In the Beginning
Today we begin the 16th season of the OKC Ambassadors! We open up practice with our 9U baseball team, and we are very much looking forward to getting everyone together to lay the foundation of the team. Each year, on the first day together, we spend time establishing the goals, expectations and standards of what it means to be an Ambassador. This is a great day for us and a wonderful opportunity to begin to build trust between our coaching staff and players.
For the first two weeks, we are focusing our attention on the basics of the Christian faith by looking at John 1:1-5. Which says, “1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
The very foundation of understanding the Gospel is to recognize the Holiness and Supremacy of the Lord our God. He is totally Supreme over all of the universe, and He reigns in Holiness. All things that He has done, is doing and will do is totally perfect and righteous. There is nothing that is imperfect with God’s decree, which He has set forth from before the foundations of the world. The Lord our God rules and reigns Supreme over all time, space, matter and energy. He is in total and absolute control over all things.
It is our responsibility to recognize this reality and submit to the Holiness of God. “In the beginning…” there existed a God who was always in existence. The Lord our God is from everlasting to everlasting. He has no beginning or ending. He just simply is. And we must lift our eyes to submit to the absolute reality that God has always been and will always be. He is the Alpha and the Omega. He is the First and the Last. And there is no being or creature, which has ever been created by God who can match His Supremacy over all things. “The Lord our God, the Lord is One” (Deuteronomy 6:4).
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). But there are many verses in the Bible which come before this moment in the history of time. The formation of the universe, which we find in Genesis 1, occurred after Ephesians 1:3-14. Look at this beautiful text of Scripture (which is one long sentence in Greek by the way): “3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”
No matter your soteriology (understanding of the Doctrine of Salvation), you cannot deny that before the world was created, God was in existence and giving plan and purpose to all of his creation. And as a believer in Jesus Christ, this should invigorate your soul. You see, when John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word…” it is this which John is referring to. It is before time began. And this concept is simply un-understandable for our finite minds. The concept that God has always been. The idea that there was not a beginning for God. The reality that He was always in existence.
“In the beginning was the Word…” And in this beginning we were “blessed in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.” As Christians, God, in His infinite wisdom, chose to “bless us” in Christ with Christ by Christ for Christ… “for the praise of His glorious grace.”
For the first two weeks, we are focusing our attention on the basics of the Christian faith by looking at John 1:1-5. Which says, “1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
The very foundation of understanding the Gospel is to recognize the Holiness and Supremacy of the Lord our God. He is totally Supreme over all of the universe, and He reigns in Holiness. All things that He has done, is doing and will do is totally perfect and righteous. There is nothing that is imperfect with God’s decree, which He has set forth from before the foundations of the world. The Lord our God rules and reigns Supreme over all time, space, matter and energy. He is in total and absolute control over all things.
It is our responsibility to recognize this reality and submit to the Holiness of God. “In the beginning…” there existed a God who was always in existence. The Lord our God is from everlasting to everlasting. He has no beginning or ending. He just simply is. And we must lift our eyes to submit to the absolute reality that God has always been and will always be. He is the Alpha and the Omega. He is the First and the Last. And there is no being or creature, which has ever been created by God who can match His Supremacy over all things. “The Lord our God, the Lord is One” (Deuteronomy 6:4).
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). But there are many verses in the Bible which come before this moment in the history of time. The formation of the universe, which we find in Genesis 1, occurred after Ephesians 1:3-14. Look at this beautiful text of Scripture (which is one long sentence in Greek by the way): “3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”
No matter your soteriology (understanding of the Doctrine of Salvation), you cannot deny that before the world was created, God was in existence and giving plan and purpose to all of his creation. And as a believer in Jesus Christ, this should invigorate your soul. You see, when John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word…” it is this which John is referring to. It is before time began. And this concept is simply un-understandable for our finite minds. The concept that God has always been. The idea that there was not a beginning for God. The reality that He was always in existence.
“In the beginning was the Word…” And in this beginning we were “blessed in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.” As Christians, God, in His infinite wisdom, chose to “bless us” in Christ with Christ by Christ for Christ… “for the praise of His glorious grace.”
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