In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 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. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day. (Genesis 1:1-5)

Let There Be Light

Moses must have marveled at the revelation of God about the beginning of time. The first book of Moses was called Genesis as the book of all beginnings. Everything in life and all that pertains to life begins in the book. Ironically, the end of all things is alluded to in the book of beginnings in the flood story. As Moses began to write the Genesis, his mind would have filled with wonder at the evolution of divine creation in such a perfect, declarative manner. The world was created in exact detail with a precision that could only come from a divinely creative hand. There was an order required for life to sustain itself as one day built upon another. Plantlife could not be created before light. The Sun, Moon, and stars were created after grass and trees. Adam and Eve were created last as all things were prepared for them to live. Creation was a symphony of perfection.

The beginning was a very dark and scary place. There was no form to what is called earth. A void hung over the expanse, and darkness covered the face of the deep. Water existed before light. There was no unity or life or light. The division of heavens must wait until the second day. Separation of dry land and the waters would be accomplished on day three. Everything else in creation would wait. There was darkness, and that must be addressed first. Then God spoke, and there was light. That is all that was done on day one. Light. God spoke. Light came out of His mouth. There was light. It was good. Now the darkness was divided with light. God called the light Day and the darkness He called Night. The oldest names in creation are Day and Night. Amazing. God spoke, and light came into the world.

Light is the first particle of creation. Without light, nothing would exist. Light was created three days before the Sun, Moon, and stars. Life on earth is reliant on the Sun, but light filled the earth before the Sun was created. During the first three days of creation, there was nothing in the heavens to look upon. For three days, light filled the earth as the firmament was divided, and dry land and seas were formed. It must have been an incredible thing to stand on the shores of dry land and see no Sun or Moon, yet the earth was filled with grass and trees. But there was light. On the first day, God spoke, and there was light.

The first day of creation was necessary for life to exist. Nothing could have been done in the other five days if light did not exist first. Light does not come from the Sun, but the Sun is a producer of light reflected on the Moon. All things that exist begin with light, and God’s power to allow life to continue is found in light. The world without light is a dead world. Man was not created to be a nocturnal creature but a creation dependent on light. Where light is, man thrives. When a man lives in darkness, he dies.

In the beginning, God spoke, and there was light. Many generations after Adam and Eve, God spoke again, and the world’s true Light came to earth. Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, and while the world did not see the Light that was born that night, eternal life exploded on the earth as it did in the beginning. The world was filled with darkness, and there was a void that filled the hearts of men. Peace could not come from those who sought to be a law to themselves, and peace could not come from those who sought to be keepers of the Law. Jesus came into the world to be the Prince of Peace and the author of eternal light. He is the Light of the world. He was created as the firstborn of light because, like the light of creation, He must exist first for life to continue. All life is found in Jesus Christ, and without Him, there is no life. No light means no life.

Light was created as the foundational element of life. Jesus came into the world of darkness to be the Light that would give all men the hope of eternal life. There is no salvation outside of Jesus because He is the Light. Life is in Jesus because He is the only life. No man can come to the Father unless they come to the Light. Darkness prevails in the hearts of all who refuse to submit to the will of Jesus Christ. The tragedy of rejecting the Light now is the reality that eternal darkness awaits all who reject Jesus. Light or darkness. The choice is yours.