Turn On The Dark
I’m beginning a new topic this month, and it may take a few months to finish it. The topic is: light. This is based on a teaching I first presented way back in the 1970’s, but I’ve changed much of it and updated it quite a bit for this issue. As we study together about light for a few months, I hope Holy Spirit will use it to liberate you inside just a little more because of what Jesus has done for you. Remember, Holy Spirit permanently implanted within you and fused with your spirit is Jesus in his “unbodied other form.”
I pray for Holy Spirit to take whatever truth you find in this teaching and use it to release you into the true freedom of God’s love, light, and LIFE, because John 8: 32-36 teaches us genuine inner freedom is found only by knowing and experiencing the Source of truth which is Jesus. A simple reminder: it’s not truth alone that sets us free; it’s knowing the truth that sets us free!
Let’s jump right into our study of light. To do so, let’s first look at what science and the Bible teach us about the origins of light…and darkness.
Frankly, about the origins of both, modern science teaches us absolutely nothing of a concrete or conclusive nature; scientists simply cannot give any plausible explanation about how light—and darkness—originated. Nope, science cannot tell us much about the origins of light and darkness; all their attempts to do so are purely speculative theories and hypotheses, not facts. On the other hand, even though science discloses nothing conclusive about the origins of light and darkness, we can learn much from science about the properties, action, “composition”, speed, and effects of light and darkness. lease understand; I’m not anti-science. I’m merely saying that science doesn’t have all the answers.
What Does the Bible Teach?
As is so often the case in dealing with natural phenomena, we must turn to the Bible—not science—for a definitive statement about the origins of light and darkness. For example, we read in Daniel 2: 2 that light dwells with God. That is to say, light is part of the essence and “substance” of God. It is part of his person, makeup, and nature. Light is embodied and personified in God. od is light (1 John 1: 5). All natural light (including the entire range of the spectrum, both visible and invisible) and all spiritual light or illumination are outrayings of God’s very own Light-Being.
Light has its origin in, and emanates and radiates from God. From the largest galaxy in the universe to the tail of the tiniest firefly—all light originates with God, because God is Light. Psalm 104:2 teaches that God is clothed with light. 1 Timothy 6: 16 teaches us that God lives in light (not as in the focus or beam of an external light as an actor before a spotlight, but that He “inhabits” light). He is light, and He is surrounded by light. James 1: 17 sums up the matter of the origin of light by stating clearly that God is the Father of all that gives light. Also, we must not overlook the classic statements about the origin of light at the time of creation as found in the first chapter of Genesis and Isaiah 45: 6 and 7.
Definitions
Now let’s briefly examine the nature of light and a definition of light. The simplest definition of light is that it is a radiant energy, luminous energy, or a “force” which illuminates that with which it comes in contact. Light is the basic life-giving source throughout the universe. By the marvelous chemical process of photosynthesis, light “creates” life by converting radiant energy to chemical energy. Later, we’ll cover in more detail “spiritual” as well as natural photosynthesis.
Light is generalized throughout the universe, and where there is not light there is darkness, intense cold, and generally chaotic conditions. Light, by its curbing and limiting power, is inherently “stronger” than darkness. Various spectrums, degrees, and types of light possess healing qualities—such as vitamin D in sunshine, the soothing, healing qualities of infra-red light, or the awesome power of laser light used in modern medical and surgical techniques.
Of course, I have been writing so far about natural light; if your inner, “spiritual eyes” are open, I’m certain you have already begun to see some awesome implications of spiritual light, too, however. By simple definition, spiritual light possesses in the spiritual realm the same illuminating and healing powers as natural light in the material realm. Darkness—which is also a created phenomena as we read in Isaiah 45: 6 and 7—is simply the absence of light or a “force which interferes with the radiation of light. As already mentioned, where there is no light, there is cold, chaos, and little or no life, because the amazing process of photosynthesis is rendered inoperative.
Spiritual darkness is for a person to be lacking in spiritual illumination, to be lacking in a personal relationship with God which you can have only by personally inviting Jesus to take up permanent residence in your life. The Bible uses the expression “kingdom of darkness” to illustrate the milieu and lifestyle of those who have not yet been born again into God’s kingdom of light. Here, please take a few moments to read and ponder Colossians 1: 12 and 13 and John 3: 3 – 8 in this study of light and darkness.
Thus far in discussing the origin and nature of light my thoughts have been largely introductory.
Lights Among Us
Until the appearance of Jesus of Nazareth in human flesh as the only begotten Son of God, the brightest “light” the world had yet seen up to that point was Adam. He was a glorious, scintillating, shining being arrayed in light. He was iridescent and glowing. [See another teaching on this website titled Whole In One about Adam’s original state.] This was Adam in his perfection and innocence before his fall into sin and death. Adam was literally clothed in light before his transgression and sin in Eden; he was a spectacular light-being, beyond human language to describe.
The artistic representations we see in religious books and magazines picture Adam in the garden before the fall as a kind of “Charles Atlas” or Tarzan-like Superman. These drawings and pictures fall far short of what Adam was really like—clothed in a garment of light that literally shone as the noonday sun, scintillating with all the colors of the spectrum as he walked and talked in unbroken fellowship with God, the Father of Lights. Only the last Adam, Jesus, as John saw Him in Revelation 1: 14 – 16, can compare with, yes, and surpass in glory, the first Adam as he was before the entrance of sin into the experience of humankind.
Only the cleansing blood of the last Adam can restore fallen humanity to that awesome place of bright fellowship with the Father of Lights that Adam once knew. How very far we see humanity has really fallen when we see with our spiritual eyes what Adam was like before his fall. The next great man of light to appear on this planet was Moses. But how dim was his light compared to that of Adam. His relative dimness compared to Adam’s brightness certainly shows the ravages of sin upon the human race in just a few thousands of years.
We all know—or should know—the story of Moses’ testings and trials as God molded and shaped him into the great leader of God’s people for that generation—as God shaped him into the forerunner of a greater Prophet—Jesus—who was yet to come. We read in Exodus 34:29 that when Moses descended from Mt. Sinai with the two tablets of stone, he had been so close to the living god that “the skin of his face shone and sent forth beams of light by reason of his speaking with God.” The New Testament commentary of this event (2 Corinthians 3: 7) tells us that Moses’ face shone with brilliance and glory. Yes, the light of God shining from within Moses, much dimmer than that of Adam, shows us how far humanity had fallen by Moses’ time; and yet it is a prophetic picture—a foretaste—of that which is yet to be.
Another human to have within his being a portion of the light of God was John the Baptizer. We read of his light in John 5: 35. Yet we do not see his light; he was merely called a light. Adam was clothed in light; Moses’ face shone with light; John was merely called a light. Do you see how sin in the successive generations of humanity has slowly dimmed the actual light of God shining forth from his children? We see the progressive—or should I say regressive?—ravages of sin down through the centuries of human history. From being clothed in light, to merely being called a light. How very far we have fallen!
Another Species of Light-Beings
Not only do we read of a man who was clothed in light, of a man whose face shone with light, and of a man who was called a light, but we also read of another race or species of created beings who share these characteristics of light: Angels. However, since it I not within th scope of this teaching to discuss these other created beings, I refer you to only two biblical references as a starting point if you wish to pursue a further study about angels: Matthew 28: 3 and Revelation 10: 1. The angels, too, are clothed in light.
Jesus, The LIGHT of the World
There is one light, of course, which is the Light. I refer to Jesus, and let’s now study at length that wonderful light4. One basic point at the outset: all of the characteristics—and greater—regarding light that were a part of the first Adam will, of course, be part and of person and nature of Jesus, the Head of an entirely new race of supernaturally created beings. Whatever the first Adam had, the last Adam, Jesus, possesses in far greater measure.
I want to pause again to point out that every time I refer to light in this teaching, I am referring to light in the sense of actual, literal light as well as to spiritual light. Let’s not spiritualize away the actual, nor literalize away the spiritual.
Many of my readers are familiar with the description of Jesus in the first chapter of John’s Gospel. It seems clear that here the description of Jesus as the light of the world is primarily spiritual; on the other hand, in the first chapter of the Revelation to John we read of Jesus as the actual, literal out-raying of the light in which God dwells. Let’s look at a few verses in John 1. In verse 4 we read that Jesus, the light, is the LIFE of all people.
Could we say that through a process of “spiritual photosynthesis” Jesus gives LIFE to all humanity? If not now, by the end of the ages of time? What profound depths of truth we still need to have the Holy Spirit teach us about how Jesus gives LIFE to all people. In verse 5 we read that the light of Jesus shines on in the darkness and that the darkness cannot overpower that light. In verse 9 of John 1, we read that the true Light illumines every person who comes into the world.
This teaching about Light will be continued next month.
“God spoke: ‘Light!’ And light appeared. God saw the light was good and separated light from dark. God named the light Day, he named the dark, Night. It was evening, and it was morning….” –Genesis 1: 3 – 5
To Think About
In tragedy and despair, when an endless night seems to have fallen, hope is found in realizing the companion of night is not another night, that the companion of night is day, that darkness always gives way to light!
Bill Boylan
Life Enrichment Services, Inc
leservices38@yahoo.com
Revised and updated December 2020
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