Darkness isn’t mentioned in Genesis 2. Or Genesis 3. In fact, we don’t get this word again until Genesis 15, when God makes covenant with Abram. It starts in darkness, and then God shows up. That is the story of our relationship with God.
Genesis 1 ends in the daylight. It ends VERY GOOD. It ends in flourishing.
Genesis tells us the beginning and the end.
Light & Dark become “Day” & “Night.”
The waters above becomes the “Sky.”
Gathered waters becomes the “Sea” & dry ground becomes “Land.”
Nothing else is named in this chapter. Everything else springs forth from named things.
God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning–the first day.
Genesis 1:5 (NIV)
Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning.
Genesis 1:11-13 (NIV)
And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.
Genesis 1:14