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We have but to open the book of Genesis to find this distinction apparent upon the
very threshold of truth:--
"And God divided the light from the darkness" (Gen. 1: 4).
Where darkness is attributed to God, as it is sometimes in the O.T., it is either in the
nature of a judgment from His hand, or a description of the veiled character of the O.T.
revelation of Himself before the coming of Christ. One or two Scriptures are, however,
likely to present difficulties if wrested from their context. For instance, Psa. 139: 12
may be brought forward:--
"The darkness and the light are both alike to thee."
If, however, the context is consulted, it will be seen that this passage has nothing to do
with the statement that God is light, and that in Him is no darkness at all. The God Who
knew David's downsitting and uprising, and understood his very thoughts afar off, could
not be baffled by the shade of night. This is the teaching of the passage, and it in nowise
conflicts with the citations previously given:--
"If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me: even the night shall be light about me,
Yea, the darkness hideth not from Thee" (Psa. 139: 2, 11, 12).
Another passage, which is sometimes distorted, is Isa. 45: 7:--
"I form the light, and create darkness:
I make peace, and create evil."
"Evil" is a word that includes the ideas both of moral evil and of evil in the sense of
judgment or calamity. If moral evil or sin were intended here, the antithesis would be
"good". But in the passage the antithesis is clearly "peace": it does not read, "I make
good, and create evil", but "I make peace, and create evil". Just as in Gen. 1: 2 the
darkness that came upon the earth was a calamity inflicted by God in judgment, so is it
here, and in the parallel passage of Amos 3: 6.
Let us be thankful that "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all". Scripture
teaches that light and darkness are incompatible, so that we cannot walk with God and
have fellowship with darkness at the same time. The authority of darkness, and the
unfruitful works of darkness pertain to the kingdom of Satan, and are "not of God". Let
us not put out our hand to stay the ark of God. He is Sovereign, and will overcome when
He is Judge not by the weight of sheer omnipotence, but by the greater weight of perfect
holiness.
"God is light"; yes, but if that were all, not one of us would see salvation. But He is
also revealed as "love", and this discovers a way whereby sin may be righteously dealt
with, "light" may remain unclouded, and yet the sinner be reconciled, forgiven and
accepted. The revelation that "God is love" is immediately brought to bear upon the