God Is Light and in Him Is No Darkness

What a glorious theme the first epistle of John opens with. “God is Light.” It is a motif that permeates the whole of the Scriptures, from Genesis to Revelation. What a contrast this is to the muttering dualism of Gnostic thought which pits light against darkness in a cosmic battle for supremacy.

In glorious distinction, the light of the God-man Jesus Christ has permeated the darkness of this fallen world and floods the gloom with moral brilliance. As the Scripture so beautifully states, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined” (Isaiah 9:2) and “The Lord will be to you an everlasting light, and your God your glory” (Isaiah 60:19).

Over against all monotheistic systems of religion that set forth their deity as a solitary unity, the triune Christian God dwells in a shared reciprocity of attachment and delight, of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—of one heart, perfectly open to one another, identical in purpose and plan, an eternal fellowship of love and community and light. No wonder Jesus could step into history and unambiguously proclaim, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12).

Light is diffusive. Light is penetrating. Light is searching. Light is revealing. It is at the very beginning in Genesis, when God calls out for light to be. It is at the very end in Revelation 21:23, where we read, “The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light.”

From Steve Fazekas, AiG–U.S.

P.S. Please pray for Steve Ham as he visits the UK to assist our sister AiG ministry there.