This post is a continuation of yesterday's thoughts on Genesis and in particular the first independent clause or statement in the Bible, "In the beginning God", found in Genesis 1:1. This is how God introduces Himself. The basic idea is that when beginning began God already was and had been forever. Theologians refer to this concept as the pre-existence of God. Now since God is pre-existent and thus prior to all things because He is the Creator of all things—He cannot be controlled, bound, obligated, limited, known, or defined by anything He created.
God can only be known if He makes Himself known. Furthermore, God can only be known to the degree that He makes Himself known. But interestingly enough, this God Who is Infinite and without limitations and thus unknowable—knows Himself perfectly, completely, and infinitely. So how do you package a God Who knows Himself perfectly and yet by theological definition is unknowable? You can’t! And that is God’s point in the very first sentence of the Bible—Don’t try to define or figure me out so you can put me in your little box and try to contain me. God is not a box-able, package-able, containable God. As Tumnus, in C.S. Lewis’ book, “The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe”, states to Lucy about Aslan the Lion, who pictures Christ Who is Himself God,—“He is not a tame lion but He is good.”
To go further in understanding this first sentence of the Bible we see that because God is pre-existent and the source of all things and is thus bound by nothing outside of Himself that He is self-existent, self-sufficient, and self-determining or completely Sovereign over every atom in His Creation. In other words, God exists because it is His nature to exist—He is self-existent and because He is self-existent—He will always exist and He will always exist as He is—thus God is eternal. And because God is eternal as He is in all His perfections He will never change. So this means that regardless of what becomes politically correct and acceptable to man—God will not change to accommodate the speck of dust He calls Man and his perversions of God’s created order.
God’s pre-existence also means He is Self-sufficient which means He did not create because He needed to or because He needed something from his Creation. God has always been and thus has always been Self-sufficient and really Self-Contained thus there is absolutely nothing that we or the rest of Creation can do to improve God’s existence. In other words, God did not create us because He needed company, fellowship, workers, glory, love, or anything else. He created because He wanted to--not because He needed to.
The fact is—God has never needed fellowship or company or love because He exists as a Trinity with perfect fellowship and love with each member of the Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is hinted at by the use of the Hebrew word, “Elohim” in the first sentence of the Bible, “Bereshith Elohim” or “In beginning God”. You see Elohim is plural. It is the plural form of El which means God. The word Elohim occurs 35 times in Genesis 1 so, this was not a typo. God wants us to understand that He exists as more than one person and the remainder of Scripture reveals to us that God exists as the three Persons we know as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, existing as Trinity in perfect fellowship and love—God did not create because He was lonely and needed love or fellowship.
Now, finally, because God is Infinite as the Pre-existent God, He is Omnipotent or All-Powerful and Omni-Present or Present everywhere at the same time which means He is absolutely able to do whatever He wishes whenever He wishes and wherever He wishes which means He is Absolutely Sovereign over everything—including us.
Wow—all this in the very first sentence of the Bible.
And the fact is, this very first complete thought in the Bible is perhaps the most important because it is bringing us face-to-face with the God with Whom we have to do. He is not an imaginary God nor a God of our own making because no man would create a God like this—no man could. He is the God Who is—and He will always Be. And He is perfectly capable and able to meet your every need. He is infinitely more than able to satisfy your every desire. He can be trusted and He can be relied upon and knowing Him as he reveals Himself is the only true and lasting antidote to stress and fear that exists.
You know, God gave the Israelites the Book of Genesis to help them but they for the most part failed to use it and they failed to teach it to their children. And this spelled disaster for them for generations to come. They who forget God and Who He is—do so to their peril. And the reason why we often struggle with sin, stress, a lack of faith, spiritual courage, confidence in God, and a lack of joy in our lives is because we too have forgotten Who our God is and What our God is able and willing to do on our behalf if we would only trust and rely upon and put confidence in Him alone.
We are often like the man who was walking next to a cliff and suddenly slipped and went over the edge. As he was falling however, he was able to grab ahold of a tree root extending out from the cliff. And as he was dangling in mid-air holding on to that root for dear life he began crying out for help. He began yelling, “Is anyone up there who can help me?” And then all of a sudden he heard a voice from above which said—“I can help you but first you need to let go of the branch.” The man looked up and then he looked down and began yelling—“Is there anyone else that can help me?”
Well, there is no one else who can help us except God but we have to trust Him—we have to put our confidence in Him and we can only do that if we know something about Him. Genesis is God’s gift to you to help you understand that He not only is able to help you—It would be His joy to do so—but you’ll have to trust Him and place your full confidence in Him to help you by doing what is best for you not necessarily what is comfortable—whether you like it or not.
Finally, our Creator God is ultimately inescapable by anyone. All of us who are creatures must one day meet Him and be judged by Him. And we will either be judged innocent because we have trusted in Him for salvation or we will be judged guilty because we chose to ignore Him. The God with Whom we all have to do is merciful, compassionate, kind, and will forgive our sins but only if we come to Him on His terms which is to come to Him through Jesus Christ Who is Himself God the Son. Oh how much better to do business with God today rather than later.
God can only be known if He makes Himself known. Furthermore, God can only be known to the degree that He makes Himself known. But interestingly enough, this God Who is Infinite and without limitations and thus unknowable—knows Himself perfectly, completely, and infinitely. So how do you package a God Who knows Himself perfectly and yet by theological definition is unknowable? You can’t! And that is God’s point in the very first sentence of the Bible—Don’t try to define or figure me out so you can put me in your little box and try to contain me. God is not a box-able, package-able, containable God. As Tumnus, in C.S. Lewis’ book, “The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe”, states to Lucy about Aslan the Lion, who pictures Christ Who is Himself God,—“He is not a tame lion but He is good.”
To go further in understanding this first sentence of the Bible we see that because God is pre-existent and the source of all things and is thus bound by nothing outside of Himself that He is self-existent, self-sufficient, and self-determining or completely Sovereign over every atom in His Creation. In other words, God exists because it is His nature to exist—He is self-existent and because He is self-existent—He will always exist and He will always exist as He is—thus God is eternal. And because God is eternal as He is in all His perfections He will never change. So this means that regardless of what becomes politically correct and acceptable to man—God will not change to accommodate the speck of dust He calls Man and his perversions of God’s created order.
God’s pre-existence also means He is Self-sufficient which means He did not create because He needed to or because He needed something from his Creation. God has always been and thus has always been Self-sufficient and really Self-Contained thus there is absolutely nothing that we or the rest of Creation can do to improve God’s existence. In other words, God did not create us because He needed company, fellowship, workers, glory, love, or anything else. He created because He wanted to--not because He needed to.
The fact is—God has never needed fellowship or company or love because He exists as a Trinity with perfect fellowship and love with each member of the Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is hinted at by the use of the Hebrew word, “Elohim” in the first sentence of the Bible, “Bereshith Elohim” or “In beginning God”. You see Elohim is plural. It is the plural form of El which means God. The word Elohim occurs 35 times in Genesis 1 so, this was not a typo. God wants us to understand that He exists as more than one person and the remainder of Scripture reveals to us that God exists as the three Persons we know as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, existing as Trinity in perfect fellowship and love—God did not create because He was lonely and needed love or fellowship.
Now, finally, because God is Infinite as the Pre-existent God, He is Omnipotent or All-Powerful and Omni-Present or Present everywhere at the same time which means He is absolutely able to do whatever He wishes whenever He wishes and wherever He wishes which means He is Absolutely Sovereign over everything—including us.
Wow—all this in the very first sentence of the Bible.
And the fact is, this very first complete thought in the Bible is perhaps the most important because it is bringing us face-to-face with the God with Whom we have to do. He is not an imaginary God nor a God of our own making because no man would create a God like this—no man could. He is the God Who is—and He will always Be. And He is perfectly capable and able to meet your every need. He is infinitely more than able to satisfy your every desire. He can be trusted and He can be relied upon and knowing Him as he reveals Himself is the only true and lasting antidote to stress and fear that exists.
You know, God gave the Israelites the Book of Genesis to help them but they for the most part failed to use it and they failed to teach it to their children. And this spelled disaster for them for generations to come. They who forget God and Who He is—do so to their peril. And the reason why we often struggle with sin, stress, a lack of faith, spiritual courage, confidence in God, and a lack of joy in our lives is because we too have forgotten Who our God is and What our God is able and willing to do on our behalf if we would only trust and rely upon and put confidence in Him alone.
We are often like the man who was walking next to a cliff and suddenly slipped and went over the edge. As he was falling however, he was able to grab ahold of a tree root extending out from the cliff. And as he was dangling in mid-air holding on to that root for dear life he began crying out for help. He began yelling, “Is anyone up there who can help me?” And then all of a sudden he heard a voice from above which said—“I can help you but first you need to let go of the branch.” The man looked up and then he looked down and began yelling—“Is there anyone else that can help me?”
Well, there is no one else who can help us except God but we have to trust Him—we have to put our confidence in Him and we can only do that if we know something about Him. Genesis is God’s gift to you to help you understand that He not only is able to help you—It would be His joy to do so—but you’ll have to trust Him and place your full confidence in Him to help you by doing what is best for you not necessarily what is comfortable—whether you like it or not.
Finally, our Creator God is ultimately inescapable by anyone. All of us who are creatures must one day meet Him and be judged by Him. And we will either be judged innocent because we have trusted in Him for salvation or we will be judged guilty because we chose to ignore Him. The God with Whom we all have to do is merciful, compassionate, kind, and will forgive our sins but only if we come to Him on His terms which is to come to Him through Jesus Christ Who is Himself God the Son. Oh how much better to do business with God today rather than later.
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