“And God said, Let there be light; and there was light.” Gen. 1:3.

This earth was not always so bright and pleasant as it is now. We learned last week that when God created the earth it was covered only with water and darkness. But God, in His goodness, did not leave it so. The first thing that He did was to make it light. And do you know how He did it? God commanded the light to shine right out of darkness; and it did! (2 Cor. 4:6.) He just said, “Let there be light;” and there was light. How wonderful! “Surely the Lord is a great God.” “Who is so great a God as our God?” [Psalm 77:13]

And God gave names to the light and the dark. “He called the light Day; and the darkness He called Night.” But it takes both the light and the dark to make a whole day, for the rest of the verse says that “The evening and the morning were the first day.” Say it over slowly and see which came first, the evening, or the morning. Yes, the evening, or darkness came first, for you know the earth was all dark until God made the light. So the first part of the first day was all dark, but after God said “Let there be light,” the rest of the day was light.

You see the dark part was first, and then the light part; first the evening, and then the morning. The Bible says that every day begins in the evening, just as the first day did. The evening or dark part of the day, always comes first. But we shall learn more about this in another lesson.

Can you count? If so, count these straight marks: I I I I I I I. Now you can tell how many days there are in every week, for there are just as many days in a week as there are straight marks here on our paper.

Do you remember what was done on the first day of the first week? If you will read again in the first chapter in your Bible, you will see that there were three wonderful things made (Put three little marks through the first straight mark so that you may remember how many things were made on the first day): God created the heavens, and the earth, and the light. And that means, you remember, that He spake and they were; He commanded and they were created! Name them over and over again, for you should never forget that on the first day God, by His Word, created the heavens, the earth, and the light. “In the beginning God created the heavens and earth,” “And God said, Let there be light; and there was light,” “And the evening and the morning were the first day.”

1. Why can you see things so much more easily in the morning than you can in the night?
2. Who made the beautiful light?
3. When did God create the light?
4. What other things had He created before that?
5. Then what three things did He create on the first day?
6. How did God create the light?
7. What name did God give to the light?
8. What name did God give to the darkness?
9. And yet what did it take to make the whole day?—Both the darkness and the light.
10. Which part of that first day came first,—the dark part or the light part? Gen. 1:5, last part.
11. Then according to the Bible, when must every day began? In the evening.
12. What is the colour of light? Matt. 17:2.
13. Name some white things.
14. What is the colour of darkness? Prov. 7:9.
15. Name some black things.
16. Which part do you like best, the light or the darkness?
17. Why?
18. Do you know how many days there are in every week?
19. What do we call the first day of every week?—“Sunday.”
20. What did God do on the first day of the first week?

 

“‘Let There Be Light’”

Naughty thoughts and feelings and actions are called sins. When a person’s heart is full of sin he cannot see what he ought to do, and he stumbles and makes even more foolish mistakes than though he were blind, or were walking in the blackest darkness. So God calls sin blindness and darkness.

Every man, woman, and child in the world has sinned. Therefore the hearts of even little children are full of the dangerous darkness of sin.

It is more dangerous than common darkness, because it will cause us to miss the way to heaven, and will cause us to fall into the snares and pitfalls of Satan and be destroyed for ever. We cannot go to our heavenly home without light a bit better than we can on a dark stormy night go over a dangerous road to our earthly home without light.

Lamp-light or fire-light or electric light, or even sunlight is not powerful enough to drive the darkness of sin out of our hearts. Nothing but the mighty light of God’s word can do it, the word which in the beginning said, “Let there be light, and there was light.” We cannot fill ourselves with light any more than the earth could.

God is longing to say to your naughty heart, “Let there be light.” Just as sure as He does, your heart will be filled with the marvelous light of His own purity and goodness instead of with the darkness of your impurity and sin.

But God will not speak light into your heart unless you want Him to. If you want to do wrong, and disobey your parents, and be selfish and unlovely, He will allow you to do so; but if you are tired of sin, tired of your own way, and really want to give it all up and do God’s way, just tell Him so, and let Him send His word, “Let there be light,” into your heart. Then Jesus the light and righteousness of the world will fill your heart; for Jesus is the Word of God.

Then as long as you daily study and obey His word you may walk in His light. But if you choose your own will, and grieve Him away, your heart will again be as dark and full of sin as ever. Jesus alone is the light of life, and you must walk with Him every day, if you would “walk in the light.”

The Present Truth – August 24, 1893
E. J. Waggoner

Story in pdf Day and Night & Let There Be Light