Microsoft Encarta 2007 Encyclopaedia says the following about Light,
“Light, form of energy visible to the human eye that is radiated by moving charged particles”.
Noah Webster’s 1828 dictionary defined light as follows:
LIGHT, n. lite. [L. lux, light and luceo, to shine. Eng. luck, both in elements and radical sense.]
1. That ethereal agent or matter which makes objects perceptible to the sense of seeing, but the particles of which are separately invisible. It is now generally believed that light is a fluid, or real matter, existing independent of other substances, with properties peculiar to itself. Its velocity is astonishing, as it passes through a space of nearly twelve millions of miles in a minute. Light, when decomposed, is found to consist of rays differently colored; as red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. The sun is the principal source of light in the solar system; but light is also emitted from bodies ignited, or in combustion, and is reflected from enlightened bodies, as the moon. Light is also emitted from certain putrefying substances. It is usually united with heat, but it exists also independent of it.
2. That flood of luminous rays which flows from the sun and constitutes day.
3. Day; the dawn of day.
4. Life.
5. Any thing that gives light; as a lamp, candle, taper, lighted tower, star.
Then he called for a light, and sprang in – Acts 16.
I have set thee to be a light to the Gentiles. Acts 13.
And God made two great lights. Gen 1.
6. The illuminated part of a picture; the part which lies open to the luminary by which the piece is supposed to be enlightened, and is painted in vivid colors; opposed to shade.
7. Illumination of mind; instruction; knowledge.
From Webster’s definition we learn from his first point that Light makes objects perceptible. This is one of the light’s purposes for the children of God. They shed light on the unknown or the dark making them discernible, detectable, observable or perceptible. Sons of light bring illumination through their prayers, preaching and lifestyle.
The participles of light cannot be seen but the expose what is in darkness.
Light is a fluid, or real matter, existing independent of other substances, with properties peculiar to itself.
All the beautiful colors of this world find their fullness in light. Light is the fullness of combination of all colors.
Light is the flood of luminous rays which flows from the sun and constitutes day. Could it be that children of God are His out-raying just as Jesus, the firstborn is called His out-raying in the book of Hebrews?
Heb 1:3 AMP He is the sole expression of the glory of God [the Light-being, the out-raying or radiance of the divine], and He is the perfect imprint and very image of [God’s] nature, upholding and maintaining and guiding and propelling the universe by His mighty word of power. When He had by offering Himself accomplished our cleansing of sins and riddance of guilt, He sat down at the right hand of the divine Majesty on high,
I believe the answer to my question is YES! Children of God are His glory; they are the radiance of God. Awesome thought ei!!! Better believe it. It’s true. We are not the upholders of all things in the sense that Jesus is but we are in the sense that we are the salt of the earth and the light. Without us, this world would have decayed a long time ago. We are the preservatives. The more we grow and the saltier we get, the healthier the earth will become, the more preserved the earth will become. What awesome a privilege it is to be made a child of God, a participator in the divine nature.
The world was darkness before Christ. We, His body are the Day. We have ushered in the Day with our light. It must just expand and get brighter and brighter until the perfect day—noon.
From Noah Webster’s fourth point, Light is Life. I couldn’t agree more. Children of God are the life of the World. Without them, fallen creation has no hope. That is how God has designed it. That is why the scriptures read,
Rom 8:19-24 AMP
(19) For [even the whole] creation (all nature) waits expectantly and longs earnestly for God’s sons to be made known [waits for the revealing, the disclosing of their sonship].
(20) For the creation (nature) was subjected to frailty (to futility, condemned to frustration), not because of some intentional fault on its part, but by the will of Him Who so subjected it–[yet] with the hope [Eccl. 1:2.]
(21) That nature (creation) itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and corruption [and gain an entrance] into the glorious freedom of God’s children.
(22) We know that the whole creation [of irrational creatures] has been moaning together in the pains of labor until now. [Jer. 12:4, 11.]
(23) And not only the creation, but we ourselves too, who have and enjoy the firstfruits of the [Holy] Spirit [a foretaste of the blissful things to come] groan inwardly as we wait for the redemption of our bodies [from sensuality and the grave, which will reveal] our adoption (our manifestation as God’s sons).
(24) For in [this] hope we were saved…
Light is also Illumination of mind. It is instruction. It is knowledge. It is the knowledge of the truth that brings freedom.
Light in the form of the heavenly bodies are the markers of seasons.
Gen 1:14 AMP And God said, Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be signs and tokens [of God’s provident care], and [to mark] seasons, days, and years, [Gen. 8:22.]
They also display God’s signs and tokens. Ps 19 says they display Knowledge. They book of Genesis says they rule over day and night.
The summary of all the above is Light is a very essential part of our world, the absence of which will bring about deterioration and eventually death. It is the life force that sustains the earth. Jesus as the light of the world is the sustainer of all things including everything seen and unseen, physical or supernatural.
