In The Beginning, God. (Genesis 1:1)

 


Monday, January 13, 2025


Psalm 35:1-17

Genesis 1:1-19

John 6:28-40


In The Beginning, God. (Genesis 1:1)


When Moses wrote the book of Genesis, he was putting together a history of everything so that the Israelites would understand their mission. They were at the end of their wandering through the wilderness; the Promised Land was before them; Moses was about to hand over authority to Joshua; and Joshua was about to lead their conquest. In order to know where they were going, the Israelites needed to know where they had come from. And so Moses wrote Genesis for them.


The need to know where one has come from in order to know where one is going is a universal need. Every human needs this information. So much vain philosophy has been suggested based off incorrect assumptions. If we are to have a true understanding of our meaning in life, then the book of Genesis is an excellent place to start.


Just as, when we started the gospel of John, the first words were “In the beginning was the Word”, the first words here are “In the beginning, God”, and the first thing God does is speak some words. If we want to know where we have come from, then here is our answer: we have come from God. God is before all things, in all things, upholding all things. And he is in charge of ending all things, and through the blood of his Son he redeems all things.


We have all come from God, and we will all return to God. What we do in our time on this earth matters, and will directly affect the nature of our return to God. God came and walked on this earth, his name was Jesus, and he bled and died so that our return to God might be one of joy. His blood means that any sins we commit during our time on this earth will be forgiven – if we repent of those sins and believe in his name.


God is at the beginning even of that forgiveness: “All that the Father gives me will come to me”, Jesus says in our second reading. The Father has given us to the Son – in the beginning, the Father. “Whoever comes to me I will never cast out”, Jesus continues – at the end, the Son. In the beginning, God, and at the end, God. We are from him and we are to him. And this is his will: “That everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and [Jesus] will raise him up on the last day.” The sovereign will and decree of God is inarguable, incontroversial, and glorious.


Where did you think you were going this morning? In light of the sovereign will and decree of God, where will you go instead?


Creator God, you made all things, called them good, and continue to sustain them by the word of your power. Grant me a fresh sense of the power of your Word made flesh, my saviour, the Lord Jesus, in my daily walk with you.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Lord Was Moved (2 Chronicles 33:13)

Image
  Wednesday, August 28, 2024 Psalms 143; 146 2 Chronicles 33:1-20 Romans 15:14-21 Observance: Augustine of Hippo, bishop and teacher (d. 430) The Lord Was Moved (2 Chronicles 33:13) In our passage from St Paul’s letter to the Romans, the apostle is making a small break in his preaching to tell his audience that he is not telling them anything they do not already know. This is perfectly understandable if we recognise that this letter is a sort of fundraising appeal for his missionary work: the apostle wants to get on and start planting the gospel in places where Christ is not known, and so he gives the church in Rome a run-down on what his theology is, so that they will feel comfortable in supporting him financially. The fact that we have this fundraising appeal as part of inspired scripture can teach us something important: God wants us to keep being reminded of certain eternal truths. Reading through the story of King Manasseh can feel a bit same...
Read more

I intend to build a house for the name of the LORD my God.

  Friday, September 8, 2023 Psalms 20; 21 1 Kings 5 Acts 25:13-27 Observance: Birth of Mary, Mother of the Lord I intend to build a house for the name of the LORD my God. How big do you dream? Try this experiment on yourself: next time you are walking down the street, observe where your eye level sits. Do you watch your feet move around the cracks in the footpath? Do you do that trick where you stare blankly into the middle distance, so as to avoid making eye contact with passers-by? How do you think that relates to your spiritual aims, and the requests you make of God? Solomon dreamt big. He knew perfectly well that the God of his nation was also the God of the entire universe. No house would be entirely suitable, nor appropriate. But by golly he was going to give it a red-hot go. And just look at how much work he put into it: an entire nation of people were hired to provide the best timber on the planet. His own nation too was put to work, either a...
Read more

Marvellous? (Zechariah 8:6)

Image
  Wednesday, October 16, 2024 Psalm 105:1-22 Zechariah 7:1-8:8 1 Peter 1:18-2:3 Observance: Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley, bishops and martyrs (d. 1555) Marvellous? (Zechariah 8:6) There are several phrases that, when we see them in the Bible, should make us sit up and pay attention. Anything to do with the “Day of the Lord” is one of them; another is when God speaks about when “they shall be my people and I shall be their God”. This second phrase, which, because of its frequency, risks becoming bland to our hearts, is so tremendously deep and rich in what it speaks of, is nothing less than the gospel of Jesus Christ. We remember way back in Genesis that God would walk through the Garden of Eden in the cool of the afternoon and speak with Adam and Eve about their day. One can imagine the scene: an enchanted place, a place with no evil, our first parents probably bouncing along, joyfully telling their loving Maker about all the wonderful things the...
Read more