This is a study I did a while back… just for myself… as I was ruminating one day.  Maybe you’ll enjoy contemplating God as I did.  It is in outline form and I hope that is not a distraction.

Q: How important is light?  What is light necessary for?

Earth’s Ability To Support Life Comes From Light {The Sun, Vitamin K} (Temperature, evaporation, wind, climate, etc).

Plant Life Is Sustained by light from the sun (Photosynthesis).

Animal Life is sustained by dependence upon plant life.

Human Life is sustained by dependence upon both plant and animal life.

All life is therefore dependent upon light from the sun (Metaphorical in that spiritual life is dependent upon God’s light).

Most of what we know about the Universe comes from information that has been carried to us by light.

LIGHT: What do we know? {Go back through & discuss as illustrations above to understand God}

Light cannot be captured… only it’s effects can be recorded (Like in a Picture).

Light travels in a vacuum at 186,000 miles per second.

Energy is required for light to exist.

Light gives off warmth and heat.

Thus light contains tremendous energy.

Light is an anomaly: it contains both waves AND particles.

Light waves include: Gamma & X-Rays, Ultraviolet, Visible, Infrared, & Radio Waves.

Light cannot be seen… we only see what reflects it!

A small source of light can be seen from a great distance (Air to ground).

Light can be reflected.

Light can be absorbed.

Light can be diffracted (Prism).

Light can be concentrated (Magnifying glass.)

Light can be focused (Laser).

Light can blind (Arch welding).

Light can kill (Laser).

Light can heal (Laser surgery, billi-rubin {sp?}, and photo-therapy).

Light can be painful (Open eyes to light after being in darkness).

Light can soothe (Warmth).

Light is extremely powerful (Laser, sun).

Light can reveal what is unseen (X-rays).

Light can carry great amounts of information (TV, Radio, Telephone, fiber optics).

Visible light has a spectrum of colors.

  1. Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet.
  2. Compare with rainbow as a symbol of God’s promise

Humans can’t see the entire spectrum of light, but that doesn’t prove it doesn’t exist.

Question: How do the attributes of light reveal the nature and/or character of God?  God created light… God IS light.

God cannot be captured or contained by man.

God “travels” at unbelievable speed (The speed of thought {faster than light})… actually God is everywhere at one time (Omnipresent).

God is the energy behind all movement.

God is the source of all warmth and comfort.

God’s “energy” is uncontainable, unfathomable.

God’s existence is a mystery… an anomaly to the human mind.  He has always existed and had not beginning.  He exists outside time and space.  He exists as three in one (Trinity).

God is: Love, Light, Just, Judge, Father, Sustainer, ad infinitum.

God is not seen but is reflected by His son, His Spirit’s work/power, His creation, His children.

God is present/seen in the smallest of elements (Atoms, Quarks, Molecules, etc).

God is Reflected… by His children.

God is absorbed… by those who are intimate with Him.

God is diffracted… in the process of evangelism and discipleship.

God is concentrated… in the worship of His people.

God is focused… in the outpouring of His Spirit in revival.

God blinds… See John 12:40 and Acts 9:3-9.

God kills… See 2 Samuel 6:6-7.

God heals… See John 9:1-7.

God is the source of spiritual pain… See 2 Cor 7:10-13.

God soothes… See Matthew 11:28 and 1 John 1:9.

God is all powerful, omnipotent… See Daniel 4:35.

God sees what humans cannot… See 1 Corinthians 4:5.

God posses all knowledge, is omniscient… See Isaiah 46:9-10.

God… is good, jealous, loves, laughs, is patient, forgiving, to be feared, not to be feared (1 Jn 4:18), ad infinitum.

God cannot be seen by the human eye, but that doesn’t prove He doesn’t exist.

God And Light.

What God created first is significant!

It is impossible to make a representation of light (Relation To Idolatry).

God & salvation are constantly equated & described in terms of light.

  1. Revelation 22:5
  2. 2 Corinthians 4:6
  3. 1 Peter 2:9
  4. Acts 26:12-18

God.

1 John 1:5 This is the message we have heard from Him & declare to you: God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship w/ Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie & do not live by the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

Creation.

Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens & the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless & empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, & the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning–the first day.

ASIDE:

  1. Literal 24 hour days (“Yom” w/ a number.  Light source & rotating mass.).
  2. Creation WITH AGE.  Adam & Eve as adults… Light IN TRANSIT!

Salvation And Light

Rev 22:5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.

2 Cor 4:6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

Acts 26:12 “On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. 13 About noon, O king, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. 14 We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ‘ 15 “‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied. 16’Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen of me and what I will show you. 17 I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

Jesus And Light

Mt 17:1 After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. 3 Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.

Jn 1:3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. 6 There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 9 The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.

Jn 3:18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.   19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”

Jn 8:12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Jn 9:1 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. 4 As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

Jn 12:35 Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. The man who walks in the dark does not know where he is going. 36 Put your trust in the light while you have it, so that you may become sons of light.” When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.

Jn 12:44 Then Jesus cried out, “When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. 45 When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me. 46 I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.

Christians And Light

Mt 5:14 (With 2 Cor 3:17-18) “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp & put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, & it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

2 Cor 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, & where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

What’s The Point Of All This?

God is light.  It is impossible to make an idol of light (Thus relation to worship).  God’s light expels darkness.  Christians are to reflect God’s light in a dark world (See Ro 12:1-2 & thus relation to worship).  Christians are the light of the world and are not to hide what we are.  Our life is an act of worship.