What is light? It sounds like a simple question, doesn't it? Unfortunately, it doesn't have a very simple answer. Light is one of the most complicated properties associated with science. Sometimes light behaves like particles and sometimes it behaves like waves. This dual nature is something that is known by scientists but not truly understood. It is just accepted to be true. As you look at the picture above you can see literally thousands of stars associated with this one part of our Milky Way galaxy. All of these stars are producing light in all of it's forms. The light spectrum is measured as waves and ranges from radio waves to gamma rays on the electromagnetic spectrum. Visible light on the electromagnetic spectrum is only a very small part. Most of the waves of light are not visible to the eye, but are invisible. Some of the waves not visible are radio waves, microwaves and x-rays. Gamma rays are used in the treatment of cancer, radio waves for communication, ultraviolet waves produce a sunburn. Light is the purest form of energy available and is everywhere. It creates beautiful colors in the sky at sunset and sunrise, reflects off of the water to create picturesque scenes, it heals, it penetrates the depths of the ocean to sustain life, allows photosynthesis for plants, and innumerable other benefits. Yet with all we know and understand about light, much of it still remains a mystery.
In the verse above, John says "God is light". Wow, what a powerful image of God. For the original readers of the letter by John this was a vivid description of God. Today, we take for granted that when we walk into a room we can press a switch and instantly light fills the room. We drive our cars at night down a dark country road without any trouble using the headlights. Street lamps light up our neighborhoods, downtown city streets, stadiums for sporting events and just about anything we desire. For the readers of 1 John this was far from reality. Dim oil burning lamps were all they had for night time lights.
Now that we have a much better understanding of the attributes of light this statement seems even more powerful. Gods word is true no matter how deep we delve into it's meaning. God is calling us deep into his light! What does this mean? Remember back to the total spectrum of light. Most of us think of light as what we can see, we don't consider just how much more there is to light, all of the invisible attributes. This is how we treat God, most of us look at only what we can see God doing visibly. There is so much more to God and he wants us to experience that depth.
We must walk in the light. We will have to step out of the norm and away from what we are used to seeing. God is a mystery, and life with him is mysterious and exciting. Just like physical light that penetrates the darkness, God's light will penetrate our lives and reveal things that need healing and heal us. It can open the lines of communication where we didn't think it's possible.
References:
1. Portions of this text taken from the sermon titled "Who We are, Why We're Here, and Where We're Headed" by John Avant, New Hope Baptist Church
2. Moche', Dinah L., Astronomy, A self-teaching guide. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1978
3. DeYoung, Donald B., Astronomy and the Bible, Baker Books, 2000
