Let there be light

The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, let there be light… – Genesis 1v2,3


Interesting, isn’t it that the story of creation starts with darkness? There was no form or shape, nothing but darkness. This was a darkness that we cannot even imagine. I guess the closest we can get is when we are on a cave tour and the guide turns off the lights. That kind of darkness is almost palpable. There is a great relief when then light comes back on.

So the Bible starts in darkness and ends in light and hope. Out of that primordial empty shapeless darkness comes God’s voice. ‘Let there be light’ and from then on everything changes.

It is interesting that at the very end the light comes from God because there is no sun, moon, or stars. When we go back to the very beginning we find out that God gives light without those same bodies. The sun, moon, and stars don’t come around for a few more days.

God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all. When He begins His work the light appears. I contend that man lost this light when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden. Though the sun, moon, and stars continued to shine, this beginning light was gone.

There is, of course, a spiritual application for this truth. The whole world is lost in the darkness of sin. Without the Light there would be no hope. Man would be forever trapped in his darkness.

John 1 is something of a spiritual equivalent to Genesis 1. It even starts with ‘In the beginning…’ At the very start of John 1 we also read about light in the darkness. Jesus is the true light that come into the world, but the world did not comprehend it.

‘Let there be light,’ God said at the very beginning. Today He says the same thing, but the world rejects His true Light because it prefers spiritual darkness that hides its deeds and its sin.
When we were saved we received the Light. Our job now is to let that light shine in a world still trapped in darkness.