It All Began in the Beginning

Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe

When we seek for deeper truth in the Word of God, we must begin our search from the point of the foundation. That foundation is in the book of Genesis. Genesis is more than the beginning book. It is the book of the beginning. Genesis is both the literal description of the beginning and a prophetic road map directing us in our spiritual journey to understanding the Word Who spoke the universe into being, to understanding and accepting the Word Who became flesh and dwelt among us, to understanding and walking in the faith knowledge that He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.

Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning”: In Hebrew, the word translated “the beginning” is “B’reshiyth”, pronounced “Bee ray-sheeth.” It means “beginning, chiefest, principal thing, the head of.”

“In the beginning God”: in other words, God is both the beginning and the most important. He is the head of, the foundation. He is Alpha. It means that He has foresight and planned each step. It means that creation is not random. We can stand on that premise because He is unchanging. (Malachi 3:6a: “6. "For I am the Lord, I do not change.)

The Hebrew word used for God in Genesis 1 is Elohim which is a plural noun that requires a singular verb to show that Elohim is the majestic plural including His incarnate body and His spirit —Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The filter through which we all interrupt the world around us rests on the foundation on which we have chosen to stand. Whether we realize it or not, that foundation, for all of us, is our concept of God. The atheist interprets data based on the belief that God does not exist and everything is random. The agnostic interprets data through a filter of doubt and uncertainty. The deist has a vague concept of an impersonal God that many today refer to as the Universe. The gods of Islam, Hinduism and other religions are impersonal and offer no redemption.

According to the Westminster Shorter Catechism, the Christian’s filter is the understanding that our chief purpose is to know God and to enjoy Him. If we are to enjoy Him, our foundational knowledge, our filter, must include the understanding that He is good.

The foundation that we must stand on in order to glean deeper truth from scripture is that God is B’reshiyth, that He is the same yesterday, today and forever more (Hebrews 13:8) and that He is good (Psalm 25:8: Good and upright is the Lord).

Two other scriptures that have become stones in my foundational concept of God are:

Jeremiah 29: 11: “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

John 10: 10. "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”

This is the day the Lord has made. I choose to rejoice and be glad in it.

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2Bonnie Lockman and Linda Roesch