In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
Genesis 1:1-4
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.3 All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. John 1:1-4
Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. John 8:12
Kay Arthur Bible studies have taught me one very important lesson: Follow the thread of thought through the Scripture to get the message of God. Recently while studying Ann Spangler’s book, The Names of God, I came to the lesson on Light of the World, one of the names of Jesus we often associate with Christmastime. The other names associated with Christmas are Immanuel, God with us, Holy Child, and Jesus, Son of Man. Messianic Rabbi Eric E. Walker, in his book Etz Chaim: Tree of Life, he writes, “God’s Word is complex and we must break it down into its component parts to study and understand it.” So, I began tracking the word light through the Scriptures and as I did understanding slowly dawned as this name no longer was just a great way to express the illumination of the Holy Spirit and Jesus birth on a dark Bethlehem night, it revealed His character not as refracted (broken down light) but as perfectly complete polychromatic light–pure, holy, and white. A light, we as believers will again possess in eternity.
Let me start at the beginning. The Hebrew word for light is aur and is made up of three (think trinity) letters. The aleph, the vav, and the resh. I am not a Hebrew scholar but this language fascinates me! Do you know there are no curse words in Hebrew!? It is a pure language on every level. It is the only language to be reborn; is the same as it was in ancient times, and is the language many believe will be the language of Heaven. Each letter is a number, a word, a picture, has a meaning, is a musical note, and points to Messiah. It is believed to have been the original language spoken prior to the Tower of Babel where man was separated by language.
The aleph has a numerical value of one (stands for God), is the picture of an ox head, and its meaning is power, strength, and leadership. Colossians 1:15-18 tells us, “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell;”.
The vav has a numerical value of six (stands for man), is a picture of an nail, the meaning is to connect, secure, hold. Genesis 1:1 tells us God created the heaven and the earth. Jesus was the Son of man and the Son of God and He is the connection of man back to God, the connection between heaven and earth.
The resh has a numerical value of 200, it is the picture of a man with head bowed, and its meaning is service, servant. Hosea 11:4 is the prophecy of Christ serving us and drawing us back to God through His service and sacrifice. Jesus is the head of God’s household, He is the works and Word of God. (Mark 10:45)
So, the word for light, aur, means “to be or become light,” according to Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance. Light dispels darkness as we read in Genesis 1:4. In fact, the definition of darkness is the absence of light. Light is the symbol of life according to John 1:4, and a symbol of God’s presence as the apostle John wrote in I John 1:5, “This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.“ The total numeric value of this word aur is 207 and II Corinthians 4:6 sums up all this word contains, “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” Other Hebrew words with the same numeric value have the meanings of in glory (endoxa), crown (zar), pure (barah), and I shall appear (Erah). I am no Hebrew guru but I am fascinated by how connected letters, words, numbers, meanings, and pictures are in the Hebrew language and how much understanding arises when they are studied, compared, and used to understand the Scriptures..
There is much more to this. So much we need to wrap our minds around to fully appreciate this holy gift we have been given of LIGHT. This is enough to ponder today.
Listen to the words of the song Here I Am to Worship. Focus on these stanzas and part of the chorus:
Light of the World (Jesus)
You stepped out into darkness (creation and nativity)
Open my eyes
Let me see
Beauty that made
This heart adore You
Hope of a life
Spent with You
King of all days (aleph)
Oh, so highly exalted
Glorious in Heaven above
Humbly You came (vav)
To the earth You created
All for love’s sake became poor (resh)
I’ll never know how much it cost
To see my sin upon that cross
Our most Gracious and Loving Abba Father,
There are no words to adequately say, “Thank You!” for the price You paid when Jesus, Your One and Only Begotten Son gave up His seat next to You in glory to enter our darkness to restore us to fellowship with You! This proves Your love and compassion.
Today, I ask Your Holy Spirit to come, sit with us, teach us, open our hearts to this blessed Truth found in the name of Jesus our Messiah: The Light of the World. Draw us into this light, ignite passion in our hearts, and help us shine in the darkness wherever we live.
Be glorified in this season of celebration we pray in the matchless name of Jesus. Amen
Here I am to Worship- Chris Tomlin
