And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons [appointed times], and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. [Genesis 1:14-15 ESV] “
read an interesting question recently: “Which comes first, the day or the night?” The answer was in Genesis 1 — “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep.” I read through all those days of creation again and it was clear that everything that happened in those first six days became visible because of that first light. Light was a critical part of God’s order of creation. “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.” [a]
“And it was so.” But why did only six days have that sequence ? And why didn’t the seventh day end with it? “…God blessed the seventh day and made it holy.”[b] God rested, but His creative authority was unending! He’d blessed the order of those early days but on a particular night, at an appointed time, in a wilderness field long after those first six days, God’s confirmation of His truth about that seventh day was revealed. Jesus became the visible reality of His unending blessing — a Sabbath that was forever!
There were shepherds staying in the fields nearby and darkness was lifted, again, and there was light”…again! Mankind would forever be required to order their lives around creation’s cycle of days but Jesus was coming as the new Light of the World “for signs and for seasons, and for days and years”…forever! He would be the unending personal promise of an internal Sabbath, a Light that would make those who were guided by it, a visible reflection of God’s Holiness that would never end.
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.”
[Matthew 5:14 ESV]
“It is written, ‘There was evening, and then there was morning…The world moves from day to night. But in God, it is the opposite. It goes from night to day…from darkness to light. The children of this world live from day to night. But the children of God live from night to day. They are born again in the darkness and move to the day. And if you belong to God, then that is the order of your life. You are to go from darkness to light, from weakness to strength, from despair to hope, from guilt to innocence, from tears to joy, and from death to life. And every night in your life will lead to the dawn. So live according to God’s sacred order of time…that your entire life be always moving away from the darkness and to the light.” [c]
[a] Genesis 1:31
[b] Genesis 2:3
[c] Book of Mysteries by Jonathan Cahn