4. Who is God? - Part III
Chapter One
The Word is Light
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.1
In my vision, the second expression of God was the beam of golden light proceeding from the Creator on the first day of Creation. Moving quickly and precisely, the golden light did not sway and dance like the mist; rather, it shot rapidly in a straight line toward its intended destination. In the presence of this streaking golden arrow, the Deep was pierced and pushed aside, unable to withstand the triumphant light that penetrated its depths. As I examined the golden light more closely, I observed that it was also composed of countless small seeds, acting together as one.
While searching for the language to name these golden seeds, I turned again to John’s Gospel prologue, where “light” is the second name he gave the Word.2 John explained that light and “darkness”3 have a relationship of continual conflict, where either the one or the other dominates.4 Light “overcomes” darkness, but darkness can also “overtake” us5 causing us to “stumble”6 and become lost.7 Throughout John’s writing, light and darkness are portrayed as mutually exclusive: where one is, the other cannot be.8
In John’s Gospel, though Jesus repeatedly referred to himself as “the light of the world,”9 he did not claim to be the only one to possess light. He told the Jewish leaders that John the Baptist shone with light,10 and Jesus informed his followers that they could possess light as well.11 In addition, John wrote that we may “abide in the light,”12 revealing that light is something that can be both within us and around us. John implied that our relationship with light ought to be so intimate that we actually become what Jesus called, “sons of light.”13
In order to make sense of these descriptions of light, I looked to John’s simple yet profound definition: “God is light and in him is no darkness at all.”14 In other words, the light that can abide within us—that overcomes all darkness—is God.
I believe that the seeds of golden light I saw emerge and separate the waters of the great Deep are what John called “light.” The Word of God is both Life and Light. Life is the foundation. Light is the expression of God that builds upon that foundation in order to conquer the Deep. Only by the seeds of Light can darkness be overcome.
The Word is Love
Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God; for God is love.15
The third and final expression of God appeared to me as a glistening white cloud, moving slowly and steadily toward the golden radiance within the wound of the Deep. This sparkling whiteness was brighter and purer than anything I had ever observed with my physical eyes, and its deliberate movement was more awe-inspiring than the golden brilliance and rapidity of the Light. Upon closer examination, I perceived that the glittering cloud was also composed of very small particles or seeds.
To find a name for these seeds of pure white, I looked again to the writings of John. In his Gospel prologue, John did not identify a second light nor offer any other descriptive words that I thought bore resemblance to what I had observed. But throughout his writings John used another word that I found particularly intriguing: “love.”16
According to John, love is an action that is primarily expressed “in deed and truth.”17 The action of love has an outward orientation entirely focused on offering benefit to another, as exemplified by Jesus’s statement, “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”18 To act with love is to fulfill God’s greatest commandment.19
However, John depicted love as being something more than human action. He quoted Jesus stating, “abide in my love,” just as Jesus himself abided in the Father’s love.20 Jesus also prayed that his followers would have love abiding “in them.”21 Similar to Light, love is something that can dwell both in and around us. John wrote that love can abide within us so completely that it becomes “perfected.”22
Love is not an intellectual concept or an emotional experience, nor is it merely moral behavior. John described love as something tangible, a spiritual reality that he could see and touch. When John wrote about “love,” he offered an exact description of the God with whom he had intimate “fellowship.”23 Love is the final and most complete expression of God on Earth. Love is the Word of God.
From this study of John, I concluded that the cloud of glistening white is the expression of God known as Love. During the miraculous unfolding of Creation, the cloud of Love worked together with both Life and Light in order to complete God’s work. When Love appeared and joined the luminous mist and golden light, the three expressions of God’s Word were transformed into the sphere of Heaven. Through Love, something new was created.
The Word is God
“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and return not thither but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”24
For two decades I sought to know God through rigorous academic study and earnest religious adherence, only to be left empty from the heartless repetition of abstract concepts. But now, by the grace of God, I have seen the Word spoken before the eyes of my soul.
In a glorious display of might and majesty, the singular Word was revealed as Life, Light, and Love. I saw firsthand that these three expressions are eternally with God, that they proceed from God, and that they are God. Through the synergistic interweaving of each—Light built upon the foundation of Life, and Love built upon the triumph of Light—God created Heaven. And within Heaven, God fashioned the entire physical world. Indeed, all that we see was not created out of nothing. All was created from the fulness of God’s Word.
(Chapter Two will be released next Thursday morning.)
John 1:5
"phos” in Greek; John 1:5
1 John 1:8–11
John 3:19–21
John 12:35
John 11:10
John 12:36
1 John 1:6–7
John 8:12; 9:5
John 5:35
John 8:12
1 John 2:10
John 12:36
1 John 1:5
1 John 4:7–8
“agape” in Greek
1 John 3:18
John 15:13
2 John 1:6
John 15:9–10
John 17:26
1 John 4:17
1 John 1:3
Isaiah 55:10–11