In The Beginning

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." - Genesis 1:1

If you were to ask the question: "what is the most well-known Bible verse?", Genesis 1:1 would arguably be one of the responses you would receive.

It's a very familiar verse.

It is also an incredibly foundational verse. Regardless of what comes next, if we stumble over this verse, we'll stumble over what follows.

"In the beginning", that is, at the start of time, the beginning of creation. There was only one being that was already there, and that is the triune God. Father (1:1), Son (John 1:1-3), and Spirit (Genesis 1:2) were involved; The Trinity was at work in the beginning. And yet, God Himself had no beginning, He always was and always will be.

We're looking at "time" this week. Time is a complex thing, something that we don't fully understand. It is something that we are bound to, however. God on the other hand is not; instead, He is the author of time.

God's eternal nature is one of His many characteristics that cause us to ponder in awe. At least, it ought to have that effect on us.

Yet, by itself, we don't see the full picture. He is eternal, yes, that is, He has no beginning or end. He just is, and always has been, and always will be.

But He is also not bound by time. We are moving in a straight line as it were; we had a starting point, and we are moving through time until that fixed point in time at the end of our life. God however isn't stuck on a one-way line. It's hard for us to wrap our minds around this one, but when we combine His aseity (what we're discussing here) with His omniscience and sovereignty, we get a fuller grasp. Maybe Isaiah can help us with this:

"...Before Me there was no God formed, and there will be none after Me." Isaiah 43:10b

"Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, "My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure';" - Isaiah 46:10

In simple terms: God is eternal, knows all things, will accomplish all He has willed, and is not beholden to anything, including time.

So He is a big God, bigger than we can imagine.

These verses from Isaiah are in a greater context though. God's people had and would endure great trials because of their sin. Yet, God would also bring them out of it. Despite the warnings and terrible prophecies, God encouraged His people through the prophet Isaiah. And how does He does He do that here? By pointing to Himself.

They had sought every other device to bring them what they thought their hearts needed, when it is God alone who would fill that need.

I don't know about you, but I struggle with forgetting that God has already gone before me, that He has already purposed His will in my life, and that He will accomplish that. No, don't ask me how to rectify that with my personal responsibility; I just know that both are true.

And in response, it is very easy to begin to trust in things outside of Him. What a foolish thought, yet, here I stand guilty.

So, to bring it to a practical level, while time is sometimes scary, God is bigger than it. I don't know what's around the corner, but He does. We may struggle with current events, history may be distorted by cultural bias, and the future may seem unclear, but God stands above it all.

And one day, we too will no longer be bound to the negative effects of time, if we've placed faith in Christ; then we will be with this eternal God, for eternity.

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