness Terminated. Series

May 3, 2013

Book of Genesis

By: Tom Lowe

PART: I GENERAL HISTORY FROM ADAM TO ABRAHAM—Gen. 1:1-11:9.

Topic #A: An Account of Creation. Gen. 1:1-2:7.

LESSON I.A.2: THE DARKNESS TERMINATED.

Scripture: Gen. 1:3-5.

GEN. 1:3-5. (KJV)

3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

INTRODUCTION

This passage provides additional information about the work God did on the first day. The first thing He created was light; not that He needed light in order to see and do His work—the darkness and light are both alike to him—but He knew we needed the light in order to see His works and His glory in them, and so that we might work our works while it is day. The works of Satan and his servants are works of darkness; but he that speaks truth, and does good, comes to the light, and desires it, “that his deeds may be made manifest” (Jn. 3:21). In the New Jerusalem there will not be a sun or moon because God Himself will provide the light. In the new creation, the first thing created in the soul is light. We can see because He created light, so let us be led by that light to believe in Him and to love Him who is infinite and eternal light (See 1 Jn. 1:5), and the Father of lights (See Jam. 1:17), and who dwells in inaccessible light, (See 1 Tim. 6:16).

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John 1:5 (KJV) “And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”

James 1:17 (KJV) “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”

1 Tim 6:16 (KJV) “Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.”

COMMENTARY

3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

And God said,

This mild command is also found in verses 6, 9, and 14, and it suggests a divine plan and purpose for the creation; that it is not a mere accident or the result of chance. Neither does it appear to be self-sustaining or self-perpetuating. It is a demonstration of God’s awesome power. God merely spoke creation into existence by the word of His mouth. The psalmist says, “… he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast” (Ps 33:9). We are reminded in Hebrews that “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God …” (Heb 11:3).

This phrase, “And God said,” which occurs so repeatedly in the creation account means: willed, decreed, appointed; and the formative will of God was followed in every instance by an immediate result. The sun was not created until the fourth day, so, on the first day the dense accumulation of fogs and vapors which enveloped the chaos had covered the globe with total gloom. But by the command of God, light suddenly appeared; the thick murky clouds were dispersed, broken, or diluted, and light diffused over the expanse of waters. The effect is described in the name "day (v. 5)," which in Hebrew signifies "warmth," "heat"; while the name "night (v. 5)" signifies a "rolling up," as night wraps all things in a shady mantle.

Let there be light:

Notice that God said, “Let there be light.” Each of the six days begins with the announcement, “Let there be.” Ten times in this chapter we will find “let there be”—let there be a firmament, let there be lights, let the waters be gathered together, etc. Someone has called these the ten commandments of creation. This is the divine Decalogue that we find here. “God said, Let there be light.” This is the first time we are told that God spoke. These are His first words recorded in Scripture.

The light was made by the word of God’s power. He said, Let there be light; he willed and decreed it, and it was done immediately: there was light, and it was an exact copy of the original idea that appeared in the Eternal Mind. Oh, what awesome power there is in the word of God! He spoke, and it was done, done in fact, efficiently, and for perpetuity. The world of God (that is, his will and the good pleasure of it) is quick and powerful. Christ is the Word, the essential eternal Word, and by him the light was produced, for in him was light, and he is the true light, the light of the world, (See Jn. 1:9; 9:5). The divine light which shines in sanctified souls is created by the power of God, the power of his word and of the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, opening the understanding, scattering the mists of ignorance and misunderstanding, and revealing the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ, like God on the first day, commanded the light to shine out of darkness (See 2 Co. 4:6). Darkness would reined perpetually in the mind and heart of fallen man if the Son of God had not come, and given us an understanding (See 1 Jn. 5:20)