The Light of the World

This morning I was praying and towards the end of the time I was specifically praying for my friends grandfather who has cancer.

As I was praying I found myself beginning to pray for light to enter his body and that the light of Christ would shine upon him and fill him.  Suddenly my mind went to the end of Revelation where it says that there will be no need for the sun because God will provide the light.  

The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its light. 

Rev. 21:23

They wil not need the light of  a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light.

Rev. 22:5

I've always seen references to 'light' as being purely spiritual and separate from physical light. In that way I've separated the physical realm from the spiritual realm.  For instance, how will the light of God be able to provide what is needed for the process of photosynthesis?  Our planet would very quickly perish without the light of the sun.  

As this was in my head, it was then that I went to Rev. 21:23.  I believe that I have had a false distinction between the spiritual and the physical.  In this age there is some clear distinctions, but in the age to come, it seems that those distinctions will no longer be there.

Given that Heaven and earth will become one, then the physical processes of the earth that require the light of the sun must continue in some way.  I don't believe that the physical laws of science that have been put in place will suddenly be done away with.

I also looked at 1 Tim. 6:16 where it says that God dwells in unapproachable light.  What is this light?  If it is of a kind that will sustain the physical earth (even the new, transformed earth) will it not provide healing as well? Somehow what we now know of as physical elements will have spiritual properties as well.  Look at the fact that the leaves from the tree of life will be used for the healing of the nations (Rev. 22:2).  

Of course, all of this depends to a certain extend on my interpretation of Revelation and the fact that I take things somewhat literally (not entirely literally I should add: i.e. I don't think that there is a literal dragons tail that will sweep a third of the stars out of the sky (Rev. 12:4)... given that the stars are billions and billions of miles apart from us).  Thus some may not believe that there are literal physical leaves being spoken of...

So this is becoming more complex than I intended; however coming back to Rev. 22:5, it seems fairly straightforward that God's light will actually replace the role of the sun.  This to me implies a very powerful connection between the physical and the spiritual.. the light is more than just spiritual; it is a physical light that will accomplish physical things.

What then does this potentially mean in terms of our comprehension of what Jesus meant when he said he is the 'light of the world'?

Something to chew on....