The Enlightenment
God is light.
Think about that for just a moment.
God is light. This is not my opinion or proposal. This was written by the Apostle John in his first letter found in the New Testament. God is light. Now, we could say that John was speaking figuratively. He was not saying God is light in the sense that God is the actual light that we see daily; light distributed by the reaction of the gases that make up the Sunlight that is a product of the billions of reactions occurring in the stars dotting the universe. John is not saying that God is that light. He is saying that God is the concept of Light - where it is compared to darkness. God is that powerful component that expels the darkness. God is the One Who illuminates everything.
I am good with that. But I do think it’s important to understand that John did not come up with the idea of God being light. He develops his “God is light” proposition from something he heard a much more authoritative source say on the matter. John tells us in his Gospel that Jesus, the Son of God, when discussing the need for salvation and how God intended to bring salvation through his Son, introduced the concept of God’s association with light like this:
And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God. (John 3:19-21)
Now the light that came into the world is Jesus Christ, the Son of God and God Himself. In essence, Jesus stated God is light, the light that has come into the world. There is obviously plenty of room for arguing (if you are so inclined) that the light spoken of in this passage is figurative. I mean, light has been around since God spoke it into being… Wait, what?
Genesis 1:3, “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” The scripture goes on to state that God saw the light was good and that He separated the light from the darkness. He called the light Day and the darkness He named Night. That was the end of the first “day” of creation. Three days later God created the “lights in the expanse” and 2 great “lights”, no doubt referring to the stars and the Sun and the Moon. The greater light ruled over the day and the lesser ruled the night. Well this sequence of events puts light around before the forms of the stars. That is interesting. If light existed before our known sources of light existed, what was the light’s source? If stars were not around until day 4 but light existed from day 1, how was the light created? Well, according to the Word of God - the Word of God. Specifically “God said”. Light was created with God’s spoken word.
Ok. In our natural state we understand that light is given off from reactions. There is chemiluminescence, which is a chemical reaction occurring in living creatures that produces visible light. There are other chemical reactions that produce light. Other big light producers in the natural universe are combustion and fusion. Nuclear fusion is what happens in the Sun. All the light created in the aforementioned reactions are natural products of physical reactions. They are designed according to their purpose and are temporary. They will exist as long as the reactions creating them continue. This most definitely will not be eternally, so these lights will extinguish.
If these lights are going to end, what light will remain? Will there be light at all? Well any light that would remain after all natural reactions stop would have to be independent of the reactions that create our physical light. That light would of necessity exist beyond any physical light that we currently understand, study or use. I’m no scientist, obviously, but I would suggest that any light that might exist beyond the physical lights we observe in the universe would be a greater light. Probably a light that predated the lights that we see. It would have a stronger source and a greater impact on its observers. Such a light would have to be a product of a supernatural source, a source beyond our physical limits.
I know of only one light that fulfills all these requirements. That would be the light spoken into existence before any physical lights were created. The light having its source in the Word of God. The light being in the Word and the Word being in God - God’s Light. Not possible? Revelation 21:23 says, “And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.” If you want to know about the city discussed in this scripture read Revelation. My intention is to point out that the Bible is consistent on the matter of light. There most definitely is a light, created in the beginning by the Word spoke from God’s mouth and existing at the end in the glory of God and His Son, Jesus Christ. The Word, that same Word that spoke light into existence, the Word that was with God and was God in the beginning, that Word that became flesh and dwelt among man, is the light of God’s creation for eternity. God is indeed light and His light is as inextinguishable as His love is unquenchable and His grace is unstoppable.
By the way, in Matthew 5, the Word became flesh, the Word that spoke light into existence, Jesus Christ himself declared over His people, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden… In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” But that’s a whole other blog entry.
1 John 1:7