I love ah-ha moments. I expect them literally every time I read from the Word. You see, God is not like man when it comes to what He says. Or, I should say, not like me. He doesn’t waste His words. So every book, every chapter, every verse, every word of His Word has been spoken and then written for a purpose.
Genesis 1:3
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.
How many times have you read that verse? If you, like me, went to Sunday school and church every week of your childhood, and VBS once a year you most likely learned early on that the creation of day and night were a part of the “first day.”
But I was an adult before I realized that the sun and the moon—that which reigned over the day and the night—were not created until the fourth day. Of course, I’d read it, but the irony and complexity of it hadn’t yet hit me.
So, where did the light come from? And when it went away, what brought about the darkness.
Getting to the Root of It
The word “light,” found in Genesis 1:3 is, in Hebrew, “owr,” (transliterated and pronounced “ore”). Under the definitions (Strong’s #216)—and there are eleven—I find five that deserve a closer look:
1. Morning light
2. Light of a lamp
3. Light of life
4. Light of instruction
5. Jehovah as Israel’s Light
Morning Light
Two things quickly come to mind as I read this first of the five definitions. According to a number of scriptures, Jesus is the Morning Star.
And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. (2 Peter 1:19)
This verse of Scripture stirs in my heart as beautifully and wonderfully as the dawn’s breaking itself.
I am often found in the early morning hours, sitting on my back patio with a cup of coffee in my hand, watching for the first light of day. It rises over the trees and gently sloping hills behind my house (I live on a golf course, I confess). It pushes the deep gray from the sky and replaces it with fuchsia and magenta and baby blue. It dissipates the rolling fog along the grasses and sparkles on the dew left behind. As it rises, I find myself inhaling more deeply, more amazed than ever at the power of God. I think of how Jesus Himself has risen in my heart, has—like the morning’s light—completely taken over that place in me that so easily can become calloused. I think of how He has pushed away the dark and replaced it with brilliance; how He has dissipated the fog that often threatens to choke me.
Christ the Morning Light
In Zechariah’s Song (found in Luke 1), he gives a blessing to his son, John—later known as John the Baptist. He sings, “And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”
Oh, please read those words again. Again and again until they set your heart to soaring!
Now, add to them these, found in Ephesians 5:14: Wake up, O Sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Jesus referred to Himself as the Morning Star in His revelation to John the Beloved. He said, “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.” (Rev. 22:16)
An Ah-ha Moment
In this first of five definitions we come to know a little more about the personality of Jesus, our Creator, our Bridegroom, our Friend, our Savior, and our Light.
In reflection, I see the mention of David, of being the Offspring of David, a man who was after God’s own heart, a man who sought him in the morning. (Psalm 5:3) David understood the power of the day’s first light and of his day’s First Light.
As tomorrow dawns, I pray you will do the same. Look to it and at it with new eyes. Reach for its majesty, and in return, catch the splendor of God.
(All bolds are inserted by author for emphasis.)
Award-winning national speaker Eva Marie Everson is a recent graduate of Andersonville Theological Seminary. Her work includes the just released Sex, Lies, and the Media (Cook) and The Potluck Club (Baker/Revell) She can be contacted for comments or for speaking engagement bookings at www.evamarieeverson.com