Light and Life!

Light and Life

As I was praying and meditating one morning I had two thoughts:

GOD created light three days before He created the sun, moon and stars!

HOLY SPIRIT is the Power of Life!

So I started looking up scriptures on both and found that light and life have a symbiotic relationship both physically and spiritually. Humans generally think that there is no life without sunlight, yet we know that there are plant and animal life forms in the earth that never see sun light. Light does physically exist because GOD said, “Let there be light!” and there was; therefore it had to exist spiritually for GOD is SPIRIT (Genesis 1:1; John 4:24). So what do the scriptures tell us about light and life? First we know that GOD created or called forth both, Genesis 1 and 2 tell us the story of the creation of everything that we are aware of that physically exists; living and inanimate.

Natural Light:

In The American Heritage College Dictionary of 2007, the definitions and descriptions of light take up just over a full page. The first one is: light (lit) n. 1. Physics a. Electromagnetic radiation that has a wavelength in the range from about 4,000 (violet) to about 7,700 (red) angstroms and may be perceived by the normal unaided human eye. b. electromagnetic radiation of any wavelength. 2. The sensation of perceiving light; brightness. 8. Spiritual awareness; illumination. 17. Light in Quaker doctrine, the guiding spirit or divine presence in each person.

We speak of feeling light, how it feels on our skin both good and bad. Sun light is not the topic of this study, but we do feel sunlight. It’s heat can dehydrate us and burn our skin; we feel the comfort of it’s warmth. When you are calm and attentive you can feel it’s presence in the sunrise and you can feel the darkness encroach as the sunsets; these are physical and emotional experiences. SC Johnson makes Windex and they are currently running a TV ad that says, “Enjoy all of light’s goodness!” and “Light is life, let it all in!” We only see the natural light of the sun and the artificial light we have generated; we do not see the Spiritual Light that GOD first called into being.

Light and darkness existed before the sun. On the first day of creation, Genesis 1:1-2, GOD created the heavens and the earth and the earth was without form and darkness covered it. In 1:3 GOD said, “Let there be Light!” and there was. In verses 4-5 GOD divided the light and the darkness and called light day and darkness night. Then on the fourth day, Genesis 1:14-19 GOD creates the sun to rule the day and the moon and the stars to rule the night. Light and darkness co-existed at the beginning of creation and GOD divided them, then three days later He created the sun, moon and stars. We know that the moon has no light of itself, it reflects the light of the sun and we know that the stars are suns of solar systems that are very far away.

Natural light gives life and darkness suppresses life. We know that humans and most plant and animal life is dependent on light while a few animals and plants can live without light – that is not evolution – that Is GOD! Life begins in darkness, seeds of plants germinate in darkness buried in the soil, but they must reach the sunlight above ground to thrive and produce. Human and mammal animal life begins in the darkness of the uterus and other life forms in the darkness of an egg; but at the moment of conception of humans and mammals there is a flash of light (research it) and the life moves to the womb where it can experience light and darkness (even for eggs, they are laid and now experience light and darkness). Then birth into the world of light and darkness! That spark, as all things natural, have a medical or scientific explanation –  that is not evolution – that Is GOD! It is at the moment of conception that the seed and egg become one physical form and the light is GOD making them a living spirit. Do a Bible word study on life, light, conception and womb.

Spiritual Light:

Genesis 1:1-4, “In the beginning GOD created the heavens and the earth. The earth was unformed and void, darkness was on the face of the deep, and The SPIRIT of GOD hovered over the water. And GOD said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light. GOD saw that the light was good, and GOD divided the light from the darkness. GOD called the light day, and the darkness He called night. So there was evening, and there was morning, one day.” CJB

In Psalm 18:9-12, 28 CJB, David, wrote, “He lowered heaven and came down with thick darkness under His feet. He rode on a keruv (cherub); He flew, swooping down on the wings of the wind. He made darkness His hiding place, His canopy thick clouds dark with water. From the brightness before Him, there broke through His thick clouds hailstones and fiery coals…For You ADONAI, light my lamp; ADONAI, my GOD, lights up my darkness.”

David in Psalm 139 talks of not being able to escape GOD’s SPIRIT, in verses 11-12 he describes his dilemma, “If I say, ‘Let darkness surround me, let the light around me be night, even darkness like this is not too dark for You; rather, night is as clear as day, darkness and light are the same.” How can the creator of light be bound by darkness? In creation light and dark were co-existent and GOD’s vision was not hindered because He is Light and darkness cannot exist in GOD (1 John 1:5). In Revelation 21:22-23 John talking of the New Heaven and the New Earth that were revealed to him, he was shown the Bride of The LAMB – Jerusalem. As he describes it he said, “I saw no Temple in the city, for ADONAI, GOD of Heaven’s Armies, is its Temple, as is the LAMB. The city has no need for the sun and the moon to shine on it, because GOD’s Sh’khinah gives it light, and its Lamp is the LAMB.” CJB

Spiritual Light is the True Light, the sun, moon and stars are given for the natural world which is finite; but Spiritual Light is eternal, it is GOD!

Why is GOD not affected by darkness? Why does GOD not need the sun and the moon? “And this is the message we have heard from Him and proclaim to you: GOD is Light and there is no darkness in Him – none!” “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with GOD, and the Word was GOD. He was with GOD in the beginning. All things came to be through Him, and without Him nothing made had being. In Him was life, and the life was the light of mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not suppressed it…This was the true light, which gives light to everyone entering the world. He was in the world – the world came to be through Him – yet the world did not know Him…The Word became a human being and lived with us, and we saw His Sh’khinah, the Sh’khinah of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth.”  1 John 1:5, John 1:1-14 CJB

JESUS said that we, human beings, are the light of the world and that our light can be darkness. Study Matthew 5:13-16 and 6:22-23.

Natural Life:

In The American Heritage College Dictionary of 2007, the definitions and descriptions of life take up almost a full page. The first one is: life (lif) n., pl. lives (live) 1. Biology a. The property or quality that distinguishes living organisms from dead organisms and inanimate matter, manifested in functions such as metabolism, growth, reproduction, and response to stimuli or adaptation to the environment originating from within the organism. B. The characteristic state or condition of a living organism. 4. The physical, mental and spiritual experiences that constitute existence. 7. A spiritual state regarded as transcending of corporeal death.

All life as we know it comes from GOD – if it is a physically living thing or being GOD made it and gives it life; Genesis 1 and 2 tells of the process of creation and that from nothing GOD made every physical thing that exists. In Proverbs 8:22-31 Wisdom tells of GOD’s creative and life giving process. In John 1:1-14 JESUS is proclaimed the Word of GOD who was present with GOD during the creation and is the Light and Life of humanity. “In Him was Life, and the Life was the Light of men.” Verse 4 NKJV The scriptures actually say that JESUS was the creator of everything that exists. In John 14:6 JESUS says, “…I Am the Way, The Truth and The Life…”

There is no life outside of GOD, there is no life spiritual or physical that GOD did not make for His own pleasure and purpose.

Spiritual Life

GOD existed before creation and all of the spiritual realm in which He exists existed before the creation of our physical existence. All that physically exists that we know of were created by GOD for His pleasure, Proverbs 8:12-31 speaks of GOD creating The Spirit of Wisdom before anything in the natural realm was created, “ADONAI made me as the beginning of His way, the first of His ancient works. I was appointed before the world, before the start, before the earth’s beginnings.” 8:22-23 CJB, “You are worthy O LORD, to receive Glory and Honor and Power: for You have created all things, and for Your pleasure they are created.” Revelation 4:11 KJV, many versions replace pleasure with will, and is GOD’s will not His pleasure?

There is a scripture that can confuse people, “But someone will ask, ‘In what manner are the dead raised? What sort of body do they have?’ Stupid! When you sow a seed, it doesn’t come alive unless it first dies. Also what you sow is not the body that will be, but a bare seed of, say, wheat or something else; but GOD gives it the body He intended for it; and to each kind of seed He gives its own body. Not all living matter is the same living matter; on the contrary, there is one kind for human beings, another kind of living matter for animals, another for birds and another for fish. Further, there are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies; but the beauty of heavenly bodies is one thing, while the beauty of earthly bodies is something else. The sun has one kind of beauty, the moon another, the stars yet another; indeed, each star has its own individual kind of beauty. So it is with the resurrection of the dead. When the body is “sown,” it decays; when it is raised it cannot decay. When sown, it is without dignity; when raised, it will be beautiful. When sown, it is weak; when raised, it is strong. When sown, it is an ordinary human body; when raised, it will be a body controlled by the Spirit. If there is an ordinary human body, there is also a body controlled by the Spirit. In fact the Tanakh says so: Adam, the first man, became a living human being; but the last “Adam” has become a life-giving SPIRIT. Note, however, that the body from the SPIRIT did not come first, but the ordinary human one; the one from the SPIRIT comes afterwards. The first man is from the earth, made of dust; the second Man is from Heaven.  People born of dust are like the man of dust, and people born from Heaven are like the Man from Heaven; and just as we have born the image of the man of dust, so also we will bear the image of the Man from Heaven.” 1 Corinthians 15:35-49 CJB This is what JESUS was telling Nicodemus in John 3 about being born again.

In the KJV 1 Corinthians 15:46 says, “However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual.” This has caused error for some, they believe that the natural is first and therefore more important. The natural is the process to achieve the spiritual, or become gods! Wrong!

As stated above the spiritual realm existed before GOD created the natural realm of our current existence. While in this realm or the natural life everything comes to us in the natural first then the spiritual. We are born of our natural parents then we are born of the SPIRIT; we die a natural death, then we live a spiritual (eternal) life. The natural is first for us but it must die and the spiritual remains. This is because the spiritual realm is eternal both before and after the created natural realm. “YESHUA said to her, ‘I AM the resurrection and the Life! Whoever puts his trust in Me will live, even if he dies; and everyone living and trusting in Me will never die. Do you believe this?’” John 11:25-26 CJB

JESUS said, “The thief comes only in order to steal, kill and destroy; I have come that they may have Life; Life in it’s fullest measure.” John 10:10 CJB Eternal or Spiritual Life not natural life is the fullest measure of Life.

So, my second thought was that The HOLY SPIRIT is the Power of Life. “But you shall receive power when The HOLY SPIRIT has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” “So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please GOD. But you are not in the flesh but in the SPIRIT, if indeed the SPIRIT of GOD dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the SPIRIT of CHRIST, he is not His. And if CHRIST is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the SPIRIT is Life because of Righteousness. But if the SPIRIT of Him who raised JESUS from the dead dwells in you, He who raised CHRIST from the dead will also quicken your mortal bodies through His SPIRIT who dwells in you.” Acts 1:8; Romans 8:8-11 NKJV

The HOLY SPIRIT is the power of Life, “And the angel answered and said to her, ‘The HOLY SPIRIT will come upon you, and the Power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, That HOLY ONE who is to be born will be called the Son of GOD.’” Luke 1:35NKJV

We cannot have eternal Life if we are not in GOD’s Light! So what about those who reject GOD’s gift of salvation, JESUS CHRIST? The scripture is clear that they will be in eternal darkness and torment. Matthew 7:15-39, 10:27-31, 25:30, 41; Romans 6:23; Revelation 19:11-15.

We will all live eternally; will you live in eternal Light or darkness – Life or torment? The choice is yours alone to make! You alone will be judged for how you live this life!