In the Beginning God

Genesis 1:1 says, "In the beginning God..."  Now, it is very common to overlook a statement like this because it seems to carry no transcendent or practical significance.  But on further, and closer, inspection one begins to see that this is the fundamental explanation for life itself.  This simple, yet profound statement, gives insight and expression to the nature of meaning.

What do we know about the beginning?  Why does it matter?  It is obvious that no one was there to record the beginning.  That is to say, there was no reporter from the local newspaper or television station to give a live account and perspective of the beginning.  Because this lack of human presence in the beginning, many wrongfully conclude that the beginning is shrouded in myth and ethereal vagueness.

But this is not true at all.  God was there!  Are we to dismiss His testimony of the beginning as untrue, insignificant, or less valid than the perspective and expression of a limited, sinful, biased, mutable reporter?  I think not!

The real questions about the beginning is not what?, but who? and why?.  God is the all-knowing Knower, the all-being Essence, the all-sovereign Sovereign.  He is both the ultimate Cause and the ultimate Reason for ultimate reality.  He is not only the ultimate One who was there in the beginning, He is also the ultimate Purpose for the beginning.  And as such He is the ultimate Point of life itself.  God doesn't give explanations, He is the explanation.  To know Him is to know why.  If we know Him, we don't need any other "whys."  It is only when we know Him that we see the nature and significance of the beginning.  And only as we understand the beginning in the context of who God is that we begin to understand the now and the end as well.  It is only as we understand God that we understand time and life at all.

But to understand God one must understand God in the flesh - the incarnation of the Son of God.  The New Testament argues that the incarnate Christ made God known.  And as such He made life and its meaning known.  God in flesh is the only logical, reasonable, and biblical understanding for life.  Without knowing and grasping Him in flesh do we appreciate and see the meaning of flesh.  That is why time seemed to stand still on that night in Bethlehem when Christ was born.  Time stood still because in Christ, time took on its true meaning and purpose.

This is why Jesus revealed Himself to John the Apostle (Revelation 1, 21, 22) as the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End.  This is why Paul presented Jesus Christ as being preeminent (Colossians 1), and this is why Paul said that we are made complete only in Jesus Christ (Colossians 2).

In Christ there is a reason for getting out of bed in the morning; there is a reason for living.  He is the reason for living.  Simply put - Jesus is the Reason!  And it is only as we come to know Him through illumination by sovereign grace that we come to see the meaning of the beginning, the now, the end, yea, life itself.  That is why we must understand the first statement of the Bible, "In the beginning God..."