Lights

Then God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens

to divide the day from the night;

and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and for years;

]and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth";

and it was so.

Genesis 1:14-15

I've been studying the Creation account this week, Genesis 1:1-2:3 which covers the six days of God's creative work and the seventh day of rest.  It's an awesome passage of Scripture, revealing to us so many foundational principles of faith.  It is the beginning of a Biblical, dare I say, Christian worldview.    Here are the key elements of belief and conduct, written down, preserved, transcribed, translated, and published for our benefit.  This is the start.

In the beginning, God.  And God said.  And God did.  And God instructed.  And God saw.  And God blessed.  An entire chapter that shows us the omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient Godhead at work, actively conceiving, communicating, and carrying out the eternal plan of creation.  I've discussed the creation in depth in earlier posts (from 2016), a fascinating study into the origin of the universe and everything in it, so I won't take the time to do it again here.  Suffice it to say, God created everything that is, that was, that ever will be.  It's incredible and inspiring to think that we serve a God who did all that, and who also cares for and is directly involved with us.

As I looked at this passage every day this past week, making notes and Scriptural connections, these few verses caught my attention.  It's worth pointing out that God lit this planet for four days without the assistance of the sun, moon, and stars.  How did He do it, you might ask?  What was light when God said, "Let there be light?"  Jesus tells us in John 8:12, "I am the light of the world.  He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."  For those first three days of history as recorded in Genesis, the earth was illuminated merely by the presence of Almighty God.

But on the fourth day, God added something.  He drew back the veil of His presence and revealed the stars He had flung into space.  He didn't say, "Let there be light" again.  He said, "Let there be lights."  And the sun and moon and stars of the heavens shone down their light on this little blue planet.  God had created them and put them in place according to His will, and now He has bestowed their light on the center of His creation.  Furthermore, He has done it with a plan and a purpose.  He gave the lights of heaven a job to do, a job that has not ended and never will.

Those lights were there to divide the day from the night.

They were to be for signs and seasons, for days and for years.

They were to give light on the earth.

It also adds, in verse 18, that the greater lights--the sun and the moon--were there to rule over the day and night, and to divide light from darkness.

Okay, you say.  So God created stars and moons and planets.  So what?  I've read over those verses a hundred times, probably more, and I've never thought anything more about them than that.  Until now.

God set them in the heavens to divide day from night and light from darkness.  They announce signs and seasons and mark the times.  They give light to the earth.  Am I crazy, or does this sound like the Great Commission to believers?  Hasn't God placed us here for the same reasons?

Jesus said to His disciples in Matthew 5:14, "You are the light of the world!"  Don't hide the light, He told them, but sit up high and shine brightly.  In this world that is darkened by sin, we are here to shine the light of Christ upon it.  We fulfill the words of the prophet who said, "Those who sat in darkness will see a great light."  We are the light bringers, the burning lamps of God's word and righteousness bringing illumination to those in spiritual night and leading them on to the day!

Jesus said to His disciples in Mark 16:17, "These signs shall follow those who believe."  He gave His followers power to work miracles and show signs and wonders in the earth to confirm the message of light.  Just as the circuit of the constellations tells the gospel in the heavens--from the humble virgin to the triumphant lion--we also are here to reveal the gospel message to the world.  We are here to read the signs of the times, to redeem the times, to know what season the world is in.  We are God's signs in the earth as surely as the stars are his signs in the skies.

And through the Apostle Paul, Jesus told His disciples in 1 Thessalonians 5:1-10, that though times and seasons are completely in the hands of God, there is a difference between children of the day and children of the night, between those who walk in darkness and those who walk in the light.  We have been saved on this Earth to show forth the difference.

You and I are the lights of God, set in the heavens to declare His handiwork.  Let us be the lights!