What was the light before the sun in Genesis ch.1? The Bible teaches that there was light for daytime on the first three days of creation week, and the celestial bodies (sun, moon, and stars) weren’t made until day four. Isaiah 60:19-20 and Revelation 21:22-26 state that at the end, when God creates a new world, there will be no sun, moon, or stars, and that God will illuminate the universe with His glory. So things return to the way they were before Creation Day 4, as described in Genesis 1.
Genesis states that there was a separate light that illuminated the world, existing before the sun, for the first three days. The same light will replace the celestial bodies from Day 4 in the future, according to Revelation 21:23-25 and Revelation 22:5, which references Isaiah 60:19.
Rev 21:23 (NLT) “And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light. 24 The nations will walk in its light, and the kings of the world will enter the city in all their glory. 25 Its gates will never be closed at the end of the day because there is no night there.”
How can the first three days be defined without the sun? God’s light, in the beginning, could have been an omnipresent light that lit the whole of space, or it could have been a point light like the sun that only lit one side of the earth. The Genesis 1 framework is that God started the clock in darkness and 12 hours later turn on the light, then did that three times (each in 24-hour cycles) and then on Day 4, he made a celestial body to “rule” over the day, while other bodies “ruled” over the night for the earth. Planetary rotation isn’t specifically tied to the sun or any star. All bodies in space rotate, so the biblical day from an astronomical point of view is based on the Earth’s 24-hour rotation, and not directly tied to the sun. Therefore, the existence of light itself has nothing to do with the celestial bodies in space. Anyone can light a match or rub two sticks together to create a fire that produces light even while underground and away from sunlight. Lightning produces light right here on Earth without the help of anything in space. There are even creatures that produce light through chemical reactions; these creatures, such as fireflies and various sea creatures, are bioluminescent.
The Big bang model requires stars and suns to come before planets, moons, and asteroids, and some believers have interpreted Genesis so that the initial light that the Bible refers to in Genesis 1:3 was a star or some celestial body that we see today, but the Bible says those were all made on Day 4 so that isn’t compatible with scripture. This causes conflict with a naturalistic understanding of reality, and some Christians have modified their beliefs to retrofit the Bible into a naturalist view by saying Genesis 1-11, Satan, and sin are just metaphors and not literal. However, this is not a problem for Bible believers, such as Jesus himself and those who follow him, because God’s glory is what lit the universe before Day 4 and will again at the end. If one believes in a supernatural God, then it seems inconsistent to limit his abilities based on what people who reject God’s existence believe.
Resources:
Literal Days before the Sun’s creation on Day 4
Can Light exist without the sun or stars? Yes: