In the beginning God...

 Genesis 1

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ² The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. ³ Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. ⁴ God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. ⁵ God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

Matthew 1

The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah,the son of David,the son of Abraham:

² Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. ³ Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez was the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram. ⁴ Ram was the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon. ⁵ Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse. ⁶ Jesse was the father of David the king.

David was the father of Solomon by Bathsheba who had been the wife of Uriah. ⁷ Solomon was the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asa. ⁸ Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah. ⁹ Uzziah was the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah. ¹⁰ Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, and Amon the father of Josiah. ¹¹ Josiah became the father of Jeconiah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

¹² After the deportation to Babylon: Jeconiah became the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel. ¹³ Zerubbabel was the father of Abihud, Abihud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor. ¹⁴ Azor was the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud. ¹⁵ Eliud was the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob. ¹⁶ Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.

As we begin this year, 2015, I couldn't choose between the Genesis creation account or Matthew's account of the genealogy of Jesus. Both of these texts are from the daily reading in the One Year Bible(link available on links page of this site). There is so much for us to read and comprehend in just these 2 brief portions of these texts that we could probably spend weeks or months on them.

Let's begin with Genesis 1. In the beginning God... We should first recognize that this is not an account of the beginning of God. God is eternal. He is the Alpha and Omega, the begining and the end. This very concept of an eternal God is one of the stumbling blocks to those who question or doubt God's existence. They are unable to comprehend eternity with their finite mind so they dismiss it as unreal. The process of their denial of an eternal creative God leads them to believe in things which are far less finite than God Himself. They believe or profess to believe that all of creation, every life form and the intricate balance which sustains it all, just happened. They believe that it and we are series of random accidents rather than admitting that creation itself testifies that there is a creator.

I digress. Let's look at what we can see in the creation account which we can apply to our own lives today and throughout 2015. Verse 2 says The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. The Hebrew for the words formless and void are Tohu wa bohu,(TOH-hoo-BO-hoo). It speaks of emptiness and waste combined with an element of chaos. That was the state of the earth prior to God acting upon it in creation. It says that the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. God's Spirit is the moving force behind God's actions.  I believe verse 3 holds a key,  a powerful principle which we can apply in our own lives. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. The all powerful, all knowing, all present, eternal God of creation spoke and there was light. The chaos was gone. Certainly God is all powerful. Isaiah 55:8-9 says,

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
⁹ “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts  

God could have thought the world into existence, but throughout the creation account we see that God speaks and it is. There is power in the spoken word. The spoken Word of God causes the Spirit of God to move and change things. If the all powerful God spoke to change the chaos and the emptiness, then we too should speak the Word of God to the chaos in our lives. There is surely a place in our lives for silent meditation and prayer, but if we want to change the Tohu wa bohu in our lives, there is something to be said for speaking and declaring God's Word. In Isaiah 55:11 God says this about His Word:

So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.

I want to briefly look at the account of the genealogy of Christ in Matthew. We will see in the upcoming accounts in Genesis the fall of man. How the sin of Adam and Eve impacted all people and all of creation. The rest of the Bible, all of scripture from the rest of Genesis to Revelation is about God's plan and actions to redeem and restore man and creation. What we can see in the genealogy of Jesus is evidence that Jesus Christ's finished work on the cross would in fact be for all people and cover every sin.

If we look into the stories of the lives of some of those list in this genealogy we will see that God did not bring Jesus through a line of carefully directed holy and righteous people. Jacob was a swindler who obtained his birthright and inheritence through deception.  Perez was born of the wrongful union of Judah with his daughter-in-law Tamar.   Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth. There is debate as to whether the Rahab listed here has any connection to the prostitute who helped the Israelites defeat Jericho, but Ruth who is listed as the mother of Obed was a non-Jew, she was a Moabitess. Genesis 19:36-37 tells us this about the Moabites, Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father. 37The firstborn bore a son, and called his name Moab; he is the father of the Moabites to this day.

The list continues, Obed the father of Jesse. ⁶ Jesse was the father of David the king. David was the father of Solomon by Bathsheba who had been the wife of Uriah. David, of whom God said,  'I HAVE FOUND DAVID the son of Jesse, A MAN AFTER MY HEART, who will do all My will.'
(Acts 13:22), was also an adulterer and a murderer.  Of all the sons of David, it was through  Solomon the child born to Bathsheba that God continues the line to Christ. The rest of the list includes some who were considered good leaders and kings as well as others who were not, until we come to, Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.

We see evidence then that Jesus redemption and restoration was for all people Jew and Gentile. It covers every sin known to man. Who are we to diminish the power of the cross and the blood of Jesus by saying or believing His work was not sufficient to cover all sin someone elses or our own? 

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus my Savior, Holy Spirit thank You for all that You have done and all the truth and promises we have in Your Word.Thank You that the cross and blood of Christ is sufficient to redeem every sin. Help me today and throughout this year to stand on and believe in all You have said and done. I will declare Your Word to the Tohu wa bohu in my life and in the lives of others. In the name of Jesus, the name above all names I pray.

If you read that prayer, take a step and read it again, out loud, declare it!