Does God Live in Light?



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Turn Out the Light?

Does God Dwell in Light, or Darkness? James Patrick Holding

What is God's dwelling, light or darkness? Sound like a silly question? Here's what's pulled up for "light":

1 Timothy 6:15-16 " . . . the King of kings, and Lord of lords; Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach . . ."
James 1:17 " . . . the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."
John 12:35 "Then Jesus saith unto them, . . . he that walketh in darkness knoweth not wither he goeth."
Job 18:18 "He [the wicked] shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world."
Daniel 2:22 "He [God] knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him." See also Psalm 143:3, II Corinthians 6:14, and Hebrews 12:18-22.

But what, say the critics, about these?

1 Kings 8:12 "Then spake Solomon, The Lord said that he would dwell in the thick darkness." (Repeated in 2 Chronicles 6:1)
2 Samuel 22:12 "And he made darkness pavilions round about him, dark waters, and thick clouds of the skies."
Psalm 18:11 "He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies."
Psalm 97:1-2 "The Lord reigneth; let the earth rejoice . . . clouds and darkness are round about him."

Let's start with a question: If a light is too bright to stand, what do you do if you don't want to turn it off? Answer: You lessen it by obscuring it somehow! The latter references are all to the temporary "pillar of cloud" formation that God appeared in to the Israelites - a divine courtesy extended so that God's overwhelming Shekinah glory wouldn't blind or destroy them. Indeed, isn't that obvious from the 1 Timothy verse? No man can approach that light, so God must shroud it in "darkness" - the pillar of cloud - for us to get anywhere near it! The skeptics are off the mark because they think (without justification or attention to context) that the latter set indicates a permanent dwelling condition!

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