‘IN THE BEGINNING … GOD!’

Wednesday AM Bible Study; June 25, 2025 – Introduction; Genesis 1:1

Theme: The first verse of the Bible is the foundational proposition from which all else in the Bible flows.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

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This morning, we begin a study of The Book of Genesis—which is the ‘book of beginnings’.

The title of this book comes to us from the Greek version of the Bible (the Septuagint); and it means “origin” or “birth” or “beginning”. It truly is the ‘book of beginnings’; because in its pages, we’re presented with the story of the origin of—among other things—

• the universe,
• the foundation of all order and integration of nature,
• the solar system,
• the earthly atmospheric and hydrospheric systems that sustain life,
• the various kinds of animal and plant life,
• the family of humanity,
• the institution and design of marriage and childbearing,
• the presence of evil and death in God’s creation,
• the various languages and people groups of the world,
• the expressions of human government and culture,
• the existence and development of nations,
• true religion and the various false religions, and
• the unique people and nation through whom God has chosen to reveal Himself to the world and provide the Redeemer of mankind.

On that last point—because Genesis truly is the book of origins—it teaches us things that are vital to our salvation. If this book is accepted as a literal, historical, factual record of things, then it gives us the answers to some of the deepest questions human beings can have: how we came to be, what we were made for, why we suffer sin and death, how it came to be that we’re in the sad condition we’re in today, and what God our Creator has done to meet our greatest need. Jesus, our Redeemer, is presented to us—and the good news of His gospel is declared to us—very early in the pages of the Book of Genesis. As soon as humankind fell—in Genesis 3:15—God declared this to Satan with regard to the promised offspring of the woman he deceived into sin:

“And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel” (Genesis 3:15).

The rest of the Bible can be understood as the story of how God kept that promise through the Person of His Son Jesus Christ. We who live in a so-called post-modern world—with all the confusion, disorder, and despair it produces—need to get back to the roots that Genesis gives us.

But should we accept it as a literal, historical, reliable record? Many have said no. They have approached it as a collection of mythical tales that speak to ‘higher spiritual longings’ without the need for historical or scientific reliability. But it’s important for us to treat this book as it presents itself. It tells its story in a way that accords with actual history as we ordinarily understand it (that is, through logical sequences of events, through the specifying of locations and lands and distances that still exist today, through the unfolding of interrelated time frames, through consistent and integrated genealogical records, through places and people groups and events that can be archaeologically confirmed, and without contradictions to the non-biased, empirically verifiable confirmations of the various disciplines of science. We can be confident in treating it as the Lord Jesus treated it—that is, as reliable history. As He said in Matthew 19:4-5;

“Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’”? (Matthew 19:4-5);

or as He also said in Luke 17:26-30;

“And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed” (Luke 17:26-30).

How should we organize the Book of Genesis? Because it’s ‘the book of beginnings’, it’s helpful to divide its story according to the several genealogies, foundational historical movements, and patriarchal characters that are specifically described:

1. The history of the origin of the heavens and the earth’ (1:1-2:4).
2. The history of Adam and his fall until Seth (2:4-4:26).
3. The history of Seth and his lineage until Noah (5:1-32).
4. The history of Noah and the flood (6:1-9:28).
5. The history of Noah’s sons until Abraham (10:1-11:32).
6. The history of Abraham until Issac (12:1-25:18).
7. The history of Isaac until Jacob and Esau (25:19-27:46).
8. The history of Jacob and Esau until Joseph (28:1-36:43).
9. The history of Joseph and God’s preservation of the twelve tribes (37-50:26).

* * * * * * * * * *

The key proposition of this book—and really, the key proposition of our whole Christian worldview—is what we find in the very first verse:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1).

As it has wisely been said, if you can accept what the first verse of the Bible tells us at the beginning, you’ll have no difficulty accepting everything else that the Bible tells us all the way to its last page. So; let’s spend time considering the question …

1. WHAT DOES THIS FIRST VERSE DECLARE TO US?

First, we see that it declares to us a ‘when’. The phrase “In the beginning” is the translation of one single Hebrew word, “bereshith”. The “beginning” that’s being spoken of is strictly referring to the created universe—and not to God the Creator Himself, who is eternal and without beginning. As it says in Psalm 90:2;

Before the mountains were brought forth,
Or ever You had formed the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God (Psalm 90:2).

The ‘beginning’ described in this verse gives us the amazing and vital theological proposition that God existed before anything else in the universe, and that all that exists now has its origin and maintenance in Him. The universe was not eternal. It had a beginning point. This first affirmation should be seen in the light of John 1:1-3;

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made” (John 1:1-3).

What’s more, it declares to us a ‘who’. The word that’s used is Elohim; which is a masculine plural noun that’s here translated “God”; but which in plural form means “Strong Ones” or “Mighty Ones”. Even though the intention of this word is to express a singular Being, it is put in the form of the word through a specialized use of the plural that signifies God’s majestic potentialities (or, as it’s sometimes called, ‘the plurality of majesty’). It’s intended to place great emphasis on His sovereign power and majesty. But it also could imply that the one and only God exists in a plurality of divine Persons (not more than one god, but as the one true God who exists in a plurality of Persons). Colossians 1:16-17 (as does the previously mentioned first three verses of John) tells us that Jesus Christ, in His pre-incarnate glory, was a co-Creator with the Father:

For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist (Colossians 1:16-17).

As a third aspect of this verse, it also declares to us a ‘how’. All that exists was ‘created’ by God. The word “created” is the perfect form of the Hebrew word bara; and when used of God, it speaks of His unique work of creating all things from nothing. We humans may ‘create’ in the sense that we ‘make’ or ‘form’ or ‘build’ things—taking existing material and arranging it in new ways and forms. But no human creates the materials. Only God creates something new, fresh, and complete. As Hebrews 11:3 tells us;

By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible (Hebrews 11:3).

And finally, it declares to us a ‘what’. God, we’re told, created “the heavens and the earth”. In the original language, the word for “heavens” is a plural noun, but it can be understood to speak of either ‘heaven’ or ‘heavens’. Given the context of what follows, it clearly speaks of what we would call “space”. And “earth” clearly refers to the matter from which the earth in its present form would later be organized. It’s important to remember that, at the time of the original act of creation described to us in verse 1, there were no other heavenly bodies (i.e., planets and stars), and the earth itself was formless and void. The earth was not brought into its present form until the first day of God’s work; and the heavenly bodies didn’t come into being until the fourth day. Putting these two words, ‘heavens’ and ‘earth’ together signifies that God created the whole physical universe and the vastness of space in which it all rests.

So; knowing the ‘when’, the ‘who’, the ‘how’ and the ‘what’ of this verse …

2. WHAT ARE ITS IMPLICATIONS WITH RESPECT TO GOD HIMSELF?

First, this one verse declares God’s existence boldly and clearly. It stands in

opposition to a whole host of alternative worldviews; and a moment’s reflection would show just how philosophically significant that would make this one verse to be. If the four things it tells us are all true, for example, then

• Atheism cannot be true; because this verse affirms that there is a God.
• Polytheism in its various forms (the belief that there are many gods) cannot be true; since this verse declares the all-encompassing work of but one God.
• Pantheism in its various forms (the belief that God is identical with the universe; or that all is God) cannot be true; because this verse declares that God existed before all that is made and is distinct from it.
• Materialism (the belief that physical matter is the only reality—such as in Carl Sagan’s famous declaration, “The Cosmos is all that is or was or ever will be”) cannot be true, because this verse declares that the material universe was made by God, had a beginning, and is not its own cause.
• Philosophical humanism (the belief that man is the measure of all things) cannot be true, because this verse declares that God created all things—including man.

It’s interesting to note that this verse doesn’t attempt to prove the basic proposition that there is a God. The Bible does use arguments for His existence, however. We can find the basic elements of the classical arguments for the existence of God in Scripture. For example, the cosmological argument (the argument that the universe is an effect that requires an efficient cause) can be found in passages such as Isaiah 40:26 and Romans 1:20. The teleological argument (the argument that order and design requires an orderly designer) can be found in Psalm 19:1-6 and Acts 14:15-17. The anthropological argument (that the moral, intellectual, and volitional nature of man requires a source that is also moral, intellectual and volitional) can be found in Psalm 94:8-11, 139:13-16, Acts 17:24-29 and Romans 2:14-15. But even though these arguments are found in the Bible—and as helpful as they may be—the Bible doesn’t place any dependence upon them. This verse—the Bible’s foundational proposition—simply begins with the assumption of God’s existence and asserts it straightforwardly. It, therefore, gives us the basic presupposition for an entire biblical worldview—both by content andby example.

And finally, consider a final question:

3. HOW SHOULD WE RESPOND TO ITS DECLARATION?

First and foremost, our response should be to humble ourselves and worship our Creator. The Bible tells us, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork” (Psalm 19:1). Therefore, as it says in Psalm 100;

Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!
Serve the Lord with gladness;
Come before His presence with singing.
Know that the Lord, He is God;
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
For the Lord is good;
His mercy is everlasting,
And His truth endures to all generations (Psalm 100:1-5).

But then, we should make this first verse of the Bible to be the very beginning point of all our believing and reasoning about the universe around us. We should, in fact, defend it as the only proper beginning point in our discussions with other people who need to acknowledge, and worship, and be reconciled to their Creator. It’s the basis of why we must appeal to people to believe the gospel and be saved by the Lord Jesus Christ. As Paul wrote in Romans 1:18-20;

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse …” (Romans 1:18-20).

AE