The Spectrum of Light

This post is a result of my son Daniel's 8th grade science lesson on light in December of 2005, the season of light as told by the story of the Maccabees.

So, to set the stage, first let's see what some of the Scriptures have to say about light.

Psalms 119:105-112 NUN. Thy word [is] a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. I have sworn, and I will perform [it], that I will keep thy righteous judgments. I am afflicted very much: quicken me, O LORD, according unto thy word. Accept, I beseech thee, the freewill offerings of my mouth, O LORD, and teach me thy judgments. My soul [is] continually in my hand: yet do I not forget thy law. The wicked have laid a snare for me: yet I erred not from thy precepts. Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever: for they [are] the rejoicing of my heart. I have inclined mine heart to perform thy statutes alway, [even unto] the end.

Psalms 119:130 The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.

Genesis 1:3-4 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that [it was] good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

In this verses from Genesis the Hebrew word for light is 'owr, it is written with the letters Aleph Vav Resh.

The meaning of the letters are "Strength", "Connection" and "Beginning".

This "light" is different in the Hebrew text and its Hebrew meaning differs from the word we also call "light" as found in Genesis 1:16. Here, the Hebrew word for light is ma'owr.

Everyone knows that (black) darkness is the absence of any visible light. Isaiah had something to say about this as did Matthew:

Isaiah 8:20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

Isaiah 50:10 Who [is] among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh [in] darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God.

Matthew 5:14-16 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Most know that the human eye is sensitive to light and able to detect only a small region of the sun's electromagnetic spectrum known as "visible light". This "visible light" corresponds to a wavelength range of 400 - 700 nanometers (nm). These are indeed very interesting numbers! Why?

Just like a computer code, each Hebrew letter has a numeric value, and each Hebrew letter has a meaning. This is known as Gematria. The Gematria of the Hebrew letter Aleph, the first letter is one. The last letter, Tav is four hundred. Tav ת is the Hebrew letter which means a cross.

Often given an independent final value of 700 is the Hebrew "final" Nun ן the Hebrew letter which means a continuation of new life.

Surprised as we were? "Visible light" corresponds to a wavelength range of 400 - 700 nanometers. The interpretation my son and I arrived at was that the cross (400) represents new life (700).

My son Daniel was excited to know that this is supported by the prophet Daniel, his namesake:

And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame [and] everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. Daniel 12:2-3

The Psalmist tells us:

Psalms 119:169-176 TAV. Let my cry come near before thee, O LORD: give me understanding according to thy word. Let my supplication come before thee: deliver me according to thy word. My lips shall utter praise, when thou hast taught me thy statutes. My tongue shall speak of thy word: for all thy commandments [are] righteousness. Let thine hand help me; for I have chosen thy precepts. I have longed for thy salvation, O LORD; and thy law [is] my delight. Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee; and let thy judgments help me. I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant; for I do not forget thy commandments.

Did you see it? The testimony of the Nun and the Tav in Psalms 119? Re-read the opening Scripture in this study. The Nun speaks of the light of The Word, the Tav: these speak of His Word which include His statutes, commandments, precepts, law and judgments.

Sir Isaac Newton, a very serious Scripture student, proved that light was made up of seven colors, but this "spectrum" comes from three colors. The seven visible colors are from the three primary colors of blue, green and red. The four others come from these three, they are magenta, cyan, yellow and bringing all six colors together as one produces the seventh, pure - perfect white light.

The Scriptures describe the significance of God's marvelous light:

Psalms 4:6 [There be] many that say, Who will shew us [any] good? LORD, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us.

Psalms 43:3 O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.

Psalms 89:15 Blessed [is] the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance.

Isaiah 2:5 O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of The LORD.

Romans 13:12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.

Revelation 22:5 And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.

John 1:4-5 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

John 1:7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all [men] through him might believe.

John 8:12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

John 9:5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

Scripture also describes the spectrum, the rainbow, the glory as the likeness of the appearance of God:

And above the firmament over their heads was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like a sapphire stone; on the likeness of the throne was a likeness with the appearance of a man high above it. Also from the appearance of His waist and upward I saw, as it were, the color of amber with the appearance of fire all around within it; and from the appearance of His waist and downward I saw, as it were, the appearance of fire with brightness all around. Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the brightness all around it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. So when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard a voice of One speaking. Ezekiel 1:26-28

Newton's 1672 Prism Experiment
Light consists of the entire electromagnetic spectrum including, you may have guessed it, seven (7) wavelengths: 1) gamma rays, 2) X rays, 3) ultraviolet radiation, 4) visible light 5) infrared radiation, 6) microwaves and 7) radio waves. The difference in these light forms is simply their wavelength.

So too our Creator gave us a "spectrum" of His seven feasts which show us the plan of His salvation through the Feasts, His scheduled appointments with mankind. Likewise His seven spirits are described and prophesied by Isaiah to be resting upon the Messiah, our savior. These are described by John in Revelation as a representation of the seven branched menorah, the seven "lamps of fire" which are powered by oil unrepresentative of the Holy Spirit of our God!

Revelation 4:5 And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and [there were] seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.

Now go back and read Isaiah verse 11:2 And the (1) spirit of The LORD shall rest upon him, the (2) spirit of wisdom and (3) understanding, the (4) spirit of counsel and (5) might, the (6) spirit of knowledge and of the (7) fear of The LORD;

This is incredible, so look at the "rainbow" John describes in Revelation and notice the color of the clothes of the elders !! Here we can see a picture of the seven spirits of the God represented by the menorah and a picture of the Tabernacle and it colors described in Exodus 25:2-8:

Revelation 4: 2- 5 And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and [one] sat on the throne. 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. And round about the throne [were] four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold. And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and [there were] seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.

Amazingly, perhaps we can consider the order of the light spectrum to align with the stated order of the seven spirits of God:

(1) White = Spirit of The LORD
(2) Magenta = Wisdom
(3) Blue = Understanding
(4) Cyan = Counsel
(5) Green = Might
(6) Yellow = Knowledge
(7) Red = Fear, Awe

Color is important and the Bible, the white light of His Word is full of it. It gives us the gospel, the good news story of redemption in the offering of the colors of the linens of the Holy Tabernacle. The colors of blue, purple, scarlet and red are all within the story of the great agony of the Passover of Yeshua. The components also tell the story. The silver, the wood and the incense show us the prophecy of His story as He builds His sanctuary so that He may dwell in us, and use us as precious stones at the heart of His assembly:

"Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering. And this [is] the offering which ye shall take of them; gold and silver, and brass, And blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goat's [hair], And ram's skins dyed red, and badger's skins, and shittim wood, Oil for the light, spices for anointing oil, and for sweet incense, Onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod, and in the breastplate. And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them." Exodus 25:2-8

Exodus 25:31-35 And thou shalt make a candlestick [of] pure gold: [of] beaten work shall the candlestick be made: his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of the same. And six branches shall come out of the sides of it; three branches of the candlestick out of the one side, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side: Three bowls made like unto almonds, [with] a knop and a flower in one branch; and three bowls made like almonds in the other branch, [with] a knop and a flower: so in the six branches that come out of the candlestick. And in the candlestick [shall be] four bowls made like unto almonds, [with] their knops and their flowers. And [there shall be] a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, according to the six branches that proceed out of the candlestick.

Messiah is seen in the design of the menorah, the candlestick in the center and the three branches on both sides of course equal seven. With the design of the menorah as shown Moses and John the revelator, God is showing us a heavenly "shadow picture" of Himself as a visible representation on earth.

That is why Moses was explicitly instructed by God to make the menorah exactly as he was shown to do why on Mt. Sinai. Numbers 8:4 And this work of the candlestick [was of] beaten gold, unto the shaft thereof, unto the flowers thereof, [was] beaten work: according unto the pattern which the LORD had shewed Moses, so he made the candlestick.

The menorah was not only shown by God to Moses and John but to Zechariah as well:

I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof: And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof. Zechariah 4:2-3

Take a look at the graphic above depicting Zachariah's vision which included the two trees, the two witnesses.

We all know that a "rainbow" is an arc of colored light in the sky caused by refraction of the sun's light into the seven colors of the spectrum. The seven colors of the rainbow are the "basic spectrum" from which all light that we see is composed. Although these colors merge smoothly, they are divided into red, green, blue, orange, yellow, indigo and violet (and other names). Just as various musical sounds contain the tones of the basic scale (often combinations of tones, e.g. chords), so any colored light is made up of its seven spectral components.

Sir Isaac Newton showed that not only can a three sided triangular prism separate a beam of sunlight into rainbow colors, but also that, when a second prism brings the different colors together again, pure white light is once more obtained.

Job 24:13 They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof.

The colors in the visible wavelengths only consist of three primary colors: blue, green and red.

All colors of light are brought forth by these three. Amazingly, our eye contains three kinds of light-sensitive cells, each sensing a different band of colors - one band centered in the red, one in the green and one in the blue. Perhaps, in a similar way, the blue represents the spiritual heavenly realm of The Father, the green represents His bodily earthly life as Messiah, and the red represents Messiah Yeshua’s suffering, death and resurrection to new life.

Three is the number of the harvest day of First Fruits, a symbol of His resurrection. On the third day God, first created fruits. He created grass, seed bearing herb's and fruit bearing tree life on Earth. We can see this too with the creation and design of our solar system. The Menorah the spectrum of light is a shadow picture of the visible solar system. We can see seven planets and the 3rd planet Earth is the only planet with life on it.

In a like manner, the appointed third feast known as First Fruits> it represents the white light of His resurrected life. It is the day of Messiah's resurrection.

In fact, any color which we see, including brown, olive-green and all others are in fact actually absent in the rainbow spectrum> They are only an impression as our brain conveys these colors combining light wave signals from the three primary color bands. James Clerk Maxwell, a Scottish physicist who it just so happens to have given the basic equations of electricity, (the man that predicted electromagnetic waves) also showed that two kinds of color exist, depending on whether it was perceived by an instrument or by the human eye: 1) "Spectral color, " i.e. the three true colors of the rainbow and their seven combinations as seen in the rainbow and 2) "Perceived color" by the human brain which mixes and changes true color.

These two color types are two witnesses.

Today, we know that light is composed of photons which "display" two properties, those of a 1) wave and some of the properties of a 2) particle. Electromagnetic energy at a particular wavelength λ (in a vacuum) has two properties and an associated frequency ν and photon energy E. Why is two an important feature of the witness of light?

Zechariah 4:11-14 tell us: Then answered I, and said unto him, What [are] these two olive trees upon the right [side] of the candlestick (seven light menorah) and upon the left [side] thereof? And I answered again, and said unto him, What [be these] two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden [oil] out of themselves? And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these [be]? And I said, No, my lord. Then said he, These [are] the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.

It just so happens, the word light occurs 272 times in Scripture.

Yet three is important. The seven spirits may be expressed equally well in the manifestation of the terms of the unity of Father, Son and Spirit. Using Hebrew words we have 1) Father or Abba in Hebrew, the invisible One 2) Son of man, The Anointed One or Messiah which is God who became a man and 3) Spirit or in Hebrew, Ruach HaKodesh which to me is likened to His light, the essence of God.

Light travels at the same speed, the constant speed of light is unchanging and eternal, it never stops traveling and and Einstein proved the speed of light is constant in an absolute space-time frame. Just as God exists outside the laws of time and space, time as we know it does not exist at the speed of light. The speed of light in a vacuum is defined to be approximately 186,282.397 miles per second, or 670,616,629.4 miles per hour. This value is also known as Einstein's constant.

Like God, anything traveling at the speed of light does not change. It is frozen in time, this all goes back to Einstein's theory of relativity, even back to a psalm of Moses, to the prophet Malachi and it is verified by the apostle Peter.

Time is relative to the observer. As an object accelerates, time slows down relative to that object. Time and speed come together at - you guessed it - the speed of light. This is to say that a person riding a beam of light would be frozen in time - relative to everyone else, he could travel for several million years without aging a single second. To himself (since, relative to himself, he will always be stationary) time appears normal - it's just that the rest of the universe seems to be aging infinitely quickly!

Psalms 90:1-4 [[A Prayer of Moses the man of God.]] Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou [art] God. Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men. For a thousand years in thy sight [are but] as yesterday when it is past, and [as] a watch in the night.

Malachi 3:6 For I [am] the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

2 Peter 3:8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day [is] with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

Daniel 2:22 He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what [is] in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him.

James 1:17-18 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

Philippians 2:15-16 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.

Matthew 4:16 The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.

Matthew 6:22-23 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great [is] that darkness!

Matthew 10:27 What I tell you in darkness, [that] speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, [that] preach ye upon the housetops.

Accept the challenge today to move from inactive passivity and ignorance of His Word, to accomplish and do all that you're purposed to pursue. Don't allow yourself to continue to be submissive to the teaching of men and their outside influences. Instead let the declaration of your mouth and your action confirm the covenant of our God who is responsive to and responsible for His Word.

Psalms 97:10-12 Ye that love the LORD, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked. Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart. Rejoice in the LORD, ye righteous; and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.

Psalms 104:1-2 Bless the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty. Who coverest [thyself] with light as [with] a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain:

Genesis 1:16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: [he made] the stars also. Psalms 104:19 He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down.

Psalms 136:7-9 To him that made great lights: for his mercy [endureth] for ever: The sun to rule by day: for his mercy [endureth] for ever: The moon and stars to rule by night: for his mercy [endureth] for ever.

Proverbs 6:23 For the commandment is a lamp; and the law (Torah) is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life.

Believers are destined by God to be a light unto the nations and the Menorah is a wonderful and beautiful symbol of His light.

So what is Light?

According to the U.S. Department of energy there are several ways to think of light: "The classical description says light is an electro-magnetic wave. This means that it is a varying electric and magnetic field, which spreads out or propagates from one place to another. The modern quantum mechanical description says that light can also be considered to be particles called photons. These carry energy and momentum but have no mass. In both descriptions, the light energy is carried by a very real and observable mechanism. But it is not a physical substance."

Radio waves are light. The U.S. government regulates the use of the radiowave spectrum for communication through the Office of Spectrum Management (OSM). The OSM's listed radio frequency spectrum can be found here: http://www.ntia.doc.gov/osmhome/allochrt.pdf

Unseen light is of a wavelength that our eyes can not perceive. Does that remind you of anything? God is light, yet He is unseen.

In the classical theory, light consists of an oscillating electric field and a magnetic field. Because light (electromagnetic wave) consists of electric and magnetic fields, when meeting such a charged particle as an electron, it exerts a force on the particle and there occurs an interaction between them. Very interesting, light exists but it is not a substance. Once again, sounds just like the spirit of God - - huh?

Light has no mass yet moves like a wave, much like sound yet it is comprised of quanta particles and it exerts force yet it operates outside of the realm of natural and physical laws as time ceases at the smallest quantum level. The mystery of the particle-wave duality has been resolved with quantum mechanics. Quantum mechanics successfully describes the invisible sub-atomic and atomic world and it is the most fundamental theory to govern the microscopic world as well. Light's particle-wave duality is the very thing that can make it possible to explain the structure of atoms; not only the stability of atoms but also the atomic spectra characteristic to individual atoms. Light's electromatic energy is what holds quanta particles together, therefore quantum mechanics tells us that no matter can exist without light and all matter exists of invisible particles. Quantum entanglement is a property the quantum mechanical state of particles in which particles are linked together so that they are all reliant on their counterpart irrespective of the distance and space between the particles.

Any question as to why God created light before He created the sun, the stars or the earth?

No.

Quantum mechanics proves the Bible and the Genesis creation story. Some Biblical explanations include:

Genesis 1:2-3 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness [was] upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

Habakkuk 3:4 And [his] brightness was as the light; he had horns [coming] out of his hand: and there [was] the hiding of his power.

Colossians 1:16-17 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether [they be] thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

Hebrews 11:3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

According to the Rabbi's of the middle ages - The Light of God's Glory is linked to Messiah.

The Jewish sages also see another reference to the Messiah in the creation account found in Genesis 1:3, the first quotation from God in the Torah, "Let there be light." The sages understood this too to be a Messianic allusion, and so the Jewish Midrash known as Pesikhta Rabbah asks, "Whose is this light which falls upon the congregation of the Lord?" and answers,"It is the light of the Messiah."

Risto Santala develops this thought even further. He observes that the Aramaic word for "light" is the word "nehorah." and that it is "one of the secret names of the Messiah." The evidence he cites from the rabbis is that both Daniel and Isaiah use "light" in connection with the Messiah. Santala notes that the rabbis use Isaiah 60:1–3 in reference to the Messiah. Here Messiah is seen as "a light to the Gentiles." Thus, Santala refers to the Midrash as it comments on the words of Daniel chapter 2: "And Nehorah dwells with him." This is the Messiah King, for it is written: "Arise, shine, for your light has come." (Isaiah 60:1)


All this leads us to perhaps the greatest prophecy of His light, His glory:

"But [as] truly [as] I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of The LORD." Numbers 14:21

Remember, this about light. Many of the things in the physical, natural world parallel the spiritual or even intertwine with it. Consider then the numerous diseases like rickets that ravage the human body when it is deprive of life giving light. A study from the University of Maine explains that teenage girls are not getting enough vitamin D. As a result, they are at risk for disorders and diseases caused by the nutritional deficiency of low light absorption, including osteoporosis and possibly even cancer and high blood pressure. The cause? A lack of Vitamin D3 giving sunlight.

So don't continue living in the shade or in darkness, don't live outside God's teaching and instruction, if your do it will mean death. Walk in the light of life, God's unchanging Word. The key to understanding God's light is to understand God gives us His teaching and instruction for living because He loves us and He never changes His mind. He teaches us some very simple guidelines about how we are to live. It's the original message of the Deceiver to fall for the idea that God does not mean what He says or that He changes His mind. Don't listen to that message any longer. To walk in His light we must "do" His word.

Here are two a short videos that explain more on light and color found in the Bible.

This Little Light of Mine (9 min) from 119 Ministries on Vimeo.

Streets of Torah from 119 Ministries on Vimeo.