"Let there be light" (Genesis 1:3)
Let there be light.
I like that. Good choice in words if I do say so myself. I sit back in my chair and fold my arms in repose. I can say and do this (and not have it be a supreme act of folly or arrogance) for one reason alone: because I am one of God's sons. What does this mean?
The writer of Hebrews lays it out. "But we see Jesus..." (2:9) It starts with Him. Jesus came first to show us how it was done. It says He "was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death". Before we go any further, I must say that there is suffering in this world. In spite of the original words of God the Father, not all is light. The dimness and darkness in the world take their toll. Often, it's not until we've become mired in our fair share that we even begin to yearn for the light, for something other than pain and misery and suffering. Paul (who certainly had his fair share) qualifies suffering by saying that it's "not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." (Romans 8:18). Peter says it's "much more precious than of gold which perisheth" (1 Peter 1:7). Any suffering worth its salt plays in to the sufferings of Jesus, i.e. suffering for the same reasons as did He. If that makes sense. We can't choose our crucible because we didn't make ourselves and although we might have gotten into a scrape or a circumstance or a situation through less-than-noble decision making, seen another way, you're exactly where God wants you. The grass may be greener in Heaven, but your faith is too green for that yet, if I may. Mine too.
It continues: "crowned with glory and honor' that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man (and woman). For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things..." (Hebrews 2:9b-10a, emphasis mine)
One of the reasons that Jesus came to die is because His honor was at stake. He created us in His image and it's a bad reflection on Him if He's not willing to take it (His image) to the grave to see if it stands the test of His Father's back. That's right, God the Father turned His back on His Son. When Jesus cried out as to why His Father had forsaken Him, I don't remember hearing a response.
"...in bringing many sons (and daughters) to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings." (Hebrews 2:10b) What's going on here? The music stops. All of Creation grinds to a halt. It says "for whom are all things" and "by whom are all things". This Creator. The One who started this party has just exited the building. The light goes out.
"And the sun was darknened..." (Luke 23:45)
As an aside, the Sanskrit word for 'dragon' is darc. The English language is a node off the branch of Germanic down to Proto-European. Simplistically explained, our language is about as far away from Sanskrit as you can get, linguistically speaking. And our words 'dark' and 'dragon' come from different Indo-European roots. The correlation here, is that darkness is darkness. A spectrum of black.
"And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." (John 1:5) The devil still has no idea what God is doing. While space may be black as night, this creation is based on light. On God. Know this. Revel in it. God did all of this for us.
"Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas (Peter), or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; And ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's." (1 Corinthians 3:21-23)