5.4 God Is Light
© 2016 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
God is light and in Him is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5). Light is that which makes visible and known. Light reveals the shape and meaning of all things. Light is pure and open and honest. Nothing can be fake or hidden in Light. Light eliminates all pretending.
All things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light (Ephesians 5:13). The essence of all darkness is lying. Light, then, is truth; light is justice; light is holiness. I am holy is God-Light.
Light versus Darkness
And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it (John 1:5). And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil (John 3:19).
I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life (John 8:12). A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going (John 12:35). I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness (John 12:46).
Opposition
Let’s look at opposites, that is, at hostile opposition. The opposite of Spirit is NOT flesh, flesh is the dwelling place of Spirit. The opposite of Spirit is idolatry; the opposite of Love is hatred; the opposite of Life is death; the opposite of Wisdom is folly; the opposite of Holiness is pollution or abuse; and the opposite of Light is dishonesty or lying.
Notice that every one of these opposers are seeking to destroy the knowledge of what God is. And every one of these opposers is just a form of accusation against God and against man, the image of God. Every accusation is a lie.
Lying and Dishonesty
Lying and dishonesty cannot comprehend light. – Men love lying and dishonesty rather than light. He who follows me shall not walk in lying and dishonesty. – He who walks in lying and dishonesty does not know where he is going. – He who believes in me shall not remain in lying and dishonesty.
Our purpose is not to comprehend lying and dishonesty, but rather, LIGHT. God is light and in Him is no lying or dishonesty at all.
He that has seen Me has seen the Father – we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is. God is showing us the truth; man is God-revealed.
The Light of the Cosmos
I am the light of the cosmos (John 8:12). Light is God’s appearance; light is God’s expression.
You are the light of the cosmos (Matthew 5:14). Light is God Himself, going forth as Himself, but THROUGH other persons. Light is God’s appearance. Let’s think this through.
The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned (Matthew 4:16). A babe lying in a manger, a man, walking the dusty roads – Light – the appearance of God.
The Lamp of the Body
Thus all lying and dishonesty, all un-holiness and in-justice, come out of the rejection by man of being the image, the appearance of God.
We find from Scripture that we cannot talk about light without referencing darkness: God is light – and in Him is no darkness at all. Yet we cannot understand darkness except by Light.
The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light (full of God). But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness (not knowing God). If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness (Matthew 6:22-23)!
A Dark Room
Everything inside of a dark room is as God intends; that is, the appearance of everything in that room is true. You enter the room and close the door. There is no light; you see nothing as it is. Yet you have a vivid imagination egged on by the accuser; soon you fantasize all sorts of things about how all things in that room “appear” – otherwise called great is that darkness. Then you turn on the lights. Instantly, everything is as it has always been, as the appearance of God.
What happened? When light appeared, all the lying and make-believe vanished. Your whole body will be full of (God-is) light.
Meek and Lowly
We place several critical qualities of What IS God here inside of God is Light. The first quality is I am meek and lowly of heart.
All evil actions are actions that harm another person. All actions that harm other persons come out from a heart of disrespect, a heart that thinks more highly of itself than of the other person, a heart willing to sacrifice another person for the sake of self-satisfaction.
God is lowly of heart IS the brightest shining of light that there is. God is lowly of heart means that God thinks more highly of all others than He does of Himself.
How We Treat Others
Here is how this Light works. If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head (Romans 12:20).
Yet there is no greater light in the universe, no greater appearance of God, than a Man laying down His life, not just for His friends, but for His enemies. You are the light of the world – that the world may know.
Treating ALL others as if they are God Himself appearing before us is LIGHT. Whatever you do to the least of these My brethren, you ARE doing it to Me.
Be Devoted
Be holy for I am holy (1 Peter 1:16) is another quality of God is Light. God-Light, God’s appearance, comes only through persons other than God. God appears ONLY through other persons, persons that are human. The word “holy” means devotion, as in a bowl in the temple is wholly devoted to a temple purpose. If the bowl is used for some other purpose, it has become “unholy.”
God is saying, “Be utterly devoted to Me, for I am utterly devoted to you.” This quality of Covenant connection is the utter devotion between the Substance of Father and His appearance, us.
Theft and Justice
Justice is also an essential quality of God-Light.
Every action of sin is an action of theft. The one sinning is stealing something that belongs to another. Think of the room, everything appearing in it as God intends, yet unseen by the human blundering around in the room. An act of sin is to grab for one’s self something God apportioned to the appearance of another.
All that belongs to you is devoted by God for His purpose and appearance through you. If I steal what God has devoted to you, I am using it for a false purpose, I am making it unholy.
God’s Perfect Appearance
Justice, then, is restoring all things stolen in the darkness. Justice, then, shows us a critical element of God-Light.
Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? (Romans 9:20-21).
God has apportioned His own appearance out from Himself by His wisdom, by knowing all things, by seeing the end, by selecting the very best means to accomplish that end. What God has given to your appearance is for God through you, and what He has given to your brother or sister is for God through them.
Symmorphy
Now, all through these four elements of God’s essence, what God IS, we see a recurring thread. God-Spirit cannot be known. God-Love carries agony inside itself. God-Word must become and must sustain all things. God-Light can be known ONLY through other persons.
We find, running all through God as He is, the thread of symmorphy. Elohim– plural – family. God is One; God reveals Himself only through many walking together as one, family.
What Is a God Who Groans in Travail?
That they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us (John 17:21). Jesus gives a specific definition of the word, One. Person in Person and Person in Person. – Symmorphy. The Person of Father revealed in the Persons of Son and Spirit revealed through many persons, the Body of Christ.
The essence of God is that He cannot be known; the purpose of God is to be known; both are 100% true all the time. How does this work? How does this ENORMOUS distress inside of this One who IS Love unfold inside the dynamic workings of God?
What is a God who groans in travail to be known?