Study 8 – Lights in the firmament by Fay Berry 2018

Small Studies in Genesis

Study 8 – Lights in the firmament

“And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide 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 firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day” (Gen 1:14-19).
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God’s glory in the Heaven

The “going forth” of the sun “is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof” (Psa 19:6).

God put lights in the firmament of heaven to enlighten the whole earth (Gen 1:15) so that the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (2 Cor 4:4).

The lights in the heaven, for all their brightness and beauty, are not the substance casting spiritual shadows, but are are simply the “shadows” themselves. They are the shadows of the greater substance, which is Jesus Christ and the moon and the stars derive their light and glory from Him

As we gaze upwards into the heavens, we see depicted there God’s whole plan and purpose with the earth and mankind upon it. The glory of the “sun” is manifested in a multitude and therefore, God says, “that man is “without excuse,” because the promised made to Abraham of a multitudinous seed, plainly visible in the heavens.

One does not even have to READ God’s word to learn about his promises and his great plan with this earth. The “heavens declare the glory of God,” and right before our very eyes, the whole story of “God-manifestation” is laid out before us as we look at the heavens and all it’s constellations.

The sun

God is the creator, dwelling “in light unapproachable to man.” He has a son who is the saviour of the world. He is “the sun of righteousness,” who has prepared for himself the moon as his bride, “the bride of Christ,” and their ”seed,” are the stars which are so numerous and fill the heavens with the Glory of God. And so, since the very beginning of time, when the heavens and the earth and night and day were first divided, when the faithful of all ages looked up into the heavens, they have been able to SEE with their own eyes, God’s plan and purpose with His earth.

The moon

God says, “There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differs from another star in glory (1 Co 15:41). All of these wonders have been prepared by God. “The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun (Psa 74:16). “Thus saith the Lord, which gives the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divides the sea when the waves thereof roar:The Lord of hosts is his name” (Jer 31:35). The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shews his handy work (Psa 19:1) and God created “the sun to rule by day; and the moon and the stars to rule by night (Psa 136:8-9).

The Stars

The glory of the moon and the stars is a softer, reflected glory, of the sun which gives God’s light to a world that would otherwise would lie in darkness. When God made his promises to Abraham, He brought Abraham “forth abroad and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: so shall thy seed be” (Gen 15:5). God said that he would “multiply Abraham’s seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore: and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies” (Gen 22:17).

Abraham promised an inheritance on the earth

“And I will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed (Gen 26:4). “And all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever (Ex 32:13). “Thy fathers went down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons: and now the Lord thy God hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude” (De 10:22) “and behold, ye are this day as the stars of the heaven for multitude” (Deu 1;10). But there were so many times when Israel did not reflect God’s glory and did not remain faithful to God and at these times God told them that they would be “left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude; because they would not obey the voice of the Lord they God” (Deu 28:62).

They that be wise shall shine

The children of the promises made to Abraham are “the light of the world, a city that is set on an hill cannot be hid” (Mat 5:14). “Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound; they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance” (Psa 89:15). For “he that does truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God (Joh 3:21). “And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever” (Dan 12:3) “for thou hast delivered my soul from death; wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?” (Psa 56:13).

Jesus is the light of the world

Jesus tells us that he is “the light of the world,” and He it is from whom the moon and the stars derive their glory. Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (Joh 8:12) and “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (Joh 9:5). And again, “Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walks in darkness knows not whither he goes” (Joh 12:35). “While ye have light, believe in the light that ye may be the children of light” (Joh 12:36). “Unto the upright there arises light in the darkness: he is gracious, and full of compassion and righteous” (Psa 112:4).

Let not your light be darkness

If Christ is the light of the world, then we must reflect that light. “Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness” (Luke 11:35) for “the light of the body is the eye; if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light” (Mat 6:22) but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness.” (Luk 11:34) and “If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness” (Mat 6:23).

The people that walk in darkness

In in spite of God’s provision of “light” to lighten Gentile darkness, men loved darkness more than light because their deeds were evil. And so the “god of this world” hath “blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (2 Cor 4:4). And so “the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them has the light shined” (Isa 9:2) and “the light shined in the darkness and the darkness comprehended it not” (Joh 1:5).

“Spiritual wickedness in high places.”

The world’s rulers in “the heavens,” in the “kingdom of men” are locked in a “warfare” with the sons of God. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Eph 6:12). “And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if one book unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens” (Isa 5:30). “The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble; he sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining” (Joe 2:10).

“The darkness” will soon be “past”

The “light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine” (Job 18:5) and the light of God’s word will prevail against Gentile darkness, for “the darkness is past, and the true light now shines” (1 Jn 2:8)

A new day

The “transfiguration” of Christ on that dark mountain over 2000 years ago, spoke of time when the living and the dead, representatives of the law and the prophets, would together be raised to participate in God’s kingdom on earth when Jesus’ “glory” would be manifested to a world that presently exists in Gentile darkness. In that day, the light of the of the sun, moon and stars will not be required because a time is coming when “the city” will have “no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God doth lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof, and the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it” (Rev 21:23-24).

Two witnesses

God says that “at the mouth of two witnesses” every matter shall be established and so the presence of two “witnesses,” so prominently in the heavens is a witness to us that God’s word is true, and his promises will be fulfilled, and the earth will be filled with the glory of God “as the waters cover the sea.”

By Fay Berry 2018