The Mystery of Light - part 1
Illustration- God is light show by Scott Kinney (www.interviewwithGod).
Thesis: Scientists are baffled by the mystery of light they can study it but still don’t understand what light is. God is light according to the Bible and he’s as mysterious as light in the natural sense but like scientist we can study God and understand what light does in our life.
Texts:
I John 1:5 5This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.
Psalm 74:20 Have regard for your covenant, because haunts of violence fill the dark places of the land.
John 8:12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
John 1:1-12 1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning. 3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. 6There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. 7He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. 8He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 9The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. 10He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.
Matthew 5:13-16 13“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. 14“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
Introduction:
A few weeks back I was sitting in the doctor’s office and picked up the Oct. 2001 edition of the National Geographic. It had an amazing article on the “Power of Light”. The articles introduction caught my attention:
Light reveals the world to us. Body and soul crave it. Light sets our biological clocks. It triggers in our brains the sensations of color. Light feeds us, supplying the energy of plants to grow. It inspires us with special effects like rainbows and sunsets. Light gives us life- changing tools, from incandescent bulbs to lasers and fiber optics. Scientists don’t fully understand what light is or what it can do. They just know that it will illuminate our future (3).
After just reading this introduction in the article I said, this article has spiritual insight for us as Christians. So I read on and the verses on light in the Bible just raced through my mind. Wow I thought! The Bible tells us that God is light.
T.S.- Lets explore some spiritual application points from the scientific study of light.
I. Scientist’s tell us that light reveals the world to us. I thought this is true God himself reveals the real world to us!
a. We never see the real world until God illuminates it to us through the lens of his word and his presence.
i. Psalm 119:130 “The unfolding of your words gives light;
it gives understanding to the simple.
ii. 2 Samuel 22:29 David sang, “You are my lamp, O Lord; the Lord turns my darkness into light.”
b. Recently I picked up one of Charles Swindoll’s book called, Simple Faith and there it was beaming off the page to me, the importance of light. He made this comment about light,” What is the purpose of light? The answer is not complicated. Light dispels darkness “(60).
i. Light helps us to see with the eyes of God and see things that before we could never see when we were in darkness.
1. Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.
ii. Here are just a few things I saw after God’s bright light shined into my life.
1. I was lost and going deeper into the dark pit of hopelessness. His light showed up and showed me how to get out of the pit of life. I was too:
a. Walk toward the light.
b. Repent of my sin.
c. Die to myself and let him come in.
d. Seek him with my whole heart, mind and soul.
e. If I did these steps then I would never be trapped in darkness again.
2. I recall a time I spent a day in darkness. My dad and my Cub Scout troop went to some caves in Penna. We spent the day down in these caves it was pitch black in them-no light. If we would not have had our flashlights we would have never been able to explore the cave or been able to find our way out.
a. I hated this time in the cave we where in there for 4-5 hours.
b. But when we came toward the end of the cave I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. I ran out of that dark dingy cave into a beautiful sunny day. It was a great feeling of refreshment. My attitude changed. I felt overjoyed with the sunshine and the beauty I could see in the surrounding mountains. I thought to myself there is no way I am going back into that black hole ever again.
c. It was the same when Jesus illuminated my life and brought me out of darkness.
i. I could see the purpose of life.
ii. I felt joy in my life like never before.
iii. I felt hope rush into my soul- all because of His light.
3. The Olympics on Friday night emphasized that their theme was Light The Fire Within.
a. Illustration: Lets watch this video clip of the lighting of the torch and the light’s punching holes in the darkness at the opening ceremony in Salt lake City, Utah.
b. The ceremony was inspiring and you could see how the light drove away the darkness. How if fueled hope for America. Look at the focus of the Pioneer Press --- show Saturday’s Paper.
i. Psalms 74:20 tells us, ”… That where darkness is there is haunts of violence.” NIV– other translations say:
1. KJV “…For the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.”
2. LB “…For the land is full of darkness and cruel men.”
ii. Come back a moment and recall the theme of the winter games “Light the fire within.”
1. Why this theme? So all can see the light within. What light? The Light that drives away the darkness of violence. Who is this light? His name is Jesus - Lord God Almighty.
2. John 8:12 “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
3. Matthew 5:16 “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your father in heaven.”
c. This is what will fuel the Hope for a worn torn land. Seeing the Light of Christ within as it beams out to those who need hope once again.
i. Hope is being revealed today in New York City by the many pray booths that line the city sidewalks.
1. The Other day Good Morning America did a special on the prayer sites in New York and interviewed some of the people involved in them. The whole report was positive and encouraging.
ii. Is your light – lit within for all to see? Or are you hiding it under a veil so no one notices it? Are you giving hope to the blind in darkness by letting your light shine?
T.S.- We have discovered that God’s light reveals the world to us. We also learn from the study of light that our body and soul crave it. Lets explore this phenomena.
II. Scientists say, “Body and soul crave it.” I agree! I remember that my Body and soul craved God.
a. The scientists tell us that light is essential to our daily lives. This is why we crave it and desire it.
i. Light is as important as air we have been told. Fish need water like we need light.
1. God is as important as air as a matter of fact he breathed life into man in Genesis 2:7 “The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.’
ii. Scientist’s tell us that light gives us Vitamin D for healthier bones. It’s called the “Sunshine vitamin.”
1. God’s light makes us healthy and strong.
2. Proverbs 3:7, 8 “Do not be wise in your own eyes;
fear the LORD and shun evil. This will bring health to your body
and nourishment to your bones.”
iii. Achenbach tells us on page 14, “Visually impaired children swarm around a light table to learn shapes and colors at Marquette School in Detroit, Michigan. “The Kids crave light so much, “ says Carol Walker who works with 30 students in the Detroit public school system. “The light levels in most homes are inadequate for them. They need more light to stimulate their vision.”
1. Light gives us sight and keeps us cheerful.
2. God’s light gives sight to the blind.
3. Psalm 19:8 “The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant,
giving light to the eyes.”
4. 1 Peter 2:9 9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
iv. Achenbach illustrates on page 18, “ Moods darken when the sun goes into exile during winter in the northern Russian village of Lovozero… A shortage of light can unleash the winter blues, diagnosed as seasonal affective disorder (SAD).
1. Many medicate this disease with drugs and alcohol.
2. Suicides increase
3. Domestic violence increases
4. When you don’t have light you have SADNESS.
a. God is one that dispels depression and sadness.
b. John 16:20-24 20I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. 21A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. 22So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. 23In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 24Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.
c. Psalm 27:1 The LORD is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?
b. Light sets our biological clocks. It tells us when to rest when to work when to get up and face the day.
i. God’s light directs our path.
ii. Psalm 42:8 By day the LORD directs his love, at night his song is with me—a prayer to the God of my life.
iii. Isaiah 48:17 This is what the LORD says—your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is best for you,
who directs you in the way you should go.
c. Light triggers the sensation of color in our brains.
i. God triggers the color of His beautiful world in our brains. He helps us to see the rainbows in life. He helps us to learn to stop and watch the sunsets and the sun rises.
1. They are beautiful when you take the time to observe His beauty.
2. Genesis 9:13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”
3. I recall the sunsets at Sand Hill lake Bible Camp. Wow they were amazing!
d. Light makes the plants grow which produce our food.
i. I Corinthians 3:6 6I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. 9For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.
ii. God helps us to grow as we follow His Word and direction.
T.S.- We have learned how are bodies and souls crave God’s light spiritually and we also need to learn that light – God’s light - gives us life changing tools.
III. Scientists tell us that, “Light gives us life-changing tools.”
a. We today have many tools made from light.
i. Fiber optic cables which when pulsated with infrared light could each transmit ten million phone conversations at once.
ii. Light is now used for everything from laser eye surgery to telephone technology” (8).
iii. The light has created a potential for military tools.
1. Laser beams made of compressed light energy that could stop incoming missiles.
iv. Light tools used in the medical field today to do surgery.
b. They were also right because God gives us life changing tools:
i. Our transformed lives!
1. Ephesians 4:11 –16 11It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. 14Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. 15Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. 16From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
ii. Our testimonies:
1. Revelation 12:11 They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.
iii. The gifts of the spirit are tools of light.
iv. The ability to communicate with God is the tool of light.
v. The love to diffuse wars is a tool of light/
vi. His grace and mercy to heal wounded hearts is a tool of light.
vii. His Holy Spirit to guide and lead us through life is a tool of light!
viii. The tool of forgiveness to live a joyful life.
ix. The tool of repentance to receive life.
x. The ability to see the truth and to reject the lies is a tool of life.
T.S.- Light gives us life- changing tools and yet we still don’t fully understand light as it applies to the Lord and even light itself.
IV. Scientist’s do not fully understand what light is or what it can do.
a. Achenbach says, “There has been light from the beginning. There will be light, feebly, at the end. In all its forms-visible and invisible-it saturates the universe. Light is more than a little bit inscrutable. Modern physics has sliced the stuff of nature into ever smaller and more exotic constituents, but light won’t reduce. Light is light-pure, but not simple. No one is exactly sure how to describe it. A wave? A particle/ yes, the scientists say. Both.” (8).
b. It’s like God man has tried to dissect Him but God is pure but not simple. No one knows exactly how to describe him. We give bits and pieces of Him to others but to totally describe and understand Him is not easy. We have described him as the Father, yes! We have described Him as the Son Jesus, Yes! We have described Him as the Holy Spirit, yes! Theologians say. He is all three!
c. Man I agree God is someone I don’t fully understand. But He is the light. I see his light in this dark world breaking holes in the darkness. But I don’t fully understand all that He does in lives..
i. God is far beyond my simple understanding.
1. He is all knowing, according to the Bible- How’s does he do that?
2. How could God be manifested in three ways Father, Son and the Holy Spirit?
3. He is in all places. Wow I have just wanted to be in two places a few times and I could not do it.
4. He sees everything that’s going on in this world! Amazing he must have a lot of eyes.
5. God can do more than I could have ever thought was possible. Things that I have said are impossible become possible with Him.
6. He can heal supernaturally when there seems no hope.
7. He can do miracles in lives.
8. He can change people’s hearts.
9. He can bring about so many amazing coincidences in my life that I sit there and scratch my head.
T.S.- We do not fully understand the Lord but we know he will illuminate the future.
V. Scientists just know that light will illuminate our future. I shouted there right! When you find God’s light it will illuminate your future.
a. He will guide you and lead you.
b. He will tell what to do and what not do!
c. He will show you which path to walk down!
d. In Revelation 21:23 - 27 “The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. 26The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. 27Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”
e. Yes it’s true! In the end we will not need the sun or the moon because God’s light is what lights up Heaven. Why? Simple God is light!
Conclusion:
Charles Swindoll gives us some interesting advice as we close today talking about the mystery of Light. He states:
When you live in darkness, you not only have no ray of light, you don’t even know where home is. That is the way it is for the majority in the world. Some folks are born, raised, and die in cultures that have never seen their first flashlight of hope. Imagine it! When the truth of that hits me, I find myself a little impatient with Christians who do nothing but shine lights for themselves. They even have what we might call flashlight parties where they just shine the light on each other. Lots of light! Too much light to be hoarded! Jesus says to shine for the world. Shine your light into the darkness; that’s where it is really needed. Spend less time in your own little well-lighted all Christian world and more time there in the darkness (63)!
Truth is our culture has been engulfed in darkness. Our city here has darkness in it and we are to be the light in it. Jesus tells us we must let our light shine. Light will draw attention from those in darkness. They will move toward the light. Just like mariners follow the lighthouse we can be a lighthouse in this bay for the Lord. They will come if we shine!
So we have to let the light of Jesus shine if we want to lead others out of darkness!
Truth is this:
No God – No Light – No sight
Know God – Know light – Know sight
Choice is yours! Will you let the light shine?
Let’s Pray!
