The Beginning

Genesis 1

Genesis begins with these words: “In the beginning, God . . . .” This simple introduction to the book—and to the entire Bible—reminds us of an incredibly significant fact: the God who created this world and us has existed forever in glory, splendor, and power.

Think about this for a moment. There has never been a time—ever—that God has not existed. There was a time when you did not yet exist. There was a time when this entire world—the whole universe—did not exist. God, though, is eternal; he has always existed in his perfect being, glory, and holiness. This concept is far beyond our capacity as humans to completely grasp.

In the beginning, before anything existed, God was there; he chose to create the universe, the reality that we know and see all around us. So what does this mean for us as we study the Bible?

God has existed eternally as the same God.
First, it means that God has always been the same; he has not changed throughout time but has eternally existed as exactly the same God. The Bible reveals him to us as one God in three persons—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God has eternally existed in this way, and always will.

This idea that God never changes is very important when studying the Old Testament accounts of God’s dealings with his people. The same God who spoke to Moses and Abraham is the God who invites us to know him and worship him through faith in Christ!

God has life within himself.
Next, the truth of God’s eternality means that he has life within himself. No one gives life to God; he exists completely on his own. This is a difficult concept to grasp because this is true of no other being in the universe, including Satan and all the angels. God is the only being who does not depend on any other factor for his existence. He has existed from eternity as who he is, having life within himself, and in perfect harmony as one God in three persons.

God does not need us.
This truth flows out of the last one. If God has existed eternally with life within himself and with perfect harmony within the Trinity, then it follows that God does not need us. He did not choose to create the heavens, the earth, and human beings because of some deficiency in his existence or because he was lonely! God is completely self-sufficient—“happy” and full of life within himself. It must be that God chose to create simply for his own glory—out of the overflow of his own goodness and pleasure, which he possessed before the universe began.

We need God.
This all means, of course, that while God does not need us, we desperately need him. We are finite beings; because of sin (Gen. 3), we get sick, grow old, and die. Our only hope on this earth is to find a way to know this glorious Creator and to be saved through a relationship with him. Human beings desperately need this salvation. The amazing promise that we learn as we study the Bible is that God truly offers this salvation to the humans he has created.

Jon Nielson