Genesis 1:3 – Part ii
A World of Darkness
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: (Hebrews 1:10)
Out of the darkness a whirling mass spins through the immensity of space; it has no form, and if we were able to see it, we would have no desire to behold it’s image. This darkness is as dense as a night without light, a wall, and an impenetrable blackness. Have I said enough about darkness? It is a foundation of darkness as there is a foundation of light. The darkness speaks of ruin, and throughout Scripture this darkness continually casts a shadow over the earth of God’s creation. Man was born into light by the creation of God; yet man, in Adam, forfeited that light for the deepest darkness of soul.
The Foundation Established
In Genesis 1:3 we have the foundation of light just as there was a foundation of darkness, God brings His light into the world and establishes for the world a foundation of light. In Hebrews 1:10 we have a grand foundation. This foundation is brought forth by the word of His power. He takes the mass of darkness of this earth flowing through space and hangs it on a hook as a man would hang a painting. As He laid the foundation of the earth, so too, from His powerful hand He scatters the planets, the stars, and all the heavenly bodies throughout the vastness of space. And He drew the circumference of space and set it’s borders all by the word of His power. The theme of God’s light travels throughout Scripture from Genesis to the end of the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. This light is not the light of the sun, but it is God’s light, it is His own divine Person. This light belongs to Him and no one else. The sun and the moon cannot claim this glorious light. He alone is the depository and the giver of His glorious light. His light is both seen and unseen, in the spiritual sense it is unseen. Through the Scriptures what is known as the Shekinah glory is the seen, and this is only in tiny measure compared to what will be revealed in the eternal state of the new heaven and the new earth where there will be no darkness at all for God will be it’s brightness and it’s light. His light is the inherent part of His being, and in this light He reveals Himself. He reveals Himself in the seen and in the unseen things of God. Through the vastness of His creation the Spirit of God declares both the seen and the unseen.
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)
For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: (Colossians 1:16)
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: (Romans 1:20)
When we, by faith, believe that God declared His own light, His personal light, out of the depth of darkness then we also believe by faith that God has given light unto man, and man can only be brought out of His darkness by the light of God which is in Jesus Christ. In the unseen world or dimension the angels travel without sound. We cannot hear their voices, nor see their images, they are a mystery to the mind of man; yet, we have unknowingly entertained these unseen witnesses. Yes, we have entertained God’s angels unaware.
His Divine Voice in the Unseen
It is through the Scriptures that we are made aware of many unseen things. For instance: although we feel the Spirit of Christ within us, we do not see the Spirit’s image. Although the Spirit of God reveals marvelous things out of the word of God, we do not hear, in the natural sense, the voice of His teachings; however, in the unseen sphere of our salvation the Spirit of God speaks and instructs us with the divine voice to the heart. The Spirit of God wants us to see the brightness of God’s light. He wants us to see the express image of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not the eye that beholds this image, this image is written on our hearts when Christ creates in us the image of God in His Person. Do we see it? Can we look in the mirror for the reflection of this image? no, it is the word of God, and the Spirit of God in divine revelation that gives the children of God the image of God in their very hearts. Every child of God feels the presence of Christ; this is through His unseen Spirit. In the religious world it is taboo to talk of such things. The religious man tries to control God’s Spirit. Some feel that they have the power to summon up God’s Spirit any time they desire. I would warn the world of religion that the Spirit that they are calling up is not one of light, but of darkness. There are those who feel that they have complete control over God’s Being and His divine light. One of the greatest travesties I have ever beheld is what is called the altar call. A perverted man using the word of God declares he has the power of God over the very God that He declares beckoning the Spirit of God to bring forth the children of God. This call to come to the altar to show to all a seen salvation is for the congregation and it’s administrator to feel good about themselves. It is the religious man who needs the seen. It is not by man’s might, nor his power of reasoning, but it is by divine power that man is ushered into God’s glorious salvation through Jesus Christ. Salvation is not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. Man is not the distributor of God’s light, he is only the reflector of God’s grace in him. There are those who feel that they can sell the Holy Spirit of God, and therefore, give divine blessing to the purchaser. This belief comes out of the darkness, and has no light within it. There are those who speak of divine gifts, and yet, their very words reveal that there is no gift in them. All gifts have to be centered in God’s light which is Jesus Christ. Intellectual knowledge or intelligence is useless without divine light. Many have knowledge, and they may have intelligence, but that does not mean that they have light. We must consider the very fact that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. (1 John 1:5) I think this is good place for us to consider man’s intelligence and knowledge compared to the intelligence and knowledge of the Spirit of God.
Divine Light and Divine Intelligence
In the heavenly Jerusalem the city is illuminated by God’s glorious light. In the Book of Hebrews we are told that we have come to that heavenly Jerusalem in Chapter 12, verses 22 and 23, But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, (Hebrews 12:22) To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,(Hebrews 12:23). The Spirit of God has given us divine intelligence and knowledge through both Revelation 21 and Hebrews 12 to show us the holy city and our position in that holy city. The holy city is illuminated by God’s light, and in it there is no darkness at all. The city is filled with all divine intelligence and knowledge in the light of Christ. In the city nothing can enter that will defile. It is all of divine light just as Genesis 1:3 brings forth divine light; so the city of God, the heavenly Jerusalem, is filled with His divine light.
The Book of Genesis, Chapter 1, verse 3 begins with God’s divine light and Revelation, Chapter 21 reveals the fulfillment and purpose of God’s divine light. In our present age we have much intelligence and much knowledge, but what is missing? divine light. In further reflection on the heavenly Jerusalem consider Galatians 4:26, But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. Paul in his writings takes us back to Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac. These three personalities are very important to the understanding of the promises of God. Abraham by divine intelligence directly from God received both earthly and heavenly promises. The earthly would be a nation out of his loins, and they would be a multitude as the sands of the sea. Also the promise declared the heavenly, that there would be a heavenly seed, as the stars in the heavens. With Sarah we have a divine miracle of birth, she was well past the age of childbearing. In giving birth to Isaac she gave birth to the seed of promise. How does this connect us with God’s heavenly light in Genesis 1:3, and Revelation 22:23? And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. (Genesis 1:3) And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. (Revelation 21:23) Both in the introduction of light we have the glory of God in the express image of His Person in Jesus Christ, the Creator of all things. In the written conclusion of God’s glory, as His light in the book of the Revelation, we return to the Person of Christ who is God’s divine seed, and who is God’s light to the world; thus, in verse 23 we are reminded that it is the sacrificial Lamb who is the light thereof. We are connected to this glorious light through our life and light of salvation. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:3) In him was life; and the life was the light of men. (John 1:4)
Bits and Pieces and Types
Now we have a bunch of bits and pieces, let’s try to put them in the divine process according to the determinate counsels of God.
Isaac
Going back to Isaac, he was a type of the divine seed which was Christ in his birth. Isaac was also a divine type of that which is born of the Spirit, as Ishmael was a type of that which was born after the flesh. (Galatians 4) Therefore, we see the division of God’s divine light on the darkness of man. Isaac, then, becomes the type of the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, this was Abraham’s only son according to the promise, and all things would be fulfilled in Isaac. Isaac displayed the submission of God the Son to God the Father, thus, giving himself willingly for the transgression of the world.
The Servant and His Service
To complete this type in Isaac we have the servant of Abraham going back to the land of darkness from where Abraham had been called; this servant being a type of the Holy Spirit of God choosing Rebekah, and bringing her out of the land of darkness into the land of promise.
Rebekah
The type in Rebekah is a type of the Church. The Holy Spirit drawing each child of God out of the darkness of this world to be presented to the Lord Jesus as His bride of promise that He has purchased with His own sacrificial death upon the cross of Calvary. When Rebekah saw Isaac in the field, Abraham’s servant identified Isaac as the heir, as the Holy Spirit identifies Christ to us as the heir of all things. (Hebrews 1) How does that connect to the heavenly Jerusalem? We are told that when Isaac met Rebekah he took Rebekah into his mother’s tent. I often wondered about this, why not his own tent? Why his mother’s tent? The reason is that we belong to a heavenly Jerusalem and in Galatians 4 this heavenly Jerusalem is designated, by the Spirit of God, as the mother of us all; thus, showing the completion of the promises given to Abraham.
Abraham received the promises, but in Sarah, and in Isaac those promises in divine light projected the final revelation of light in the city of God which is the heavenly Jerusalem. We must rely on divine intelligence and divine knowledge in divine light from the Spirit of God. All the traditions of men that we have today are road blocks of Satan. He put them into this world to block divine light in the heart of man. It is easy for him to manifest himself in the physical of man or man after the flesh. The unseen Spirit of God is not here to glorify Himself, but to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ; although He is part of the Godhead, He (the Spirit of God) has submitted Himself as a servant to both the Lord Jesus and God the Father. As Christ was in service to God the Father to complete the Father’s will, so also, the Spirit of God continues this work in the light of God in the things that are not seen. It is the Spirit of God who convicts us of sin. It is the Spirit of God who troubles us in soul and spirit. He is bringing us to the point of glorious grace when we will say in our hearts and in our souls, What must I do to be saved? Then it is His still small divine voice that creates a new being outside of the realm of Adam to be a child of God and not of this world. Although we still dwell in the flesh through faith in Jesus Christ we have become part of His eternal glory and His eternal light. We have become part of the unseen world! And you can only realize this through Jesus Christ. (Hebrews 11:1) You ask, Why is this writer taking so long on the subject of divine light? Because it is the major theme from Genesis 1:3: three the number of resurrection, and one the number of God in His divine Godhead; light, therefore, being introduced becomes the major theme of God’s Holy Being throughout the Scriptures, and ends with the Lamb or the Son of His love being the light of the holy city of God.
The Divine Light in the Church
Now for divine light of God in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have a divine promise from the Son of God that He will give us divine light in things pertaining to Himself. One cannot forget the two who journeyed with Him on the Emmaus road. The Lord Jesus in His first act of ministry after His resurrection ministered from the word of God. He began at Moses and the law and the prophets, and He expounded all things concerning Himself, therefore, He gave divine authority to the written word of God as light unto the world. He, the author of all divine writ, put His divine authority on the written word of God in His discussion with the two of Emmaus. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. (Matthew 18:20) As far as I can discern from the word of God, these two in the presence of the Lord Jesus were the first to receive His ministry, and His authority over the word of God after His resurrection. And it is the divine example that all ministry both written and audible must come (originate) from the Lord Jesus Himself. He is both the author and the authority of the written word of God, and all further revelation through the Spirit of God. (I’m speaking of the New Testament). As He is the divine light of the Church, He is also the maintainer of that light. In the 1st Chapter of Revelation we see the Lord Jesus as the Son of man in the power of resurrection, and as the light giver.
Divine Authority and Divine Judge In and Over the Candlesticks
He is moving through, and among the seven (7) golden candlesticks. This is the first vision of the Son of man that John sees. Both in His countenance and in His work among the candlesticks He is the divine Authority and the divine Judge. He is among the candlesticks to show His relationship to the completed Church; although it was not completed at that time. The number seven (7) shows a completed Church in Him. The light of the candlesticks shows the light of the Church into the world. We have two aspects of the divine Being: (1) as the light giver, and (2) in the description of His Person as both Judge and divine Administrator to His Church which we see fulfilled in the seven letters to the churches of Asia. As the great high priest of God, He walks amongst His testimony, the testimony of Christ, trimming the lamps and pouring in the divine oil of divine light. This is His position in heaven’s glory as the Son of man. This shows His sympathy for His own. For it is quite evident that as we read the history of the church we see it’s complete failure in the masses; therefore, He will act as a refiner in the Church judging and removing the dross, and separating His own unto Himself. Although He condemns the evil within, He shows mercy and grace to the overcomer. And everything within the church comes under the examination of His divine light and glory. In the vision of the Son of man, John sees Him as brighter than the sun. This is the same divine light that came forth out of darkness in Genesis 1:3. In verse 16 of Revelation, Chapter 1 He is brighter than the fullness of the sun. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. (Revelation 1:16) In verse 20, we have the mystery revealed in the seven (7) golden candlesticks. The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches. (Revelation 1:20) The seven speaks of the fullness of the Church, but in respect of the Lord Jesus, it speaks of His fullness as well. These candlesticks are not seen in heaven, but on the earth as a testimony of the determinate counsels of God. These seven candlesticks bring in the fullness of Christ and the completeness of God’s truth. In the number seven (7) we have seven (7) divine lights, which can also be referenced to the seven Spirit of God. And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. (Revelation 4:5) These seven golden candlesticks connect God’s divine light to a world of Adam living in darkness. We also have the fullness of the administration of the Lord Jesus Christ in the seven angels as ministering spirits sent forth to minister unto them who will be heirs of salvation.
And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire. (Hebrews 1:7)
Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? (Hebrews 1:14)
To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. (Galatians 4:5)
And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. (Galatians 4:6)
Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. (Galatians 4:7)
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. (Romans 8:14)
For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. (Romans 8:15)
The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: (Romans 8:16)
Our Place in the Divine Light
From the candlesticks and the divine light of God, and with the seven angels we have a testimony of our place in the divine light of God. We have a position in this divine light, as we saw in Hebrews, Galatians, and Romans; as we are chosen of God to be His sons in Jesus Christ we are partakers of the divine light that He ministers to us in communion with Him from His position as High Priest among the candlesticks. That which is of the earth is earthly, that which is of the heaven is heavenly. The Lord Jesus reveals His divine light to us through His Spirit. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. (Romans 8:9) In Romans 8:9 we have the ministry of Christ through His Spirit to us on earth as the children of God. In the stars or angels we have the heavenly ministry and His heavenly ministration through seven divine angels ministering to the Church. As Michael came to Daniel, we, that is those who belong to Christ, have entertained angels unaware. In the number seven concerning the angels we have a reference to complete divine intelligence: meaning that if we will receive it, the Lord Jesus will send to us the fullness of His divine light. It was His first act in creation to establish His divine light. And His first act in the Church was to establish His divine light in Himself through the Holy Spirit of God which is the Spirit of Christ. (Romans 8) Concerning church history and the seven letters to the churches, we realize that in this history there have been times of extreme failure on part of the testimony of those who profess Christ, however, this does not change His light to the church. The fullness of His light has always been available to those who love Him, and love His appearing. Sometimes it has been a small remnant, even though they were (and are) few in number they experienced and experience today the full brightness of His light, and divine truth. This is their strength in a dark and sinful world without Christ. They walk and live in divine truth, and they are held in the bosom of the Father by His divine love. In Chapter 21 in the book of Revelation we have the city of God descending from heaven, verse 10. This holy Jerusalem is from above; it is not of the earth, nor of man.
Two Cities Compared
Babylon the great has nothing of Christ, the heavenly city of Jerusalem has nothing of man. Babylon the great is full of darkness, the city of our God is full of light. Babylon the great cries and is indwelt with sin, the heavenly Jerusalem will not allow any thing to come into this city that defiles. There are more comparisons between these two cities, I’ll let you find them as you examine them by the Spirit. And always remember the city of God is the city of gold purged and made pure by the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross at Calvary. Babylon is the dross that belongs to man and his sin without God. God’s light and God’s glory fills the city, and the very completion of the fullness of God’s light returns us to Genesis 1:3, and the light shined in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.
Let There Be Light
For in God’s light there is no darkness at all. This is difficult for man to comprehend, if one would take and try to grab light in his fist, he would not be able to do that. As his fist would close it would bring forth darkness within, and not be able to grasp light, so is the religious man. He does everything he can to bring light into his presence by the will of man, and ends up with the deepest darkness of all: man without Christ. He, who is the light, must voice that light through the voice of His power. In every conversion of heart and soul there is the cry, Let there be light! And, beloved, if you stand on the same ground that I am on, you can say in your heart and soul you have heard the words, Let there be light. And you have received the result, and there was light!
In Genesis 1:3 we have the voice and the light. Each one is equally important for the voice brings forth the light. This is the lighting of the dark mass twirling in space that we call Earth. It is the first descriptive word in the creation. And the descriptive word contains the word of His power. It is the power of His voice both in Hebrews 1 and in Hebrews 11 that reveals the power of His light in Genesis 1:3, and the power of His light in John 1:4-5. In relation to Genesis 1, His light brings forth natural life from the earth. In John 1, we have His light bringing forth spiritual light and a new creation in Him: the sons of God; all brought about by the word of His power in reference to His divine light. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.(Genesis 1:3) Amen.
Part 3 to follow.
© Copyright 2016, Michael Haigh
Article may be used, but not for gain. Freely ye have received, freely give.
All Scripture references are from the Authorized King James Bible. (KJV)