Good morning! As I write this, the sun has yet to come up, although the sky is beginning to lighten. My living room has an east-facing picture window, which gives me a glorious view of the sunrise every morning. Daylight will be here soon!

The Bible mentions light a lot; 263 times to be exact. That number is based on a search I did at Bible Gateway. The search results included a few other light including words, such as “lightning” and “lighten”, but most were simply “light”.

The first book of the Bible is called “Genesis”, which means “Origin” or “Beginning”. It is the record of the beginning of the earth and the beginning of mankind. The first thing we learn in verse one of chapter one is that God was there, in the beginning. The earth was formless, empty, and dark. It was also wet, because we are told that the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the water. (Genesis 1:1-2)

Then, in verse three, we read the first recorded words of God: “Let there be light”. The rest of the verse, and the two after, tells us there was light, and God saw that the light was good. That was the first day (Genesis 1:3-5).

Verses six through eight tell us how God created the sky, nine and ten tell how He gathered the water so that dry ground appeared, and 11 through 13 describe the creation of vegetation. On day four, God called the sun, moon, and stars into being (Gen 1:14-19).

Did you catch that? God called the sun, moon and stars into being on day four, after he had created the atmosphere, dry land, and plant life, and after he had created light.

If it wasn’t the sun, what was that first light? We don’t know for sure, but the scriptures give us some clues.

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

Daniel writes that “He (God) reveals deep and hidden things, He knows what lies in  darkness and light dwells with Him.”(Daniel 2:22).

The most revealing verses, however, come from Revelation. Jesus has returned, Satan has been defeated, and everything is new. In describing the “new Jerusalem”,  John writes,

“The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.” (Revelation 21:23)

Then he says,

“There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.” (Revelation 22:5)

Again, we can’t know for sure, but that sure makes me think that the light of creation came from God Himself!

Next time, we’ll look at what the scriptures say about some human encounters with that kind of light.

A  friend shared this video from Patsy Clairmont on Facebook the other day. I thought it relevant to our discussion.

Isn’t God awesome?

Let there be light!

Connie