Let there be …

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. (Genesis 1:3)

And this is where we start to see causality shift, because here the effect is all-important. There was light and the issue of its cause is not the talking point, it’s just that … there was light! We are so cemented into the paradigm that the sun is the source of all light, that we tend to overlook He who is the source of all.

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)

So God Himself provided the light on the first day and, on the fourth day, provided the sun, moon and stars. Their chief purpose was to serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years (Genesis 1:14), but they were also, of course, to provide light. Remember what we explored earlier? The light, heat and the signs are functions of those lights God put into the sky. Scientists (and many theologians) would prefer to concentrate on the form of the celestial objects themselves.

Now here’s the point. It was the effect of these stellar objects that is all-important, to act as signs and provide light. In order for this to happen within the bounds of the universal rules of physics that God was setting up, the sun, moon and stars needed to have certain physical characteristics, in terms of size, location and properties. So these characteristics, generally seen as causes (physical characteristics), are secondary to their effects (their function for mankind). We have effects before causes, also function before form. God’s ways are not our ways! He can also give us a series of blood moons (the final one was at 3:30am last night, witnessed courtesy of a weak bladder!), leaving it to us to attach any significance, if there are any, to such events. No doubt various TV evangelists will be donating the royalties from their sensationalist end-time books to worthy causes, having wrongly predicted all kinds of calamities to coincide with these sightings!

And this is how all miracles work. God decides to break through miraculously into our world, so He tweaks the “rules” of nature or physics in that instance to create that effect. He perhaps created a unique storm configuration in order to part the Red Sea. He stops the earth’s rotation to make the sun seem to stand still in the sky. He produces creative miracles in order for Moses to confound Pharaoh and also for Jesus to drive home some points about his mission on earth.

This is still hard for some Christians and it’s no wonder, as the scientific worldview has a tight grip on us, particularly those of us (me included) who took Science at degree level. There are obviously a lot more questions going through the mind, in the areas of astronomy, cosmology and physics and I urge you to seek the Lord on these matters. But the fact is that, as I said, belief in New Testament miracles is a necessary minimum requirement, so why do we not apply the same standards to our reading of the Old Testament? Why do many Christians still search for naturalistic, scientific explanations for the events in the life of Moses, Elijah and, most particularly, God’s exploits in Creation week. Should we not accept that God Himself provided the light on the First Day, after all, He does the same right at the end, when things have been wrapped up.

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)

Let us not be in thrall to the brains of the “Academy” but rather accept by faith the Wisdom that proceeds from the Mind of our God. This is what Hebraic Church should be doing. It is now time to examine this faith.

This is an extract from the book, Hebraic Church, available for £10 at https://www.sppublishing.com/hebraic-church-101-p.asp

Where does light come from?