"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void;" but it hung amid impenetrable gloom; for "darkness was upon the face of the abyss." The shades of night enveloped the earth, and the dawn of the world seemed not like a birth, but like a funeral. Silence, as of the grave! darkness, as of the tomb!
But across that inky blackness, from the throne of God, came the words of divine majesty, "Let light be;" and light was. These few words contain the history of the creation of light, and, so far as its appearance to man is concerned, comprehend all that we know of its origin.
To ask further for the origin of light, is to ask for the origin of God; for "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all." He dwells "in the light which no man can approach unto." From everlasting to everlasting He is God. And from eternity to eternity, light has co-existed with God. His light was never gone out; for "in Him is no darkness at all." From His presence emanated and emanates a visible glory that shames the moon and mocks the sun. All heaven is flooded with its effulgence; and even earth, in its far wanderings from God, is not left in utter darkness.
Once man dwelt in the presence of God! "And God said unto them." How full the meaning of those words, "God said unto them"! God spoke with man! He talked with him face to face! As friend speaks with friend, so God spoke with man. There indeed was a close communion!
We seek the presence of the learned of the land to-day to ask them questions, to listen to their words; but what a privilege was that! What an opportunity for study! What chance for progress! What a school! Man could question God. With a mind that knew no fatigue, in a body that never knew pain, man communed with the all-wise God!
But he was not content. He was not satisfied with God's paradise; he must make himself a fool's paradise. Not pleased to receive all that God could give, not content to be all that he possibly could be, he sought to be something else, different and inferior. Deluded with the fool's bait that he could be as gods, knowing good and evil, he left and lost all. He left God, the source of all; and immediately his light went out in a miserable darkness. Sin swept in between man and his God, and darkness became man's awful portion.
Part 2
By sin man was separated from his Creator, and darkness like despair enshrouded his soul. Once he had enjoyed the light of the glory of God as truly as he still beholds the splendor of the sun. But darkness is negative; it is the absence of light; it is nothingness. In its absolute sense, it is death. Any living thing placed in absolute darkness would immediately die. The absence of spiritual light is spiritual death, just as the absence of physical light is physical death.
Separation from light means darkness; and so, as man withdrew from God, the source of light, he wandered into the shadow of death and oblivion. In that very day he chose death. In that very day, so far as his own act went, he was dead. And, dying, he would die. But God in mercy did not allow man to withdraw himself entirely from the source of life. Though man groped and stumbled in the darkness, not knowing whither he went, God had mercy. He did not consign man to absolute darkness, which is absolute death. He gave him a ray of light. He came with a message of hope. "I will put enmity," He said to the deceiver, "between you and her seed." As he had separated light from darkness by His own word at the creation of the world, so now, by His word, He separated light from darkness in the realm of the soul. He erected a barrier between the two. He said to darkness, "Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further." This gave man another opportunity. It gave man light, shining as it were from a distance, that by it, and following it, man might find his way back again to God. It gave man a new lease on life. But it was only a lease,--a lease that might expire at any moment.
As in that day when earth hung in the dense shadows of night God's word sent light into the gloom, and all the shadows fled away, so now He sends light into the lives of those who are prisoners of despair. Satan would keep men in this deep gloom; for he "hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine unto them." But "God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts." 2 Cor.4:4,6.
It is the same work in both cases. The world hung over the abyss, shrouded in darkness, with no life, having no form, utterly void, silent, and useless. It was death. But remember, the earth did not remain forever in darkness. Athwart the gloom that enveloped the earth, God commanded the light to shine. In obedience to that word, light came. And so there is no need of our resting forever in darkness. He who performed the marvelous work of creation speaks to you and me, "Let there be light." "Let the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ shine in the darkened void of your heart."
Is there light? He will not act against your will. You have but to say as God says; and sin and sorrow, like the owls and the bats, with the darkness, will flee away. And then, when the glorious light has dawned (2 Peter 1:19), you may say, with Paul, "I was once darkness but now I am light in the Lord." Eph.5:8.
Darkness is death, and light is life!
And the life which is thus imparted is in like manner sustained, by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God!
The whole law of ten commandments and the prophets can be summed up in one word: "Let the light of the knowledge of the glory (character) of God shine in the darkened void of your heart," or "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus," or "The Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Grace be with you. Amen," or "The God of peace be with you all. Amen!" 2 Cor.4:6; Phil.2:5; 2 Tim.4:22; Romans 15:33.
Thus we see that "Once sentence of Scripture is of more value than ten thousand of man's ideas or arguments." Testimonies, Vol.7, p.71. It is the voice of God speaking to the soul in promise.
To Be Continued
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Topic: Light and Darkness part 1 and 2 (Read 13238 times)
