“…God is light…” 

Waves … or particles?  Particles … or waves?  While scientists continue to learn more about light, there is still no consensus on whether light is primarily waves or particles of energy.  It contains the properties of both, much like the Son of Man who possessed both divine and human natures.

Light and darkness are very common metaphors of truth and error both in and outside of Scripture.  Of the biblical writers, John uses the pair more than any other.  He opens his gospel using light 7 times in the first 10 verses.  “In [the Word] was life, and that life was the light of men,” he began in 1:4.  Jesus expanded on this in 8:12, “I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Think of how dark this world is.  People — especially, it seems, those of a postmodern mindset — have no idea where they’ve come from or where they’re going.  They are clueless about how they got here or what they’re doing on planet Earth.  Religions are man’s attempts to answer those basic questions.  To be sure, some answers are better than others, and others are devilishly clever.  But do they contain Truth (with a capital ‘T’)?  At best, parts of it, but not all of it.  The natural creation aids us in figuring some things out too, “since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.  For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse” (Rom. 1:19-20).  This is definitely the beginning of light.  The physical creation points them to the Creator, the God who is there, for more light or information than mere nature can convey.

That brings us to next thing we learn about God: He is there but not silent.  He gives revelation, not religion.  Surely a God who is big enough, smart enough and powerful enough to have created human beings is big enough, smart enough and powerful enough to handle them…all.  And even at the same time!  Since it was by words — and the Word — that he created things (Gen. 1), it will be by words that he speaks to us.  Revelation is the light (Ps. 19:8b; 119:105, 130) that brings us to “that light” (John 1:7), Jesus himself.

But God’s revelation doesn’t stop or start with just information.  It also includes personal and corporate morality.  Throughout scripture God links his glory with his holiness, or the purity and goodness of his character.  When light represents this aspect of God’s nature, it requires obedience: “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.  If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth” (1 John 1:6-7).  Thus darkness here represents lies, deceit, dishonesty, etc.  To claim fellowship with God and not be totally honest is inconsistent and therefore walking in darkness, invalidating one’s claim of fellowship with God.  “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another…” (v. 8).  As he is in the light…  How is God “in the light”?  Well, he’s not just in the light, he is the light!  That means that what God is in his nature is completely coextensive throughout his entirety.  No shadows, no dark crevasses or corners, no inconsistencies, no contradictions.  Only straight, unadulterated purity and goodness and holiness.  That is what he calls us to — to “walk in the light as he is in the light,” giving us real “fellowship with one another.”

One indicator of such fellowship is the sense you get from some Christians, some whom you may have just met.  You get a sense of genuineness, honesty, transparency.  You could ask them any question you could think of, and you’d get a straight, honest answer every time.  And then there are some others that you quickly sense are not quite the real deal, don’t give you clear answers, and are not very honest.  (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, perhaps that’s a tacit admission you’re in the second category!)  Why do believers still feel the need to cover their tracks?  Because they’re still playing foolish and deadly games with sin and walking in darkness.  And the interesting thing is that pagans usually recognize this among us.

To walk in the light is no walk in the park.  Check your fellowship with other believers.  What kind of signal do they get from you?  Is it a radiant transparency, or a dark or intermittent fog?