First Light

Today we’re going back to before the beginning.

Before time began, when God spoke and light pierced the darkness.

Before he separated light from dark and marked the cycle of the first day and night.

What do we know about before then? Let’s see what the Bible tells us.

God is Light

“This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all” (1 John 1:5 NLT).

God is light (which does not mean that light is God, by the way!). Is that literal light, or simply morally perfect light? Or both put together? Let’s see what a few other passages have to say.

“No longer will you need the sun to shine by day, nor the moon to give its light by night, for the LORD your God will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. Your sun will never set; your moon will not go down. For the LORD will be your everlasting light. Your days of mourning will come to an end” (Isaiah 60:19-20 NLT).

“For, at just the right time Christ will be revealed from heaven by the blessed and only almighty God, the King of all kings and Lord of all lords. He alone can never die, and he lives in light so brilliant that no human can approach him. No human eye has ever seen him, nor ever will. All honor and power to him forever! Amen” (1 Timothy 6:15-16).

In the new Jerusalem, “. . . the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light“ (Revelation 21:23).

James 1:17 tells us that God doesn’t change. What he will be he has been since before time began. He has always been LIGHT.

In the Beginning

One day something changed.

First darkness covered deep waters, while the Spirit of God hovered above it all. Darkness above, darkness beneath, darkness everywhere.

And then God spoke.

All of a sudden there was light above, light beneath, and light everywhere! He called the light good, but it doesn’t say he called the dark evil. Light and dark comingled until God separated them for a purpose.

That was the moment day and night were born.

Day and night took a few turns before God created the sun, moon, and stars.

What was the source of this light? Perhaps God himself? I don’t know.

Did this light provide heat to begin warming the waters of the earth for life that would come a few days later? I don’t know.

The order of nature is not something prior to God or independent of God to which he must adjust himself as best he can. The order of nature is the medium of God’s personal action, and it is not for any man, even though he be the most distinguished scientist, to say what God, working through his self-chosen medium, can do.

Ernest Fremont Tittle, in “The Gospel According to Luke: Exposition & Application” page 80.

What I can say is that light itself is not dependent on sun, moon or stars, or even lightbulbs, candles, or firepits. None of those existed when light was created and separated from darkness, and I daresay they’re only a shadow of the light we’ll see one day.

One day everything will return to the way it was before the beginning. Before even the first day and night, before light appeared on the earth. There will only be one Source of light who will provide all we need!

“No longer will you need the sun to shine by day, nor the moon to give its light by night, for the LORD your God will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory” (Isaiah 60:19).

What a sight that will be!

---

This is the first installment of the Light segment of my Creation series. Join me as we dive into the topic of light: what it is, how it works, and what we can learn from it.

As a thank you for reading, I’m sharing an absolutely unrelated printable with you. I suppose it could be related in that without light, there would be nothing to make soup with!! This is a weekly checklist to help you celebrate National Soup Month. Let me know in the comments what soup you’ll be enjoying!