Hey I have been having a great time going through our Genesis Series lately. Here is one of my favourite moments...
"In the beginning, God ..." Genesis 1:1
The Bible starts right away with God. God is the subject of the very first sentence of the whole Bible. The word for God there in Hebrew is the word Elohim, it means the Almighty, the all powerful one. And that’s who The Bible starts with. It starts with that God and it starts with him at the centre of it all.
And some people find that really, really, irritating. This beginning annoys many people and frustrates many people because we want it to start elsewhere. We want it to start with us and our questions, we want it to start with ideas of philosophy and a proof for the existence of God. But that’s not where it starts. “In the beginning God”, God simply is. He isn’t interested in justifying himself or proving himself. He is just there. Its not he that needs to deal with us and come to terms with us, its us that need to deal with him and need to come to terms with him. He is not some object we get to sit and evaluate and determine the probabilities of whether he exists or not. He just is.
The picture here is that God alone is God, there are not lots of gods battling it out, struggling for control in some spiritual chaotic battlefield, which we as humans are at the whim of. No, there is one God and he is God alone.
Although what is interesting here right from this start is the hint that there is also more to God than just his one-ness. There are these hints at his three-ness as well as his oneness. So for example the word for God, Elohim, in the Hebrew is plural. But all the verbs in this passage associated with God are in the Hebrew singular. This is of course is deliberate in the providence of God something is being hinted at here.
Also, when God comes to make humanity, what does God say? 'Let US make man in OUR image, in OUR likeness."
And then when God makes mankind what does he make? He makes, not ONE, but TWO. Indicating there is a diversity in this ONENESS.
This is something that will become more clear to us when we come face to face with Jesus. Jesus reveals clearly once and for all what is true, the ONE GOD has this unique plurality. One God in three persons. Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Here are these eternal relationships of love, The Father loves the Son and gives all things to him, and the Son loves the father and delights to do his will, and the Spirit loves the Father and the Son and loves to illuminate and make the Father and the Son known.
The universe begins with this God. The universe begins not because God is lonely or needs something. Rather the universe begins out of the overflow of God’s eternal love and delight. And what will be revealed is that God’s purpose in doing this is, not to lord it over us, but to share the eternal life and joy that he himself experiences. You know when you are having a great time, what is some thing you often express? - isn't it, "oh I wish so and so was here"? Good things are meant to be shared. And God is a loving and sharing God. That is how the universe begins. Not a choatic violent battle. But an overflow of love and a desire to share.
God is.
And God is the loving ruler of the world.
"In the beginning, God ..." Genesis 1:1
The Bible starts right away with God. God is the subject of the very first sentence of the whole Bible. The word for God there in Hebrew is the word Elohim, it means the Almighty, the all powerful one. And that’s who The Bible starts with. It starts with that God and it starts with him at the centre of it all.
And some people find that really, really, irritating. This beginning annoys many people and frustrates many people because we want it to start elsewhere. We want it to start with us and our questions, we want it to start with ideas of philosophy and a proof for the existence of God. But that’s not where it starts. “In the beginning God”, God simply is. He isn’t interested in justifying himself or proving himself. He is just there. Its not he that needs to deal with us and come to terms with us, its us that need to deal with him and need to come to terms with him. He is not some object we get to sit and evaluate and determine the probabilities of whether he exists or not. He just is.
The picture here is that God alone is God, there are not lots of gods battling it out, struggling for control in some spiritual chaotic battlefield, which we as humans are at the whim of. No, there is one God and he is God alone.
Although what is interesting here right from this start is the hint that there is also more to God than just his one-ness. There are these hints at his three-ness as well as his oneness. So for example the word for God, Elohim, in the Hebrew is plural. But all the verbs in this passage associated with God are in the Hebrew singular. This is of course is deliberate in the providence of God something is being hinted at here.
Also, when God comes to make humanity, what does God say? 'Let US make man in OUR image, in OUR likeness."
And then when God makes mankind what does he make? He makes, not ONE, but TWO. Indicating there is a diversity in this ONENESS.
This is something that will become more clear to us when we come face to face with Jesus. Jesus reveals clearly once and for all what is true, the ONE GOD has this unique plurality. One God in three persons. Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Here are these eternal relationships of love, The Father loves the Son and gives all things to him, and the Son loves the father and delights to do his will, and the Spirit loves the Father and the Son and loves to illuminate and make the Father and the Son known.
The universe begins with this God. The universe begins not because God is lonely or needs something. Rather the universe begins out of the overflow of God’s eternal love and delight. And what will be revealed is that God’s purpose in doing this is, not to lord it over us, but to share the eternal life and joy that he himself experiences. You know when you are having a great time, what is some thing you often express? - isn't it, "oh I wish so and so was here"? Good things are meant to be shared. And God is a loving and sharing God. That is how the universe begins. Not a choatic violent battle. But an overflow of love and a desire to share.
God is.
And God is the loving ruler of the world.
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