In the Beginning...

I decided to break from my Old/New Testament daily readings today and browse through the Book of John. I had heard it is the best place for new believers to start, and I know I'm not to the point of pastor level belief yet, so I thought it could be enlightening. What I discovered surprised me.

As I Read John 1 Verse 1, the phrase "in the Beginning" struck me. I had heard it before. I recalled back to Genesis 1:1, and it clicked. Theses two books have some striking parallels between them, and I may have gained new insight (at least in my opinion) of the symbol of Jacob's Ladder. I am no scholar or preacher, but I took some notes to help me recall. I'll speak to that momentarily.

Genesis 1:1- In the Beginning, God created the heavens and the earth
John 1:1- In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.

The greek for this "word" translates as logos. In college and even now I don't fully understand the whole logos, pathos and ethos thing, but I know it is significant to note that "The Word" in this situation is referencing Christ.

Now look at the two together. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. They coincide rather nicely--and coincidentally (or perhaps not) represent two of the most key Books in the Bible- one from Old Testament, one from New Testament.

I began reading further, curious as to what I might find...

Genesis 2:3- And God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it; because that in it He rested from all his work which God had created and made.

John 1:3- All things were made through Him; and without him was not anything made that hath been made.

A further confirmation of the role of the triune God in creation of all that exists. God, Christ and the Holy Spirit existed three in one since the creation. In the beginning...

With my appetite for more interesting parallels not satisfied, I dug a bit deeper....

The following one seemed similar to me at first, but I realize in Genesis it is speaking of creating man and in John it was referencing life being in Christ and the life being the light of man--still the man and creation theme caused me to put them side by side.

Genesis 2:7- And the Lord God made man from the dust of the earth, breathing into him the breath of life: and man became a living soul


John 1:4- In Him was life; and the life was the light of man

Life through Christ-the light of man

I read further through John and saw a very profound statement to me.
John 1:10-11- He was in the world (God/Christ), and the world was made through Him, and the world knew Him not. He cam unto HIS own, and they that were HIS own received Him not.

This made me sad. Imagine you created an existence. A creation with the capacity to love the creator. It was their decision ultimately, but being the embodiment of love (amongst other things), there was a real desire to have the creation respond to your love.

Now imagine you visit creation, in the flesh, fully God while fully man, and they reject you. Even when they see you perform miracles to prove your divinity, even when they see proof that you are the creator, they prefer to continue in their own ways.

If you go to visit your children and they reject you because they would rather not have to answer to authority, would that hurt your heart? IF they reject you because they want their way to be the right way, despite the truth, wouldn't it hurt?

I see pain in this verse. Pain at how far the creation He loved so dearly had fallen, how far WE have fallen. We rejected Him. He came to save us from our iniquity, and we crucified Him for it. We denied outright truth in pursuit of lies. And we still do this today, sadly.

Finally, I approached the end of John Chapter 1 and noticed a phrase that reminded me something else from Genesis (though later in the book). A reference to angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.

Genesis 28:12- And he (Jacob) dreamed. And behold, a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to Heaven. And behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it (the ladder).

John 1:51- And He (Jesus) saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye shall see the Heavens opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.

Was Jacob's "ladder" a vision of Christ? I don't know, but I find it a striking parallel.

This is what really proves the Bible to be all it claims. Just because one verse doesn't always make sense, doesn't mean you cannot find it's parallel, or its descriptor, somewhere else in the text. Context is everything. Perceived contradictions in content have all but been dismissed by scholars who know to read the Bible as one unit, not as individual Books with no connection. The story runs throughout, hundreds of authors over thousands of years. We can see here that even the first book Genesis, and the 4th Book of the New Testament, so many years later, still hold true to God's claim that He is Who He is. God was there at the beginning, God created us and all that is around us. He sent His Son-as a sacrfice, to cleanse us of our sin. We rejected His Son---though it was all part of the soverign plan, it is still a painful thought.

I put Christ on the Cross. You put Christ on the Cross. He still loves us. We need only call on him, and seek his forgiveness, purchased by His Blood, for you and for me.