January 1, 2023 - Genesis 1-3

One wonderful thing about starting the new year in Genesis is that it provides a reminder about new beginnings (a phrase that seems a bit redundant; I mean, a beginning is new, isn’t it?). In fact, in these chapters, there is THE beginning, that is, the creation of the world and a new beginning in that, after sin entered the world, God announced that he was doing something new. He would send into the world one who would do battle against Satan, sin, and death and who would gain the victory: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (3:15). Westte Williams calls this one “the head crusher.” God made everything, and it was all perfect. He provided for Adam and Eve so wonderfully. The one thing he instructed them not to do, they did. Rather than destroying them, however, God showed grace and mercy by announcing a coming Redeemer. At the very beginning of the story, we get a deep glimpse into the nature and character of our God. I’m reminded that Jesus himself explained, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:16-17). That’s our story!

Of the Father’s love begotten

ere the worlds began to be,

he is Alpha and Omega,

he the source, the ending he,

of the things that are, that have been,

and that future years shall see

evermore and evermore.

This is he whom seers and sages

sang of old with one accord,

whom the voices of the prophets

promised in their faithful word.

Now he shines, the long-expected;

let creation praise its Lord

evermore and evermore. --Aurelius Clemens Prudentius (4th century)