The Story: Before The Beginning

We love The Story ... God's Story ... filled with the lives people who have 'walked with God' since the 'beginning of time' ... written to teach and encourage us so that we who follow Christ will persevere and not give up [Romans 15:4].  The Story begins simple enough: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1). 

That brings us to Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

I find it interesting that God begins, not with an explanation of Himself. He starts simply with “in the beginning.” But we are told about some things that were put into place before ‘the beginning’.

1.     Before creation, God laid out our Salvation--1Peter 1:20-21 “He (Jesus) was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.”  We belonged to God before time began. 

2.     Before creation, God was electing His people--Ephesians 1:4, "According as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love." before the foundation of the world, and therefore completely apart from any merit or deserving that any person could have, God chose us in Him, “in Christ” (v. 3).

3.     Before creation, God was preparing a kingdom for us--Matthew 24:34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.” 

4.     Before creation, God Promised Eternal Life –Titus 1:2^(NASB95) in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago

He tells us enough … He had a plan before it all started.  It’s a grand drama filled with ‘on-the-edge-of-your-seat’ moments, followed by moments of stillness when nothing seems to be happening at all.  Dramas need a stage.  So in Genesis 1-2 God builds a grand stage from which action unfolds with eternal consequences.  This drama is one of a kind, it pulls the observer into the action.  At times we become one with the actors, seeing the ups-and-downs of our own lives.  Its funny, its sad, its boring.  At the end of each scene you sit before leaving the theater … because the scenes force each of us to reflect on our own lives.

This is The Story, God’s Story … written so that we won’t give up.