In Genesis 1:3 almost all of the translations read:

Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.

It struck me today as I was thinking about the framing of what God said, that the wording “Let there be”, which I am led to believe is better translated “let be” is permissive rather than active or instructive as I might have expected.  Why, rhetorically, is it not recorded that God said: “Light [shall] be”, or maybe more fluidly “there shall be light”.  At work when I record an instruction for an event where an action is to occur I would almost always use the word “shall“.  Why everywhere that I have looked does the translation contain “let”?  I cannot believe that it is sloppiness, or an oversight of language on the part of the Holy Spirit in it being recorded that way; what is recorded must be an accurate rendition of what God said.  So why did he say it that way?

As a matter of linguistic definition the word ‘let’ encompasses a notion that a thing should not be prevented or forbidden; but rather it should be allowed.  The word “let”, to my mind, encompasses a permission being given.  In reading it I can almost hear a sense in which creation is bursting forth it as though the light wanted to come, wanted to be and was just waiting for the moment, for permission but was somehow restricted or opposed or prevented.  Then that glorious moment came and God said “Let there be light”.

John 1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.  All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

I am reminded that Jesus was there in the beginning.  Jesus wanted to come; he was crucified before the foundation of the world.    Jesus the light of the world wanted to come and shine in the darkness to lead us to the place where God lives.  In Psalm 43:3 it says

O send out Your light and Your truth, let them lead me;
Let them bring me to Your holy hill
And to Your dwelling places.

We, you and I, are actually and literally “the light of the world”; we are called to let our light shine before men in such a way that they can see our good works, and glorify our Father who is in heaven.  So in a sense when God said “let there be light”, maybe he meant it creatively, instructively right there, then at that specific moment, but maybe God also spoke it as a permission or instruction to us for all time.  After all when God said “let there be light”, time did not exist.  God said “let there be light” at a point outside of time, and so in a sense it as though he has just said it, and continues to say it.

If you are darkness today then hear God saying to you prophetically “let there be light”.  Prophesy is a mechanism by which we both announce the future, and equally but alternatively cause the future.  God leads you with light and truth to the place he lives.  My prayer for us today is

“Let there be light”