Thoughts On Beginnings and On Eternity

This morning I began a new journey. Well, maybe not exactly a new journey because I have traversed the trail that leads up the mountain of God’s Word many times before. But each journey is different and I have always learned new things and grown closer to God each time. God’s Word is timeless and never loses its ability to be applicable to our lives whether we read in in 1983 or 2016.

So this morning I begin and alongside me will be my copy of The Wiersbe Bible Commentary as sort of a guidebook. While I always seek the teaching of the Holy Spirit whenever I read God’s Word as 1 John 2:27 tells us that “…the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.” I like to use commentaries to help me be sure I am hearing and seeing what the Spirit is telling me. I also will be using this commentary to set the outline for each days reading which will help me stay on track.

So today was an introduction to Genesis. And my beginning is a simple one; one verse.

Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

In the beginning are words that have been misrepresented by the cults. Cults are the devil’s attempt to cast doubt on the truth of God’s Word by misrepresenting His truth. There are some who take this verse and use it to say God is not eternal, that He had a beginning. But this is not the way to approach this verse for the Bible is not the story of God and where He came from. If you have read the Bible through you should have noticed something; God does not attempt to prove His existence. God does not practice the application of apologetics. God simply says He is and expects us to believe that. He reveals Himself through the creation and Paul explains why this is important.

Romans 1:18-20
 For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them.  For His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse.

God has made it clear that we don’t need to explain His existence and no one can claim they don’t know He exists for He has made that clear. To be a so-called atheist means one must reject what is plain to see. Therefore no one has an excuse to not believe.

God is eternal. He was here before He created this earth.

Psalm 90:2
Before the mountains were born, before You gave birth to the earth and the world, from eternity to eternity, You are God.

God is eternal. There is something very important we need to gain from that fact. Have you ever tried to grasp eternity? If we are honest with ourselves we must admit that eternity is really not something we can understand. We live in a world of time. We have beginnings and we have ends. Babies are born and we celebrate. Grandparents die and we mourn. In the middle of that we wear watches and set alarm clocks. We have places to go and people to see and time is always telling us when to do it. We complain about not having enough time.

So this morning meditate on the concept of eternity. Try and imagine no beginnings and no endings. It will make your head spin.

God is eternal. Though we can read our Bibles, we can pray and commune with Him, and we can have relationship with Him, we will not in this life ever completely understand and know Him until we go home to eternity. God says this about Himself in Isaiah 55:9, “For as heaven is higher than earth, so My ways are higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” Eternity is part of God’s essential nature.

So in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Then He created us. Sometimes it’s just not going to make much sense. Sometimes it’s just not going to make any sense to us. But we can trust God for He was there in the beginning and He was there before the beginning. He will be there after the beginning.

Eternity is not something we can escape. Though this physical body will die one day, we will continue on in eternity, even if we choose to deny He exists. But that choice will determine where we spend eternity. And quite honestly that choice will determine how we spend our time here and now. Choose wisely. You don’t have to understand it all to believe the truth; you just have to put your faith in Jesus.

Let today be a new beginning for you. I leave you with some wonderful news.

Lamentations 3:21-23
 This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope.  The LORD'S loving kindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.

Today can be your new beginning.