One of my favourite days of the year is the first day of British Summer Time. This year it was a beautiful sunny day, and the bright colours of the spring flowers were resplendent. As my wife and I go to the evening service at our church we know it will be light when we travel home. The short dark days of winter are past, and the summer has truly arrived. Light is a wonderful blessing and is vital to all life.
In the Bible’s account of God creating the heavens and the earth God’s first command is “Let there be light!” and we are told “God saw that the light was good.” Later we read, “God made two great lights – the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good.”
The Bible tells us, “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.” God is pure and good and true. Sometimes we are told that well-known people have a “dark side”. This is because all of us who are human have a sinful nature. But there is no darkness in God – he has revealed his love and goodness in the world he has made and supremely in the gift of his Son, Jesus, who is the Saviour of the world.
Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” Knowing Jesus transforms a life. Our sinful behaviour brings darkness into our lives and into the lives of others. Jesus died on the Cross to pay the price of our sins. When we put our trust in him our sins are forgiven, and we receive new life. Old patterns of behaviour are put behind us and, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we begin living righteous lives. So, then we are walking in the light as he is in the light.
Heaven is a world of light because God is there. The book of Revelation describes heaven as a city and says, “The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendour into it, for there will be no night there.”