Beginning
I’m sure today’s title is not a shock as it is only the second day of a new year when this is being published. It is a time of goal setting for some and reflection for others. I decided to explore the idea of beginnings in the Bible. I was surprised by the number of times the words “begin” or “beginning” were used in total. Of course, the most obvious was Genesis 1:1 where we read, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” It was really this thought that got my brain going. It all begins with God, so how else is that represented throughout the Bible?
As I looked, I found many beginnings. There are beginnings of kingdoms as early as Genesis 10:10. Progressions are started with statements such as “beginning with the eldest” (Gen. 44:12) and “beginning with the older ones” (John 8:9). There are many references to God and Jesus as having been “from the beginning.”
There are two other “beginning” passages I want us to consider today where what I want us to see is actually the end. In Luke 24, the resurrected Christ is walking on the road to Emmaus with two disciples who, for whatever reason, were kept from recognizing Him. After discussing with them the events of His death and reports of His resurrection, Luke records, “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (verse 27).
The second passage I want to consider is found in Acts 8. Here we read of Philip overtaking the chariot where an Ethiopian eunuch was reading from Isaiah. In verse 35 we read, “Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.”
The point I want to make with these two passages is simple. It doesn’t matter where you begin, it all comes back to and ends with Jesus. That is why in Revelation, there is rejoicing and worship in heaven when the Lamb is able to open the scroll (Rev. 5:5) and why is portrayed as victorious when He appears as the rider on the white horse (Rev. 19).
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). Yes, He was in the beginning … but everything also leads back to Him in the end.
AUTHOR: Amber Tatum