The Light of the New World

Is light a wave? Scientific experiments appear to have confirmed it. Is light a particle? Scientific experiments appear to suggest that too. What is going on? If you do an experiment to determine the wave aspect of light, it will act as a wave; if you do an experiment to understand its particle-like nature, it will act as a particle. This “particle-wave duality” continues to baffle the world of physics.

In the end—whether light as a particle or light as a wave—none of it matters if we do not grasp the spiritual lesson that illumination has to teach us. The Bible declares, “God is light and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). This does not mean that light itself is a god to be worshiped; rather, light serves as an object lesson about God. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life” (John 8:12); “while I am in the world, I am the Light of the world” (John 9:5).

“The heavens declare the glory of God” (Psalm 19:1). The sun and the moon are witnesses to a glory that man has not seen. Jesus’ incarnation, the Bible, the prophets—all have come to reveal the glory of God in such a way that it might not consume us.

In this world, we have a need of such witnesses to testify of God, but in the new heaven and new earth, there will be no need for a veil. In the New Jerusalem, all that has separated us from God will have been eradicated from the universe. We may then experience the promise of Paul: “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face” (1 Corinthians 13:12).

In contrast to science, which depicts a bleak future of a universe either burned out or crushed to the size of a fist, the Word of God promises a universe in which the Lord will be among us, a universe in which we never have to face darkness, fear, and death again.

Lord, I thank you for the wonderful promises that await us in Jesus.

For Further Study: Psalm 44:3; Luke 2:9; Habakkuk 3:4

Key Bible Texts

And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. (Revelation 21:23 KJV)