After Darkness, Light - Genesis 1:2-3

Last Sunday we began a new book of Scripture, the first book, Genesis. I’ve subtitled our sermon series “The Origin of Life, and Life in Christ.” Genesis is understood to contain the Judeo-Christian account of the origin of life. We affirm Genesis as the historical narrative of creation.

As I said last week, Genesis introduces God. We learn in chapter 1, verse 1 a few key things about God. He is self-existent; He was not made. He was present before time as we know it began. Also, God’s abilities are incomparable. He created the universe out of nothing, as only He could. And we see that God is not dependent on the universe He made, but rather, He rules over it. God generated it; He caused it to exist, and He is in control of it.

The prophet Moses, sometime after he led the people of ancient Israel out of Egypt, began to write these things down, empowered by God to deliver this message to the Israelites. They had lived in Egypt for generations and they knew all about the false gods of the Egyptians. But now it was time for their introduction to the one true God. They had already seen God’s mighty power displayed as He saved them from slavery in Egypt and began to lead them and care for them and form them into a nation.

But there was more for them to learn. They needed to learn the whole story; they needed a sense of how they got to where they were. And so God begins at the beginning, at the dawn of time. “At first, God made the universe.” And, “The earth was without form and void,” you see there in verse 2. The earth was landless. The creation of dry land comes later, on Day 3.

Now, there are two separate Hebrew words in this statement which are very important. We should look at them separately, then together. To say the earth was “without form,” is to picture it in a chaotic state, like a wilderness, a wasteland from our perspective. Also, the earth was “void;” so, it was empty.

These words describe a scene where, as of yet, there were no living things. No plants, no animals. Needless to say, humans could not have survived there. There are two other places in the Scriptures where we see “without form and void” together: in the prophetic books of Isaiah and Jeremiah. In both places, they describe the earth after God’s judgment. At that time, earth will once again be empty wilderness, dark, desolate, and disordered.

So, God created the universe in the beginning, but He had not yet brought order to the creation. Notice the next phrase: “and darkness was over the face of the deep,” over the surface of the abyss. One Bible scholar describes the earth at this point as “primal world ocean.” But even in the darkness, God is standing by in absolute control of the hopeless nothingness.

Look at the rest of the verse, “And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” God was there. This is the first place where the Scriptures make mention of the Holy Spirit. We later learn that He is the third person of the triune God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Moses writes that like a mother eagle flutters over her offspring, God the Holy Spirit was there over the dark and landless earth. He was present, but He had not yet brought order into the chaos, had not yet put something in the emptiness. The initial message of the Scriptures is clear: One God made the universe, and apart from His transforming intervention, only darkness and emptiness exists.

Let’s leave the dawn of time for a moment and come back to the present day. It is still true that only emptiness exists in the absence of God’s transforming work. Anywhere you see anything good in the world, that is God’s grace toward us. Each of you, from the greatest to the least, regardless of the course of your life or the choices you’ve made, must admit that there is a darkness within you.

There is a chaos, a nothingness, that clings to you and affects you. The Scriptures call it “sin.” We see so much dysfunction not only around us but also, within us. All of it is the result of sin. The origin of human sinfulness is explained later in Genesis, chapter 3. The first humans sin against God, and immediately after, He intervenes.

But actually in this next verse God displays His transforming intervention. Notice verse 3, “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” God imposes His will on the formless, empty darkness. On this primitive, wild ocean God begins to bring order. God brings hope; He brings light.

Now, there was not yet a sun. God creates the sun on Day 4. So what produces this light? It was the transforming presence of God Himself. Psalm 36 in the OT says this about God; “For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light.” The holy presence of God is blinding light. The apostle Paul, for instance, was blinded by the holy presence of God when Jesus confronted him on the Damascus road. Here in verse 3, God interrupts the dark abyss with His word and His presence. God said “Light - be!” And light was. Over and over in the Scriptures, God’s “light” is synonymous with His intervention into our circumstances.

Once again, let’s come back from the dawn of time and think about our world today. Is there much darkness? You would probably say yes, figuratively speaking. By that you would mean the tremendous amount of evil, destruction, pain, and confusion. Understand me here, the transforming presence of God does not figuratively produce light in verse 3. He literally lights up the darkness. He actually illuminates the disorder to which He is about to bring order and shape.

There was total darkness before His light shone. But His power over the darkness has no limits. He made the universe. Is there hope for God’s light to shine in your dark, difficult circumstances? Absolutely. We are hopelessly subject to darkness, to sin, but God intervenes and transforms. In the Gospel of John, chapter 12, Jesus says, “I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.”

Whoever, in faith, gives themselves up to Jesus. Those who, by faith, trust Him, trust in Him. What do we trust? We trust in His saving work, in God the Father’s plan to send Jesus to live a sinless life in our place. Jesus lived a life of no regrets, not just that He resolved to not regret, but that He is the only one to live a life with no guilt. No foolish words spoken, no foolish choices, no selfish ways, no secret sins, no wrongs committed, no responsibilities neglected. Jesus had none of that, you see.

And so He was a worthy Savior. He was able to die the death we should die and face the wrath of God for sin that we should face. And without Jesus as the mediator between you and God, you will face that wrath. In Titus 3, Paul writes, “We ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.” Through trust in Jesus, you can avoid that wrath and know the joy that comes when God dispels your darkness and chaos through the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Friends, the God who made the universe, the God who shines light into darkness, the “God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ shines in the hearts of those in Jesus. He gives the light of the knowledge of His glory in the face of Jesus Christ. God is shining His light; we should receive the light! But how do we seek to do that each day?

We must look to where God through Moses called the Israelites to look. Remember, Genesis was written first to them during the time when Moses was their leader. They needed to recognize that only emptiness exists in the absence of the transforming work of the God who saved them by His grace. There is only darkness and chaos where God does not impose His holy will. There is only emptiness where His divine presence is not known.

The Israelites needed to recognize that. All people must recognize. We must recognize the same thing today. We now possess a fuller knowledge of God than the Israellites had. The Scriptures clearly state this. God has revealed Himself full in Jesus Christ who saves us by grace through faith. Do you recognize that only emptiness exists in the absence of God’s transforming work in your life? I’m not speaking only to your salvation. I’m not talking only to the folks who have not yet trusted in Jesus.

Whatever your circumstances, whatever your situation, do you see that without God’s transforming presence, there is no hope for you? God must speak, God must shine. You must welcome the abundance that accompanies the presence of God’s transforming work! You must look to the light. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Are you trusting in Jesus? His gospel teaches us to surrender our rights and lay down our lives. His gospel teaches us to put sin to death in our lives, to forgive, to humble ourselves, to walk by faith as we face the unknown, to have joy in hard times, to comfort and care for others, to love the truth and cling to it, to trust not in ourselves and what we think is right, but to trust in the holy Word of the living God.

During the Middle Ages, from the 5th to the 15th centuries A.D., hypocrisy and false teaching was rampant in the church, and the gospel of Jesus Christ was largely hidden from view. But as people began to return to the Scriptures, as people began to be introduced to the true God, something began to happen. Hearts and minds were being transformed.

God was changing lives through the good news of Jesus Christ. People were seeing the light. They began to see that people cannot be made right with God on the basis of their good works. Rather, only through the person and work of Jesus can we be made right with God and be transformed in our thoughts, desires, and behavior. Salvation and transformation come only by grace alone through faith alone, faith in Jesus. That movement of true belief became known as the Protestant Reformation. It was a movement of true transformation. It was a welcoming of the abundance that accompanies the presence of God’s work.

Today, in Geneva, Switzerland, at the University of Geneva, there is a monument to that era. It is a large stone wall built to remember the people and events of that time. And across that wall, carved in large letters, is the short Latin statement that became the battle cry of those who had see, the light of God. It says, “Post tenebras lux.” In English, “After darkness, light.” “God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

We must look continually to Jesus.

Let’s bow together in prayer.