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 God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. [2 Corinthians 4:6 NIV]
This verse goes all the way back to the beginning - the creation as recounted in the first chapters of Genesis. This would challenge anyone who seeks to devalue the relevance and veracity of the Old Testament creation account. God is the source of light and light is associated with God's presence and his holiness. It is sometimes hard to distinguish whether Bible passages are speaking about spiritual light and darkness or physical light. For example, Paul in this verse is clearly going back to the creation account in Genesis when God made physical light.
In verse 1 of the first book of the Bible we read of God creating the heavens and the earth. The next verse tells us that the earth at this stage was formless and empty and adds that there was 'darkness over the face of the deep.' [Genesis 1:2 NIV] Then we get the verse which Paul is referring to in our verse of the day.
And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning - the first day. [Genesis 1: 3-5 NIV]
This seems so straightforward but there are some questions which arise from the reading of the text and the Day Share is not the right medium for a full discussion of this. There are many different interpretations of these verses and it would be wrong to start at discussion which we are not able to take forward. For our purposes today, we can acknowledge that God created light - the sun which is the source of light to our solar system is not mentioned until Day 3 of the creation account [Genesis 1:14] and yet there is vegetation and seed-bearing plants mentioned prior to this in verses 11 and 12. The important point is that God is associated with light - there is never any suggestion that God created the darkness. This is why some have suggested that Satan had already fallen before the 6 days of creation but that is controversial.
Now if we move to the early verses of John's Gospel, we find that the writer applies the light in spiritual terms.
In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. [John 1:4-5 NIV]
Notice that life and light are closely associated. It is easier to understand both in spiritual terms. In other words, the eternal life that was in him was the light of all mankind. So it speaks of those who believe in Him are illuminated with the light of God and they pass from a state of spiritual darkness to spiritual light.
In the same passage in John's Gospel we read of the incarnation - the fact that the Eternal Word took a human body and it is described as light coming into the dark sinful world.
The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. [John 1: 9 NIV]
Again in John chapter 3 we find that the light of God is not welcomed by those who are living in spiritual darkness.
This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God. [John 3:19-21 NIV]
So it is in the context of these verses that we look again at the verse from 2 Corinthians.
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 God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. [2 Corinthians 4:6 NIV]
Paul is speaking from personal experience. He saw the light of God shining literally when he had an encounter with the risen Messiah on the road to Damascus. "In the light which flashed into his heart, he saw the face of Jesus Christ , and knew that the glory which shone there was the glory of God" [The Second Epistle to the Corinthians, James Denney (The Expositor's Bible, 1894)]. Paul was sharing this vision with others whom he met. It was the vision which motivated and inspired his preaching and teaching. It was the driving force for all his service. We do not need to look elsewhere to see the glory of God. What is more we can come to know this experimentally and experientially in our lives.
Have we really grasped who Jesus is? Have we fully understood that he displays the glory of God? In times of trouble and hardship, this is the only vision which will help us to see our sufferings in the right perspective. Brothers and sisters who are reading this blog, we are going to share in this glory not because of anything good in us but on account of God's unlimited grace towards us. If you are not a follower of Jesus Christ, you are missing out on all of this. You are settling for second-best. If your heart is cold and your feet have wandered, pray that you will receive a fresh sight of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
[Picture by Rodion Kutsaev on Unsplash]
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