In The Beginning

The Bible begins with “In The Beginning” and no, this is not a fairytale and continues with “created the Heaven and Earth” (Genesis 1:1). From this simple verse comes the foundation of the Christian belief system that God created all things and it’s from God that we get our purpose. Genesis 1:1 is a simple verse with a complex meaning.

From Genesis 1:1, everything that is, was, and will ever be is because of God. That’s a big statement but if we believe this one verse then there is nothing else in scripture that will be too big to believe. If God can create our world, our universe and its atmosphere, and create Heaven then what is too big that God cannot do? Remember, God created heaven and Earth from nothing and then He continued on to create man from the dust of the Earth.

Charles Spurgeon wrote about Genesis 1:1: “When that ‘beginning’ was, we cannot tell. It may have been long ages before God fitted up this world for the abode of man, but it was not self-existent; it was created by God, it sprang from the will and the word of the all-wise Creator.” This statement goes along with the brilliance of Genesis 1:1 as it was God and God alone that put all things into motion as they were meant to be, not how we think they should be.

Derek Kidner wrote about Genesis 1:1 “It is no accident that God is the subject of the first sentence of the Bible, for this word dominates the whole chapter and catches the eye at every point of the page: it is used some thirty-five times in as many verses of the story.” This reminds me perfectly that God is big enough to do anything, regardless of its size, as He created the Heaven and earth and if He is big enough to do both then He is big enough to do anything else that the Bible reads.

In my research and studying in my personal life as well as my professional adventures, I have learned that there are many, many Christians but many of these Christians have a hard time believing just anything the Bible reads. In fact, there is a large portion of the Christian population that believes in the Gap Theory which states that there is a period of history in between Genesis Chapter 1, verses 1 and 2 and this period of history is not recorded in the Bible. To believe this would be a very dangerous slippery slope.

As Christians, we are to hold everything up to God and we find God in God’s Word but also, because while God does not reveal all things about Himself to us, for us to believe a period of history that is hidden outside of God’s Word would lead many believers buying into the idea that they are able to remove themselves from God’s Word without perverting it. This is how false doctrines and belief systems that contradict the Word of God are born: “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1).

The way things are now are the way things were in the beginning of time and I understand how people are skeptical because time changes a lot of things but not God: “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8). As His children, the saints of God are to proclaim His Word everywhere we go and it has been this way since the beginning and because God inspires His Word, we can take it to the bank and this too has been the same since the beginning: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).