#5: One of the Great Metaphors
The Light of Life
This is the fifth in a series of the 12 greatest metaphors for life.
The breath of life: a person can live three minutes without air.
The shelter of life: in harsh climes a person can live 3 hours without shelter.
The water of life: a normal person can live three days without water.
The bread of life: the average person can live about three weeks without food.
The light of life: if the sun were to stop giving its light, things would not fare well on earth:
In a week, global surface temperatures would drop below 0°F
After a year, temperatures would reach negative 100° below zero
Most plants would die off in a couple of weeks
Trees would follow decades later
But none of this would matter because our planet would spin out of orbit [1]
The Light of Life
On day one of creation, God created light. But it wasn't until day four that God created the sun, moon, and stars to harness the light (and this should not surprise us, for light exists in many places without the fiery ball that warms our earth).
We have the sun for warmth and nourishment, the moon to reflect the sun and order the cycles of life, and the stars for navigation and personal delight. What a dreary world we would have without light.
The Greater Light
Yet, there is a greater light, who came into the world to give light and life to world (John 8:12). This light was Jesus. "In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men" (John 1:4). Malachi 4:2 metaphorically calls this same Jesus the Sun of Righteousness. And if He is the Sun, we are the moon. For Jesus calls us to reflect His light to the world (Matthew 5:14).
God ascribes the radiance of a life-giving orb as a picture of His life-giving Son, Jesus Christ. Not only does this Light shine in the darkness and show us the way we should walk on His earth, but it also represents the eternal life that only Jesus Christ, the True Light can give.
Application
This metaphor of life should again cause us to ask questions about sunshine -- which has received a bad reputation over the recent years in America.
Is the sun good? Or is it harmful? When we appeal to Scripture, the answer is clear. And this is a topic we have already shared in our Biblical Health Study. You can read about it here: Harnessing the Healing Power of The Sun (science is finally embracing the light).
We serve a good God who cares about both our physical and spiritual bodies. He knows exactly how we should live in the world He designed.
Please share His goodness with others by sharing this post on your favorite social media.
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[1] http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-07/if-sun-went-out-how-long-could-life-earth-survive