“And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.” (Genesis 1:4)
An interesting observation in reading Genesis is that God made the light on earth before He made the sun, moon and stars. Darkness was already on the earth. (Genesis 1:2) God commanded the light to be on earth on the first day and separated the light and darkness creating day and night on the first day. “And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.” (Genesis 1:5) But it was on the fourth day when God made the firmaments, the sun, moon and stars. (Genesis 1:14-19) “And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: He made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.” (Genesis 1:16-19)
To our understanding, the rotation of the earth on its axis results in our day and night as the sun shines on different parts of the earth as it spins. But according to the Bible, our days and nights are already established by God before the sun, moon and stars. What was the light that lit the earth calling it day? The Hebrew word that is used for light means light in every sense of the word, from illumination to lightening to happiness. It’s meaning is broad. So, it doesn't help our understanding of the light.
At the end of the world according to the Bible, after the Tribulation, after the triumph of Jesus over all His enemies, after the thousand-year reign of Christ and satan is thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, (Revelation 20:10) and after the White Thone Judgement, there will be a new earth and a new heaven. (Revelation 21:1) A new Jerusalem will come down from heaven. (Revelation 21:2) The glory of God will light up Jerusalem so there is no need for the sun. (Revelation 21:23; 22:5) There is no more sky or heaven as the Bible calls the sky. (Revelation 21:1) There is no more need for the sun because the glory of God lights up Jerusalem and the earth as He did on that first day. There is no more darkness because satan who is darkness is no longer on earth, but in the lake of fire and brimstone.
Now, understanding that God is the light that will light up the new earth, we can now see how the light that God separated on that first day was His light on earth. In Genesis 1:3 God said, “Let there be light: and there was light.” The Scripture does not say that He created the light but that He commanded that the light be on earth. This is in contrast to verse 16 when He makes the sun, moon and stars. “And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: He made the stars also.” (Genesis 1:16) The Scripture states clearly that He created the sun, moon and stars.
This is important because it shows how great His glory is that it lights the whole earth. It demonstrates that the darkness is satan who will be sent to the lake of fire and brimstone and is powerless against the light. The darkness is satan which is totally void of God and light. It also shows us how much we really don’t know. If we think we have figured everything out about the light on that first day, the light throughout the Bible as with Moses, the transfiguration of Jesus and the light in the new earth, we know absolutely nothing. All this just points to the fact that we are not capable of understanding all the things of God. He is constantly worshipped in heaven as He reveals more of Himself. If we are in awe of God now because He is more marvelous than we can imagine, when we come face to face with Him, we will see just how awesome He really is. And even more awesome as He eternally reveals more and more of Himself.
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