In the beginning

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1).

We are so familiar with these words—the first in the Bible. As such, we should consider these first words in the Bible carefully.

The word “genesis” means “the giving of birth” or “origin” (Latin). The book of Genesis is the origin of the divine truths in the Scriptures. Genesis is a book containing all the seeds of the divine truths.

Now here’s a question. Although the remainder of this chapter gives more detail about what God created and we have some description about how God created, we don’t have a verse in this chapter that explicitly says why God created. But if we realize that this Genesis 1:1 is a seed that is sown at the beginning and developed in the remainder of the Bible, we should be able to find why God created in another verse in the Bible.

Revelation 4:11 says, You have created all things, and because of Your will they were, and were created. Why did God create in Genesis 1? Because God has a will. It’s as simple as that. God has a will and a plan (Ephesians 1:9-10; 3:11), and according to this will and plan, He created all things. God’s will is God’s wish. God’s will is simply what God wants to do.

When we come to the topic of God’s will, this is always a big question for us. What is God’s will for me? But really, this question should not be so much a matter of considering what is God’s will for me but rather, what is God’s will? What does God want to do? What would make God happy?

The Lord Jesus is our pattern. The Lord Jesus was beloved to the Father and the one who pleased the Father in every way (Matthew 3:17; 17:5; Ephesians 1:6). The Lord Jesus was the One who lived to accomplish the Father’s will (Matt. 26:39; John 5:30; 6:38). If God’s will is what God wants to do and that which pleases God, then we see that God’s will is fulfilled by Christ and in fact is Christ.

We return to Genesis 1:1 and see that God created because of His will (that which pleased Him), and then we see that the Son accomplished the Father’s will and that the Son pleased the Father. We add Revelation 1:17 and 3:14, which gives the Lord Jesus the titles the First and the beginning of the creation of God. Furthermore, Colossians 1:16-17 indicates that in Him (the Lord Jesus Christ) all things were created, in the heavens and on the earth…; all things have been created through Him  and unto Him.

So really, what was in the beginning? Christ! Even in Genesis 1:1, we see that this verse is filled with Christ. Christ is the beginning. Christ is the one in whom and through whom and unto whom all things were created.

In the next few weeks, we will be looking at the experiences of Christ as life in the first chapters of the Bible, and as such, we begin with this post to realize that the foundation is Christ. Be sure to subscribe to our blog so you don’t miss any of these wonderful experiences of Christ in Genesis!