7. BIBLICAL CREATIONISM
BY DR. EARL PARVIN
June 3, 2019
LESSON SEVEN: GOD CREATED LIGHT PowerPoint: 7. LIGHT
I. OUTLINE
A. Gen. 1:3-5 “AND GOD SAID, LET THERE BE LIGHT [OWR]: AND THERE WAS LIGHT. AND GOD SAW THE LIGHT, THAT IT WAS GOOD: AND GOD DIVIDED THE LIGHT FROM THE DARKNESS.”
B. Displays: GOD IS LIGHT, WHO DISPELS DARKNESS It displays His MAJESTY. & MULTI-FACITED CHARACTER
C. GOD CREATED LIGHT = [a multi-splendored thing] Many “kinds” of light
D. MEN OF SCIENCE OBSERVE: DEDUCE BY EVOLUTIONARY FAITH
E. CONCLUSION BY CREATION FAITH
II. LESSON
INTRODUCTION: We have established:
1. That our God, Elohim, is a Godhead, which means He exists in three distinct Personalities, all of whom were active in the Creation week.
2. Our Eternal God started the clock of time for HIS cosmos.
3. Then He created Space [heaven] as a place to put HIS cosmos
4. Into that space He injected the elements [earth-eretz] in a sphere of water
5. Next He interjected Energy: that which in the U. could neither be created nor destroyed, yet necessary for the congealing of earth & operating cosmos.
6. We now finish the First Day of Creation
A. God creates Light. NOTE, two things are happening here. First, in the sequence of the Creation Account, it would seem that He is speaking as if the light which would come from the sun & moon were already created. But that is yet to come. [Recall, the Prophets at times spoke in that fashion]. We might wonder why God would not have created the Sun first. Consider, The LIGHT which God here creates, is far more than just VISIBLE LIGHT! It is an Electromagnetic Spectrum
So, what is the source of the light at this juncture? The account proceeds:
1) This light is good… v.4
2) This light separates from the darkness
3) The light is called ‘day’… v.5
4) The darkness is called ‘night’
5) We now have the passage of time: evening & morning = first day.
6) We can summarize as follows:
i.The sphere of water in which the elements are in suspension or solution, is spinning on an axis.
ii.The light source is fixed, for there is day and night. As the sphere spins, one side is facing the light, while the other is in its own shadow; therefore, the other faces the darkness of space.
iii.The LIGHT at this point must be GOD HIMSELF. John tells us that “God is light” [I Jn 1:5]. In the Revelation we read about the New Jerusalem, “The city does not need the sun or moon to shine on it, for the GLORY OF GOD GIVES IT LIGHT…” Israel experienced God “shining” [Du 33:2]
iv. The Psalmist opines: “God wraps Himself in light” [104:2] shining [50:2]
- Heb 1:3 “The Son is the radiance [effulgence] of God’s glory” [NIV]. “the brightness of HIS glory [KJV]. The Gk: apangaso> augazo = to shine + apo> source; Son HIMSELF is source because HE is God the SON, not a reflection of light such as the Moon.
- Jn goes on, “… and the LAMB is its lamp” [Rev 21:23][light in KJV]
- “They will not need the light of … the sun, for the LORD GOD WILL GIVE THEM LIGHT” [Rev. 22:5]. Moses burning bush [Ex 3:1; Du33:16]
- “The sun will no more be your light… for the LORD WILL BE YOUR EVERLASTING LIGHT” [Is 60:19,20].
- James opines: perfect gifts are from God, “the Father of heavenly lights” [1:17].
- Conclusion, it would appear that creation conditions could be similar to those predicted for the Millennium. .. God & Christ the only light needed.
7) Each of the Creation Days ends with God’s assessment of the Day’s work: it is Excellent. The sixth day HE gives the final judgment of the whole enterprise: VERY GOOD! And then, He stopped the creation work. He was not tired. He had put into his CREATION all that mankind would ever use to make or manipulate his wildest dreams of discovery and the energy to make it happen
- And, why wouldn’t it be excellent? This is God at work. May I suggest, GOD as an Architect viewing His dream, He might be expressing, “Ah, yes, good, just as I planned it. The SON does good work following my plans! The Holy Spirit energized it all. YES! It is finished. WE are done creating, but will continue sustaining.
8) The light separating the Darkness clearly indicates the passage of time which He had established. We know that this passage of time is 24 hours, as it has been from the Beginning. Not eons of time to make Evolution work.
9) The light is called day, or as we would put it, daylight. God is establishing the time frame for normal working hours.
10) The darkness He called Night. Again, God is prescribing a time for His creation to rest. Rest is critical for the body and the mind, to rest. The body’s many circadian [24 hr] clocks are all acclimated to this cycle of light and darkness.
-Concerning the concept: darkness. What is it really, besides being the absence of light? In reality, dark absorbs light, so that it cannot reflect it. -Throughout history dark has always conveyed something negative or evil. I note that dark is like the Red Sea, always receiving and never giving out. Light is always giving out, never receiving. James says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” [1:17].
B. We have established that God is the source of Light at this time in the creation narrative, and for good reason. God is conveying far more for us about His Architectural Masterpiece in the design of Light. In the theory of Quantum Electrodynamics [QED 1929] Light is source of all Energy and God is source of this Light! The energy of Light forms Particles. The Particle of Light is called a photon [γ (the Greek letter gamma)]. We all know Einstein’s formula [E = mc2 ] Now we also learn that [e = hv] [ h is Planck's constant, h = 6.626 x 10-27 erg-seconds times v = frequency of Light]. What does this mean? God is packing all the energy of the U. storing it in the Atom as illustrated by “the Spirit of God Hovered”. This is how He could have created the Elements in the water.
In God’s sequencing of events, ultimately He CREATED LIGHT BEARERS which would become reality in the Cosmos to be. We will see just how important that light would be! Further, we will become aware of the complexity of His Divine Character.
C. Now, what can science help us to understand about LIGHT? I have subtitled the creation of light, ‘A multi-splendored thing’. Let me explain. Light is understood to be ‘an electromagnetic wave.’ It is part of a larger ‘electromagnetic Spectrum.’ God’s creation of ‘light’ reveals the majesty of His Divine Nature. Even Webster recognized the diversity of the term ‘light’ for there are 21 different ‘compounds’ of the term, such as “light year”.
1) We are familiar with the visible light from the Sun and Moon, which have not yet been created. Or even the light from the stars.
2) Scientists have been able to create electricity to give us more light, to dispel the darkness, so we can work longer?
3) Scientists have struggled to understand LIGHT, for the Designer made it able to do strange and wonderful things. Such as: the rainbow in the sky after the rain. Where did all those beautiful colors come from? Like the Aurora Borealis and it’s amazing display. Like a dazzling sunrise or sunset. Neon Signs are another wonderful display of Special Light called plasma. It ‘defies one’s understanding’ of what it is and how it operates. The more scientists discover, the more full explanation eludes them.
4) Newton considered light a stream of particles which could be refracted through a prism to display a spectrum of 7 colors. Noah must have been awed by the rainbow as recorded in Gen 9:16, or Ezekiel envisioned the rainbow around the throne of God. Ez 1:28.
5) Later it was discovered that light also needs to be understood as more than a stream of particles, but also ‘waves’ of differing wave lengths. Each wavelength produced a different color, always in the same order. [= design] {Maxwell, 1860}
6) Light it was discovered had wave length and frequency and always travels in a straight line at 186,000 miles per second. [= 671 million mph] That speed is a boundary beyond which nothing can exceed. It’s symbol = c.
7) Finally it was discovered that VISIBLE LIGHT is only a small part of what is now called, the Electromagnetic Spectrum [ES]. Visible light falls nearly in the middle of the entire ES. On both sides of the ES, and outside of the visible light wave lengths we cannot ‘see’, scientists still label the entire ES light, for magnetism and light operate the same.
8) The ES starts with what we recognize as AM Radio waves, then Short Wave Radio waves and TV + FM Waves.
9) Then there are the Micro Waves [Electronic Ovens], Infrared and Visible Light which can be reflected, refracted and absorbed.
10) Above those wave lengths are Ultra Violet [sun burn], X-Rays [medical uses] and finally Gamma Rays [electron microscopes whereby the DNA structure has been discovered].
11) May I note here, that scientists have determined that light may be described as a ‘WAVE’, but under some circumstances, a ‘PARTICLE’ that better describes its action. Then beyond that, they also admit that light is better described as ‘PHENOMENAL’ because “it cannot be fully imagined”. So, our great ARCHITECT wins again. This dual nature of light is another manifestation of God’s INVISIBLE QUALITIES in His Cosmos. Notice the Son’s Divine Nature in His Incarnation. Recognize that Jesus Christ is BOTH the Son of God and the Son of man [I Tim. 3:16; Lk 3:22, 19:10]. This is called ANTINOMY [J.I.Packer] = seemingly contradictory. Light is both Particle [quanta] and Wave = antinomy.
12) Light is also thought of as energy, especially in the sub-atomic world of Quantum Mechanics. This is called the Electron Theory of matter. In this theory, radiant energy is considered as ‘quanta’ or ‘packets of energy’. The sub-atomic particle for light is called a PHOTON. This theory helps explain what happens in chemical compounding. [We certainly won’t attempt to understand this!]
13) The latest ‘Theory of Everything’, seeking to explain ‘all the phenomena of the physical world’, is called QUANTUM ELECTRODYNAMICS [QED]. This seeks to explain the interaction between matter and radiation [light & energy]. However, they hurry to put in a disclaimer… for it still does not explain GRAVITY.
14) The importance of LIGHT can be seen in that Scientists who are Christians suggest that God may well have used LIGHT to create all matter, [Lowell Cocker, PhD].All of this INTERACTION defies separation and Evolution, but marvelously demands an Architect.
D. MEN OF SCIENCE are still seeking to find the ‘Theory of Everything’ whereby the U and all in it happened without a Master Designer. But we continue to find that their research into the complexity of this world is undermining their basic premise = simple to complex: ie: Bacteria motors!
1) Great advances are being made in seeking to understand the complexities which God built into His Creation.
2) LASERS: have many applications… pointers, optical disk scanners, printers, cutting, lithography, in warfare
3) Radio waves: Short wave, AM, FM, TV
4) X-rays in medicine
5) Gamma rays in medicine
6) Atomic energy in warfare
7) Optical & Atomic Microscopes
8) Nanotechnology = the microscopic or subatomic research
9) Microwave ovens
10) Gravitational Lensing = light is bent as it passes a massive body.
11) Light can be polarized
12) The Photon traveling at the speed of light can lap the Earth’s equator 7.5 times /s.
AMAZING HOW VERSATILE ‘LIGHT’ IS BY GOD’S DESIGN AS SEEN IN THE ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM
E. WE CONCLUDE, it becomes more obvious as we examine the intricacies of the development of the cosmos, that there is a tremendous amount of INTERACTION in all aspects of its development. This suggests that everything had to happen simultaneously, not by independent, minute, trial & error changes over prolong periods of time.
NOTE: We as believers live in a “crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the U. as you hold out the Word of Life” [Phil 2:15-16].
NOTE 2: The size of galactic space is measured in Light Years = ly or the distance light travels at 186,000 mps in a year = 5, 878.5 billion miles/y.
NOTE 3 In Genesis chapter 1 with the creation of light, the statement is made that it was good. It also mentions He “separated the light from the darkness”. That is a significant observation indicating His attention to detail, for science calls that division the “Solar Terminator” or “twilight zone”. With the earth rotating and orbiting with reference to the sun, the terminator line is moving at 1000 m/h.