"In the beginning...."
What does this phrase immediately bring to our minds? On one day, it reminds us of Genesis 1:1. On another day, it reminds us of John 1:1...depending on if we happen to have the OT or the NT on our mind at the time. But of course, the Spirit of God who inspired John to pen his words hundreds of years after Moses was likewise inspired, intended for them both to come to mind. Their connection is clearly intentional, but the philosophical/theological implications of their union have often escaped the notice of many Bible readers. If we step back just a bit and look again at Genesis 1 in the context of John 1, it will shed great light on our faith in Jesus of Nazareth.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Jesus as the Word (i.e. "logos" in Greek) is the key to understanding the "logic" or "reason" both of and for God's Big God-Story. Who He is and what He has done is the integrating factor of (or, the "reasoning behind") all divine/human interactions that makes sense of the various parts of the Story. Jesus is also the One who came as the embodiment/fulfillment of all to which the Law and the Prophets pointed. That is, He is the ultimate "reason for" God's historic activities. John was deliberately setting forth the case that faith in Jesus Christ is reasonable, not unreasonable; believable, not unbelievable, credible, not incredible.
Imagine that all the unique and various parts of the history of God's interactions with humanity were scattered in pieces on a table, like those of a giant jig saw puzzle. Only our assigned task would be to put them together as they are turned face down! This would be a terribly frustrating assignment and a nearly impossible task. If we were somehow able to laboriously fit them properly together based simply on their shape rather than working to replicate a known image...and then...we were able to flip the finished puzzle around...we would see a colorful and beautiful portrait of Jesus the Lord and Messiah. How much easier it would have been to fit the pieces together if we had had the image of that portrait already on the cover of the box and we were allowed to work with the pieces face up.
This is the privileged and graceful vantage point that we now enjoy as we reread, rehearse and piece together the Big Story of Scripture, now, on the "other side" of the first coming of the Christ and the inscripturation of His first apostles' teachings. We get to work with the pieces "face up" and also with the distinct advantage of seeing the "face" of God in Jesus Christ portrayed in the Gospels and the remaining NT literature. Christ appeared at just the "right time" in human history to truly inaugurate a "New Genesis" that would renew all creation and reconcile it to its Creator.
Eph 1:7b-10...according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
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