The Beginning God

THE BEGINNING GOD Genesis 1:1-5

First, We want to note that God was in the beginning.

The Bible begins with God and so we must begin with him always. Back of all, above all, before all is the God of Genesis. First in our thoughts; first in rank and station and power is the God of the Bible. He is the Almighty One, the self-existent One, the One who gives being to everything else, all things existing by him and through him and for him, the only one worthy to receive glory and power and honor. He has created all things and for his honor and delight they were created. Every soul is God’s and exists by his pleasure. The only thinkable relation between us is one of sovereign lordship on his part and total submission on ours. We owe God every honor that there is in our power to give him. We shall spend our moments and our days freely exalting this living God.

We will give him his proper place over us. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” The sentence tells us four things

1. It was in the beginning that God created everything.

When everything else began God was already there. Time and space and dimensions and matter all have a beginning, but God did have a beginning. There is nothing that exists that did not have a beginning; all things can be traced back to Genesis chapter one and verse one. This is the final explanation of the beginning of everything. The Creator, however, is different from every other kind of being. He never began. We can compare him to nothing at all. We are told nothing about the origin of our God. The living God is without beginning or end of days; he is from eternity to eternity. He himself had no cause; he has no birthday, and he has no external life-support system; he is self-sufficient. He is the eternal self-existent one, before everything else there was God alone, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This was the God who in the beginning acted and made everything.

"My Name is I Am" (By Helen Mallicoat) I was regretting the past and fearing the future suddenly my Lord was speaking: "My name is I Am." He paused. I waited. He continued, "When you live in the past with its mistakes and regrets, it is hard. I am not there. My name is not I WAS. "When you live in the future, with its problems and fears, it is hard. I am not there. My name is not I WILL BE. When you live in this moment, it is not hard. I am here. My name is I!

2, God is the only One responsible for creation.

God created it. Both the plan and the accomplishment of the universe was his. There was nothing and nobody else making any suggestions to him, let alone helping him. There was God alone purposing, designing and the human race within God’s creation began. God did it because he chose to do it God created the heavens and the earth. Whenever this word ‘created’ is found in the Bible then you will notice three remarkable features.

a. Created is used only of producing something new. That is why it is used so sparingly, even in the story of creation. It occurs only three times in referring to the primary act of creation, the creation of conscious life, and the creation of man. He creates only sparely, and with the creation of man his creativity ceases.

b. God himself is the one creating; he is always the subject preceding the verb ‘create’, in every single case. This is an unspeakable attribute of God. The reason for that is that God only can create out of nothing. Out of nothing comes nothing, but when God acts in the beginning, addressing this nothingness, the heavens and the earth are born. Someone has said that ‘God stepped from behind the curtain of nowhere, and stood on the platform of nothing, and spoke a universe into existence.”

c. The word ‘create’ is never used with any suggestion to the materials used. We are never told that God created with such and such materials. It is as if the materials did not exist. God was completely unrestrained in creating with total freedom and giving perfect expression to the idea in his own mind.

WHAT DO YOU HEAR?

A Native American and his friend were in downtown New York City, walking near Times Square in Manhattan. It was during the noon lunch hour and the streets were filled with people. Cars were honking their horns, taxicabs were squealing around corners, sirens were wailing, and the sounds of the city were almost deafening. Suddenly, the Native American said, "I hear a cricket." His friend said, "What? You must be crazy. You couldn't possibly hear a cricket in all of this noise!" "No, I'm sure of it," the Native American said, "I heard a cricket." "That's crazy," said the friend. The Native American listened carefully for a moment, and then walked across the street to a big cement planter where some shrubs were growing. He looked into the bushes, beneath the branches, and sure enough, he located a small cricket. His friend was utterly amazed. "That's incredible," said his friend. "You must have super-human ears!" "No," said the Native American. "My ears are no different from yours. It all depends on what you're listening for." "But that can't be!" said the friend. "I could never hear a cricket in this noise." "Yes, it's true," came the reply. "It depends on what is really important to you. Here, let me show you." He reached into his pocket, pulled out a few coins, and discreetly dropped them on the sidewalk. And then, with the noise of the crowded street still blaring in their ears, they noticed every head within twenty feet turn and look to see if the money that tinkled on the pavement was theirs. "See what I mean?" asked the Native American. "It all depends on what's important to you."