That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.
1 John 1:1
Throughout the history of biblical interpretation, the opening chapter in Genesis has been a continual source of controversy. I remember how disappointing it was to me during my academic training that, while studying the very first words of the Christian scriptures, I encountered a cacophony of confusion rather than an open doorway to God. Following years of reading one opinion after another, I eventually gave up seeking clarity about the creation story, concluding that its true meaning had been lost behind the veil of antiquity, and all that remained was manufactured speculation.
But now, as I sought to know the One who was before the beginning, Genesis was exactly where I chose to begin. I entered the stillness of my heart and waited until the spiritual reality of God’s creation unfolded before me. From the sanctuary of my soul, I beheld a vision so grand that all the academic arguments about a literal history or sophisticated allegory simply faded into irrelevance. I encountered indescribable glory, where the Creator spoke with the might of a conqueror, the wisdom of a sage, and the precision of a master poet.
A Vision of the Beginning
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and the darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.1
At the very beginning of creation, before the first day had dawned, I beheld an endless black sea. The dark waters churned restlessly beneath me. While I stared into this primordial “Deep,” a tall black wave rose out of the sea like a serpent and lunged toward me. A flash of fear coursed through my body, and I quickly pulled back.
Above the black, I beheld a brilliant white sky that seemed to continually expand outward. I turned toward the whiteness, longing to know it more intimately. Entering into the brilliance, I felt suspended by the light that shone all around me. I held my breath, completely awe-struck. This is God, I thought to myself.
After a time that I wished would never end, I saw a luminous mist appear from within the brilliant whiteness of God. Swirling and swaying, as if dancing to some dreamlike sonata, the soft white mist slowly gathered near the blackness below. It settled above the surface of the dark waters like fog on a cool autumn night.
While watching the gathering mist, I beheld a brilliant beam of light burst forth from God. The light was pure gold in color and moved like an arrow, striking the mist and driving it deep into the darkness below. The endless Deep now contained a wound, like a gaping pit in the sea of black, out of which shone a golden radiance.
As I marveled at the golden pit within the Deep, a new and different light suddenly came forth from the whiteness above. Something that looked like a cloud of glittering white light proceeded slowly toward the separation within the Deep, as if it were being carried by a gentle wind. Steadily and unwaveringly, the cloud of white advanced until it touched the golden wound. At that moment, an explosion of light shook my body and momentarily blinded my spiritual eyes.
Following the blast, I could see that where the golden radiance had previously radiated, a sphere sat halfway submerged within the dark waters. The sphere looked completely transparent, like an orb of delicate glass. Beneath the crystal-clear shell, I could see nothing—for it was hollow. Instantly, I knew that this sphere, appearing as a dome (or a “firmament”) rising halfway above the Deep, was what God had called “Heaven.”
The next moment, a luminous mist—exactly like the swirling and swaying mist I had seen “moving over the face of the waters”—came forth from the whiteness and drifted down toward the hollow sphere. Like a dense fog, the soft white mist completely enveloped the sphere. Then, as if entering through an unseen door, the mist poured into the orb of Heaven and spread out, filling the entire expanse. I watched the mist gradually converge in the middle of the sphere and form a luminous ball. Looking upon that luminous sphere within the sphere, I realized that the mist had become the Earth balanced within the center of Heaven.
As the subsequent events of creation unfolded, I saw the same process occur: all vegetation, the fishes of the sea, the birds of the air, and all creatures that moved upon the ground were created by the luminous mist coalescing into form.
Reflecting on the Vision
Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in days of old, the generations of long ago. Was it not thou that didst cut Chaos in pieces, that didst pierce the dragon? Was it not thou that didst dry up the sea, the waters of the great deep?2
I spent over two years returning to my vision of God’s creation and reflecting about what it meant. It seemed to me that those images contained inexhaustible wisdom, if only I could interpret them accurately.
The golden light that wounded the blackness was like an arrow “that didst pierce the dragon,” separating the darkness into two. I thought it significant that the golden light did not strike alone, for the soft white mist covered the face of the Deep before the golden light was spoken. I wondered if the mist laid a foundation that allowed the light to penetrate the darkness below, such that without the mist the movement of the light would not be possible. Perhaps, I thought to myself, there is a relationship between the golden light and the luminous mist, such that the joining of the two was essential before the Deep could be separated.
The glittering cloud of pure white displayed a distinct appearance and movement compared with the luminous mist and the golden light, yet there seemed to be a synergistic relationship among the three. The instant the cloud touched the golden radiance that shone from the separation in the Deep, an explosion occurred, and the hollow sphere of Heaven emerged. I wondered if the combination of the mist and the golden light had laid another foundation that prepared the way for the march of the cloud of white.
The glassy sphere of Heaven showed up in a different way than the three lights I had observed. The luminous mist, the golden light, and the cloud of glittering white had mysteriously sprung forth from the expansive whiteness of God, as if they had already existed and were now appearing for some purpose. The sphere, on the other hand, seemed to be something brand new that was fashioned before my eyes. Based on these observations, I concluded that it was the coming together of all three Divine lights that made possible a new creation.
Then the progression of God’s creation seemed to start over again, now within the sphere of Heaven. Mirroring its prior movements, the luminous mist sprang forth from the whiteness and moved toward the Deep, except this time it entered the glassy orb and coalesced into the shape of the Earth and everything therein. Remarkably, the foundation that had previously prepared the way for the golden and brilliant white lights was now being fashioned as our physical Earth.
So I wondered: What are the three lights that emerged out of the expansive whiteness of God? And why was Heaven created out of the combination of all three lights, while the Earth was composed of the mist alone? And what does it mean that the glorious act of creation, which gave birth to everything we can perceive with our physical senses, occurred within the waters of the monstrous Deep? This book is my attempt to answer these questions, and I began with the lights themselves.
The Word of God
The word which you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.3
No language is adequate to describe an encounter with the ineffable God. Yet because the gift of my vision was not given to me for my sake alone, I knew that I must communicate what I saw in a manner that others could comprehend. After months of uncertainty, I elected to borrow the words of another: John, the beloved disciple of Jesus.
In his Gospel and Epistles, John wrote with a simple and straightforward language, absent of abstractions. To read John is to look through an open window into the throne room of God. When I examined this saintly man with my spiritual eyes, I saw that his soul was brighter and larger than any known star. I decided that a man who shines like God must possess wisdom worth emulation.
In his Gospel prologue, John described what appears to be his own direct observations of the acts of God’s creation:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.4
I had sensed a similarity between John’s description of the beginning and what I had seen in my vision, but only when I understood the historical context of the “Word” did the connection become clear.
John was not the first to write about the Word. The spoken Word of God stood as a central tenet of ancient Judaism, for it was how Jewish writers described the manifestation of God. But this expression of the Divine constituted more than mere verbal articulation: God speaking the Word was considered to be an act of great power that could both create and heal.
The most significant way in which God spoke the Word to the Jewish people was in the form of the Mosaic Law. According to Jewish tradition, the Law was “written with the finger of God” upon tablets of stone and given to Moses on Mount Sinai.5 To the ancient Jew, the Law and the Word were synonymous.
According to the historical narrative, God explained to Moses that if the Jewish men and women obeyed the Law (or the “voice” of God), they would be transformed into “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”6 The ancient psalmist gave a hint as to how this transformation could occur:7
How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to thy word. With my whole heart I seek thee; let me not wander from thy commandments! I have laid up thy word in my heart, that I might not sin against thee.
God’s Word was “laid up” within the hearts of those who faithfully kept the religious and sacrificial requirements of the Law. Through the Word abiding within them, the Jewish people became God’s people.
As centuries passed, the Word also became associated with the teachings of the Prophets. The defining characteristic of a Jewish Prophet was his or her ability to be a living bridge between God and the people, communicating God’s Word through speech. Thus, in the time before Jesus, the Word of God was laid up in the hearts of the Jewish people both by obedience to the Law and by submission to the teachings of the Prophets.
Although John knew the Jewish interpretation of the Law and Prophets, I am convinced that he did not write the Gospel prologue in order to reiterate what he had been taught regarding that tradition. Rather, his aim was to describe the history of God’s Word, which he had observed through spiritual perception. I believe that John, through the eyes of his radiant soul, beheld the act of creation, the Mosaic Law, and the Prophets—and that he recognized the same living Presence abiding within the hearts of those who obeyed the Law, moving in the words of the Prophets, and spoken by God in the beginning. In each of these instances, John saw the Word. When John wrote, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,” he offered firsthand testimony.
Once I realized that John had already given utterance to the phenomenon I had observed in my vision, I was filled with relief. I had seen the Word—the knowable expression of the unknowable God—revealed in the form of a luminous mist, a golden light, and a cloud of glistening white.
The Word is Life
In [the Word] was life, and the life was the light of men.8
And yet, I wondered, if all three of the Divine lights are the singular Word of God, why do they appear and act differently? I realized that I needed to look further. I began by examining the luminous mist more closely—and as I did so, I discovered something remarkable. I realized that the mist was composed of what appeared to be very small, lucent drops of water. In the same way that a physical mist is made of an incalculable number of water droplets, so also did I perceive the mist that came forth from God as a gathering of tiny particles. I concluded that these were the “seeds” of God that John9 (and others10) had described centuries ago.
The seeds that formed the mist displayed a distinct appearance and movement. Their color was similar to water: sometimes soft white and sometimes translucent, depending on the angle from which I saw them. Moving in unison, the seeds constantly shifted and swirled in harmony with the seeds surrounding them. At times, the assemblage of seeds spread out or drew closer together, but never once did a single seed stray from the rhythm of the whole.
After I was able to discern these luminous seeds, I realized that they were everywhere around me. I saw the seeds within plants and trees, birds and beasts, and within the soil itself. In everything alive and growing, I observed these seeds in abundance. Conversely, I witnessed the seeds gradually move away from any dying thing. Everywhere I looked in the natural world, the mist’s seeds were present and active.
As I observed this wonder, I pondered to myself, What do I call these seeds of the Word, which laid the foundation of Creation and which permeate all things on Earth? I looked to John for the answer. In the opening of his Gospel, “life” is the first name he used to describe the Word.
To John, life is something that can “abide” or dwell within us, offering us the nourishment and refreshment needed to walk the spiritual path. And this life that dwells within us has the potential to become “eternal,” having no observable end.
Comparing my observations to the writings of John, I concluded that the luminous mist I saw in my vision of the beginning was that which John called “life.” Life is the expression of God that lays the foundation for all Creation. Without the seeds of Life, nothing can be made that has been made.
The Word is Light
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.11
In my vision, the second expression of God was the beam of golden light proceeding from the Creator on the first day. 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. John explained that light and “darkness” have a relationship of continual conflict, where either the one or the other dominates. Light “overcomes” darkness, but darkness can also “overtake” us causing us to “stumble” and become lost. Throughout John’s writing, light and darkness are portrayed as mutually exclusive: where one is, the other cannot be.
In John’s Gospel, though Jesus repeatedly referred to himself as “the light of the world,” he did not claim to be the only one to possess light. He told the Jewish leaders that John the Baptist shone with light, and Jesus informed his followers that they could possess light as well. 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 glistening 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.”
According to John, love is an action that is primarily expressed “in deed and truth.”16 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.”17 To act with love is to fulfill God’s greatest commandment.
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.18 Jesus also prayed that his followers would have love abiding “in them.”19 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.”20
Love is not an intellectual concept, nor 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.”21 Love is the final and most complete expression of God on Earth. Indeed, Love is the Word of God.
From this study of John, I concluded that the glistening white cloud is the expression of God that is 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 born.
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.22
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.
Genesis 1:1–4
Isaiah 51:9–10; I translated the Hebrew word rahab as “Chaos.”
John 14:24
John 1:1–3
Exodus 31:18
Exodus 19:5–6
Psalm 119:9–11
John 1:4
1 John 3:9, “Those who have been born of God do not sin, because God’s seed abides in them.”
In Luke 8:11, Jesus stated, “Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.” In 1 Peter 1:23, Peter wrote, “You have been born anew, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God.”
John 1:5
1 John 2:10
John 12:36
1 John 1:5
1 John 4:7–8
1 John 3:18
John 15:13
John 15:9–10
John 17:26
1 John 4:17
1 John 1:3
Isaiah 55:10–11