THE LIGHT**
PART 2
Justo Gonzalez writes, in The Story of Christianity, that in approximately 202 AD Clement of Alexandria stated that Scripture is written in parables or allegory. Plainly speaking this means that the sacred text has more than one meaning. If that’s the case, is it possible to consider more than one explanation for the first verses of Genesis as applied to the rest of the bible. Let us consider two things: 1) that when God said “Let there be light”, the Bible does not merely refer to the creation of the sun but to the God’s Son - Christ; and 2) that darkness is not just the absence of light but a separation from God.
When we read that God said “‘Let there be light’; and there was light and God saw the light, that it was good; and [He] divided the light from the darkness” (Genesis 1: 3-4) we read this as the creation of day and night; the creation of sun and moon. But what if we are to read that as the creation, not of the sun, but of the Son? What does this interpretation mean for how we should see the night, what does the darkness actually mean? We all know that with the moon, the night is not completely dark but what some may not be aware of is that the moon only appears to give light. It merely reflects light from the sun thus, “moon light” would not exist without the existence of the sun. No light within us that is not a reflection of the Son is merely an illusion and we are still in darkness.
Matthew 6:23 states “…If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”. John 3:19-20 says, ”And this is condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed”. Lastly Ephesians 6:12 and 5:8 say, “…we wrestle…against the rulers of the darkness of this world”…“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord: walk as children of light”.
There is a darkness within us that we can easily misinterpret as light, as we can see in Isaiah 9:2: “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.” We can be tricked by the illusions, however, without Christ we will never truly see the light. And those who never see the light, will never be freed from the darkness.
Psalm 107: 8-11 states: “Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! For He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness. Those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, bound in affliction and irons - Because they rebelled against the words of God, and despised the counsel of the Most High,..”
But because God “has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of his love” (Colossians 1:13). Therefore, being “sons of light and of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness” (1 Thessalonians 5:5); God has “called us out of darkness into His marvellous light” (1Peter 2:9) for “God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth” (1 John 1:5-6)
So the whole thing is this: The Son came with the initial light into the world and will illuminate the Holy City in Revelation 21. Those who aren’t in the light will end in “the blackness of darkness forever”(2 Peter 2:17). From all this is it not evidently better to stay with the Son and in the light instead of following the lesser light and stay in the darkness?
At the very least, it’s something to think about.
**All scriptures taken from the NKJV
No comments:
Post a Comment