Light in the Darkness

Last week we talked about Mary the sister of Lazarus and how she handled her disappointment over the death of her brother. As we know Jesus showed up 4 days after Lazarus died and raised him from the dead redeeming Lazarus from death and Mary from disappointment.

I was scrolling on social media and ran into a scientific fact called bioluminescence. I’ll get to that in a second, but when I heard of the phenomena I was reminded of sonoluminescence and what God showed me about the death of Lazarus. It’s all linked together and it’s really interesting so let’s hop in.

I love piecing together the truth behind God’s handiwork, you know the parts that are described in the bible but some of the detail isn’t accounted for. The bible covers many topics and I believe that God’s word is true and complete but certain parts of the bible can and deserve to be investigated with the help of the Holy Spirit. One portion of the text that stood out to me was when Jesus brought his friend Lazarus back from the dead in John 11:38-44. The Bible depicts a prayerful Jesus, thankful to God calling Lazarus forth from the grave. The Bible says:

Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”

John 11:43-44

And just like that, Lazarus was risen from the dead. Jesus spoke into the tomb’s darkness, life was given, and darkness was eviscerated with three words… But as I studied, I wondered about all of the avenues Jesus could have taken to perform the miracle. Why speak? Why not choose another method to see the work done? 

First, if he touched a dead body Jesus would have broken the Levitical law (Leviticus 21:11) which would have kept him from being the perfect sacrifice for us. Secondly, Jesus knew that his word held the weight of creation and of God’s glory. 

It had to be spoken from THE WORD who is Jesus because God’s word causes life to come into existence.

I was on TheScienceExplorer.com doing some research and found a phenomenon called Sonoluminecesence. Did you know there is a creature called the mantis shrimp, which lives in the sea. When it wants to catch its prey the shrimp squeezes out jets of water from its claws which travel at such a fast speed that the water does something interesting called cavitate. In other words, the sound from the shrimp’s claws causes the liquid water to be pulled apart into bubbles of water vapor. When these water vapor bubbles collapse into themselves, they emit a flash of light. The light flashes that are produced are extremely short, lasting less than a second and they are surprisingly high energy, emitting temperatures that are ten times hotter than the temperature of the sun.

Simply put, Sonoluminecesnse is the scientific term for light that’s created from sound. The Holy Spirit reminded me of how God formed creation in the book of Genesis. In the beginning, the earth was filled with darkness, without form, and was void 

…but God made a sound…

He called light into the darkness with his word, and a little later God spoke again and commanded all of human creation to be made in his image. I think it’s interesting that we easily forget macroevolution in humans isn’t real and that we aren’t a mistake or some well-aligned accident. We are his intentional and loved creation. The Bible says in John 1:3:

“Through Him, all things were made, and without Him, nothing was made that has been made.”

John 1:3

Jesus is the word of God and he has been there from the beginning. God has something to do with everything that we see. God modeled you after himself! God knows all that you are the good, the bad, and the ugly, and he loves you despite it all. God understands you intimately he sees your pain and he is concerned with you. He sent his son to die for you. In Jesus, God gave his most valuable possession so that you could have an eternity with him. God is good, God is love, God is perfect and he is light. In John1:4 the bible says:

​​In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.

What I’m about to say isn’t in the bible but In my heart, I believe that God said to himself at creation, they may not always choose me but I always choose them. I don’t know about you but I don’t deserve a God who loves me like that and thankfully my position isn’t given based on what I deserve but God loves me according to what Jesus deserves because I put my faith in him. As God breathed life into mankind he marked us with an imprint of himself, a place within us that only he belongs. God marked us with his light.

When we go back and look at the resurrection of Lazarus in our earlier verse John 11:43-44 Jesus reminds us that though he didn’t arrive until 4 days after the death of his friend, Lazarus would be used to bring glory to God and to increase our faith. 

Lazarus was marked…

He was marked for the light and life that only God could give because in him rests the light of all mankind. Jesus asked for the tomb to be opened and when it was he spoke to the darkness and Lazarus was risen. Jesus spoke light into the darkness and Lazarus lived. The word that God gave at creation to breathe life into mankind rippled for generations, it’s the reason why we live today.

When it is dark and everything around you seems dead you have to speak life. Remind yourself that you are marked. You will not die, you will live! 

God is light and he is with you and his light is in you! 

A creation, God’s mark was given to all mankind. There’s another term I want to point out, it’s called Bioluminescence. Remember, we already talked about sonoluminescence, which is how sound makes light. Bioluminescence is the phenomenon where all living creatures emit light. 

For a long time, it was believed that humans did not emit light but in 2009 Japanese scientists discovered what the word of God said thousands of years ago. We carry the very markings of God in our being. They captured our light on camera. This light isn’t correlated to thermal energy but they found there is an actual light that shines through us.

I am reminded of the verse I mentioned earlier in John1:4 that God is light. So, it stands to reason that if we are modeled after and marked by him we do in fact reflect his creative glory! 

You are marked, you are God’s masterpiece and it can be seen on and in you!

When raising his friend from the dead, Jesus reminds us that God has given life wherever his light is. Jesus commanded his friend to live and that was the sound that created light in the darkness of Lazarus’ tomb. Just like at creation, a word was once again spoken into a being that was devoid of the light it was created to emit. Jesus didn’t just resurrect, he restored God’s light to the creation that was Lazarus.

God’s word and his spirit cause light. As we emit light our very bodies show that we were created by a God who was intentional in marking us for his glory. God’s fingerprint is on us and in us. We are called to know God, love God, and exude his glory in the earth. 

Darkness cannot overtake those who believe in Jesus, because we glow with the markings of Christ!

Remind yourself of the words that God gives you, because when darkness starts to creep in Jesus has given us the power to push it back out again. We live in the light because God’s promise is on us and his spirit is in us. His word has gone forth and wherever his word is light also must be present. It’s only in God that life is found therefore, he commanded mankind to be made like him and of him.

There is no darkness in God he is the father of lights! 

Through Jesus, God turned darkness into light with his word. God spoke us into existence and the light we emit is a marking that God’s promise is in us. Whether we like it or not, whether we accept him or not, God’s word suspends our life. If you are not saved God’s Holy Spirit does not live in you, but he loves you enough that his word still sustains you.

When God gave his word it permitted life for all of humanity. We can’t help but glow because God’s word is with us and in us. In the same way that Lazarus was risen from the dead Jesus left us with resurrection power, speak to the dead things in your life, and watch the light come in. Watch life happen and see God set himself at the center of what you are dealing with. Dead things must obey the authority of Jesus. John 1:5 says

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

John 1:5

Jesus spoke and with only a word the dead walked again. Because of the power of his word, Jesus was able to bring light to a place where darkness had run rampant. Jesus brings life where it seems unreasonable. God’s light is emitted even when it makes no sense. Lazarus was in the tomb for 4 days and by all accounts he was dead, but God’s word said otherwise. God speaks light to darkness, peace to problems, resources to lack, more than enough to deficits, and life to death.

God’s word is what makes light, and even now, we emit light that’s part of the thumbprint of God. We are his, set apart for his glory, worship, and love; and we can’t help to show it. Our very being reveals signs that God is real and his word does not return void. 

Remember, no matter what happens, darkness cannot overtake us because we glow with the markings of Christ! We are HIS!