Darkness isn’t mentioned in Genesis 2. Or Genesis 3. In fact, we don’t get this word again until Genesis 15, when God makes covenant with Abram. It starts in darkness, and then God shows up. That is the story of our relationship with God.
Some of our Christian theologies argue that nothing “not good” could have existed before the fall. But here, the text points out that the man was alone, and that being alone was “not good.”
But also, Gen 1 says it was dark and chaotic. God made that, too.
The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
Genesis 2:18 (NIV)
Some of our Christian theological perspectives are broken.
The text says God created the heavens and the earth in Genesis 1:1, but God also created the chaos and the darkness in Genesis 1:2. Fortunately, He brings light and order in Genesis 1:3. That’s the correct framework.
Some of our theologies teach “God made it good, but we broke it with sin, so now we have to repent in order to be forgiven,” but this idea doesn’t flow from Genesis. I don’t think this teaching is correct.
Believing that God will heal us and bring us light is the good news.
The book in the Bible that uses this word more than any other is Job. Job uses this word twenty three times.
He knows darkness.
But Genesis 1:2 introduces us to another word. The “ruah” of God. The “Spirit” of God. The “Breath of God” that hovers over the same dark waters.
In the darkness, God is there, too. There are no God-forsaken places. No God-forsaken people.
Let there be Light.
“I will fix this” is a message for those who know brokenness.
Light makes sense in the context of darkness.
But this is not the same as “first, know you are a sinner.”
Genesis 1, which sets up the proper order of things, doesn’t blame the creation for its own darkness, or the land for its barrenness.
It simply acknowledges that it is. And then God fixes it: Light and Life.
But the pattern of Genesis 1 actually says something different:
It was dark, but God made it light.
First Evening, and then Morning.
The land was barren, but then plants emerged.
Genesis is giving us a story about the human condition, and it’s giving us a message of hope: God will bring us through it.
God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning–the first day.
Genesis 1:5 (NIV)
Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
Genesis 1:2 (NIV)
But God is there. And the next verse is blessed hope.
The Good News is so simple, a child can understand it.
God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.
Genesis 1:4 (NIV)
In Genesis 1:4, it is God who separates light from darkness.
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.
Genesis 1:16-18 (NIV)
But in Genesis 1:16-18, the ongoing responsibility of keeping darkness separate from light is given to the two great lights and the stars in the sky.
We are the light of the world. It is also our responsibility.
There is only one way. Light.