This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Genesis 1-4” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, November 17, 1991.

We’ll begin our scripture reading tonight in John’s Gospel, chapter one. John’s Gospel, chapter one, the first five verses. Hear the word of God. 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 came into being through him, and apart from him nothing came into being that has come into being. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not comprehend it, nor, as some read, does not extinguish it. Genesis chapter one, beginning with verse one.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. Then God said, Let there be light, and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. 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 one day.

Then God said, Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters. And God made the expanse and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse, and it was so. God called the expanse heaven, and there was evening and there was morning a second day. Then God said, Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place and let the dry land appear, and it was so.

God called the dry land earth. and the gathering of the waters he called seas, and God saw that it was good. Then God said, Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with seed in them on the earth.

And it was so. And the earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit. Were trees with seed in them after their kind, and God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning a third day.

Then God said, Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years. And let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on earth, and it was so. And God made two great lights, the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He made the stars also. God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth and to govern the day and the night and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.

I want you to take stock of the statement that John makes in his first epistle, the first chapter, where he identifies God as light itself, and says that in him there is no darkness whatsoever. I want you also to think about what Paul says at the end of 1 Timothy.

Chapter 6, 16th verse, in fact, of that chapter, where he talks about God as the one who dwells in light, unapproachable. He who is the light himself, dwelling in light, unapproachable, now creates light. He makes the light. In creating the light, this one who is light itself, this one who dwells in unapproachable light, enters the world of his creation. He enters that world which is created in its original state, as an impossible raging abyss. That is, it has no power within itself to resolve its own situation. It can offer no remedy from within itself to its formlessness, to its emptiness, and to the darkness that enshrouds it.

Now God, this One who is life itself, who dwells in light and approachable, in entering his world, is specifically present in his spirit. We are told that at the end of verse two in the first chapter of Genesis. He is present in his spirit, hovering upon the face of the being. And now, as we move on into verse three, we find him present, as is evidenced by his speaking. Let there be light, and there was light.

It is then by his presence in the world that he is made, that he is overcoming the impossibilities of this world that he has created, thus making it evident that he is the only one who can remedy these impossibilities. He is present by His Spirit and by His word, and as such, He brings to the formless chaos a kingdom formed. He brings to the formless chaos a kingdom formed. By His actions, He fills the kingdom formed. with a testimony of his pervasive presence. He will remedy the formlessness of the chaos by asserting himself in such a way so as to bring kingdom dimensions, kingdom form to that which he has made. But not only that, he will remedy the emptiness that characterizes the creation in its primal state by a filling activity which he alone can do.

He will fill the kingdom form with a testimony, a testimony that becomes perpetual, that is continuing, a testimony of his pervasive presence, a testimony promising further filling in and through the creatures that he makes. Now this is the appropriateness then of the creation of light. Light being created here at this point as the initial work of God as he remedies the impossibilities that now characterize his creation. Just as light itself is pervasive, just as light is diffused, so with the creation of light by God, there is a testimony of God’s pervasive presence in the creation. The light shines, the light radiates, the light radiates in the midst of a world enshrouded This light is diffused and in its diffusion there is given a perpetual testimony to the pervasiveness of God himself in his world. Now the light which God makes will not only communicate to us a parable with respect to God’s omnipresence in the world, it will preach to us here at the very foundation of things, it will preach to us the fact that there are greater things and higher things still. Remember that we have identified God as that one who is light itself.

We have said, in keeping with 1 Timothy 6.16, that he dwells in light unapproachable. But now there is a light that is shining in the created order, and with the dawning of that light, there is, as it were, a proclamation of greater and higher things, those things that pertain to God’s own person and to His eternal dwelling that is transcendent above the plane of this created order.

With the creation of the light, with the dawning of the light, the world now takes on a brilliance. There is a radiance within the creation that is comparable to, like unto, the light that we find in the courts of glory, the light which we find in God Himself, the One who reigns in glory. This means, then, that in the creation of light, that the creation as a whole is stamped with the seal of its relationship to the greater and higher reality, where God himself dwells in light. he be in light. The light, then, that is radiating within the created order is itself a creative light. It is derivative. It is a light which is analogous It is not the light which is God Himself, neither is it the light of glory itself, but it is light unto that light, that we might see that there is a relationship between what is here in the kingdom that God is establishing within the created order and the kingdom which is above in His transcendent domain.

In its appearance, then, the light which God creates means that this world takes on a form comparable to the reality that we find in God and in His dwelling place. This means, then, that those greater and higher realities that belong to him and his dwelling place on high are actually the origin of that which would illuminate the entirety of the creation. The creation then is illuminated by a light analogous to the light above, which testifies then of God, who is the light, the one who lives in light. A true understanding, therefore, of the creation comes apace with the grip that we have upon the relationship between what is below and what is above.

It is just as David then says in Psalm 36, verse 9, the psalm which we sang from this morning, “…in thy light we see light.” It also builds upon the relationship that is expressed by John in the opening up of his gospel, the first chapter, the fourth verse. In him was life, that is, transcendent life, life which is from above, and that life from that transcendent realm is the light of man.

Without the illumination that comes from above, you don’t understand anything of what is going on below. Thus the imperative that Jesus then lays upon Nicodemus, he must be born again, if you are even to see the kingdom of God. For without being born from above, you will not see it. The higher the greater, then, is the principle by which we interpret the lower. The higher the greater is the illumination that is brought to bear upon the lower. But note now further, the light binds the darkness.

And God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. Pure light removes darkness. Pure darkness excludes light. But God, in His creating work, in making the light, is actually preserving a place for the darkness. He doesn’t destroy it, he limits it, he binds it. You see, the darkness is created by God, and even in his creation of the light and his setting of the light in the midst of this dark world, the darkness still serves his purpose. The darkness is power. is broken. It no longer dominates. It no longer legislates the impossibility of light. Indeed, its power is broken by that action of God, which promises an even further work in a perfect binding of the darkness in the end.

You note that God calls the light alone good, in verse four. He doesn’t call the darkness good. He calls the light good, and He separates the light from the darkness. He establishes, as it were, their regions, their domains. He binds the darkness by way of his creation of the light. And the darkness, though threatening the light, will not overcome the light. Just as John says in the fifth verse of his first chapter, the light shines in the darkness, but the darkness does not extinguish the light.

So we see thus far that the creation of the light is quite expansive its significance quite extensive. It speaks to us of the pervasiveness of God in parabolic form. It talks to us of a higher and greater reality and world where God himself, the light, dwells in unapproachable light, our world then being like unto that world above. we finding our meaning only in relationship to that which is above. In God’s light we then see light, yes. We understand then the light from these various vantage points, and we also understand that in the creating of the light there is a binding of the darkness.

But there’s something here further. quite mysterious, quite perplexing. For you see, this light which comes is hidden light. This light that comes is hidden light. The way in which the first chapter of Genesis develops is quite strange. The introduction of this light is strange in itself. If it is, as I have said, hidden light, how can this be? How can light be hidden? Light is manifest, it shines forth. How can it be concealed?

The reason why this problem rises is because We have the relationship of what is spoken of here in verses 3 through 5, and the creation of the light in these verses, and then what we read later in verses 14 through 19, where we are told about the creation of the heavenly bodies. We are told about the creation of the sun and the moon and the stars in the heavens. We’ve always understood things. Along the lines of our scientific grasp, we have understood that light has its source from the stars, from the star of our solar system, from the sun. That’s the source of light, is it not? Well, how can there be light before there’s light? How can there be light before there’s a sun? How can there be day and night before there are suns and moons and stars?

But I’m not a physicist. I’m not a scientist, and even when I studied science, I wasn’t very good at it. So I leave the physical and scientific problems to those who know better than I. But as to the doctrinal significance of what is being said here, we can be somewhat confident. the light of what is stated, we are led to affirm that behind the things that we do see are those things that we don’t. And that even the illumination of our world is dependent upon things hidden from us, bathed and clothed in mystery.

Our world then is lit up. Heavenly bodies radiate. They shine forth seemingly with a light that emanates from themselves. But it seems as if from the testimony of Genesis 1, they are actually lit by and radiate by a light hidden from view. The principle then that is marked out here in Genesis 1 is reflected upon by the author in the book of Hebrews, the eleventh chapter, the third verse.

By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God so that what is seen was made out of things which are not seen. This then sets the very foundation of our consideration of these matters, the centrality of faith. The centrality of faith as we view the origin of the creation or as we view God’s creative works. But think of it now, the centrality of faith there with respect to the original creation of God, which anticipates the centrality of faith in our relationship to the new creation. For there is the first day of God’s working. That recorded for us in Genesis chapter one. there is another first day, the first day of God’s renewed working, the first day of God’s new creation. And in that day, there will be a hidden light at work once more that shines forth in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

And it will be that, then, that becomes the presupposition of and the foundation for any understanding whatsoever that we have of creative reality. Unless you view creative reality from the vantage point of the risen Christ, you do not understand what this world is all about. A hidden light then, when it was still dark, when no one was around. No one was pleasant to see Christ come out of the tomb, any more than anyone was around, to see God create that light which is still hidden from our view. A hidden light. shines forth now as the foundation of God’s working for the establishment of that kingdom which he is forming and filling, that which is taking shape in his church, the church in which his saints then shine forth as lights themselves in the midst of a crooked and perverse world.

In Christ, the light binds the darkness finally, its domain associated then with the regions of hell, those regions then to be surveyed in all of their horror in the great day of Christ—a day. in which we ourselves who have believed and trusted, we in whom the light of God’s dawning has come to expression, a day in which we, those saints of the Lord, are carried into the very presence of God, who is light itself, to dwell in the regions of light unapproachable. The impossibilities of the approach unto God himself is opened up by Jesus Christ. we then in his presence dwelling with him in life forever. And for the present, for the present time, the rising of Christ means the glorious testimony of his perpetual presence with us in salvation. as we are those with whom he has chosen to dwell.

Will you not glory in the God of light, who creates light, who makes you to be children of light, and beckons you by his regenerating power and to the day when you will shine forth as brightly and as gloriously as the sun in your heavenly Father’s realm.

Our Father, there are many things in your Word that we do not understand. Though we be prodded in our minds to understand them better, yet we know also that in the final analysis, many, many things will remain clothed in mystery. But we ask you, our God, that we might be certain of the light that shines forth in the first day of the creation, and also of the light that shines forth in the new creation through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Our God, as we have been benefited by the first light May we most certainly be benefited by the latter and greater light. We ask this so that we may be children of light and may dwell in the light with you throughout eternity.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.