Where did the light come from mentioned in Genesis 1:3?

Question

 

Gramps,

What was the “light” from mentioned in Genesis 1:3?

Annurs

 

Answer

 

Dear Annurs,

Thank you for your question. There are several accounts of the creation given in the scriptures. Each account, while slightly different, all help to paint a more complete picture of the organization of this Earth. We find the larger part of these accounts in: Genesis: 1&2, Moses: 2 & Abraham: 4

Each of these accounts have similar statements regarding the “light” (singular).  Genesis 1:3-4 reads:

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.

Abraham 4:3-4 states:

3 And they (the Gods) said: Let there be light; and there was light.

 

4 And they (the Gods) comprehended the light, for it was bright; and they divided the light, or caused it to be divided, from the darkness.

As one reads further into the creation accounts, the sun, the moon and the stars will later be organized.

Moses 2:14 states:

And I, God, said: Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven, to divide the day from the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and for years;

The organization of the these other “lights” (plural) takes place after the original “light” has already been introduced into the creation accounts. It is often easy to try to correlate/connect the first “light” as actually being either the sun, the moon or the stars. While these other “lights” are related to the first “light”, they are not the actual source of the light itself. Rather the sun, the moon and the stars are instead products of the “light”.

So what exactly is the light or origin of the light spoken of in Genesis 1:3? On lds.org in ‘The Pearl of Great Price: Teacher Manual – Moses 2:1–25: The Physical Creation of Heaven and Earth’ we read:

Elder John Taylor, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, explained that God “caused light to shine upon [the earth] before the sun appeared in the firmament for God is light, and in him there is no darkness. He is the light of the sun and the power thereof by which it was made; he is also the light of the moon and the power by which it was made; he is the light of the stars and the power by which they are made” (in Journal of Discourses, 18:327).

Additionally the Savior is also called the light in Revelation 21:23

23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.

We also read in Doctrine and Covenants 88:7-9,

7 Which truth shineth. This is the light of Christ. As also he is in the sun, and the light of the sun, and the power thereof by which it was made.

 

8 As also he is in the moon, and is the light of the moon, and the power thereof by which it was made;

 

9 As also the light of the stars, and the power thereof by which they were made;

The “light” spoken of in the creation accounts is the “Light” of Christ, he is the one who chases away or divides the darkness. In essence he later organized part of his light into smaller lights: sun, moon, stars. In the Old Testament Student Manual Genesis-2 Samuel – Genesis 1–2: The Creation

“The creative force here called the ‘Spirit of God,’ which acts upon the elements to shape and prepare them to sustain life on earth can be the same as is termed in the Doctrine and Covenants in one context the ‘Light of Christ.’

The organization of this world is far too complex to be captured in just a handful of chapters in the scriptures. While we might not have everything spelled out for us in minute detail we do know that the light of the Savior does physically push darkness away. In like turn, the light of the Savior’s gospel offers a bright hope to those who truly embrace it. The gospel light helps us personally divide ourselves from the darkness of the world, helping us to avoid the woes of sin, dig ourselves out of the pits of despair and look forward in faith to a promising bright future.

The Savior is the origin of the light your inquired about Annurs, may we all look to him for personal light on a daily basis.

Warm Regards,

 

Gramps