“God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness” (Genesis 1:4)
On the very first day of Creation, God separated light from darkness. In doing so, He set into motion the cycle of day and night that would mark the passage of time on planet Earth. Genesis 1:5 tells us that the first evening and morning were the first day.
But in separating the darkness from the light, God also forever divided that which speaks of His glory from that which speaks of His absence. Throughout the Bible, light will serve as a metaphor for the presence and glory of Almighty God while darkness will symbolize any place where He is not. God truly is omnipresent, eternally existing in all places at all times, but His manifest glory does not illuminate every dark place, particularly the darkness that people hide themselves in from His presence. God will provide the Light of His glory to anyone who will receive it, but He will force no one to walk in His Light.
In Heaven, at God’s throne, those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life shall dwell forever in the very Light that is Jesus Christ (Revelation 21:23). There will be no night there (Revelation 21:25, 22:5) nor so much as a shadow. Pure Light will shine forever, never to be extinguished. In Hell, the place of eternal banishment from the presence of God, no light shall ever enter in. Jesus described it as “outer darkness” (Matthew 8:12, 22:13, 25:30). In Hell, there will be nothing but total darkness.
It is here on Earth during this lifetime that we have the presence of darkness AND the presence of Light. The one that we choose to walk in now determines the one that we will dwell in for eternity. Let us choose to walk in the Light.
To Jesus Christ goes all glory. In service to Him,
Loren
[This post was originally published July 12, 2009]
**Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) © The Lockman Foundation and are used by permission.
[If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ or you are not certain where you are headed when this life ends, I invite you to read the article “Am I Going To Heaven?“]
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