“This is the message which we have heard from him and announce to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.”

The message of the gospel is announced to all who read the Scriptures and the witness of these reliable heralds of it. The message announced here is that God is light, not just surrounded by light, but light itself. There is no darkness of death in Him, for He is the perfect God. It is impossible for darkness to come near to Him, because He dispels all darkness and everything that it represents and hides. Sin and death are not in His kingdom, nor are those who live in sinfulness and the unforgiven state of death of the soul.

God is holy in all His ways and intentions and we are not. There are those who take umbrage at the holiness of God and set their own human reason and taste before the judgment of the almighty God. We presume we know better and that our sense of justice is above His. We interpret the Word to suit ourselves and bend the obvious truth revealed there to suit our fallen human ideas. We baulk at His electing love and take issue with the salvation God offers to sinful people. This is human folly to raise up our thought as higher than the purposes and thoughts of God. We must humble ourselves before Him and acknowledge that His ways are not the same as our ways, and well above our understanding. His wisdom is vastly above all human thought or idea and we bow to Him. This is the point of the Word of God – that it teaches us and is certainly not up for being judged by futile human reason.

“The people who sat in darkness saw a great light, to those who sat in the region and shadow of death, to them light has dawned.”

Matthew 4:16

God is light and all holiness. This is the starting and ending point of all reason. His revealed Word is the light He shines into our dark world and the Saviour of the world that it displays is the Light of the World. He alone gives light into our dark minds and enlightens our understanding that we might recognise and acknowledge the truth of that Word in our mind and life. To obey it is life and peace and we gain the light of God in our life shining in all godliness and humble obedience. This is the way to the eternal light and to dwell in that light forever. We enter that way through repentance from our sin and putting faith in Christ as our Saviour and Lord.