"In the Beginning"
[Genesis 1:1-2:4]
January 20, 2008 Second Reformed Church
It's one of the best known Scriptures: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." And, if the Lord is willing, as we are at the beginning of a new year, it seemed an appropriate time for us to spend a few weeks considering beginnings, as we find it in the first chapter, or so, of Genesis.
Today, let us consider only one item -- that is, the "when" of creation. We are not going to consider the date or the year of the creation, though there are both good and not-so good arguments about that "when" of beginnings. What we are going to look at is "when" in the sense of what it means -- what it tells us about God -- if creation occurred "in the beginning."
We're going to love God with our minds this morning, so share your heads -- whatever you need to do to get your brain flowing.
If I said to you that I am going to preach this morning, you would understand that I exist before I preach, right? In order for me to preach, I must exist, and I must exist prior to my preaching.
You are here to worship this morning. If you are here to worship, it means that you decided to come to this church -- to this sanctuary -- to worship. It means that you existed before you came to worship, before you decided to come to worship, right?
So, if God created "in the beginning," God existed before the beginning, right? If God created everything that exists "in the beginning," God existed before everything else existed. OK? Before the creation, God is -- God existed.
Moses tells us in Psalm 90, "Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. You return man to dust, and say, 'Return, O children of man!' For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as the watch in the night" (Psalm 90:1-4).
And the Psalmist wrote, "Your throne is established from old; you are from everlasting" (Psalm 93:2). And again, "You, O Lord, are enthroned forever; you are remembered throughout all generations. Of old you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will remain; they will wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away, but you are the same, and your years have no end" (Psalm 102:12, 25-26).
God speaks of Himself to the prophet Isaiah, "Who has performed and done this, calling the generations from the beginning? I, the Lord, the first, and with the last, I am he" (Isaiah 41:4)
And Paul writes to the young minister, Timothy, "To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. ... he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen" (I Timothy 1:17, 6:15b-16).
All of these Scriptures tell us that God existed before the beginning -- that God is before the beginning. God is An Eternal Being Who has neither a beginning nor an end. God always was, God is, and God always will be. God is immortal.
And we may say, "Yes, that's true, but didn't C. S. Lewis once say, 'You have never seen a mortal man'? And wasn't he making the point that humans beings, though we die, we shall all be raised to live eternally, suffering in Hell, or worshiping before the Throne of God?"
It's true: all of us live, most of us will die in our bodies, and all of us will be raised to life eternal -- in one place or the other. All human beings are eternal creatures. Every human being in the sanctuary will live eternally.
So the question being raised is, "So what's the big deal about God? God is Eternal; God is Immortal. So are you; so am I."
The difference is that at one time, you and I were not. There was a time when you and I did not exist. You and I came into existence in the moment of conception, before that we did not exist. We exist from the moment of conception throughout all of eternity -- present and future.
But God always was and is and will be. There was never a time when God did not exist and there will never be a time when God does not exist. God exists infinitely, eternally, backwards through time -- and before the beginning, before time existed -- and infinitely, eternally, forward through time.
Every human being exists as a arrow from conception onward. But God exists infinitely and eternally, an arrow pointing in both direction from now and forever, and before and before time.
You see, before the beginning, before God created, there was no matter -- there was no suff, and there was also no time. Time is a part of the creation; it did not exist prior to the beginning. God always is, in time and before time, in time and in timelessness. God is the Only Self-Existent Being. Everything other than God is created by God or something that God created. But God is. He just is. That is what these Scriptures tells us.
And you may ask, as people have asked, "What was God doing before the creation?" The great church father, St. Augustine was asked, "What was God doing before He created the world?" And St. Augustine answered, "Creating Hell for people who ask stupid questions." Of course He was speaking tongue-in-cheek.
Before "the beginning," before the creation, God is. God Alone existed, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Before the creation God existed in perfect happiness with His Triune Self. He gloried in His Being, and that was all God needed.
And we find that difficult to conceptualize: we cannot form a picture of the Triune God existing with Himself, outside of time and space, with nothing else in existence. That is the truth that the Scripture teaches us, but it doesn't fit in our brains. It is a point at which we have to just affirm what we are taught and understand that there are things about God that are too wonderful for our understanding.
But then, someone might ask, "Well, if God was perfectly happy with Himself, prior to the existence of space and time and all things, including humans, then why did God create anything? Why did God ever create the beginning -- why did He start the clocks of eternity forward -- if God was completely fulfilled in Himself and didn’t need anything?"
The Scripture gives us this answer: God created because it pleased Him.
Solomon quotes the pre-Incarnate Christ about His Existence and His Relationship with the Father and the joy and pleasure They had in creating, "Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth. When there were no depths, I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water. Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth, before he had made the earth with its fields, or the first dust of the world. When he established the heavens, I was there; when he drew a circle on the face of the deep, when he made firm the skies above, when he established the fountains of the deep, when he assigned the sea to its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundation of the earth, then I was beside him, like a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the children of man" (Proverbs 8:23-31).
God does what God does because it pleases Him.
So, Who is this God Who created "in the beginning"?
God is the Only Self-Existent Being; He has no creator.
God always was and always is and always will be.
God is before time, outside of time, and in time -- forever past and forever into the future.
God is the Triune God Who is always in perfect felicity with Himself.
And God is the God Who created "in the beginning," because it pleased Him to do so.
Let us pray:
Almighty, Eternal, Infinite God. We thank You for the revelation of Your Word. We thank You for the insight Your Word gives us into Your Character and Being. Help us to know You better, to be more amazed and humbled by Your Being, and to know when our minds are too small to say anything more. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
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