Greetings to you all. I pray that you had a very enjoyable Fourth of July.
Today I will continue our look at M.R. DeHaan’s book, The Chemistry of the Blood. Last week we finished up our lesson on the Chemistry of Revelation with this thought: God is invisible as a Spirit. He cannot be seen. Only in Christ do we see God.
Let’s begin here today. God has pleased himself to make Himself known to us through His attributes revealed in the Person of Christ.
We can classify these attributes in many ways, but for today’s discussion, we will divide them into two groups:
Those attributes which tell us something about God and His characteristics, such as His mercy, His justice, His long-suffering, His holiness, etc, etc, the list goes on and on…
Or
Those attributes which describe His being, the very essence of His character, WHAT HE IS. These are, among other things:
God is Life - 1 John 1:1-4,
“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.
The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.
God is Love - 1 John 4:7-9,
“Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.”
God is Light - 1 John 1:5-7,
“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is Light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”
Today, I would like for us to focus on this 3rd attribute which helps to reveal God’s essence, namely that God is light. Let’s look at the Chemistry of Light.
We just read in 1 John 1:5 that God is Light. The Bible is telling us that God is light. Think with me now, light is invisible. Repeat, light is invisible.
No one ever has seen pure light. No one has ever seen sunlight. The things which we really see are the objects that are revealed by the light. We don’t see the light, just what the light reveals.
As I am typing this sermon, I see my laptop, my Bible, notes, water cup, candles, table and tablecloth. I do not see the light. If these objects were not here, I would see nothing.
God is light, in him there is no darkness at all. We cannot see God. Only as we see the light reflected in the Person of Jesus Christ do we see him.
The source of our light upon this earth comes, with the exception of a certain amount of cosmic radiation and starlight, mainly from the sun as the center of our solar system. There are three kinds of rays from sunlight that reach us here on earth.
Chemical Rays - These rays are invisible and can neither be felt or seen.
Light Rays - These rays can be seen but are never felt.
Heat Rays - These rays are felt but never seen.
God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. We know that in the Godhead, the Trinity, there are three distinct persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father corresponds to the chemical rays of sunlight. We cannot see God. If we did, we would die. God is invisible. The Son, who is the light of the world, corresponds to the light rays, the One who we can see but not feel. Then the Holy Spirit corresponds to the heat rays, since the Spirit is felt in the lives of believers but never seen. 1 John 5:7, “For there are three that testify in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one.” Here John is teaching us that God is indeed a Trinity. Now speaking abstractly, we can say that God as light consists of two kinds of rays.
His justice rays which demand the full payment for sin, infinite punishment for those who have trespassed His holy law. These rays spell death, destruction, and damnation for every creature in His sight because of sin.
His love rays which yearn after the salvation, joy, and redemption of His creation.
God is both of these things. He is justice and he is love. If His justice were to strike it would mean our eternal destruction. A way must be found by which His justice may be fully satisfied and filtered out yet His love allowed to flow freely into the lives of His creation. It is in the Lord Jesus Christ that this requirement is fulfilled. Christ came into this world and took our human nature, and then on Calvary satisfied the just demands of God’s law, fulfilling God’s requirements and taking upon himself the wrath of God’s judgment. In other words, Jesus shielded us from the justice rays of the God of light for those believers who he died for. Christ becomes in redemption what the ozone layer around the earth is in nature. Jesus is the Mediator interposed between God and man to allow us to avoid God’s wrath and instead, come into contact with His perfect love. This shield that Christ provides for us is total and all encompassing. In Romans 8:38-39, Paul proclaims, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” In Christ, God has poured out his wrath that was meant for us. In Christ, the light of the world, God is no longer the source of judgment, but instead becomes our Life-Giver and Friend, our Savior. Do no harm, do good, and stay in love with God. Blessings, Thad Brown Opportunity House and Harmony UMC