Monday, January 9, 2023

            We find four powerful words in the opening four words of the Bible.  “In the beginning God...” is the way the Bible starts (Genesis 1:1a).  Those four words represent some profound theology.  You also have a profound worldview that is based on Scripture.  You could easily close the Bible for a moment and simply meditate on these first four words.  And you would have much to reflect upon.  First, we are told that there was a beginning.  This world or this universe or your life did not randomly happen one afternoon.  Likewise, the creation has not always existed.  There was a definite beginning point in time.  And this beginning had a grand Designer behind it.  God orchestrated the beginning of the universe and everything in it.  Just as He sent forth His Son to be born in Bethlehem in the fullness of time, He also chose to begin the universe on His timetable.  God even created time itself.  That is to say He gave the beginning its beginning. 
            Second, we are told that God was present in the beginning.  He was not created.  He did not suddenly pop into existence.  He did not come from a neighboring universe to take over management of this one.  He was in the beginning.  He has always existed and will always exist.  We call this truth “the eternality of God.”  He is without beginning and without end.  The Bible did not begin with an exhaustive effort to prove or convince readers that God is real.  Rather, Genesis simply asserts the existence of God and declares it to be true.    
            Third, God was the agent of creation.  A bit later in Genesis 1, we read that He spoke the universe into existence.  Nine different times in Genesis 1 we are told that “God said.”  He spoke.  His words gave rise to the creation that we inhabit today.  There is incredible and infinite power in God’s Word.  Consider in Genesis 1 all that He spoke into existence.  Likewise, consider the power that we find in Scripture (also rightly known and called God’s Word).  We can place our full trust in whatever God has said or declared. 
            Fourth, the opening words of Genesis suggest to us that God has a destination in mind.  From this beginning, God will navigate His creation to the conclusion that He has chosen for it.  The universe is not spinning out of control.  Creation has not gone off the rails.  The Almighty knows exactly when, where and how to bring His creation to the final destination.  Because the creation belongs to God, He has the right to take it to the end that He wills for it.  The Bible says, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it; for He founded it on the seas and established it on the waters” (Psalm 24:1-2).  The earth is the Lord’s.  And God’s people are His too.  If we know Christ as Savior and Lord, we belong to Him.
            At the end of Genesis 1, God weighed in all that He had created and all that He saw.  We read, “God saw all that He had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day” (Genesis 1:31).  God’s creative powers never fail.  They are never second-rate.  They are always perfect.  And we can always take great comfort in knowing that He is real, dynamic, vibrant and alive.  He is on the throne and has been there even from the beginning.  Have a great Monday and remember you can worship anytime and share our worship with others at youtube.com/FirstBaptistKannapolis.