LET
THERE BE LIGHT
Man
throughout the ages has looked around himself and contemplated his
surroundings in wonder. Solomon was one such man who was afforded
the means to pursue such knowledge. He said, "And I set my
heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that is done
under heaven; this grievous task God has given to the sons of man, by
which they may be exercised." (Eccl. 1:13) Everything that our
eye sees has triggered a desire to know and understand how it's made,
how it works, what its purpose and function is and how it got here.
Such curiosity has prompted man to pursue the answers to such
questions through what is called "science." According to
Webster's dictionary, the definition of "science" indicates
that the word originally had to do with "the state or fact of
knowing; knowledge, often as opposed to intuition, belief, etc."
However, in time it has come to have this present definition:
"Systemized knowledge derived from observation, study, and
experimentation carried on in order to determine the nature or
principles of what is being studied." The systematic order of
science begins with observation,
followed by a theory
("a formulation of apparent relationships or underlying
principles of certain observed phenomena which has been verified to
some degree." Webster),
from which is drawn an hypothesis
in order to explain what has been observed. The next order in
scientific investigation is experimentation
which is conducted in order to arrive at a proven conclusion or
proof.
This process, or at least parts of it, are often repeated many times
before a final proof is reached.
Indeed,
science has revealed many amazing realities about the physical
universe in which we live. This is true only because God made
everything by design with order and constancy, therefore it can be
understood by the laws which He set in motion when He created all
things. It is on those "laws of nature" that the scientist
must rely in order to conduct experimentation and consistently rely
upon the results. There is no fear of science contradicting the
Divine revelation of God's written word since He is both Creator of
all things as well as author of the Divine account of His creation.
It must be remembered that science is the study of existing
things and cannot go beyond their beginnings.
Thankfully,
God chose to reveal the order of His six days of creative work, since
it cannot be determined by scientific experimentation. This is so
because of the fact that there is no prior physical existence of
matter or physical laws upon which to draw an hypothesis or upon
which to carry out experimentation, since God created everything from
nothing.
And while there is no experiment that can determine creative
beginnings, Paul makes it clear that we can understand the First
Cause by observation of all that has been created. "For since
the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen,
being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power
and Godhead,..." (Rom. 1:20).
God,
who is
the First Cause, is not left without evidence of His existence and
nature. That which He has created gives testimony of His power and
eternal nature by virtue of the fact that He precedes
all that has been created. As the psalmist has said of God, "Before
the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth
and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God."
(Psm. 90:2) Science cannot, of its own methods, reproduce inside a
laboratory the creative work of God. Therefore, all science must
ultimately concede the fact that the origin of matter and the
associated physical laws upon which he relies in order to analyze,
test and draw his conclusions to such experimentation rests upon the
Divine revelation that gives reliable testimony to the origin of all
things. To think otherwise will only lead to false theories and
hypotheses and much wasteful and futile experimentation.
While
many scientists refuse to accept these truths, it can only be
concluded that "By faith we understand that the worlds were
framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not
made of things which are visible." (Heb. 11:4)
It
is an interesting fact that the Hebrew writer points to that which is
"seen" and which is "visible" as contrasting that
from which things were made. Sight is a product of the workings of
the eye. Without light,
our eyes do not function. But how many of us take light
for granted?
"In
the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was
without form, and void; and darkness
was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over
the face of the waters. Then God said, 'Let
there be light.'
And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light
from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He
called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day."
(Gen. 1:1-5) When we read this we may wonder how there could be
light on the first day when it wasn't until the fourth day of
creation that He made the Sun which we normally would attribute light
to originate from?
Listen
to the account of the fourth day of creation: "Then God said,
'Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the
day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for
days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the
heavens to give light on the earth'; and it was so. Then God made
two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser
light to rule the night. He made the stars also. God set them in
the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to rule
over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the
darkness. And God saw that it was good. So the evening and the
morning were the fourth day." (Gen. 1:14-19) Is there a
contradiction in the accounts of these two days of creation regarding
the subject of light? Some would like to think so, but science
itself has revealed the nature of light and in so doing has shown how
this can be so. But in the mean time, we ought never to draw the
false conclusion that there is a supposed contradiction within the
scriptures. Faith would call us to look to God, as did His Son, and
say, "Your word is truth." (Jn. 17:17)
It
has only been in recent times that the nature of light has been
discovered. Light is the electromagnetic radiation of energy which
is measurable in "wave lengths." These wave lengths range
from "long" waves of energy that we know as "radio"
waves from which we are able to "hear," to more compressed
wave lengths known as "infrared light" which is not visible
to the naked eye, to even more compressed wavelengths which are known
as "ultraviolet light" which is also invisible to the naked
eye, to even more
compressed
wavelengths which we know as "X-rays" and so on. Visible
light which
can be detected by the human eye, involves the eye's reception of a
narrow "spectrum" of wavelengths of energy which lies
between infrared and ultraviolet light (or wave lengths). Within
this narrow range of wave lengths known as visible light is the
spectrum of "color."
So
on the first day, God created this pulsating "energy"
which is measured as a wide range of "wave lengths" from
which is realized "light."
As we have already pointed out, "visible"
light (that which the human eye can comprehend) falls within a narrow
range of wave lengths between the "invisible"
ultraviolet and infrared ranges of light.
It
has been learned in the past century, that this electromagnetic
"energy,"
in its various "magnitudes"
of intensity are realized as radio waves, light waves, X-rays, gamma
rays, etc. (all of which are identified by their particular "wave
lengths.").
The elementary principles upon which this energy is produced is the
result of positively and negatively charged particles found within
atoms (consisting of protons, neutrons and electrons). The study of
such energy as is produced by atoms is called "quantum
mechanics." Such studies has resulted in an understanding that
atoms are the source
of this energy from which we get light, as well as these other levels
of energy that we have also considered. While most of us do not
consider the "mechanics"
of all of this, we enjoy the results of such understanding when we
use any electrical appliance, when we turn on the TV, or work on our
computer, or when we need to have X-rays made to determine what
course the doctor needs to take to treat us - and yes, when we flip
the light switch and instantly fill the room with light.
Now
if you didn't understand what was said in the last three paragraphs,
don't be too upset. I too prefer the biblical explanation: "And
God said, let there be light, and there was light." Isn't that
so much more simple to understand? However, to the inquisitive mind,
God has amazed us once again by the greatness of His knowledge and
power to think
of such a complex (and yet simple) means of producing light as well
as matter, and producing
these marvels of "nature"
for us to ponder!
So
it is therefore understood (at least scientifically) that God created
on the first day of His creation, the "spectrum"
of energy of which light is a part. In so doing, He produced light
in all of its colors.
And we also understand that in producing light, He necessarily
produced "atoms"
with their electrical charges as the means from which light is
produced. In creating atoms, God made the basic building blocks from
which all matter consists. It is what all material things are made
of. Atoms can best be described as invisibly small "solar
systems"
so small that many thousands of them, lying on a flat plain could fit
inside the area of the period at the end of this sentence. Combined
together in various combinations, atoms make up all of the elements
from which God made all things. Every physical thing, including the
earth, water, air, the Sun, the moon, the stars, plants, animals, and
people - all of these things - are made with atoms. And God "made"
them by "speaking"
them into existence.
When
God created the Sun on the fourth day, He used the same building
blocks that He produced on the first
day when He made the earth, water and light. In His own great
creative power, He produced the Sun with all of its self-sustaining
atomic energy, as a great flaming nuclear reactor, which emits not
only light (based on the principles begun on the first day of
creation), but all the wave lengths of energy ranging from radio
waves to intense gamma rays. He also made the myriad of innumerable
stars, each of which are "suns"
in their own right (some of which are smaller and many of which are
millions of times larger than our Sun), each of which generates
uncomprehendable light and energy, sending their individual points of
light through the expanse of God's universe. Why? Why did God go to
such lengths - to make the invisibly small and from it make the
immeasurably large and expansively distant "lights"
of the universe (most of which we can only "see" through
telescopes or "detect" by their radio waves or gamma rays)?
Why has He allowed man the mental capacity to observe and learn, and
to build upon all of the generations of mankind's learning, to know
(what little) we know now? Do we need to know this in order to
believe and serve God? No! Can we benefit from it? Yes!
Isaiah
best sums up the answer to these questions: " 'To whom then
will you liken Me, or to whom shall I be equal?' says the Holy One.
Lift
up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things, Who
brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, by the
greatness of His might and the strength of His power; Not one is
missing." (Isa. 40:25-26)
-
Gary V. Womack - November 2003