The Light that Liberates Part Four

Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light "day" and the darkness "night." And evening passed and morning came, marking the first day. (Genesis 1:3-5 NLT)
The greatest moment in any Christian’s life is the moment he or she gains the awareness of God for him or herself. Natural man since the fall of Adam lives in a self imposed world of darkness. This birthright and the darkness are the birthright that has been passed down through the centuries by Adam to his progeny.
The sad thing is left to our own devices the human heart is blinded by the utter depravity of sin. I say this as an observation of fact. Human history sadly is filled with the savagery and evil that mankind both individually and corporately is capable of.
Yet two thousand years ago a voice of life and light was birthed into the world. A tiny baby lay in a manger in Bethlehem wrapped in swaddling clothes. His life from the beginning was a light to the world and by his death a new race was birthed into the world.
He came to give his life as a sacrifice for lost humanity. He ascended back to the Father and the Holy Spirit was sent on a divine mission from heaven to bring the life and reality of all that Jesus had accomplished to the world.
I believe I have found in the creation story of Genesis one the various stages of Christian development that God the Father has brought into the world through the finished work of redemption of his son Jesus Christ.
As we saw in the previous chapter in this series like the world in the beginning a life without God is filled and surrounded by darkness. The account of Genesis states that the world was covered by water that had no life. There was no firmament or atmosphere above. The earth was void and lifeless. How like the human heart lost without God.
There is no light or even understanding of it to be found in the breast of those who walk in the darkness of sin. Man’s natural awareness can rise no higher than his own inner consciousness. He not only is not aware of the light, he is not even aware of its existence.
Each true believer was birthed into God’s kingdom one by one and this birthing process was a work of the Holy Spirit. The holy record of scripture reveals that on the first day of creation the Holy Spirit was brooding over the face of the waters.
There comes a day in every believers life when he hears the gospel message for the first time. Many have heard the story of redemption and yet never really heard it. It only becomes real through the divine revelation of the Holy Spirit.
The story of the redemption of man purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ only becomes relevant to the human heart when under the glaring revelation of the Spirit of God we for the first time see our need of Christ.
At such a time two things happen. First the Holy Spirit brings the revelation to the human heart of the truth and reality of all that Jesus Christ did for us when he gave his life for us and rose from the dead all those centuries ago.
The second thing he does is bring the revelation the conviction if you will to that individual of his need of Christ. Up till that time he or she had lived their lives totally oblivious to the true condition of what they really are on the inside.
It is only under the penetrating light of the Spirit of God that we can see ourselves as we really are. The true condition of the individual without Christ is as dark and void of life as the barren world that the Holy Spirit brooded over all those eons ago. The scriptures say the heart is desperately wicked and only the Holy Spirit can bring the revelation to the human heart the true condition of that life lost without Christ.
This conviction or awareness creates a sense of desperation and convinces that lost soul of not only the truth of what Jesus did for each one of us on the cross, but also gives an awareness of our need of Christ. In that hour or moment of time the heart cries out to God seeking the life that the Spirit of God is offering.
On the first day of creation the Holy Spirit was hovering over the face of the water. In the new birth he is hovering over the heart of that poor lost soul in need of salvation.
In the Genesis record the first day’s work brought to the world of that day light. God said let there be light and the light was divided from the darkness.
A heart brought under the conviction of the Holy Spirit sees the true condition of their own inner being. He or she gains the inward awareness of the empty void of darkness they really are on the inside.
It is precisely at that moment that like the creation narrative just stated that the Holy Spirit says to the human heart the same thing he said to the empty dark void of that time let there be light.
A remarkable transformation begins at that time as the individual seeing their need of Christ gains the knowledge for the first time of the darkness of the human soul without Christ. The light or revelation of the light and glory of God is birthed in their hearts.
That individual for the first time comes alive on the inside. Modern scientists scoff at the creation story for many reasons and one is this account in Genesis one of the appearance of life. They reason how could light exist on the earth in the absence of the sun and stars. In Genesis the sun and stars were created on the fourth day. They scoff at the written record of the creative processes of God in the first three days of creation. How well did the apostle Paul describe them when he said that in becoming wise they became fools!
The answer is so simple but requires the faith and understanding of the Holy Spirit to see. God is life. There can be no life either on the physical or natural world or the spiritual one without him. God decreed on this first day of creation that light had come to the void that was the existence of that time.
Life came into being by the express will of almighty God. Life on this world at that time was sustained by the light or glory of his divine person. He entered the lifeless world of that time and by royal decree brought light into the world.
That life brought with it the ability to bring life. The human heart that finds Christ is brought into an inner awareness for the first time of the light. He sees the light or truth embodied in the true God for the first time. He by his newly formed faith is then transformed by the Holy Spirit into a being that can not only see the light, but by the wisdom garnered from this revelation have new life begin to sprout in his or her heart.
That life has a destiny and as we shall see in coming chapters the seed of life planted in the human heart in the beginning by the Holy Spirit will if allowed to follow its course, produce a new kingdom awareness, an inner transformation that shall carry that individual into the depths of all the almighty God is both now and forever more.