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<2023.08> God Is Light

European Bible Study Meeting, 2002
God Is Light
April 1st, 2002 Afternoon Part 2
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.  John 1:1-3
The Word Became Flesh and Dwelt among Us
Let’s turn now to the book of Genesis. In the book of Ecclesiastes God tells us clearly that man’s life is vain; that there is nothing new in the world in which we are living; that the flesh, which encases your spirit is limited by time; that a person only lives for a short while; and that man cannot measure the extent of the work that God carries out (see 3:1-11). The book of Genesis allows us to have a taste of the immeasurable depths of God.
And yet, the human mind is not capable of understanding everything in Genesis. As we are reading Genesis, we should not try to force an interpretation on it as we attempt to understand it. There are parts that we need to acknowledge and accept just as they stand, but we need to be careful not to think too hastily, “This is what is written in Genesis, so this is how it is,” since this may lead us into confusion and we may fall into false doctrines.
Let’s turn to Genesis chapter 1 and read verse 1.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
What is meant here by, “In the beginning”? In John’s Gospel chapter 1 verse 1 it says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
Because we are living within such brief limits of time on this earth, we tend to be hasty in calculating this concept mathematically, thinking of it as meaning some time thousands or even hundreds of millions of years ago. And yet the Bible tells us very clearly that man is not able to measure the extent of the work that God carries out. In reference to this beginning, the Bible tells us that in the beginning was the Word; the Word was God; this God created the heavens and the earth through His word; and that nothing was made without Him (see Genesis 1:1, John 1:1, John 1:3), leaving us with a time that we can only imagine. 
It is in order to give us an opportunity to be able to live in the realms of God’s time, that He has granted us this brief period in the realms of the time in which we now live, the time the Bible refers to when it says, “What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?” (Ecclesiastes 1:3). We need to think about this time that we cannot know, the eternal time that belongs to God, the eternal time that stretches back into the eternal past and forward into the eternal future.
In some English translations—the King James Version, for example—the singular form of “heaven” is to be found here in Genesis, but in the English Standard Version of the Bible it says, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth”; “heavens” is in the plural form, indicating that there is not just one heaven.
This and other versions of the Bible tell us that there is definitely more than one heaven. Second Corinthians chapter 12 refers to a man who “was caught up to the third heaven” (verse 2). It says there is a third heaven. The first heaven is the sky within the atmosphere that we see when we look up, the sky through which planes fly. When you go beyond this atmosphere, you come to the second heaven with its countless stars. Then, the apostle Paul spoke of a third heaven above that, not an imaginary place; he spoke of that place as the true heaven. 
Let’s turn to Psalm 136 and read from verses 5 to 9. 
To him who by understanding made the heavens, for his steadfast love endures forever; to him who spread out the earth above the waters, for his steadfast love endures forever; to him who made the great lights, for his steadfast love endures forever; the sun to rule over the day, for his steadfast love endures forever; the moon and stars to rule over the night, for his steadfast love endures forever.  
 
In this psalm we are told to give thanks to the One who created the heavens and the earth, the lights, the sun, the moon, and the stars. The Bible says that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and in the book of Ecclesiastes it says, “the earth remains forever” (1:4). Some day there will be a new heaven and a new earth, but before that happens, there is an answer we need to find while living on this earth.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, but how did He go about it? Did he form the globe of the earth as a sculpture might carve out a sphere? And how did He form the billions of stars? You may think simply that He was able to make them because He is God, but this is not a matter we should consider so lightly. We need to look into this in a little more detail through the Bible.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  John 1:1
“In the beginning” in this verse is the same as “In the beginning” when the Genesis says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Here it says that in the beginning the Word was with God. This “Word” is the words of truth of God referred to in the book of Ecclesiastes where it says, “The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth” (12:10). The Word is God, and this God created the heavens and the earth.
He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.  John 1:2-3
 Here it says that nothing was made without the Word. Genesis chapter 1 tells us how the heavens and the earth were created through the Word of the Lord that endures forever, the eternal Word of God. As the Bible says, “The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever” (1 Peter 1:24-25).
In him was life, and the life was the light of men.  
John 1:4
It says here that “in him,” that is, in the Word, was “life”, and that “life was the light of men.” This is talking about a life on a higher plane than the power of life that we are aware of in our physical bodies.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.  John 1:5-9
 The book of Ecclesiastes says, “Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?” (1:2-3). Here we find the expressions, “under the sun,” and, “Vanity of vanities.” John’s Gospel talks about the “true light,” saying, “The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.” What is this light?
He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.  
John 1:10-11
Here “his own” means His own domain. In other words, the land of Israel. And “his own people” are the Israelites. When it says that they “did not receive him,” it means the Israelites had Jesus crucified.
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.  John 1:12-14
Here it says that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus dwelt with the apostle John who wrote these words and those who worked with him. These words are also telling us that even now Jesus dwells among us through the word of God.
Let’s turn to John chapter 5 verse 39. All the verses of Bible are related to John chapter 5 verse 39. Everyone should memorize this verse.
You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me.
Here it says, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life.” The Bible should not just be read without thinking. When the Bible says, “Vanity of vanities,” do you think this is talking about the emptiness and futility in a person’s heart as expressed in the song with the lines, “Life is the path of a traveler. Where does it come from and where is it going?” There is a huge difference between the words of songs like this and the words in Ecclesiastes that says, “Vanity of vanities. The sun goes down to the place where it rises, and the wind circles round to the place where it was before.”
Jesus said, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life.” He said these words at a time when the New Testament did not yet complete, so when He referred to the Scriptures, He was talking about the 39 books of the Old Testament. But we have the complete Bible at our disposal in our lives and so for us, the “Scriptures” include the New Testament, making 66 books of the complete word of God.
Jesus also said, “you think that in them you have eternal life.” There is some kind of life in the Bible. So the Bible says, “In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” And then it says, “The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.” The light referred to here, this life, is contained in the Bible.
But then, Jesus also said, “It is they [the Scriptures] that bear witness about me.” Many people appear in the Bible, but not one of them except Jesus Christ, the Son of God who was born on this earth, could have said with confidence that these Scriptures “bear witness about me.”
Yet, knowing that
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