Creation – Let There Be Light
Before light existed, God spoke. “Let there be light: and there was light” (Genesis 1:3). From divine command came illumination, banishing darkness and beginning the creative work that would culminate in humanity. These first recorded words of God carry power beyond mere physical phenomenon—they establish a pattern that runs through all Scripture: where God speaks, light comes; where darkness rules, His word brings dawn. The creation of light on day one foreshadows the greater light that entered the world when the Word became flesh—Jesus Christ, the true Light that enlightens every person.
The Common Reading
Genesis 1:1-5 records the creation of light as God’s first creative act after making the heavens and earth. The initial state was formless and void, with darkness covering the deep. The Spirit of God moved over the waters, and then came the divine declaration: “Let there be light.”
The light was immediately evaluated: “God saw the light, that it was good” (Genesis 1:4). This first judgment of “good” established the standard for all that followed. God then separated light from darkness, naming them Day and Night. “And the evening and the morning were the first day” (Genesis 1:5).
Traditional interpretation notes several remarkable features. Light was created before the sun, moon, and stars (created on day four), indicating that light itself came directly from God rather than from celestial sources. This divine light preceded and enabled all subsequent creation. The separation of light from darkness established the fundamental distinction that would carry moral as well as physical significance throughout Scripture.
The creative power of God’s word is also emphasized. He did not manipulate existing materials; He spoke, and what He commanded came into being. “By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth” (Psalm 33:6). Creation ex nihilo—from nothing—demonstrates absolute divine sovereignty.
The Limitation of This Reading
Yet viewing “let there be light” merely as the creation of photons misses its deeper significance. Why does Scripture begin with light? Why is this particular creative act given such prominence? And why does light carry such rich symbolic meaning throughout the Bible—far beyond its physical properties?
The darkness preceding light also demands attention. It was not merely absence of light but is described in terms suggesting chaos, emptiness, formlessness. Light came as the answer to darkness—not equal partners but opposition. Darkness retreated before light; it did not negotiate or compromise. This adversarial relationship between light and darkness runs through Scripture to its final pages.
The fact that light existed before light-bearers (sun, moon, stars) creates theological puzzle. What was this light? Where was its source? The answer points beyond physics to the nature of God Himself. “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). The light of day one may have been nothing less than the radiant presence of God Himself, later localized in celestial bodies but originally direct and immediate.
Christ-Centered Unveiling
The apostle John opens his Gospel with deliberate echoes of Genesis 1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:1-3). The Word who spoke light into existence at creation is identified as Jesus Christ.
John continues: “In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not” (John 1:4-5). The creation pattern repeats in redemption: life and light come from the Word; darkness fails to overcome it. What happened at creation happens again in salvation—God speaks, light dawns, darkness flees.
Jesus claimed this identity explicitly: “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12). The One who said “Let there be light” at creation now declares Himself to be that light. Physical creation’s first day pointed to spiritual recreation’s eternal day.
Paul makes the connection even more explicit: “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6). The same God, the same command, the same result—light shining where darkness ruled. Creation and conversion follow identical patterns because the same Word effects both.
The Fulfillment in Christ
Christ fulfills the creation of light as the One through whom it came and the One who embodies it fully. “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth… all things were created by him, and for him” (Colossians 1:16). The light that illuminated day one was Christ’s light, spoken by the Father, through the Son, by the Spirit.
As physical light separated from darkness on day one, so Christ separates believers from spiritual darkness. “Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness” (1 Thessalonians 5:5). The fundamental division established in creation becomes the fundamental division in redemption—those in Christ walk in light; those outside remain in darkness.
The evaluation “it was good” applied to light finds its ultimate affirmation in Christ. The Father declared of the Son: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). What was good in creation is perfect in Christ. He is the light that is wholly good, without shadow or variation.
Light existed before sun, moon, and stars because the true Light precedes all derivative lights. Christ is “the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world” (John 1:9). All other sources of illumination—physical or spiritual—derive from Him. Teachers, Scriptures, conscience, natural revelation—all reflect His light. He is the original; all else is reflection.
In the new creation, the pattern of day one becomes permanent reality. “And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof” (Revelation 21:23). What began in Genesis concludes in Revelation—God’s direct light illuminating His people, no longer through created intermediaries but immediately, eternally.
The Gospel Mystery Revealed
“Let there be light” speaks to every darkened human heart. We are born in spiritual darkness—blind to God, ignorant of truth, dwelling in the shadow of death. We cannot create light within ourselves any more than the void could illuminate itself. Light must come from outside, from the God who speaks creation into being.
The gospel is the divine command “let there be light” spoken to your darkness. “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8). The transformation is as dramatic as creation’s first day—from formless void to ordered beauty, from darkness to light, from chaos to purpose.
Notice that God spoke light into existence—it came by His word. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17). As the creation word brought physical light, the gospel word brings spiritual light. Receive His word; light will come. Reject His word; darkness remains.
The separation of light from darkness was immediate and complete at creation. So it is in salvation—you are either in the light or in darkness, child of day or child of night. There is no twilight zone of spiritual neutrality. Christ’s coming forces the decision: “This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19).
God looked at the light and pronounced it good. Will you look at Christ—the Light of the world—and receive Him? The same creative power that spoke galaxies into existence can speak new life into your dead heart. The same light that banished primordial darkness can banish your spiritual night. Let the God who said “Let there be light” shine in your heart. Step into the light. Become a child of the day. For the Light has come, and His name is Jesus.