Welcome to Genesis Marks the Spot where we raid the ivory tower of biblical theology without ransacking our faith. My name is Carey Griffel, and today we're going to be talking about light. I actually think that this episode is going to intersect really well with my imaging series, which might seem a little bit odd when I'm talking about light, but we have a little ways to go before we get to that point.
In previous episodes, I've talked about views of creation, and I've brought up John Walton's positions on how Genesis one isn't about material creation, but it's about functional creation. Of course, there's other ways of reading Genesis one that are more figurative as well. However, even if we go with this idea that Genesis one is not about material creation, it remains the case that things are said to be made by God in Genesis one.
So was light created? That's our first question for today. I'm going to read the first five verses of Genesis one. Quote, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep and the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters and God said, let there be light.
And there was light, and God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light day and the darkness he called night and there was evening and there was morning the first day, end quote. Skipping over the question of whether or not the heavens and the earth and the waters were all created first.
In verse three, it says that God said, let there be light, and there was light. So this sounds like a creation moment to us. Of course, we don't get to the point of the sun being created until day four in Genesis 1:14-19. So for the, the more literal minded, here we have God who's created light, and there is no sun.
There is no moon, there are no stars. And this is literal light because the text calls the light day and the darkness night. So it's like God is, is acting like a Carebear with light shining out of him. We see a similar theme in Job 12:22, which says quote,
he uncovers the deeps out of darkness and brings deep darkness to light. End quote.
It's interesting to me that in our more literal thinking, that we don't tend to give too much introspection about why light comes on day one. Of course, we say God can make whatever he wants first and second and third and, and whatever. He can do it in whatever order he wants. Apparently this is the order he chose, right?
But we should take note of the fact that there is no verb indicating that God made the light. He just said the light was going to be, and then it was. I've seen an awful lot of sermons where, where pastors love to expound upon this point and say that God's word is, is his creative power. And I think there is a lot to be said for that.
We could talk here about justification and new creation and all of that, but we're talking about light. So let's get back to light. Uh, it makes sense from our modern perspective, from our modern scientific perspective, that we think that light was created, like the physical aspect of light. But I've also seen us acknowledge that this light is the light of God, the light of Christ, we acknowledge that and then we move on shrugging our shoulders and usually still assuming that it's still physical light we're talking about here. From a modern, literal perspective, the light on day one has to be the physical light of the world. Otherwise, it doesn't really make sense when everything else is physical. Creation can't start with a figurative description, right? All right, so let's find some evidence for the idea the light was in fact created. We're going to turn to the Book of Jubilees for this, which I haven't really talked about yet on my podcast.
The book of Jubilees is a later text. It is not scripture, but it is a Jewish text from the second Temple era, and so it kind of shows how they were thinking about things. In Jubilee two versus two through three. It says
quote,
for on the first day, he created the heavens, which are above and the earth and the waters, and all of the spirits which minister before him, the angels of the presence and the angels of sanctification, and the angels of the spirit of fire, and the angels of the spirit of the winds and the angels of the spirit of the clouds and darkness and snow and hail and frost, and the angels of resounding and thunder, and lightening and the angels of the spirits of cold and heat and winter and springtime in harvest and winter, and all of the spirits of his creatures, which are in heaven and on earth.
And he created the abysses and darkness both evening and night, and light, both dawn and daylight, which he prepared in the knowledge of his heart. Then we saw his works and we blessed him and offered praise before him on account of all his works because he made seven great works on the first day .
End quote.
So that's the book of Jubilees. And as you can see, it talks about how on the first day, even though Genesis one doesn't talk about spiritual beings being created on the first day, Jubilee does bring out that point. So that's kind of interesting for some of us. And it says that the abyss and the darkness and the light, all of those things, they are all created by God.
Now I'm going to read a couple of verses from Isaiah. We're gonna read from Isaiah 45 verses six and seven,
quote,
that people may know from the rising of the sun and from the west that there is none besides me. I am the Lord and there is no other. I form light and create darkness. I make wellbeing and create calamity.
I am the Lord who does all these things,
end quote.
So that suggests that light is created, but it also suggests that darkness is created. There's actually quite a few later texts, which suggest very clearly that light was not created. But of course, at the same time, it's a little bit hard to separate things out when we're looking at the text, because light is used in a lot of ways, right?
So when somebody mentions light, they're not necessarily talking about the light from day one of Genesis one. However, when we look at parallel ancient near Eastern texts, and we compare them to Genesis one, the ways that they talk about light is it's usually not created. Light is directly associated with Marduk in Enuma, uh, in other Sumerian creation texts, you have heaven, which is light. You have Earth, which is dark, and you have the underworld, which is invisible. All right, so whether or not light was created, the question is really, why does that matter? And I promise I'm going to get there. The next thing I wanna look at is how the Bible uses light.
How do we see it used in the text? I'm going to reference Tyndale Bible dictionary for this because it categorizes this out. The Bible uses light to refer to ordinary light. It uses the theme of light to talk about enlightenment, especially enlightenment of spiritual truth. We see light in day one and day four. Light is a symbol for good or something that is uplifting either for important people or for God himself. Light also is used to symbolize blessing.
That's a pretty good list, but I think it does leave a few things out. Uh, I would definitely add in the the glory of God. Um, and the question also is, can we loop in the idea of fire into light?
I personally think that we can, because the ancient person would have had those two things in a definitive mental category. I think we can also look at the use of lightning in the Bible. Uh, starting in Exodus 19, verse 16, it says,
quote,
on the morning of the third day, there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast so that all the people in the camp trembled.
Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. Now, Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire.
End quote.
I read up to the middle of verse 18 with that. In Matthew 24:27, it says,
quote,
for as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will the coming of the son of man
end quote.
Ezekiel connects, uh, fire and lightning together. Starting in chapter one, verse 13.
Quote,
as for the likenesses of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches moving to and fro among the living creatures. And the fire was bright and out of the fire went forth lightning and the living creatures darted to and fro like the appearance of a flash of lightning
end quote.
All right, well, I could give a whole bunch of other examples of verses of light and lightning and fire. And they don't all necessarily mean the same thing. It seems like there's some connectivity to the idea of judgment, but that doesn't seem to be what's going on in Genesis one.
So what's the point of that light? You've probably been waiting for me to jump right into John 1, so let's do it. Let's just start in verse one.
Quote.
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 anything made that was made 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. 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.
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, 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.
End quote.
I read up till verse 14 there. So there we have it. Light was God or it was Jesus. Either way, same thing and end of story. We're done now, right? I think that there's a whole lot more we could look at.
Surprise, surprise. I mean, what is the actual point here? Reading in John 1, we have the light shining in the darkness and the darkness not overcoming it. We have witnesses about the light. We have true light that gives light to everyone. We have light that is revelatory. We have the idea of being adopted into the family of God, and we have the word become flesh and dwelt among us, and we have His glory.
All right, we're gonna get more into that idea of glory. But first, do we think that it is okay to take John one and insert it back into Genesis one? Is that an okay thing to do? Can we take later revelation to illuminate earlier revelation and say that it's the exact same thing? Can we say that the authors meant the exact same thing?
Asked another way I could say is light in the New Testament too allegorical or figurative to compare to Genesis one. Or maybe the light in Genesis one is figurative after all. Well, first I would suggest that it's not really the case that we're taking John one and inserting it back into Genesis one, at least while simultaneously saying that the Old Testament doesn't already have this imagery.
Psalm 27 starts out by saying,
quote,
the Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life? Of whom shall I be afraid?
end quote
psalm four, six says,
quote,
there are many who say, who will show us some good? Lift up the light of your face upon us, oh Lord,
end quote,
the word face is a way of talking about presence. So in Psalm four, we have a direct connection of light with God's presence. The theme of light in relation to God is so prevalent in the Old Testament. Psalm 36, 9 says,
quote,
for with you, is the fountain of life. In your light, do we see light?
End quote.
This is probably one of those places that John one is referring to, in fact. Isaiah 42 is an interesting passage. Let's start reading there in verse five,
quote,
thus says, God, the Lord who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it? Who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it? I am the Lord. I have called you in righteousness.
I will take you by the hand and keep you. I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon. From the prison, those who sit in darkness. I am the Lord. That is my name. My glory I give to no other nor my praise to carved idols.
End quote.
So this is probably a Messianic passage talking about the Messiah, but it's probably originally also referring to the nation of Israel and the nation of Israel being a light for the nations, but also included in this is the theme of creation. God being sovereign creator and God giving glory, and also the mention of idols.
How interesting. Of course, in John eight 12, Jesus said to the people, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. All right, so again, why does this matter? Because of course, if the light of day one is figurative, then what could that mean?
If it's figurative, then that means that God is entering and he is present in creation as he creates. So rather than a being who is looking from the outside in, he's working within space itself, within the cosmos itself, he is present actively. I am going to read a quote from Holman Treasury of Key Bible Words, which talks about John Milton and Paradise Lost.
Okay.
Quote,
John Milton begins the third book of his poem, Paradise Lost with these lines, hail, holy light, offspring of Heaven, first born, or of the Eternal Co-eternal Beam. May I express the embalmed since God is light and never but in approached light, dwelt from eternity, dwelt then in the bright ulence of bright essence in create.
In these lines, Milton captures three aspects of light, which is phos in Greek, that are revealed in scripture. The first is that God has been light forever. He has always lived in unapproachable light. See one Timothy six 16. The second is that the son of God, the co eternal beam, has also been light forever.
He has always been the bright ulence of God's glory. See Hebrew one, two through three. The third aspect is that which is spoken of in the first line, the light that God created on the first day of creation, offspring of heaven's firstborn, Genesis one, three. The light of creation is enjoyed by all living beings, especially human beings, but this light is only a picture of the real light or God.
We cannot comprehend this light for it is God himself. This is why Paul says that God dwells in light unapproachable. In one Timothy six 16, the psalmist says that the eternal God is clothed in light in Psalm 1 0 4, 2, and John says that God is light in one John one five, mortals would die instantly if they came into the very presence of the radiant God.
It would be like coming into the direct contact with the sun, but there is good news. The son of God brought this light to people in a way that they could receive God as light. The son of God is the ulence of God's glory. He's like the beams of the son reaching earth and humanity. See, Hebrews one, two.
This is why John says in him was life and the life was the light of men. In John one, four, to experience God is to experience being illuminated, enlightened, and even exposed by Christ. As the Psalm said, in thy light shall we see light. Psalm 36, 9, we see God in all his goodness and righteousness, and we see ourselves with all our faults and sins.
This is the normal experience of those who live in the light by having close fellowship with God. And miraculously he loves us despite our faults.
End quote.
I feel like I could almost end the podcast there cuz that's pretty cool.
Of course I do have a lot more to say, so we'll keep going. So basically what that just said was that God has always been light, Christ has always been light and has always been present. And this has been from the initial creation to begin with. And light is a fantastic theme for this because it illuminates us, it helps us to understand things and we can understand that light is something that's, that we can't quite grasp.
And frequently it is something that is dangerous to us as well. It's very similar to the theme of water, which is necessary and which is a blessing, but which can also be extremely dangerous and can kill us. And not only is God's presence light, but the gospel is also light. In Second Corinthians four, verse four through six, it says,
quote,
in their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God for what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ is Lord with ourselves as your servants, for Jesus' sake, for God, who said, let light shine out of darkness has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
End quote.
Okay, so in case you didn't catch it, I'm going to try and bring out all of these elements in this theme that we're talking about here. In contrast to unbelievers, believers are those who see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, and Christ is the image of God. Then we who proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord, we are seen as servants here. So it is the light of the gospel. It is the light of Christ, and it is the glory of Christ who is the image of God. And yet we are servants who proclaim the gospel. I don't think these themes connected together here are accidental. Well, what's the big deal? It's just light. I don't think it's just light.
That's the thing. I'm not talking some mystical thing that's going on here, but what I'm saying is that if we're looking at Genesis one and we're only seeing materialistic creation, we're missing out on what's really going on. And I think that what's really going on is the presence of God and the purposes of God.
If God has brought himself into creation from the literal beginning, that means something. If the gospel is the light of the glory of Christ, that also means something. Part of my point here is in emphasizing the presence of God, and when we read Second Corinthians, we see this connection of the light with the gospel, and further, this is the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
What I'm trying to say is not some fluffy feel good message. Okay? I mean, fluffy feel good messages can be great, and sometimes that's exactly what we need to hear, but that tends to be what we hear so often in our churches these days. But look, the gospel isn't just to make you feel good. The gospel isn't just some message that's supposed to make me feel good on Sunday morning.
I think what this is saying is that the gospel is embedded into the very fabric of reality. And further, I think that this speaks to our roles in creation ourselves. But I'm getting a little bit ahead of myself here. Let's look at first Peter two, nine, which says,
quote,
but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession.
But you may proclaim the excellences of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light
end quote.
I haven't talked yet in this episode about the priesthood, but the priesthood is very much connected to light. In the Bible. We have the glory of God that shows up in the temple. We have the fire of and the incense that are supposed to go into the temple.
And of course there's supposed to be light and fire associated with the sacrifices. So Peter is saying that God has called us to be a royal priesthood. We have been called out into the light to proclaim his excellences. All right, so I've promised you a connection with the image of God and humanity, and we're kind of inching closer to that.
For those of you who have been listening to my episodes in order, which you don't have to, it's fine, but if you have, I talked about the documentary hypothesis, uh, the, the idea of J E D P and the priestly purposes of the text, which show up in Genesis one. I've also investigated the idea of Temple as Cosmos, but I didn't really get too far into that.
Mostly I was reacting to a critique of the idea, and it really doesn't seem like the critique holds any water. So let's talk a little bit more about the cosmos as Temple. It's pretty well established that a lot of temples in the ancient Near East were supposed to be connected to the mythical primeval mound, or as Egyptologists like to call it the primeval hillock.
I don't know why they always use that term, but I, I kind of get it. Sounds cool. So this would be where land first emerges from the chaotic waters of creation.
The Jewish writer, Josephus talked about the objects in the temple and said,
quote,
every one of these objects is intended to recall and represent the universe.
End quote.
Some of these things were the water basins in the temple, which represented the, the sea. There were bronze pillars, which seemed to represent the pillars of the earth. We have the menorah, which represents a tree of life kind of thing, which is also a lamp shedding light.
There is the bread of the presence, which of course that's food. You have the incense and the veil, which separates the earthly from the heavenly. It's kind of like the firmament does in the creation narrative, and inside the Holy of Holies is the footstool or throne of God. There are pomegranates that decorate. There are cherubim, such as the cherubim outside of the garden. If you look at the tabernacle narrative in Exodus 25 through 31, it seems like we can take those seven speeches of God and line them up in some ways with the seven days of creation. And of course when you're talking about some sort of sacred space, like a temple or the tabernacle, you have the, the intersection of zones that go holier and holier as you enter inside.
This can be seen as parallel with how Eden is described. You have the world or the outside of Eden, you have Eden itself, and then you have the garden. I've been looking at the idea that sometimes instead of three concentric zones, there are four, and that could also potentially be seen in Eden, where you have the world, you have Eden, you have the garden, and you maybe have the mountaintop in the center of the garden with the two trees.
We could potentially see the zone of the tabernacle as having four as well. Because if, if the camp of Israel was supposed to be holy and it was, you would have the camp, then you'd have the courtyard of the Tabernacle, then you'd have the Holy place and then you'd have the Holy of Holies. I don't think it's really that we should get stuck on the number of zones necessarily. Just that there's this idea of getting holier as you go in and less holy as you go out. And generally the point is I think that the interior holy place is supposed to be spreading out further and further. It's not like God wants a place that isn't holy. I mean, we see in Revelation 21 verses 22 through 26,
quote,
and I saw no temple in the city for its temple is the Lord God, the Almighty and the Lamb.
And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it. For the glory of God gives it light and its lamp is the lamb by its light will these nation's walk and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it and its gates will never be shut by day and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nation's
end quote.
I think that a big part of that purpose of that is to show that holiness is not as restricted as it has had to have been in the past. I mean, I've seen plenty of people get stuck on the idea of the, the light and how, how do we not have a sun? How is there no night? That doesn't sound very pleasant. Why aren't its gates shut?
What's this with the nations? I thought that there wouldn't be any more nations. I think it's the same thing with Genesis one. If you're looking for all of the literal interpretations, and it's got to mean this because I have to see that literally. Well, are you seeing the light of Christ literally shining in front of you when you're sharing the gospel?
If you're displaying the glory of God, are you looking like a Carebear now? You see, it's simply not the case, that it is the literal things that actively matter. What is the point of the temple? Like what is the temple? The temple is sacred space, and what is sacred space? So glad you asked. I am going to read a definition from the Lexham Theological Wordbook about sacred space.
It says,
quote,
the concept of sacred space refers to any space or area that has been dedicated to God or set apart as a special place for the presence of God or for worship,
end quote.
So what can be sacred space then? We have the tabernacle and the temple, of course. Those are dedicated and set apart as a special place for God's presence, for God's worship.
In the New Testament, we are known as the temple of God now, both individually as Christians and as the body of Christ, as a group of Christians, as the church, the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia defines sacred as
quote,
special status pertaining to certain objects, persons, and events that stand in an exclusive relationship to God because of their use in religious ceremonies.
A sacred object is one separated from common use by cultic sanctions.
End quote.
We've been talking a lot about embodiment in our imaging series. I, I've been talking with, with another human being with Joshua Sherman about the imaging status of humanity and why that's important that it be embodied, and how that matters and what that means to us.
If you haven't caught that series, I do suggest you listen to it. You don't have to listen to it in order, but it might make kind of a little bit of sense to see our thought processes as we talk about things from the beginning of that series. But what strikes me in this definition of sacred from the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia is that it, it places some emphasis on religious ceremonies and cultic Now a lot of us Christians today, at least on the evangelical side of things in particular, we don't think that we're necessarily participating too much in ritual. Yes, we do the Lord's table or communion, however we wanna say that, but we, we don't do a whole lot of religious ceremony aside from really important things or so we think I would put forth to you the suggestion that we do much more than we think that we do, and that it really is an embodied true reality that is going on.
Not just some symbol and some metaphor, but that we are literally participating in sacred acts as we image God and as we participate in bringing his light to other people. After all, the New Testament talks so much about the glory of Christ and how we get to participate in that. Now a fair question that has been brought to my attention that I've been thinking about a lot because I think about Eden and I think about the temple, and when I'm thinking about themes in the Bible, I think a lot in terms of Eden rather than the temple, for instance.
And so the question is, do we press the motif of the Garden of Eden as sacred space as that ideal that we're trying to get back to do? Do we press that too much? Because though we see the theme of heaven and earth and God entering humanity, it seems that the temple is a more used way of describing this in the Bible rather than it always talking about Eden.
So why is it always talking about the temple rather than talking about Eden if Eden is the ideal that we're supposed to get back to? I think this is actually a fair question, even though I, it, I kind of bristle at it. I mean, I do think that Revelation brings in all of those themes in Eden very clearly.
So if we start with Eden and we end with Eden, well, and, and Jesus talks about paradise on the cross, which is literally the same word as referencing Eden and Jesus was raised in the garden. I don't really think we're pressing this too far. However, it's, it's important to think about how does the temple fit into that?
Like, do we just think of the temple as a stop gap measure to all of this? I think a lot of times we do. It's like, oh, the temple is so outdated. Like we think the sacrifices have nothing to do with us. Right? Like, sure, they're a sign to point towards Christ, but that's about it. The problem with that kind of thinking is that we then do not look deeply into it.
And we need to because what the Book of Leviticus shows us is what holiness means. And once again, it is about God dwelling with his people. It is about God being present in creation. It's almost like that's a significant theme. Like, hey, maybe we could read the Bible and maybe we could look at our lives from this perspective.
Crazy. Right? And some of you're probably going, yeah. Okay, cool. Yeah, that's neat. But what's really your point? You know what My point is that this is not something we tend to think about all that often, at least in general Christianity. When you hear about the gospel, what is it about? It's about sin management.
It's about taking care of your personal sins so that you can get to heaven someday. However, if we can look at creation from start to finish and and culminating in the work of Jesus Christ, the point is so much more than sin management. Not that that's not part of it, because obviously that's a big deal.
It's a really big deal, and that's something I wanna talk about more because when we have sin that is connected to death, that's a really big deal, and that's a problem when we want to have presence with God, right? So I'm not trying to say that people who talk a lot about sin management and Christ coming and dying for our sins, I'm not saying that's in and of itself a problem or that it's in and of itself wrong because it's not.
But it's like zooming in on one small little part. Instead of zooming out and looking at the beautiful tapestry, because a lot of times the story about sin management and the story about being saved from death is something that happens later to us. It is something that really doesn't have that much impact on us now because we look around ourself and we're like, yeah, maybe I sin a little bit less and I'm living a better life with Christ.
, but it's a slow process and I, and I feel like I'm, I'm kind of on the uphill here, but ultimately the goal is at the end, ultimately the goal is later. But if you look at things from the perspective of God entering into humanity and God being present with us, and how this is the story of the Bible, then that affects you every day.
That can impact your life every moment of every day. And the question of what is the purpose of life? Why are we here? Why is there evil? What does all of this mean? This all touches on all of that. It's, it's just essential to the core of humanity. That's what I'm saying.
So if you're trying to share the gospel with someone, and it seems odd that they don't want to hear your message of how they're so sinful and they need to be saved from their sins, maybe you should try a different tactic. Maybe you should realize that Christ entered into humanity, not just to save us from our sins, but for us to, to be participants in a world that is real.
Christ's work is not just about sin management. We are to be part of the justice of the world. And what does that mean? It, I'm not talking about punishment and retribution. I'm talking about lifting up the less fortunate.
I'm talking about improving people's lives here. I'm talking about the presence of God through us. I'm talking about the kingdom of God here on earth in a literal right here, right now, way now, is this the end? Is this the finished product or is this all there is to it? No, that this isn't all there is to it, but it's a very real and a present part of it.
All right, so back to Genesis one, after all of my little preaching there, um, it, it seems like if we have Genesis one is describing the cosmic temple that God is building. God is both the builder because of course he's creating, but he also is functioning as the priest creation. We see that because the role of the priest is to bless and God is using creation and he's talking about blessing in creation.
He is offering blessing to the world. He is calling it good. So my theory of the light in Genesis one is that it is in fact the same light we see at the dedication of the tabernacle and the temple. In Leviticus 9 23 through 24. It says,
quote,
and Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting and when they came out, they bless the people and the glory of the Lord appeared to all of the people, and fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the pieces of fat on the altar.
And when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces.
end quote.
So if the light of day one is God's presence and his glory in the temple, Then I think that in the first chapter of Genesis, what we see is a literary envelope. We have a literary envelope structure to Genesis one with the theme of God's presence.
The first part of Genesis one, we have the spirit hovering over the waters. We have the light entering creation at the end of Genesis one and into Genesis two. We have the image of God, which is humanity, and we are to be God's presence, and we have the Sabbath, which is God entering into creation and resting.
Now, of course, in an actual temple building situation on Earth, the light comes at the end of the building when the temple is being dedicated rather than the beginning. But I, I still think it's fair enough to see this because we have God as acting in both the builder's role as well as the priestly role.
So to get back to our very initial question, if the light of day one is the glory light, then it's not created, but rather it emanates from God.
And the divine light in the temple is what links human worshipers to God himself. We've talked so much about God being the light, but what do we have in Matthew five 14 through 16? We have
quote,
you are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.
In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your father who is in heaven.
End quote..
There we go, light and glory and us functioning as imagers of God and Christ. We hear a lot about the armor of God, but what about the armor of light that we see in Romans 13, 12, which says,
quote,
the night is far gone, the day is at hand.
So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light
end quote.
And once again, what is the purpose of an idol? What is the purpose of being the image of God? We are to mediate the presence of God with people. This is what it means to represent. This is what it means to be a human being, is to mediate that presence.
I'm going to read a quote from The Royal P riesthood and the Glory of God by David S Shrock. He says,
quote,
image bearing was inherently priestly as the king mediated the presence of God to the people, and vice versa.
End quote.
The definition of a mediator from Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible says,
quote,
an intermediary go-between or expert in divine things.
Not to negotiate agreement or compromise, but to approach the deity on behalf of others. And so convey desired knowledge and reassurance with divine authority
end quote.
And it's not just people that we're mediating with either. It's also creation itself. Being a steward of creation is a, a status and something that we do as imagers of God, fulfilling the creation mandate of filling the earth and subduing it Well, if we're everywhere, if the image of God is everywhere, then God is the ruler of all of the places because we are representing him.
We are his viceroys in a sense. But you know, it's really no wonder that a lot of people think that we have lost the image. We didn't. Genesis nine makes that very clear. We didn't lose the image. But it makes sense that people think that we do, because if we were created in the image of God and we're supposed to represent him and we're not really doing that great of a job, then where's this disconnect?
We must have lost that ability. We had the ability, and we now we don't, you know what, whatever people think of these things in different ways and, and I can sympathize with that if they just happen to totally skip Genesis nine somehow. But, um, anyway, I think a better way of looking at it that I, we've brought up before is that the, it's not a loss of imaging, but it's a loss of glory, which has to do with some sort of a relational disconnect.
We aren't fully reflecting God's glory to the world as we should be, and this is what we're able to do once we are conformed to the image of Christ. I really appreciate second Corinthians three 18. Which says,
quote,
and we all, with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.
For this comes from the Lord who is the spirit.
End quote..
It seems really important to me that we have a solid ground of what it means to be the image and what it means that idols exist and that false idols are something to be so actively avoided. Why were they such a big deal? Um, Romans 1 22 through 25 says,
quote,
claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore, God gave them up in the less of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies amongst themselves because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worship shipped and served the creature rather than the creator who is a blessed forever. Amen.
End quote.
These idols, they weren't just the cars that we drive or the fact that we like to have a really green lawn or the money that we earn, rather exchanging the glory of the immortal God for images that are creatures.
That's what caused God to give them up in the lusts of their hearts, to impurity and to the dishonoring of their own bodies. And what truth of God did they exchange for a lie? That God is the only one to be worshiped and that our bodies are the image of God.
That that's part of that message. Now, I'm not saying that sin isn't part of that, , Collosians, three, four through five says,
quote
when Christ who is your life appears, then you'll also appear with him in glory put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you. Sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry,
end quote.
So certainly sin has a connection to idolatry, and certainly there is a connection between worshiping things on earth and worshiping things in the heavens, or worshiping the true God in the heavens, rather. But when you realize that the message of the gospel isn't just some thing that we can put off till later, but it is about surrendering our entire life to the Lordship of Christ, accepting that we are his representatives, that we have a real job to do in his kingdom, when we offer our bodies as living sacrifices, when God claims us as his own, when our lives are not our own, and that everything that we do, we should do with a view of the fact that we belong to God.
This is the grand story that God is telling. Our identity and our vocation and our very being fit into all of this. I do believe that God's word is his creative power. And so when he declares us as his own, that is a real reality that we can step into in our lives. The new reality of not only being the image of God, but also being conformed to the image of Christ, that's a genuine change in us.
And then having the spirit of God indwelling within us so that we are capable of living up to, that we are capable, so that is part of us being changed. Then the idea of us being horrible sinners in desperate need of being saved versus the narrative of we are the image of God meant for a purpose and destined for glory.
Those two things are not separate. They're not different. They're not different messages, but. Sin is not the starting point. Even though it's very important. Like I said, I think that we think we need to convict people first because we see, we see Jesus doing that a lot of times.
But I think in, in most cases, he wasn't talking to people who didn't already believe in God. He was talking to people who, who should have known better. He was trying to show people that they had actual access to God. God was standing right before them, in fact, and they didn't see it.
They were still very deep into the older system where it remained the case that the individual worshiper was still not actually allowed in sacred space. They still had to go to the priest who functioned as the mediator. He was the only one who actually had internal access to the tabernacle or the temple.
The people had access only through that mediator of the priest. Now that Christ is our high priest, however, that has all changed. I mean, clearly we still do need a constant mediator still, but, but he is with us. He is literally here and he is within us so that we retain real access instead of the altar being the intersection of heaven and earth. It's Jesus and it is us because we are the body of Christ. And again, I don't think we should be so quick to dismiss the idea of ritual in our own lives and. Because the idea of ritual is embodied enactment of something that is happening on a level that we can't quite see.
This is something that we evangelicals have a hard time understanding, and I, I wonder if it has to do with how steeped we tend to be with fundamentalism, with literalism, with this idea that it's really hard for us to see beyond this literal reality. It's got to look like this. It's got to be like this, and, and we're not seeing that, that functional metaphor, the imagery and symbol that is really, it's, it's not less of a reality.
In fact, it's more of the reality. If, if our true reality is to be the image of God, however you define the image, then surely that must in some way connect to the purpose of ritual. There are a couple of different ways you can look at ritual. One of them is to bring into reality something that's not yet real, at least here on Earth.
And I wouldn't say that we don't see that at all in scripture. Uh, it's, it's hard to kind of tell between these two things. But the other point of, of ritual, I think, is that we can cement or we can make physical something that is already true. And of course, the ritual aspect is our participation of that thing that is already true.
We become bound together , by these things. Now, does it mean that if we don't participate in a ritual, then that reality is not really present? I think that goes too far because we have this reality, then we are going to be passing into another reality at some point. Either after we die and are resurrected or when the new heavens and the new Earth come into being one way or another, we're, we are entering into that reality in a more real fashion than we are now.
Nonetheless, it always seems like there's a process of development that is necessary and that is occurring, and I think that development happens from the moment we are conceived all throughout our lives. Something I'd like to study a little more, is how the image of God connects to our role of discipleship.
Joshua and I talked about in the last episode about imaging, whether imaging is a noun or a verb. And I don't think you can quite separate those two things as neatly and and easily as you can in an English grammar book.
And I think in our temporal reality where we have the past and we have the present and we have the future and all we're really living in is here in the present, and we have a really hard time understanding exactly how the past and the future relates to us.
Well, however time works , and however God interacts with the world and with time, I'm pretty sure God doesn't have that problem. And so no matter how long our embodied existence lasts here on the earth, Whether we are amongst the youngest humans who never manage to take a breath, or if we have lived long and full lives, In either case, there is action and development happening and those things are occurring under the purview of God's sovereignty. We are his most valuable creations, and no, that doesn't mean we should boast about that, but we should appreciate it. We should understand what that means and how that plays out in our lives.
And maybe I'm just getting too preachy in this episode. I don't know. I just absolutely love the idea that God created us in order for him to come into creation. I love the idea that God created us for his presence. In our hardest times, he is with us In our best times. He is with us. In our broken times, he is with us.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is not about moral perfection. It is not about us living up to some arbitrary standard. It's not about God being angry at us and needing to punish us because he's so mad that he created this creation that ran rampant and rebelled against him. I mean, yes, all of those things happen and yes, we have sin that needs to be taken care of.
I'm not denying any of that. Those are essential elements to the story as well. And even though we are God's best creation, and even though we are the epitome of, of what he has made and the reason that he has created us is to be with him, is to enjoy him and for him to enjoy us in turn. I mean, ultimately it is all about God's glory, but he is receiving his glory through his creation.
I mean, that's such a paradoxical thing to me. I mean, yeah, I get the idea that people say that, that God is receiving glory because he is restoring and rectifying humanity who is so evil. Like because we fell so far then everything that God has to do in order to restore us is even more glorious than it would be if he only fixed us a little bit.
But if we are the image of God, it seems like that means we are glorifying God by our very existence. Okay, so I am going to leave you with one final thought for this episode, which has admittedly been a bit rambling and a bit preachy. And I hope you'll forgive me for that, but I, I do think it's a big deal.
Here's my final thought. We know about special revelation. We have scriptures for that. We have the Bible for the special revelation. We know about general revelation, which is we tend to think of that as the revelation that we see in nature. We see the glory and grandness of God in the creation of earth, in the creation of humanity.
When we hold our babies, we see the glory of God in all of those things. But if as God's imagers we represent him, if God is represented by people, then wouldn't God's imagers also be a form of revelation? And if we also image Christ in some way, Then that means the body of Christ is also God's revelation.
That's something that gives me pause as somebody who tends to come to things, not from the perspective of traditional interpretation and historical interpretation. I mean, not that those things are bad, not that there's anything wrong with them. Not that there's, uh, some kind of a problem with those things, but I tend to try and dig into the original context of the Bible, right?
As, as that's what I'm doing here. But the more I do that, the more I, I realize it's also the case that we have to, that we have to allow the body of Christ through history around us now to speak into our interpretations of the Bible and our understandings of what God is revealing in time of what God is revealing to us.
So that's just something to think about. If you persevered through this episode with me, I appreciate it. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you got something out of it.
Please feel free to share this episode.
Please also consider rating the podcast wherever you listen and engage with me on social media. Feel free to shoot me an email at genesis marks the
[email protected]. I am working on doing a, an image of God q and a episode. So if anybody has particular, uh, questions that have anything at all, even tangentially related to the image of God, please share those with me, either on Facebook or by email.
Any other random questions that seem appropriate for the podcast, feel free to share those with me as well. , Or any future episode topics that you'd like to see. I love exploring things that people are interested in, so just let me know. Till then, thank you to Wintergatan for the music and I hope everybody has a blessed week.
Thanks.
