Bible Study Genesis Part 11-And God Saw the Light That It Was Good

Welcome to the program Study in the Chapel.

God's Word is supreme at Chapel Ministries.

We consider it absolutely essential to a proper relationship with God.

We study it, we love it, we rely on it every minute of every day.

The following program is an edited recording of the regular Bible studies we hold, and we decided to share these with you in the hope that you too will be able to find inspiration, encouragement, and ultimately salvation through discovering Christ in Scripture.

Our intention is to travel all the way through the Bible.

It will be a challenging journey, but one that will undoubtedly bring you to a decision.

Through this study, you will be faced with either believing or rejecting what God has said to us.

It is our intention to provide you with enough knowledge to make an informed decision about God and his word.

We strongly encourage you to listen intently and diligently, because though at the moment you may not realize it, these things are truly a matter of life and death.

In fact, these are matters of eternal life and eternal death.

Never treat what God has said lightly.

There's truly nothing more important to you.

Now join us as we seek God's will through his inspired word.

Well, we are finally back in our normal environment.

The last few weeks we've been sort of scattered all over the place, but now everything is the way it used to be.

I don't know about you, but I like comfort.

I like being in the same spot.

Change is no fun for me, but maybe that because that's because I'm such an old man.

Who knows?

I don't know.

Anyways, we are back in our normal study process.

We are still studying the book of Genesis.

So far, it has been a terrific study.

I know it seems like it's taking forever, and believe me, I feel that too, but we have to make sure we're laying down the foundations that are so important to our understanding of all of Scripture.

Not only is Scripture's integrity at stake, but so is God's reputation.

Listen, the world is trying to tell you all of this is just malarkey.

They're trying to tell you that none of this actually really matters, that it's just fable, that it's no better than any of the other myths of origin throughout all the religions of the world.

We're here to prove that that's not true.

We're here to show you that this is truth, that all of the other myths actually stem from this one.

They may seem similar.

Those ones may seem similar, but that's because they all know about this.

Remember, there was an origin of two people.

Those two people are the parents of everyone on earth, so that what they believed and what they knew and what God shared with them, they shared with everyone in their family.

That's why there is so much similarity in the different religions of the world.

All that happened was people took what was true and changed it for their own purposes.

That's why things seem so similar.

Anyhow, Genesis, the book of Genesis, is true and we're going to continue to study it.

We haven't gotten very far so far, but that's okay.

We're going through the details.

Soon we'll probably pick up the pace.

But for now, we're still taking our time.

Let me switch over to the notes.

There we go.

So we have been talking about light and dark, and we're going to continue with that this week.

We've gone too far now to stop.

Tonight there's more to discuss about light.

But John, why are we talking about light?

And more importantly, why does the Bible talk so much about light?

Well, that's a good question, unidentified inquirer.

I think the reason, my personal opinion, the reason why light is such an important and oft-referenced in the Bible topic is that its physical properties, the things we know about light, make it the perfect symbol.

For instance, light has no tangible substance.

We can't grab it.

We can't scoop it.

We can't feel it.

We can't stroke it.

And yet we know it's real.

And we not only do we know it's real, we know it's vital.

It's vital to all life.

In fact, it's a source of life.

Also, the physical properties of light make it naturally useful for illuminating that which is difficult to see.

In other words, light allows us to perceive things as they are.

We are so familiar with the characteristics of light, although we can't explain them very well, but we are so accustomed to what light does that the Bible can use it to speak truth to us.

For example, we know what Paul meant when he said in Colossians 1, verses 12 and 13, giving thanks unto the Father, which is, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who delivered us, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear son.

Colossians 1:12

No one needs that reference explained to them because light and darkness are well known to all human beings, and therefore its symbolic use is not difficult to grasp.

In fact, it's quite useful.

Now, other metaphorical references in the Bible may need further explanation.

For instance, when we're told in John chapter 10 that Jesus is the door to the sheepfold, we might require a little more information.

John 10 · chapter mention

We may need someone to enlighten us as to what sheepfolds are and how the door to such a thing is descriptive of our Lord.

A city dweller has no idea what a shepherd does or what sheep are like or what's important to their care and survival.

But when Jesus is referred to as the light of the world, we get it.

We get it immediately because everyone on earth knows what light is.

Everyone on earth knows how important light is to life.

Now, I probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a sheep fold or a chicken coop, but I surely will never confuse light and dark, nor would anyone else.

It's this familiarity we have with the many wonderful benefits of light that make it so useful as a tool of instruction.

There are few symbols in the Bible that come across as clearly as light does.

And what's more, all humans seek the light.

No one likes to be where the light is dim.

Even sinners don't stay in darkness for long.

Most sinners are trying to work their way out of the darkness because light refreshes even the darkest hearts.

And I might add that everyone sees light as a friend.

We need it.

And I'm going to dare say we love it.

We love light.

Therefore, light is a natural and universal symbol of goodness.

It's easily useful as an emblem of blessing.

Light is an effective representation of truth.

Now, to prove my point, how about we go over a few examples of each of these goodness, blessing, and what was the third one?

Goodness, blessing, and truth.

Let's go over some examples of those three.

Here we go.

And I'm telling you, yes, we are taking a long time on this, but I want you to see how important it is to God that you understand as much about him and his plan as we can take.

There's a difference between us.

God knows that there is a connection problem between us and him.

It's not his fault, it's our fault.

Sin stands in the way, so God is doing everything he can to bridge that gap.

And he uses symbology in the Bible to help explain himself to us.

God used every literary tool possible to communicate that he loves you and he's seeking to reunite with you.

As we discussed when we were on the topic in the Bible, darkness is almost always associated with the deeds of the wicked.

In fact, the sense is that the darkness is at war with the light.

And in that war, there's no confusion as to who's the favorite.

The true enemy is darkness.

We all pick the same side in this war.

Everyone cheers on the light and curses the dark.

Our Lord himself, as recorded in John chapter 3, verse 20.

John 3:20

He says, For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

We the saved are described in the letter to the Ephesians, as you remember, as light in the Lord.

We aren't like light, we are light in the Lord.

And Paul admonishes us to walk as children of light.

We know what that means.

The obvious inference is that we are to live lives that literally and figuratively reflect our status as those who belong to the family of God.

We are to reflect the goodness.

When we are to walk in the light, that means we are to walk in goodness.

There's no way around that.

The letter to the Ephesians made that very clear to us, didn't it?

Then a few verses down in Ephesians, Paul further explains what he's calling us to do.

For the fruit of the light, it says the Spirit in the King James, it should say the light.

For the fruit of the light is in, listen to this, all goodness and righteousness and truth.

In other words, we as children of light are to bear the fruit that reflects our status.

We are to produce goodness and truth.

In the letter to the Romans, we are told to cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.

Listen, once again, here's an analogy.

We can't get wrong.

The armor of light would never be confused with something evil.

We know that so intuitively that no one needs to explain that reference to us.

The armor of light is obviously something that originates with God.

Nothing could be clearer.

The symbols of light and dark are naturally applicable.

Whatever we do in this life is placed in either the category of light or the category of darkness.

As I've told you before, there is nearly no mention whatsoever of the color gray in Scripture whatsoever.

God's word is very clear as to what he considers light and what he considers darkness.

In fact, even the devil doesn't get that wrong.

Only the foolish mind of man imagines the possibility of a world where light and dark mingle.

And we consider that proper.

We're always trying to straddle both realities.

We don't mind pretending that there exists some murky truth out there.

Not a word of that exists in God's word whatsoever.

The murkiness, the lack of clarity, the grayness is only our own evil hearts trying to compromise with the dark.

You see, we want the unmentionable pleasures that hide in the dark while seeking the security of the light.

We want both light and dark, but that's just not possible.

Therefore, it should be no wonder that light is a symbol of purity and goodness.

Light is a symbol of the purity and goodness God bestows on us.

How about light signifying God's blessing?

Remember, that was the second thing we talked about.

Well, the book of Esther says that following God's rescue from the evil plans of Haman, that from that point on in the land, the Jews had, quote, light and gladness and joy and honor.

Esther 8:16.

Esther 8:16

The catalog of God's blessings on his people were wonderful.

The blessings they received after Haman was defeated, they were wonderful.

Light, the intangible, mysterious but glorious gift of God was seen as worthy of heading a list that also included gladness, joy, and honor.

Now I love this verse because it highlights the irony of the fact that although we would be incapable of describing light, we know it is as blessed a possession as any other given to us by God.

What is light?

Don't know, but I sure want it in my life.

I can't describe light except to say I can't live without it.

I don't know why I can't live without it.

I just can't.

Continuing now our list of symbols that light is used for.

Next is truth.

This one, of course, is obvious.

Light and truth seem to be quite obviously paired.

Is it not truth that once we shine a light, our understanding of what was once in the dark is greatly improved?

You know, very often while reading and I don't have my class, my glasses, simply turning up the lights will give enough clarity for me to perceive once what was once too blurry to comprehend.

Yes, I am being purposely poetic.

Light is essential if we're going to see things as they truly are, and God wants you to understand that.

But in the Bible, light itself is symbolized as truth.

Psalm 119, 130.

Listen to this.

Verse 3, oh, send out thy light and thy truth.

Let them lead me, let them bring me unto thy holy hill and to thy tabernacles.

We could go on and on.

Light and darkness serve as important symbols in God's word, and that importance starts right here at the very beginning of Scripture.

Genesis 1.1.

I know you're tired of hearing it, but you're going to hear it again.

In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth, and the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep.

God told us that purposely.

We weren't there.

We'll never see it.

We'll never see a replay of it.

But God wanted to make sure you understand that before he came along, there was darkness.

And darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

And God said, Let there be light.

And there was light.

And God saw the light that it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness.

God brought the light over to where darkness had previously been.

You must understand this is symbology for your life.

Before Christ came along, you were in darkness.

He is your light.

He was the one who brought light into your life.

You're in darkness, and God said, Light be.

God said, Jesus, rescue them, save them, help me to forgive their sins, and we will all be in light.

Where darkness once dominated, God introduced light.

Now I want you to notice that God didn't eliminate the darkness at that point, not yet.

The time for that is not yet come.

Though we don't understand why God has allowed the presence of darkness to linger.

Now he will someday remove darkness completely, but his plan at the moment is to simply divide the light from the dark.

His purpose at this point is to tell us a story.

That's why he's not eliminated the darkness yet.

This is the story of the gospel, and he wants you to know it.

God is going to bring light to a darkened world.

He'll clearly reveal the difference between the two, bring his loved ones over to the light, and then once and for all, rid his creation of the darkness, which as I said, he will do.

The book of Revelation tells us what it's going to be like once God's plans, the current ones anyways, the ones that involve us are complete.

Revelation 22, 5.

I think we read this last week too.

And there shall be no night there, and they need no candle, neither the light of the sun, for the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign forever and ever.

Darkness will be eliminated forever and ever.

Can you imagine a world with no darkness?

Of course you can't.

It still exists in our lives.

The time for darkness to be removed has not come yet.

It's too much a part of our lives because we have to know the story of the gospel.

And God said, Let there be light, and there was light.

And God saw the light that it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness.

God was pleased with what the light was now assigned to do.

He said it was good.

Listen, there's no better endorsement than that.

And God will say that several times during this recreative process, and it was good, and it was good, and it was very good.

We'll see that as we move along.

Listen, never let anyone fool you.

God loves this creation, and that includes you and me, and we'll see just how much he loves us as the rest of this book unfolds.

But at this point, because he put it in his creation story, it's important for us to know that he separated the light and the dark.

There's a wall between the two.

One more time, light and dark cannot mix.

It's not only forbidden, it's impossible.

And God saw the light that it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness.

To God, the light was good, but he didn't say the same thing for darkness.

Ah, you may say, then God is just ambivalent toward darkness.

He's just he's neutral.

Listen, nowhere in Scripture are we ever given the impression that God is indifferent to anything.

That is not his way.

Believe me, there is no some other third thing between what he loves and what he hates.

Either he sees something as good or he sees it as cursed and worthy of elimination.

And God saw the light that it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness.

When God calls something good, it means it's associated with him.

If God separates something from himself, that means only one thing.

Whatever he is separating, he will not have fellowship with.

Whether he calls it not good or bad or evil, doesn't matter.

God separated darkness because he wants nothing to do with it.

So what's the message for you and me?

The message is do not become associated with the darkness, or you will be divided with it.

Now you may think you can get by by just kind of dabbling in the realm of darkness.

You may think you can have a foot in the dark and a foot in the light, and everything's going to be okay.

That isn't how God sees things.

To God, there is a clear dividing line between the two, and your only hope is to be on the right side, to be on the light side.

Now let me make one more observation about this verse before we close it out because it applies to us.

What does God mean when he says that the light was good?

Does he mean that light was sinless?

Well, I suppose light is sinless, but that's not what is meant here.

Does he mean that light is holy?

Well, in a manner of speaking, yes, but you have to hear me out.

I don't want to confuse anyone, and I don't want to be misunderstood.

As I'm sure I've pointed out to you many times, to be holy has a few meanings.

But the one we focus on the most around here is the sense that when something is holy, it is set aside for God's use.

Now, this isn't necessarily, by the way, just a Christian or Jewish notion.

You know, it's said that in many of the pagan temples of the ancient world, there were prostitutes who performed their duties for religious purposes.

Now, strictly speaking, in the objective meaning of the word, those women would be considered holy because what they did, they did for their deity.

Their services were dedicated to the furtherance of the purposes of their gods.

Now, I'm sorry to use such a crude example, but I want you to see that this is one of the true meanings of this word holy, to be dedicated.

So what does all this have to do with verse 4 of Genesis 1?

Listen to me.

When God saw the light was good, when God perceived that light was good, when God beheld the light and it was good, he saw it as such, not because it was pleasing to the eye or its warmth was comforting or for some other external reason.

God saw the light was good because he saw that it was fit for the purpose for which he created it.

In God's thinking, goodness, like everything else, is practical.

God is not interested in the superfluous and superficial.

Yes, he creates things that are aesthetically pleasing, but not simply to be aesthetically pleasing.

Everything God creates has a purpose, and that includes light.

And if what he creates achieves that purpose, then to him, that created thing is good.

God saw the light was good because he knew it would fulfill what he created it for or focused it for to fulfill.

You know why I'm saying this to you.

You must fulfill the purpose for which God created you.

Well, what is that, John?

You are to be fruitful as a child of light.

You are to spread goodness and righteousness and truth.

You are to show people to the light.

You have received the light, it's to shine through you.

You are to share that light.

God wants you to fulfill that purpose so that he can see you as good, like he saw the light as good.

Well, I think I've said it already, but here it is again.

Light was bestowed on the earth for the purpose of the creation and sustainability of life.

Without light, human life is not possible.

That's the purpose of the light.

Remember that you also have a purpose.

God wants you to fulfill your purpose.

Well, I don't think I did my job very well here, but I'm hoping you can now see that God is being very explicit whenever he mentions either light or darkness in his word.

There are few things clearer in the Bible than his feelings about the importance of light and dark.

Next time we finally move to verse 5.

See you then.

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