In the first chapter of the Bible, God's very first recorded words were "Let there be light" (Gen 1:3 NIV). In Hebrew, it says, "Light, become!, and light became!" In that single finite moment, before time began, the infinite God spoke the Universe into existence. He created it from a ball of energy and light that appeared suddenly from nothingness. The first light pervaded everything, filling the entire Universe. God is the Creator of light and the darkness, but they cannot exist together, so they function at separate times.
"Thus says God, the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it" (Isa 42:5 ESV)
The Hebrew verb translated "created" is "bara" and is defined as "bringing into existence something new, something that did not exist before" (See Gen 1:1; 2:3; 2:4; Ps 148:5; Isa 40:26; 42:5; 45:18). The Universe was made out of something that cannot be measured or detected.
"By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible." (Heb 11:3 NIV)
The Bible asserts that Jesus is who created the Universe and was active before its creation.
"For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together." (Col 1:16-17 NIV – see also Prov 8:22-31; Isa 45:5-22; John 1:3, 17:24; Eph 1:4; 2 Tim 1:9; Titus 1:2; 1 Peter 1:20)
God "…created the heavens and stretched them out..." (Isa 42:5 NIV). The Universe's characteristic stated more frequently than any other in the Bible is that it was "stretched" out and continues to expand. It is Jesus who is responsible for the cosmic expansion (See Job 9:8; Ps 104:2; Is 40:22; 44:24; 45:12; 48:13; 51:13; Jer 10:12; 51:15; Zech 12:1).
"He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in." (Isa 40:22 NIV)
The Big Bang
It is believed by many scientists that the entire Universe came forth from a vacuum state which underlies everything within it and is the foundation of existence for all things because virtual particles are both spontaneously emanating and being absorbed back in continuously without end.
Every event has a cause. Within a concentrated ball of light that appeared out of nowhere during a rapid and cataclysmic explosive expansion or "inflation," all energy, space, and time came into existence together in what is known as the "Big Bang." This happened in only about a trillionth of a trillionth of a trillionth (10 to the minus 35) second of time! It then immediately started to cool, leaving behind a faint pattern of temperature fluctuations on the edge of the observable Universe. Before the Big Bang, there was no time or space.
God created the laws, measurements, and equations of physics and designed them to guarantee an ever-expanding universe at precise rates of time to make physical life. The Bible states emphatically that the Universe and the Earth were created over four days rather than millions of years, when God spoke it into existence (Gen 1:1-14). The Earth and solar system are young and not old.
The Light of the Sun
God created the Sun to emit light that travels at a speed of 186,282 miles per second! That is 11,176,920 miles per hour! The Sun is considered a yellow dwarf star that travels through space at a rate of 150 miles per second and makes a revolution around the home galaxy of the solar system and the Earth, called the Milky Way Galaxy, every 225 million years! Scientists do not know precisely how far out the solar system extends or definitively understand what keeps the Sun shining its light.
Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) studied sunlight and discovered that it could be broken down into a rainbow of colors by a prism. Dutch physicist Christiaan Huygens (1629–1695) viewed light as an impulse moving in all directions and theorized that light moves as a wave within a three-dimensional space. No wave of light is actually pure white. The Sun can produce light of many different waves made up of brightness and colors that vibrate at various angles. They will appear white once detected and processed by the human eye.
The Sun provides virtually all the heat and light and other forms of energy necessary for sustaining life on Earth, as well as the energy for the entire solar system! Yet, the Earth receives only half a billionth of the energy that leaves the Sun. It has been estimated that the amount of matter found in the Sun could provide enough energy to fuel billions of years of atomic reactions!
The Sun is the central member of the solar system, yet it is only an average size star that is 109.3 times the volume of the Earth! Its mass quantity is 333,400 times greater than the Earth and exerts so much gravitational force that it holds the other planets in the solar system in orbit and governs their motion. It weighs more than everything within the solar system combined and contains more than 99 percent of its entire mass!
God is Light
The Bible declares that God is light by the essence of His holiness and absolute nature that He is love - and a consuming fire (See John 1:4-5,7-9; 3:19-21; 8:12; 9:5; 12:35-36,46; 1 John 1:5, Rev 21:23).
All spiritual life and growth depend on His light. Light and energy emanate from His love. Jesus Christ, God the Son, is the light of ALL worlds!
"I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." (John 8:12 KJV)
Within the known Universe, all things are held together by power. Jesus proclaimed that He is the Creator and sustainer of every sun in the entire Universe, as well as everything in existence, including the cellular structure of the human body.
When Jesus declared He was the light of the world He was proclaiming He was the Creator God of the Universe and that only in Him is found all perfection, life, holiness, beauty, truth, peace, knowledge, goodness, blessing, joy, and eternal life!
Everything depends on His moment-by-moment preservation. Through Jesus, every human can physically "live, and move, and have (their) being" (Acts 17:27, 28 NIV). Without Him, every created thing would cease to exist.
Jesus lives in "unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see" (1 Tim 6:15-16 NIV). He even "wraps himself in light as with a garment" (Ps 104:2 NIV).
Light is the place where safety and security are found and is a symbol of God's grace. The Bible says that "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows" (James 1:17 NIV).
In the promised future New Jerusalem, the inhabitants who serve God will never need the Sun for its light because:
"the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." (Rev 21:23 NIV)
"The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. Your sun will never set again, and your moon will wane no more; the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your days of sorrow will end." (Isa 60:19-20 NIV)
The Shadow of Light
"This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all." (1 John 1:5 KJV)
God's eternal life illuminates every dark and shadowed area of life. The light of God is so brilliant that there are no shadows, even when things are turning and spinning out of control!
When entering a dark room and turning on a light, the space will still be filled with shadows because the light cannot penetrate all of the darkness. In the spiritual plane of eternal life, there are no shadows! There is no darkness or fear of the unknown. There is only perfect light because Jesus is the light! Light is His shadow!
When a person chooses to step into the light of eternal life and live in His light, they are then transferred from the darkness of this world into the eternal light of heaven.
Dispelling Darkness
"And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light." (Gen. 1:3 NIV)
Just as God created light to dispel darkness, so God today must create spiritual light to dispel humanity's moral blindness (See 2 Cor 4:6 3; John 1:4-5, 9:41; Eph 4:17-18).
When a person's physical eyes are blinded, they cannot see the light from the Sun.
"The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." (1 Cor 4:4 NIV)
When people admit that they are spiritually blind, they will have taken the first step to truth. When a person comes to Jesus, they walk in the light because He is the Light.
"The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in licentiousness and lewdness, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts." (Rom 13:12-14 NIV)
The light of God is His glory that is on every Born-Again Christian. It is the clothing of glory that God puts upon you. When He says, "You are the light of the world," it means that you are clothed with light.
Bearers of Light
One of the Greek words for "light" is the word "phos." It is where the word fluorescence comes from. In the New Testament, it is the main word for light. Jesus told His disciples that they are the spiritual light of the world (Matt 5:14). Jesus said, "As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you" (John 20:21 ESV). He has commanded every Born-Again Christian to "…let your light shine (like a fluorescent bulb) before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven" (Matt 5:16 ESV).
The Born-Again Christian reflects God's spiritual light, and they are to show the power of God in every way possible. They are to be bearers of His light and "shine as lights in the world; Holding forth the word of life" so that others might come to know Jesus through their living testimony as a spirit being who transcends the natural realm and lives beyond the supernatural (Phil 2:15-16 NIV).
CONCLUSION - The Armor of Light
The Lord's ultimate purpose is to prepare His people to become His possession:
"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." (1 Peter 2:9 ESV)
God has given every Born-Again Christian His "armor of light" to put on daily to prepare for, and protect against, the onslaught of the enemy because they are the radiant image of Christ's character (Rom 13:12 NIV).
Walking in holiness will allow HIS Word of truth to rule as Lord over our thoughts "in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left" (2 Cor 6:7 NIV). He has made His "light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ" (2 Cor 4:5-6 NIV). Through the Holy Spirit, each of us is to be "strong in the Lord and in his mighty power," increasing daily in supernatural strength by resting in God and HIS power (Eph 6:10 NIV).
As a Born-Again Christian, we are children "of the light and" children "of the day." We do not "belong to the night or the darkness" (1 Thess 5:5-6 NIV). We are "a light to those who are in darkness" and must learn to place our "trust in the light" - Jesus - each day (John 12:36; Rom 2:19).
"Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them." (Eph 5:8-12 ESV)
Beloved, are you ready to walk in deeper holiness and "let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven" (Matt 5:16 ESV)?
Let’s pray…
