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GENESIS 1

Genesis is a book of "beginnings." This is the meaning of the Greek title genesis. This first book of the Bible presents the beginning, the origin of everything except God.

Few phrases have stimulated the mind and imagination as this one has: "In the beginning, God." Poets have tried to describe in their words that day. The famous nineteenth-century poet Percy Shelley labeled it the day "when God first dawned on chaos." Artists have tried to paint it. Philosophers have sought to explain it. Scientists have never lost interest in it. Theologians continue to seek and communicate its meaning.

GOD OF BEGINNINGS

In this beginning phrase of the Bible, the first profound truth of Christian understanding is stated: God is eternal.

Perhaps some of your children have asked, "Who made God?" The answer is, "No one. God has always been, God is, and God will always be; he was before the world and before human history, and he will be after the world and human history are dissolved."

Once Martin Luther was asked what God was doing before the world was made. The old reformer replied, "Cutting switches with which to flog those who ask foolish questions!" We may not silence this question in such a harsh way, but for Christians the beginning, the continuing, and the end is God. God is eternal.

Intrigue with these first words of Genesis and the story of creation has not diminished through the years. But neither has its joy. God speaks, and everything changes at once—from nothing to everything, from chaos to order. And at the height of creation: humankind, in God's own image—from the dust of the earth.

When Job was wrestling with the tragic dimensions of his own life, and was debating God, God reminded him of this joyful beginning by asking:

Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?

Tell me, if you have understanding.

Who determined its measurements—surely you know! . . .

On what were its bases sunk,

or who laid its cornerstone? (Job 38:4-7)

But joy is soon diminished by the pathos of love and hate, all the human vices and glories in everyday living. Before the end of Genesis 3, the entire gamut of our human experience is recorded, the rich intimacy and harmony of human relationships, even harmony with the earth and its creatures; and paramount, harmony with God. Then comes "the Fall." Adam and Eve, thinking they are wiser than God, do precisely what he commands them not to do. They are left with shame and brokenness, the loss of intimacy with God and others. Life "east of Eden" results.

BUT WE FALL

Karl Barth was one of the most outstanding theologians of the twentieth century. He was a pastor of a village church in Switzerland when World War I came and seemingly all the lights went out. A great darkness descended upon Europe. As pastor, he heard his people crying for some word from the Lord that would make sense out of what had happened. Barth had been raised and trained in the optimistic humanism of the nineteenth century; therefore, he was bereft of anything to preach that would be relevant to the world in which his people lived. In desperation, he turned to the Scripture and discovered what he called "the strange new world within the Bible." From that experience, he wrote The Word of God and the Word of Man. He called what he discovered in the Bible "strange" because it described a world of glaring sin and darkness unlike the image of the world held by his confident teachers. He found a diagnosis of the human condition that offered a source for the chaos of his time.

Creation, fall, and redemption are the core themes of Scripture. In the beginning, God. God created, and what God created was and is good. God created humankind, breathed into them his own breath, the breath of life. God gave us freedom, and in our pride we chose to violate God's direction for us; thus, sin came into the world. From then until now—and it will be so until God brings his story to an end—we live with sin at the very heart of our lives. Our only hope is the salvation that is ours through God's gift of himself in Jesus Christ. This is the gospel about which Paul said, "I am not ashamed . . . it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith" (Rom. 1:16).

GOD'S GOODNESS DESPITE OUR DARKNESS

We need to light up another facet of the Creation story that is worthy of re-flection. Note the recurring phrase in the Genesis story: "And it was good." Then at the end of the story are the words: "God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good" (1:31).

We need to hang on to that because the temptation is to see the world and all that is in it as evil. When the darkness of our circumstances makes life seem dark, we grow frightened and sometimes faithless. We find it difficult to believe that God is near and that God has not forgotten us. We long for light in the midst of our darkness. Do you remember John Keats's poem "Ode to a Nightingale"? In the poem, Keats expresses his longing to escape from his pain and join the pleasant-sounding nightingale who flies above the dreary life of human beings. He asks for a cup of poison to drink as he is overwhelmed by emptiness, darkness, meaninglessness, and hopelessness.

That happens to us, doesn't it? The darkness of our particular circumstances makes us believe that all of life is dark, and so we are frightened and sometimes faithless. What we need to know is that God owns the dark as well as the light and is present in the night as well as in the day. God promises to be with us and bring us out of our darkness into the light of his salvation. God's good gift of joy will always be the last word.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

Where do you need a fresh start? What is the darkest place in your life in which you need God's light to shine?