“In the beginning…”
How many beginnings do you know that exist in the bible? Okay, Genesis 1:1 is a gimme. What else? Good, John 1:1 is another. Now comes the harder ones. Did you think of the one in Ephesian 1:4 or 1 Peter 1:20. Or how about 2 Timothy 1:9? Surely you thought of that one since I’ve quoted it enough here. Are you done yet? I’ll bet you forgot Revelation 13:8, right? You know there are several more found in the book of Job, Psalms, Colossians, and Proverbs, but I think you might be seeing that the “beginning” isn’t necessarily found at the beginning of the bible. Why is this important in this message of grace?
2 Timothy 1:9 says that we were chosen for God’s purposes and given His grace in Christ Jesus before the world began. This places us in the eternal realm with two members of the trinity. This means that we have an identity that existed before our natural birth, an identity that has always been in Jesus. But there is more here than meets the eye.
John 1:1 and 2 states that in the beginning was the Word. As you read further in John he will tell us that the “Word” is Jesus. (Yeah, I know that you know this but I’m trying to show you something.) So let’s read this verse putting the names in where they properly belong.
John 1:1-2 KJVR
1) In the beginning was Jesus, and Jesus was with God, and Jesus was God.
2) The same [Jesus] was in the beginning with God.
Now I want you to look at something out of the Genesis account.
Genesis 1:1 KJVR
(1) In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Did you notice that the beginning in Genesis is not the same beginning as in John? As a matter of fact 2 Timothy 1:9 is more in line with John than Genesis. So where am I going with this? To determine the terms “purpose” and “grace” defined in 2 Timothy 1:9 we need to look at John 1:1-2.
John tells us that Jesus was with God, not just once, but twice in these two verses. Do you think that he wants us to understand this point? After all he only claimed that Jesus was God once. So what gives? It has everything to do…get ready…here it comes…the answer is found, with. You’re probably thinking, “With what?” Not what, but with, the word “WITH.”
When most people read this verse they think that Jesus and Father God are standing next to each other, best buds, patting each other on the back and giving high-fives. The reason most often is because they think that John has placed this encounter after the Genesis creation narrative. As I’ve already stated John is before Genesis so obviously the high fives are a little premature. Actually, them even standing next to each other doesn’t fit the description either, because we know that the royal family does not stand when there is a throne.
The word “with” in both of these verses tells us precisely how they were arranged. Simply put, it means that they were face to face. Jesus was looking at the Father and the Father was looking at Jesus. John uses this specific word here so that we can get a picture of how these two related to each other. There is another word for “with” that he could have used and it would be similar to the scene I described above. But this word John used denotes a proximity and familiarity not easy to dismiss. Let’s see what the verses in John look like when you clarify this matter.
John 1:1-2 KJVR
1) In the beginning was Jesus, and Jesus was face to face to God, and Jesus was God.
2) The same [Jesus] was in the beginning face to face to God.
Jesus made the claim, “I only do those things I see my Father do.” Of course! He is looking right at him; he doesn’t have to go find out where the Father is at and then try to decipher what it is that he is doing because he missed something. If God blinks, so does Jesus. If Jesus laughs, I assure you that the Father does too. If one of them yawns, well you get the point.
So what is so important about this? The grace you’re experiencing in Jesus Christ, that identity in Him that you had in the beginning is all being conducted in a face to face manner. You looking at Father God through Jesus, Father God looking at you through Jesus. You’ve never been hidden from Him, He has always been looking right at you.
Maybe now you can understand this claim in Genesis, “Let us make man in our image and likeness.” They are so enraptured with each other that they…Oops! That is going to have to come later to keep this posting within acceptable reading limits. Stay tuned…
You must be logged in to post a comment.