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| And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night |
1 In the beginning God created the
heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth was without form,
and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God
moved upon the face of the waters.
3 And God said, Let there be
light: and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it
was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 And God called the light
Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the
first day. (Gen
1:1-5)
Introduction
In
the Beginning!
Were
you there in the beginning? Well, that depends upon what you mean by the
BEGINNING. We were all present at the beginning of this day, the beginning of
the year, the beginning of our lives at birth, etc….
But
I make reference to the BEGINNING of all things as we know them – SPACE, TIME,
LIGHT, ENERGY, and LIFE!
Before
the beginning, there was only God and the Council of Heaven – Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost.
God
envisioned you and me before He planned the world. He designed the world
especially for you and me. The Hebrew word for ‘GOD’ in verse one is
ELOHIM. Elohim is a special case word in the Hebrew language. It is, to
describe it most simply, a singular-plural word meaning more than one-in-one.
This more than one in one was the Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
In
the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Gen 1:1 All Three Persons of
the Godhead were present and the active agents of CREATION: Father – the Great
Architect of the Universe; Son – the Great Engineer and Builder; and the Holy
Ghost – The Great Essence of Light and Life. Who was the primary actor in
Creation?
It
was the Lord Jesus Christ! He was the Executive Person at Creation! In the
beginning was the Word (Christ) , and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by
him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and
the life was the light of men. (John 1:1-4)
The
First Night and Day!
We
humans choose to refer to the two parts of a whole day as “Day and Night.” This
may result from our desire and preference to light over darkness; but that is
not the way the Bible defines a day: “And God called the light Day,
and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were
the first day.”
God
does not speak in confused tones. He has a reason from describing a day as
evening and morning. Because of this description of day in the Torah (1st five books of the Bible) the
Hebrews began every day at sunset. The Sabbath begins at sunset and ends at
sunset the next day, for example.
Before
God began His Creative Process, there was no space, or time, or matter. God
existed beyond these elements in the Divine Presence of the Trinity. In full
council, they decided upon all that God would create, and they agreed to the
sequence and the role of each Person of the Trinity in that process. The whole
plan was first created, as are all great undertakings, in the Mind of God. God
conceived, and God produced. There was one particular aspect of Creation that
was troubling . . . . God could create Mankind to be perfect in obedience, or
He could create them to have discretion between good and evil. He desired that
mankind would be capable of both receiving, and giving, in love. If Man were to
possess the capacity for love, He must be free to make choices. So God opted to
create Mankind as free agents. There would be a problem with that choice since
Man will always sin when free to decide. God is perfect in love, but also
perfect in justice. He can brook no sin in His Heaven. So God must also provide
a means of redemption for the Man He would create. Knowing that Adam would sin,
God would provide a willing Substitute for the sin of men if they would accept
that Substitute. That Substitute role was willingly accepted by the Lord Jesus
Christ in His Pre-Incarnate state.
God
began Creation by establishing a space (a heaven) for the Universe. This space
was separate and apart from His Divine Presence in Heaven. The space was veiled
in deep and stifling darkness. He created, at the same time, a glob of matter
to occupy a small corner of the space He had created. That glob of matter was
the earth. It was dark and formless. “And the earth was without form, and
void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.” Moreover, it was empty
of all life. There was no light to even view that emptiness. God’s Creation
began in darkness (night) but would end in glorious LIGHT! “And the Spirit
of God moved upon the face of the waters. And 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.” Yes, Light is Good, and Darkness – not so
much so. Light reveals good things, and exposes evil and dangerous paths as
well. Light gives life, and Light is never deceitful. Light is one of the
characteristics that come from God! But darkness exists where God has not moved
and before light came on earth. The Holy Ghost moved upon the dark countenance
of the earth as a precursor to further Creation. God does not labor in
darkness, and neither should we.
It
is impossible to actually divide light from darkness for darkness cannot mix
with Light. The smallest candle will scatter the darkness before it in a large
area. This is because darkness is simply the absence of Light, and is therefore
the favored environment for sin and wickedness to prevail. But God is Light,
and He scatters the darkness. Though it is impossible to divide light from
darkness, God can do all things, and that is exactly what He did! He created
the earth as a revolving globe. When the portion of the earth that revolves
away from the light source has made its circuit, it is shadowed in its OWN
darkness. The world is darkness compared to the Children of Light in Christ.
“And God said, Let there be light!”
God spoke Light into existence. It was not a gradual illumination, but an
abrupt one which scattered the darkness as the sands of the dune are driven by
the desert winds. It was the first time the Universe had ever seen light, but
there was no one there to witness the Light but the Triune God.
“And God saw the light, that it was
good!” Yes, Light is always good. Without the Light of the Sun, there would
be no energy on earth to warm and feed its inhabitants. Light is essential.
There is only one good quality about darkness – it enhances our ability to
sleep and rest as God intended it. Unfortunately, too many sleep the
light-filled day away and get into all kinds of mischief at night. Sin LOVES
darkness!
“And God called the light Day, and
the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first
day.” As you can see, the Hebrews have a biblical justification for
beginning their days at sunset. This first day is the most important day of
all, for without the first day, there could never have followed the other six
days of the week. There could never have been a Day of Passover, or a Day of
Atonement! There could never have been an “Acceptable Day of the Lord” without
that first Day; and there could never been a Lord’s Day, or Last Day, for the
consummation of all things – no Day of Redemption, or Day of Judgment; no day
when the glory of the Lord should fill the heavens at the sound of the trumpet.
There would be no Easter Day, or Christmas Day. No, without the First Day, no
other days are possible.
Do
you not believe that we should thank the Lord for that first Day, and every
other that He has given us under the sun? Of course, it need not even be said
that even BEFORE that First Day, the Lord had you and me in mind. He knew us before
the worlds were made. He knew you would be here at this time and moment because
He already made plans for you; and whatever the Lord conceives, He will act
upon. He is still in the act of Creation. What part of God’s Creation is most
important to you and me? The most important Creation of God of all others is
this: Create in me a clean
heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. (Psalms
51:10)
The
Day will soon come when there will be another First Day beyond this veil of
tears and sorrow: 3 And I heard a great voice out of
heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell
with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them,
and be their God. 4 And God shall wipe away all
tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor
crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed
away. 5 And he that sat upon the
throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me,
Write: for these words are true and faithful. 6 And he said unto me, It is done.
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is
athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. (Rev
21:3-6)
Has
your heart been made NEW in Christ, friend?
