“In the beginning God created the Heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1. Without question, one of the most important and controversial sentences of the entire Bible. What we believe about this very sentence sets the tone for our faith, and the rest of Scripture. If God truly created all, then the occurrences throughout the rest of Scripture do not need to be explained away as mystical or nonliteral.
The very word “Genesis” means beginning, or a starting point in time. Our life has meaning and purpose. We are not existing by chance. If so, where did that chance come from? How did that chance come about? What was the beginning, or starting point of that chance? We are not, as Ernest Hemingway summarizes in “The Sun also rises,” existing with no real beginning or end; essentially running around in cosmic circles haphazardly by chance.
It takes a lot of faith to believe everything took place with no creator or grand designer. Bob Ross, when we look at the masterpieces he created every show, started with a blank canvas, but a canvas nonetheless. Something did not come from nothing. For their to be a beginning, there must have been a canvas to start the cosmic process in motion, and that canvas came from a higher power…
In the beginning, indeed, God did something. He created the Heavens and earth from scratch. I would watch Bob Ross’s show from beginning to end. By the end of the show, I just couldn’t grasp how that once empty canvas took on a life of itself. How did he do it? But Bob Ross had a canvas, had paint, had brushes. God created the heavens and the earth “ex nihilo” or out of nothing. There was only endless emptiness. They very artwork that Bob Ross creates, God created from nothing.
We do not know from Scripture how God did this work. It goes beyond the natural into the supernatural. What we know is that through the power of God’s spoken Word came the beginning of nature by the author of nature, created out of nothing. Is that hard to believe? Ever watched the Sound of Music? The famous quote from Trapp, “Nothing comes from nothing…nothing ever could.” Yes, nothing comes from nothing. Something does not come from nothing. That would be hard to believe.
Next time you pick up your Bibles, think about Genesis 1:1. It sets the stage for the rest of Scripture. Ask yourself, and truly ask yourself, “Do I believe this sentence?” Do I believe that God of Scripture is the creator of all? Do I believe that God could take an empty void, and create a masterpiece by His spoke Word?
Something out of nothing? That takes a lot of faith. Creation “ex nihilo”, out of nothing, by a God that is all-powerful and all-wise? That takes a leap of faith. A leap that God provides for all His creation through His Word, the Bible.
“In the beginning God created” are foundational words that point us in the right direction of faith in an all powerful creator.
Take that leap, it is the beginning of your journey!
Pastor Jason Pauley
