January 1, 2025 - Genesis 1-2

Another year!  And to be able to read through the entirety of God’s Word, day by day:  what a privilege!  And it all begins where?  Well, in Genesis, of course.  Moses begins, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (1:10).  He offers no argument for the existence of God.  He simply and rightly assumes God’s existence and that nothing can truly be explained apart from his existence.  The creation account proceeds, and the pinnacle of it all is the creation of man and woman:  “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (1:27).  “In his own image” . . . certainly, we are not gods but we are created in the image of God.  We are like him in so many ways.  God exists, we exist.  God thinks, we think.  God sees, we see.  God speaks through words and statements as do we.  God loves, we love.  We are not like all the other animals; rather, we are like God.  Again, there must be an emphasis on the word “like;” in so many ways we are like God.  And this reality means that we, as human beings, are endowed with honor and worth and, though sinful, redeemable and able to have fellowship with our Creator.  And how does that happen?  Well, this is just the beginning of the story, right?  That story is to be told throughout the year and, day by day, the pieces will be filled in until we come to the end of the story.  And, before the Lamb, we will sing, along with the redeemed from all time, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth” (Revelation 5:9-10).  What a story!

Ten thousand times ten thousand

In sparkling raiment bright,

The armies of the ransomed saints

Throng up the steeps of light:

‘Tis finished, all is finished,

Their fight with death and sin;

Fling open wide the golden gates,

And let the victors in.

What rush of alleluias

Fills all the earth and sky!

What ringing of a thousand harps

Bespeaks the triumph nigh!   --Henry Alford (1867)