Has light from space that shines on the earth always come from the sun?
Not according to the Bible.
The Old Testament book of Genesis says that God created light on Day One of creation.
but it also says He didn’t create the sun until the Fourth Day of creation.
So, how did that work?
Believing that Genesis is actual history and that God’s Word contains no errors, how did light shine on the earth if our sun didn’t yet exist?
Here’s one theory…
In Genesis 1:3-4 CSB we read these words:
3 Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” There was an evening, and there was a morning: one day.
How was it possible for light on earth to exist without the sun?
Based on several passages of Scripture, it’s reasonable for a Christian to believe God didn’t need the sun to have light.
In fact, God can manifest His presence as visible light whenever and wherever He desires.
Jewish rabbi’s call it the Shekinah glory of God.
(Shekinah is a form of a Hebrew word that means “He caused to dwell”—because God can make His presence “dwell” visibly in a certain place at a certain time.)
Here’s two biblical examples of God’s glorious presence manifesting as visible light:
God’s glory shone as light as He led the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery through the wilderness as a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night (Exodus 13:21-22).
In the New Testament, God’s glorious light is what shone around the terrified shepherds on the night Jesus was born (Luke 2:8-20).
God can cause His “glory to dwell” visibly anywhere at anytime.
Based on the way our world functions today, light from the heavens to the earth without the sun doesn’t make sense.
But while it doesn’t make sense scientifically, it seems clear biblically.
God picked a point out in space of above the earth and radiated His own light upon the earth.
In Genesis 1:5, we find the first mention of Earth having a night-day cycle, which strongly implies it was already rotating on its axis Day One as it does today.
All it takes to have a day-night cycle is a spinning earth and light from one direction.
If you find it bothers you that light could shine on the earth without the sun, you need to prepare yourself for how the new earth will be illuminated from the new heavens for all eternity.
Revelation 22:5 describes the light of heaven like this:
5 Night will be no more; people will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, because the Lord God will give them light, and they will reign forever and ever.
For me personally, Genesis saying light existed before the sun helps me trust even more the historical accuracy of Genesis 1.
Skeptics claim Genesis was written—or majority edited—by other authors who lived many years after Moses’ death.
Maybe it’s just me, but if I were editing Moses’ Genesis, I’d have edited this “light before sun” stuff to better fit with common knowledge.
Even back when Genesis was written, having light without the sun was inconceivable.
Yet God intentionally creates light on Day 1, but doesn’t make the sun until the fourth day.
But why?
Here’s a theory on why God waited to create the sun until Day 4.
Remember that God’s people spent 400 years as slaves in Egypt.
The Egyptians believed their Creator was the god Ra who they believed controlled the sun and the sky.
Even after Egypt, the ancient Israelites were continually surrounded by pagan nations who worshipped the sun, moon, and stars.
So God puts the lights in the sky we’re used to seeing later in creation.
In fact, on Day 4, when God does create the sun and moon, He doesn’t even name them. He just calls them the two lights—a “greater” and a “lesser.”
As essential as the sun is to life on planet earth, it merely gets a passing mention in Genesis.
In all of this, God makes it clear—for the original readers of Genesis and for us today—that He alone is the Creator of the universe and everything in it!
It’s just a theory—and theories on this abound. Whatever the light source was on Day 1, it seems it only illuminated things temporarily until God’s creation of the sun on Day 4. All proposals should be tested by Scripture.