Genesis 1

In the beginning God. One of the most important Phrases in the entirety of Scripture, yet a phrase that’s truth is missed by so many. Which is the distinction between the Creator and the creature. God is not a creature, he is not like a creature. God is not a man, he is not like man. There is time and space and everything in it weather visible or invisible, and then there is God on the other side. Eternal outside of time. Infinite, not bound by anything. Independant and blessed, standing in need of no one and nothing for his existence or happiness. Unchanging in his eternal, boundless, independant, and blessed being. This is the God who stands on the other side of the (as John W famously states it)“what might not have been” i.e., creation. Yet in all of this, behold there is a creature, many creatures, and though God is not numbered amongst them, yet each and every one of them bares the marks of the eternal God. Creation is not random, it communicates to us that God is, that he is a wise, and powerful provider and sustainer. It communicates the goodness, beauty, and love of God. We can say in a qualified sense, that creation is the spilling over or bursting forth of the goodness, the love, the power, and the kindness of God. Man is the highest of all of God’s creatures bearing His very image. But note, it is not God who is created in mans image, but man created in God’s image, meaning man is a rational, reasoning, and moral creature. Colossians 3:10 “and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him,” Ephesians 4:24“and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”

And one commentator has noted, we are to keep in mind that the dis-likeness to God is greater than the likeness. There remains an infinite gap between the infinite God and his finite image bearers.

But the initial creation, even in all of it’s glory, calls for a greater glory. As we know all of creation and all of Scripture tends towards the eternal Son, it tends towards Christ. Scripture is Christotelic. In the beginning was the Word. And just as God spoke light and order into the darkened chaotic first creation, so God in his Son, would speak light and life, and beauty and order into a people who were dead, disobedient, hopeless, and destined for eternal ruin. The gospel is in Genesis 1 as the NT writers so frequently remind us.

Never let the wonder of God’s adoring majesty and splendor get away from your daily contemplation. And never let the beauty and glory of Christ in the OT get away from your daily meditation and contemplation. These very simple but profound truths are fuel for our worship every moment, and especially every Lords day as we come together around these realities of God’s creation and redemption.

Lets read the text.