Manariwa

“…neither time nor space could exist without light”

When God created light (even before He made the stars and planets, apparently), he also set time into existence. Along with time, space also came into existence. For our purposes then, let us use Light to mean Spacetime, because neither time nor space could exist without light. And, perhaps, vice versa.

Could it be that since God is Light and He is Eternal that when He created the Universe and humans, He put His very nature – His own image – into everything that we see and experience? At least, in the beginning – when everything was good. And, at least, that part of His nature what we, in our limited human capacity, understand as the material or, alright, let us use the word spacetime, reflection of His Light, meaning His very being and glory (not the light we see but the Light that we cannot see and simply refer to as the Divine Essence). Everything we are and everything we do then – in spacetime – is a divine reproduction of God’s power and majesty. So, we must be that important to Him, are we not?

This means that we not merely experience light, time and space or experience God, but that we are, in truth and in fact, in the presence of God, whether we acknowledge His existence or not. And it follows, as the prophets said, we are the “workmanship of God”: God expressing His being through us in creative ways. Exactly how?

Think of it this way:

A play is not seen or heard until it is performed by people on a stage. On paper, it is nothing but words.

The stage has to be made first (space). Then the stage lights are set (light). Only then can actors perform (life).

But how does light produce time? Or how do we see actors perform if there were no light? They can act and speak but no one can see them. We might as well be blind. In the case of Creation, God planned the life we will live as humans — He wrote the script; but He needed actors or humans to perform it. He is the director. Those who do not follow His words “go out” of the plan or the play.

But wait! There is a specific way that light produces time. God designed that light from the Sun will be processed by plants into food which humans can use to sustain their physical life. What we often forget or fail to realize is that before we had living bodies, we only had “created light” in the form of a lifeless body (for as scientists say, every atom in our body had been fused in ancient stars — we are literal “stardust”). Adam was soil (the very material that plants need to produce food that we eat to sustain the body); there was yet no living soul or spirit in him. The life he received came from God — His image, His nature as divine and eternal. Being a creation of God, Adam received life from God. That is how the title and essence of the word “Father” began.

Humans, therefore, incorporate physical time (spacetime) and spiritual time (eternity) in one existence. The story that actors perform will be appreciated and remembered by the audience even after the play is over. The director will either say an actor played well or not and will, therefore, allow that actor to continue to act or be replaced by someone else. Of course, a good director always chooses the best actor for the part. And so, God saw all that He created as being good. But some actors do not always obey the director, so with humans to God. In fact, when the first script failed, God had to rewrite it, not once but twice. After the Fall and after the Flood.

God tells us what “bad acting” is; when we fail to submit to His direction, He has the power to rework the script to allow us to keep up with the intent of the original story He wrote in the beginning. That is why at one point, He even took the unprecedented role of becoming an actor in the very play He wrote and declared everything the Director had ever wanted the whole cast to accomplish in the play – even revealing the meaning of the entire play, how to be a good actor, how to relate with other actors (good or bad) and, also, how the entire play will end. Yes, at the end, the light will go out and spacetime will be no more. And the stage emptied. Then the actors will be called one-by-one to receive their proper rewards.

But back to food, our bodies remain active and healthy through food. Our spirits, on the other hand, will only remain active and whole if we feed on God’s truth, His word. The Spirit reveals the word of God. He is the New Director in real-time, telling the actor to remember the script, stay in the story or fulfill the plan. Only then will your name be written in the Book of Life, the Hall of Fame of glorified earthy actors in the glorious stage of Heaven.

Just as light then produces food to sustain physical life, the True Light of God (Jesus) has given us spiritual food to sustain obedient eternal life among those who believe. It is difficult to convince people of the unseen things even though they know that watching a stage play or a movie is merely watching a production that involves an unseen director, scriptwriter, lighting people, make-up artists, props people and others. We think we are alive by some accident and act as though there is no scriptwriter, director and even a cloud of witnesses watching us whether we act well or not.

When the movie director shouts, “Lights, Camera, Action!”, actors begin acting. When God said, “Let there be light”, humans began to have being and life – and so, we are now conscious of spacetime. Acting awards will be granted according to how we fill and fulfill the space and time God allows us to have and to experience; that is, how we play the drama of life.

Act well. The Supreme Director is watching.