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3 Then 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 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day. ~ Genesis 1:3-5
Today, we return to our study of the book of Genesis. In today's passage we are given God's description of the first day of creation. When God created the heavens and the earth, it was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. This explains why His first work of creation was light. This light was different from the light as we know it on planet earth that emanates from the sun.
Creation is God calling into existence that which did not exist before. God spoke the world into existence and He made all of the planets to rotate and orbit in perfect harmony. In all of His creation, we see relationship. I have been struck like never before by the fact that God spoke creation into existence, accentuating the utter need for communication in order for relationships to happen and flourish. Communication is essential for community.
In v.3 of today's passage we read, "Then God said, 'Let there be light'; and there was light."
On that first day light was created independently of the sun, the moon, and the stars which were created on the fourth day. The order of God's creation shows that light comes from God. He made it. Light did not come in the first place from the sun. On the first day God created light. This light did not come from from the sun because the sun had not yet been created. In 1 Timothy 6:16 we are informed that God dwells in unapproachable light. In the Old Testament we learn of God's shekinah glory; the visible, light-filled presence of God that appeared in the tabernacle and later in the temple. This glory was the manifestation of God and it was there before God created the sun.
In v.4 of today's passage we read, "And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness."
The moment God saw light, He pronounces it "good." Goodness is that which relates in some way to God only in Himself. God is good, and only that which is of Him, or from Him, can be called good. This is why God said light is good, because it is from Him and is characteristic of His nature. In 1 John 1:5 we read, "God is light and in him is no darkness at all." God is light, because the characteristics which we observe in light are also true of God.
This underscores the fact that truth is found at various levels, but is always equally true at any level of meaning. There are two levels at which we can understand truth: In the physical realm, and in the spiritual realm. Light can be viewed from these two levels. Like light, truth is not to be viewed only on the physical level. To limit the truth to just the physical realm is to miss the major point of revelation. In fact, the Apostle Paul used the word "light" in 2 Corinthians 4:6 which reads, "For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
In v.5 of today's passage we read, "God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day."
God called the light "day." The Hebrew word for day is "Yom." God made this world in six twenty-four hour periods. He could have done it in six seconds but He chose to do it in six 24 hour days. Note the order of "evening and the morning." The evening came first. In the Eastern world the day begins at sunset so that each day starts with an evening and ends with a period of light. That is in line with this revelation of the way God works. Each day begins with a period of darkness, and then a period of light.
This provides for us a picture of our reality. We all began our lives in the grips of death and darkness. And, one day when we trusted in Christ's finished work on the cross, we passed from darkness into His light. We can see this order in the work of the Lord Jesus while on the cross. There was the darkness of the crucifixion, and then the morning of the resurrection which began a new day and a new life. An evening and a morning constituted one day.
The testimony of Scripture is that those who cling to the darkness, who refuse to be brought into the light, become at last, as Jude described them, "wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever."
In Ephesians 2:4-5 we read, "But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ."
"But God!" What an amazing set of words! There are literally dozens of verses in the Bible that begin with "But God." That phrase underscores the fact that God did something about our worst darkness; He sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ to take the penalty we could not pay. God is not a God of indifference or unconcern. He was touched with our misery and He came and He wept and He suffered. He became the poorest of the poor, He felt the pinch of poverty. He was rejected, He was frightened, He felt all of the uncertainty of the trials which come into our lives. And when He had fully identified Himself with us, He went out in indescribable anguish and pain and hung on the cross, subjecting Himself to darkness. He bore the penalty of our sin so that we could come into His light.
