Today’s Illuminare is going to sound crazy, and daring. But the essence of Illuminare is the faith-based exploration of boundaries of reason. So here we go.
The “God” of the Bible must necessarily understand physics. Otherwise, he cannot be the God described in the Bible. It’s impossible. Fact after fact suggests that this God has a scientific mind. This apart from all that physics stuff mentioned in Genesis. Creation is not magic, it’s science. It’s why we can access and decode nature through study of science. If creation were magic only mystics will be able to access nature. But scientists can. Which tells us creation is science. God created the universe to be understood by man. But what is God made of? We have a fair idea of what man is made of. At least we know the mineral composition of the human body. But God is not corporeal. He’s spirit. What’s his material?
From a scientific perspective the material make-up of God is energy. God is light: “God is light, pure light; there’s not a trace of darkness in him.” 1 John 1:5 MSG. Of course, we can argue the word “light” as used by John in 1 John 1:5 is not about the material make-up of God but rather a conceptual attribute. In which case the word “light” is used emblematically. It is symbolic. We will find resonance for that view in some translations of the Bible. The Amplified translation for example states: “God is Light, He is holy, His message is truthful, He is perfect in righteousness, and in Him there is no darkness at all, no sin, no wickedness, no imperfection.” 1 John 1:5 AMP. In essence, the Amplified Bible defines God as light in terms of attributes of holiness, truth and righteousness. It’s a theological extrapolation and it’s consistent with scriptures. But being an extrapolation it cannot be exclusive.
A physicist reading that God is light will immediately start thinking of high energy systems. He won’t be thinking of the figurative meaning of light. Scientists think of light as energy. Scriptures contain layers of understanding. Each scripture contains packets of understanding. And so there are different levels of access, as well as different shades of understanding. And because scriptures contain packets of understanding both the scientist and the theologian will have different understandings of “God is light,” and both will be right.
The way a physicist will read “Let there be light” will be radically different from the way the theologian will. The physicist is thinking photons. The curious mind will wrestle with this question: If the sun was created on the 4th day of creation what is the light on Day 1 of creation? At some point he’ll figure out there were 2 major calendars running in Genesis and they don’t have the same metric system. The physicist will tell us the conditions in the early universe were biased towards creating something out of nothing. But the theologian will talk of the Hebrew word, “Bara” – to create out of nothing (creatio ex nihilo). When the scientist reads that God is light he naturally begins to think of the electromagnetic spectrum. Funny thing is, his view is consistent with scriptures. When non-scientists see an electric bulb they call it “light.” But to the scientist what we call “light” is nothing more than the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Light is actually a spectrum. But here’s the strange thing. Light is largely invisible. It doesn’t make sense but it’s the truth. Most of light is actually invisible. And that’s verifiable science.
For me to explain “light” the way the scientist knows it we’ll have to do a thought exercise. Imagine that you have a piece of paper. Now on that paper draw a horizontal pole. Mark the middle of the pole with a red line. To the left of the pole, under the pole write “Dangerous energy”; and to the right “Milder energy.” Do you get it? Now divide the left side of the pole into three bands. In Band 1 write Gamma rays; Band 2, X-rays; Band 3, Ultra violet rays. Note that Ultra violet ray’s band is right next to the red line you drew. Now divide the right side of the pole into 3 parts. Label the bands from the red line outward “Infra-red,” “Microwaves,” “Radio waves.” The totality of those six bands and the red line is what scientists call the electromagnetic spectrum. The red line in the middle is visible light spectrum. The other bands are invisible. If as the Bible says God is light then he has to be an energy combo with spectral energy – Gamma rays, X-rays, Ultra violet rays, Visible light, Infra-red rays, Micro waves and radio waves. These are his capacities.
We’re familiar with some of the spectra of course. We’re well aware of x-ray for example. When we go to hospital we take x-ray. We’re also aware of microwave. We warm our food with that energy spectrum. Direct exposure to some of these energies is downright dangerous. X-ray is so dangerous you have to wear protective gear. It’s high radiation. It can lead to vomiting, bleeding, fainting, hair loss and loss of skin. If God harbours x-ray energy clearly we’ll need protective gear to approach him. Our bodies can’t cope with that level of radiation. We’ll break down. Only a resurrection body can. It seems kind of insulated. But as dangerous as ordinary x-ray is it’s nowhere near gamma ray. Gamma rays are produced from nuclear reaction. It’s not stuff you mess around with. Yet God containerises this energy.
When massive stars die they die spectacularly producing luminous explosions. Certain massive stars produce gamma radiation when they die. Such a gamma ray burst can outshine ALL the stars in the universe. It’s called supernova. Of course you’ll fry from light years away if you’re exposed to supernova. A supernova radiates more energy than our sun ever will in its entire lifetime. The remaining lifetime of our sun is estimated at 5billion years. That’s when it will run out of nuclear fuel. When our sun runs out of nuclear fuel it will swell into what scientists call a “red giant.” It will likely vaporize our world. Now, imagine the radiation from a supernova. That should give us some idea of how powerful God is, what is contained in him. It’s also why God must be patient with humanity. God MUST NOT explode in anger. There’ll be nothing left of anything. He’s an energy spectrum. Contains extremities of power. And now we can begin to understand this scripture: “He (God) lives in light that no one can come near. No one has seen him, nor can they see him. Honour and power belong to him forever! Amen.” 1 Timothy 6:16 GW.
There are two parts to 1 Timothy 6:16 GW. The first is the unapproachability of God because of the radiation from his being. The second is the fact no one has seen God. In other words God the Father does not exhibit his visible spectrum. The Message translation captures the twin issues scientifically: “He’s the only one death can’t touch, his light so bright no one can get close. He’s never been seen by human eyes – human eyes can’t take him in!” 1 Timothy 6:13-16 MSG. What that scripture is saying is, God radiates energy. Light is his primary weapon and definition. He’s a spectrum of energy. And he’s going to vaporise the Antichrist with radiation: “And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.” 2 Thessalonians 2:8 KJV. Now, notice the Bible says no man can see God or approach God. The only way God can be visible is if he manifests his visible spectrum. The Bible says Jesus is God manifested. 1 Timothy 3:16. He’s the manifested member of the Godhead. He’s the visible spectrum of God. The Bible actually calls him “light.” Jesus would also refer to himself as light. He’s the light of the world. John 8:12 KJV. That’s because he’s God’s visible spectrum – that sliver of God’s electromagnetic spectrum. Unlike God the father this manifested member of the Godhead was touchable. The woman with the issue of blood famously touched his garment. Matthew 9:20-22. It’s what John was writing about when he said, “We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life.” 1 John 1:1 NLT.
The scientist’s understanding of God as light is also consistent with the Book of Revelation. The Holy Jerusalem descending from heaven will take its energy source from God: “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.” Revelation 21:23 KJV. That passage – Revelation 21:23 suggests there’s endless nuclear fission going on in God and that fission is producing the endless energy sustaining creation; and God’s glory (or luminosity) is the equivalence of the sun. Perhaps that rainbow around God’s throne is from visible wavelength of his electromagnetic spectrum. Who knows these things! God is a great mystery that keeps scrambling the human brain. “And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.” Revelation 4:3 KJV.
In science, that visible wavelength of light – remember that red line on the pole in our thought experiment – the seven colours of the rainbow constitute it. It’s the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum. If all this sounds crazy to you I don’t blame you. But this is what you get when a 21st century mind grapples with the substance of God. The Elijahs and Ezekiels of this world couldn’t understand some of the stuff shown to them. Elijah lived circa 1000 BC. Ezekiel lived c.622 BC – c. 570 BC. These were the days of horses and carriages – rudimentary technologies. When Ezekiel saw a space ship he couldn’t make sense of it. How could he? We can imagine Starship Enterprise. They could not! “I saw a great storm coming from the north, driving before it a huge cloud that flashed with lightning and shone with brilliant light. There was fire inside the cloud, and in the middle of the fire glowed something like gleaming amber.” Ezekiel 1:4 NLT. Amber is yellowish-orange. Does this somehow remind you of the thrusters of a space ship lifting off a NASA platform at Cape Canaveral?
If Ezekiel is to be believed, spaceships already existed as far back as 600 BC. But these are ships from another dimension. The pilots are scary: “From the centre of the cloud came four living beings that looked human, except that each had four faces and four wings.” Ezekiel 1:5-6 NLT. The whole thing sounds like a Star Wars movie. “As I looked at these beings, I saw four wheels touching the ground beside them, one wheel belonging to each. The wheels sparkled as if made of beryl. All four wheels looked alike and were made the same; each wheel had a second wheel turning crosswise within it.” Ezekiel 1:15-16 NLT. You can’t read Ezekiel’s words and imagine a God who doesn’t understand physics. What comes across is a God dealing in extreme laws of physics. All we can do is bow down to him who uses scientific symbolism to brand himself: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord God, “Who is existing forever and Who was continually existing in the past and Who is to come, the Almighty the Omnipotent, the Ruler of all.” Revelation 1:8 AMP.
If you’ll like to give your life to God, please pray this prayer: “Father I acknowledge that I am a sinner, that Jesus died for me, that you raised him from the dead. Father please forgive me. I accept Jesus today as my Lord and my Saviour. Amen.” #Illuminare
© Leke Alder | talk2me@lekealder.com.