Dwelling in the Light
His appearing will be brought about at the right time by God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He alone is immortal; he lives in the light that no one can approach. No one has ever seen him; no one can ever see him. To him be honor and eternal power! Amen.
(1 Timothy 6:15-16) Good News Translation
The reason for creation drives its purpose which, in turn, dictates its form and function. The logic of the broad narrative of scripture requires us to establish that God is light, light is in heaven, and heaven is above.
The logical steps in the broad narrative of scripture require that we establish that God is light, light is in heaven, and heaven is above. This may seem unnecessary or needlessly pedantic but we’ve found that a strictly systematic approach to deduction turns up all kinds of unexpected thing. Like gravity, for instance.
It turns out that gravity is the force capable of bringing about just such an ordering of creation and so it dovetails perfectly with the broad narrative. We’ve established that gravity is what caused the Earth to form as a sphere of concentric layers of sediment at the center of creation, while the firmament crystallized as a vastly larger hollow sphere of concentric layers of unknown compounds with crystalline characteristics.
The firmament of light is presently on the edge of space which is where God the Father dwells, where his throne is situated. God and light occupy the same space. Just to be sure, this is above us in heaven.
Above and below were made possible by the creation of gravity. This is as fundamental as you can get and it lays out a template for how we can understand and handle other concepts in the broad narrative by using gravity dependent concepts.
Conditions and Opposites
Gravity-free
| Condition | Opposite |
| Light | Darkness |
| Proton | Neutron |
| Good | Evil |
| Holy | Profane |
| Pure | Impure |
| Incorruptible | Corrupt |
| Life | Death |
Gravity-dependent
| Condition | Opposite |
| God | Man |
| Above | Below/Under |
| Up | Down |
| Heaven | Hell |
Light and darkness as opposites, whether as opposing elemental forces or aspects of human nature, are not unique to Christianity, not by a long shot. We can see motifs illustrating the relationship between light and dark in a wide variety of cultural symbols, the Yin and Yang, for instance. What we are learning that the very existence of light and darkness were established by the God of heaven, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, in order to manifest free will. You may attempt to make the case that there is no such thing as free will. You are free to do that.
As we work to establish the broad narrative of scripture there are a series of logical steps which have to be shown to have a firm basis in scripture. Our goal here is to show how the existence of good and evil make sense. We will also show how our loving God is justified in any and all judgements that he makes.
He reveals things that are deep and secret;
(Daniel 2:22) Good News Translation
he knows what is hidden in darkness,
and he himself is surrounded by light.
To make a long story short, God and light are, at this time, on the extreme periphery, but this will change when God comes down to dwell at the center. By the same token, darkness is presently at the center but it will be cast off into the outer regions, never to be thought of again. Light and darkness will literally trade places.
Dwelling in the Light – Navigation
| Section | Title | Scripture |
| December 6th | ||
| 1 | Introduction | 1 Timothy 6:16 |
| December 7th | ||
| 2 | God is Light | 1 John 1:5-7 |
| 2.1 | The Lamb | Revelation 13:8 |
| 2.2 | The Light of Life | John 8:12 |
| 2.3 | The Father of Lights | James 1:17 |
| 2.4 | Everlasting Light | Isaiah 60:19-20 |
| 2.5 | Marvelous Light | 1 Peter 2:4-12 |
| December 8th | ||
| 3 | Light vs. Darkness; Good vs. Evil | Job 30:26 |
| 3.1 | Light = Good; Darkness = Evil | Isaiah 5:50 |
| 3.2 | Where Light Dwells | Job 38:19-20 |
| 3.3 | Down the Rabbit Hole | Job 11:7-8 |
| 3.4 | Off the Deep End | Genesis 1:4 |
| 3.5 | Hell is Darkness, Heaven is Light | Job 33:27-30 |
| December 9th | ||
| 4 | Coming Down out of Heaven | Revelation 21:2 |
| 4.1 | Above and Below | Deuteronomy 4:39 |
| 4.2 | Hell is Below, Heaven is Above | Job 11:7-8 |
| 4.3 | Earth’s Form Fits it’s Function | Isaiah 45:18 |
| 4.4 | Outer Darkness | Matthew 8:11-12 |
| December 10th | ||
| 5 | Cast off the Works of Darkness | Romans 13:12 |
| 5.1 | Separation | 2 Corinthians 6:17 |
| 5.2 | The Milk of the Word | 1 Peter 2:1-3 |
| 5.3 | Soup or Milk? | Isaiah 28:9-10 |
| Salvation | Romans 10:9-10 |
Salvation
- Call upon the name of Jesus Christ,
- believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,
- confess your sin.
Read through the Bible in a year
| Reading plan | December 6 | |
| Linear | 2 Thessalonians 3-5 | |
| Chronological | 2 Corinthians 10-13 |
Matty's Paradigm 