"GOD KNOWS THE END FROM THE BEGINNING"
As we entered the 21st century era, science and religion, modern education and the Bible seem to be more at war than friends with each other. Christianity is growing exponentially in countries like China and Africa and South America while Europe and North America, the most technologically advanced societies continue in a downward spiral economically and morally. One of many areas Christians are grappling and struggling with is how to understand this first book of the Bible. Genesis means "beginnings" and modern Christians not only have an identity crises but are not sure how to read the first book of the Bible anymore much less the last book which ironically is called "Revelation."
In an Internet information overload world, what the church needs is not more information but revelation. The church needs to "hear" the Word of the Lord afresh and start putting it into practice. We see in the first book of the Bible that God is a person who speaks and communicates to us. The first word is given by God and so will the last word. We live in the excluded middle with so many life problems facing this planet with many disappointments, much rejection, and too many misunderstandings. But we learn from the two great book ends of the Bible (Genesis and Revelation) that God is at the beginning of all things and God is at the conclusion of all of life. Our unlovely middle is connected to a splendid beginning and a glorious eneding.
We act like the universe was created for us but what we learn from going back to Genesis is everything belongs to God. Life is not about my health, my money, my family, my happiness but it is all about God and God's plans, God's purposes, God's desires and destiny for each of us. The whole Bible is about God pursuing a relationship with you! When we read the Bible, understand that it is God's love letter to humanity, it is not hate-mail to those who don't believe in God. People search Genesis trying to know 'the how' of creation when what they really desperately need to know is the Creator!
The book of Genesis is not about how the heavens go or even how to get to heaven. It is about how God becomes King on earth as it is in heaven. So as I have gone back and re-read Genesis as if for the first time, here are some great spiritual truths I am discovering from the first chapter of Genesis.
1. When God becomes King on earth as it is in heaven, God heals the hardness of our hearts. The whole book of Genesis and through the whole Bible is about not separating what God has united like heaven and earth. The book is also about not putting together what God has divided like light and darkness, good and evil, day and night, and what is holy from what is unholy. God is holy and God calls everyone of us to be a holy people.
2. When God becomes King on earth as it is in heaven God makes us into a new creation. God is bringing about a new heaven and and a new earth. He is creating us into a new family and ultimately into a new creation. The only thing that matters in the end is not our endless debates or issues we fight over but simply being the new creation God has intended for everyone of us since the very beginning.
3. God fills our emptiness with the fullness of His Spirit. We may feel like we are drowning in the deep face of darkenss at times but God's Spirit still hovers over us and wants to transform our brokeness and confusion into healing and confidence in Jesus. In the end, trials do not show how strong we are but reveal how weak we are without God. God desires to fill our lives with heaven so that earth can more be like heaven.
4. God takes our mess and turns it into a message. The whole Bible story is one that names the darkness and identifies our deepest wounds and needs. God's Spirit is like a mirror that shows us our true selves and gives us the power to live our lives in victory over everything in life that has tried to destroy and pull us down. God orders the chaos of our lives. Our scars are not something to hide but now reveal the deep healing work God has done in our lives. Each new day can become a new day with God.
5. All of creation points us to Someone you need to meet. Jesus is the bright morning star who rises in our hearts. Satan is the pretender and deceiver who opposes everthing God stands for. Satan stands for barreness, chaos, confusion, and death. Jesus stands for fruitfulness, purpose, destiny, and abundant life. God gives us another day as an opportunity to choose mercy and grace and truth over bitterness, pride, and everything that is false that steals glory from the One who radically pursues us more than we ever pursue the one who made and designed us from the beginning.
