DARKNESS IS THE ABSENCE OF LIGHT

Friday 11 April

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. Genesis 1:2-3

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light Ephesians 5:8 (NKJV)

Did you know that the Hebrew language reads right to left instead of English left to right? One of the interesting points about this is that when the Jews were reading the scriptures, everything was going back to the beginning. In actual fact every revelation throughout the entire Bible has its inception in the book of Genesis. The concept of darkness is no exception here.

We know that ‘formless and void’ in verse two is ‘tohu bohu’ in Hebrew which means ‘nothing nothing’. Why is this so important? Because this particular darkness was not physical but spiritual. How do we know this? It says ‘darkness was upon the face of the deep and the Spirit of God hovered over the waters.’ DEEP and WATERS are two oceanic terms but the seas were not yet formed until day 3 of creation. So what is going on here?

Have you ever heard the term the ‘sea of humanity’ speaking of all the people in the world? This is what is being referred to in this verse. So initially instead of a physical creation, Moses the writer of Genesis was describing God’s plan of redemption for the sea of humanity who were in spiritual darkness due to sin.

In verse 3 Then God said ‘Let there be light’. Question: if the darkness that was over the sea of humanity was a spiritual darkness, then what kind of light did God command to come out of darkness? Answer: Spiritual light. How was this spiritual light going to come out of the darkness upon the sea of humanity? Through salvation in Christ.

2 Corinthians 4:6 confirms this reality; ‘For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.’

Notice what came first; Spiritual light. After God had outlined His plan of redemption, He goes on to create physical light on day 4 of creation when He created the sun, moon and stars to light up the earth.

Genesis 1:2 is also corroborated by Ephesians 5:8 where it says ‘you who were once darkness’. Stop there for a second. Notice it does not say ‘you who were once in darkness’. It says that you WERE darkness. All of us before receiving Christ were darkness.

‘having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart;’ (Ephesians 4:18)

This is the state of mankind without the light of Christ. Darkened by sin and spiritually dead. Darkness is another term for spiritual death or separation from God. So before the foundation of the earth was laid, God had already put His salvation plan in motion before Adam ever sinned! The first verses of Genesis are God’s rescue plan outlined for the sea of humanity and every metaphorical fish in it.

So if spiritual darkness is nothing more than the absence of spiritual light, what is the solution to dispel the darkness? Well if your house is pitch black and you can’t see anything, what do you do? Turn on the light.

Jesus said ‘I am the LIGHT of the world’. He also said ‘I am the LIFE’. Then He combines these together when He says ‘whoever believes in me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life.’

How do we have the light of life? By receiving salvation in Christ Jesus.

John 1:3 says speaking of Jesus, ‘in Him was life and the life was the light of men, and the light shines in darkness and the darkness cannot overpower it.’

‘But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.’

Sin brought darkness and death Jesus is the light of eternal life that brought salvation for all. Darkness is the absence of light but spiritual light dispels spiritual darkness.

APPLICATION

Thank the Lord Jesus Christ for calling you out of darkness into His marvellous light and live in the revelation that with Christ in you, YOU are now the light of the world!