What it means when God said “Let there be Light”?

Can you just imagine the world we live today without light? Everybody would be living a life of being blind that we can’t do so much for ourselves.

The existence of light is very important for us which allows us to grow and harvest our food to eat. Yes, other living things especially plants do need light to survive. So without plants, it will be impossible for us to live on this world.

On the Bible’s Old Testament, the word “light” was first mentioned on Genesis 1 verse 3.

Some individuals interpret what God said about “Let there be light” as a form of metaphor. This means, it has a deeper meaning. The reason why is because of the very first verse Genesis 1:1 which stated that God created the universe.

When God created the universe, everything had already came into existence including light. The rest was more about redesigning it particularly earth.

On the other hand, some individuals do have an understanding that light only began to exist on Genesis 1:3 when God commanded it.

If you are going to read the succeeding Holy Scriptures about God’s creation of the world, God had commanded all things to come into their rightful places.

Now, when it comes to my own understanding. Both interpretations are correct.

When God created the universe, it means that He already created everything. This means that physical form of light may already exist somewhere else in the universe. However, earth remains undeveloped at that time which is described on Genesis 1:2. So at this point, God started renovating earth for us human to live.

God commanding the light to appear on Genesis 1:3 was God’s creation of light specifically for earth.

Metaphorical Meaning of Light

The Holy Bible mentions more about light but with metaphorical meaning.

One of the best Scripture that I like most is John 8:12 where Jesus said that he is the “light of the world”.

This Scripture is actually so easy to interpret where Jesus was speaking in metaphor and not the physical form of light. We will discussing more about the meaning of this Scripture on another separate post.

Another Scripture found on the Holy Bible about light which has connection between God and Jesus Christ can be read at 1 Corinthians 4:6.

On this Scripture, God’s creation of light from the very beginning is mentioned. And as a Christian, He is the same God who made his light shine into our hearts which means that we are able to understand and interpret His glory through the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Conclusion

In the Old Testament, when God spoke of the words “Let there be light”, it was a form of creation where physical form of light appeared.

But in the New Testament, light is more often used as a metaphor especially when light is referred to Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ being the light of the world means that he brought enlightenment to this world. So anyone who follows his teachings will never be lead astray and get salvation with eternal life. In short, light can be interpreted as the truth or guidance towards our salvation.

Why is Earth the only Planet Not Named after a Roman god?

By the time that we start going to school as a kid, one among the major subjects being thought is science. This is the subject that we importantly need to educate ourselves because it does really help knowing them.

Although, there are some aspects of science that often left us with some curious questions such as why did they named the planets in our solar system after the Roman gods and goddesses except earth?

Let’s name them all except those that are just recently discovered:

1. Mercury
2. Mars
3. Venus
4. Saturn
5. Neptune
6. Uranus
7. Jupiter

According to my research, people from the ancient period of time named these planets after their Roman gods and goddesses.

It has been theorized that all of these seven planets were probably clearly visible to the naked eyes of the people in the past. This was the closest speculation for them to know the existence of the planets unless they were actually technologically advance that we never thought about.

But at this time, they do not consider earth as a planet yet. It is probably the reason why they never changed its name.

Many years later passed particularly at the 17th century, humans had concluded that earth was also a planet.

Did the Bible Originally Named the Planets?

God never gave any names to those planets in our solar system except for the two of earths’ main light sources which is the Sun and the Moon. He even never referred to them as planets but “stars” and there are no further description about them that can be found on the Bible.

Try to read Genesis 1 verse 16.

The creation of the planets which are stars takes us back when God created “lights from the sky”. Thus, their sole purpose is to emit light from the sky which can only be observed during the night.

In my own opinion, the stars or planets aren’t really much important for us to know about. If it happens that they can be inhabited by us humans, it isn’t really necessary for us to go and live into those planets because we already have everything we need here on earth.

But, I highly doubt if there are any planets out there that are pretty much the same as earth. It’s because according to the Bible, earth was the only place designed by God for mankind to live and prosper.

Is Earth really a Planet?

In the field of science, earth is 100 percent a planet. But in the Holy Bible, I couldn’t find any on its Scripture that it is considered as one among the stars in space or universe. Thus, it is not a planet or star.

Earth isn’t even the name of this world that we live in. God simply referred to earth as the “land or ground” areas of this world.

Read Genesis 1 verse 10.

In my own personal opinion, I totally agree that it is best to call it earth rather than by any other name because God repeatedly mentioned it several times. Everything He made were for the benefit of the earth making it completely habitable for us to thrive.

Why did they name the Planets after Roman Gods?

With so many interesting names that one could come up to name the planets in our solar system, why did they choose to name them after the Roman gods and goddesses?

The answer to this question will take us back since the ancient period of time. Most people of the ancient world actually viewed that beyond the sky was the heaven. So for this reason, every objects that they discovered or sighted from space was that, they considered them as their gods and goddesses.

Every cultures around the world do have different names for the planets. But there is one thing in common, they name them after the gods that they worship.

You may even be surprised to know that the ancient Egyptians worship the sun as their god. Another interesting fact is the occurrence of the “solar or lunar eclipse”. Many people in the past believed that this rare event means that their god was angry where they immediately need to pray and ask for their forgiveness.

The earliest record on our history that named the planets according to their gods were the “Babylonians”. They had given names such as Nabu, Ishtar, Ninerta, Nergal and Marduk.

When the Greeks came next into power, they replaced it into their own deities names where they called them Hermes, Aphrodite, Ares Zeus and Cronos.

Next to the Greeks were the Romans in which they renamed the planets into their own and it is what the West have adopted and use until today.

Some of you may ask about the dwarf planet called, “Pluto” which was discovered back in 1930. This means that ancients didn’t originally named it but the scientists at the time of its discovery named it after the Greek god of the underworld.

Conclusion

Since we now know that the only reason why the ancient people named the planets according to their gods was due to their lack of knowledge about them. Isn’t it a good idea to rename them again to a much better and suitable ones?

Planet mars being now called by many as the “Red Planet” is one good example.

Scientists should come up with better names for these planets that provide some interesting and useful information about them. It’s because calling them by their Roman god names which is currently being thought at school just makes no sense to a kid.