In his gospel, the apostle John introduces Jesus with a callback to creation. John 1:1-4 says: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.He was with God in the beginning.Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.”
John makes it clear that the Word he is writing about is Jesus in verse 14: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”
Jesus made everything. Just like God and the Holy Spirit, nothing was made without Jesus’s involvement.
The apostle Paul also makes this abundantly clear in Colossians 1:16-17: “For in him (Jesus) all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”
Jesus not only created everything, He holds it all together.
The last three weeks we’ve seen how God, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are connected to Creation. The three Persons of the Trinity are seen throughout Scripture, starting with, “In the beginning.”
In Genesis 1:2, we see the Holy Spirit’s involvement in creation.
“The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”
And again in Psalm 33:6 – “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.”
The Hebrew word for spirit in Genesis 1:2 is the same word used for breath in Psalm 33:6.
Job 26:13 expands on what the Holy Spirit did: “By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens.”
The word garnished in Job 26:13 means adorned or beautified.
One of the reasons landscapes and mountains and stars take our breath away is because God added a touch of beautiful when he created all things.
The word hovering in Genesis 1:2 (hovering over the face of the waters) is the same word used in Deuteronomy 32:11 and gives us a picture of what was about to take place.
“Like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young,”
God was about to bring order out of chaos, give birth to everything, create beauty from nothing, while the Spirit hovered in preparation and anticipation.
Spaceless because He created space Timeless because He created time Immaterial because He created matter Powerful because He created everything out of nothing Intelligent because creation is precisely designed Personal because He made a choice to convert a state of nothing into something (impersonal forces don’t make choices)
The Bible claims that Creator is God. The first verse (Genesis 1:1) in the Bible states: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
One of the reasons the idea of a Creator is attacked/dismissed comes down to accountability. If a personal being created us, then the Creator has the authority to tell us what to do and to judge us accordingly. Without God, we can live our lives any way we want.
We see this throughout the Bible: God giving mankind instructions, mankind ignoring God’s direction, and God intervening/correcting people.
Ultimately, God will judge every person, nation, and spiritual being justly (see the book of Revelation), and every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (Philippians 2:9-11).
That’s one of the points of Genesis 1:1—to lay the groundwork for God’s involvement in humanity.
The biggest miracle happens in Genesis 1:1. If God created everything out of nothing, then all the other miracles of the Bible, including Jesus’s resurrection, are simple.
The next two weeks we’ll look at the work of the Holy Spirit and of Jesus in creation.
In response to the second rebellion of mankind, the sons of God marrying the daughters of man, God states in Genesis 6:3, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”
This didn’t happen immediately, as the table below demonstrates. Following the age at death column, notice how the life spans shrunk through the generations.
Another interesting note is the Shem, Noah’s son, was still alive when Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were born.
Once again, we see that a closer look at a genealogy, this time the one in Genesis 11, shows fascinating information behind the mundane read of numbers and hard to pronounce names.
Much of the bible is the same way. A casual read can be confusing and boring, but understanding what was written and why can open up wonderful truths and insights that bring the ancient Scriptures to life.
Did you know there are three world-wide rebellions against God in the first 11 chapters of the Bible?
The first, of course, is Adam and Eve. God gave them everything except for one tree, yet they decided it wasn’t enough and ate of the forbidden fruit, getting them kicked out of the Garden of Eden
After God expelled them, mankind reproduced, spread out, and lived for hundreds of years. Not much is said about this period until we reach Genesis 6.
The first 8 verses of chapter 6 describe the second rebellion, where the sons of God married the daughters of humans. The wickedness of the human race was so bad that God sent a flood to wipe them out.
We find the third rebellion in Genesis 11, known as the tower of Babel. Refusing to obey God’s command to reproduce and populate the Earth, people gathered in Shinar and built a city with a tower to reach the heavens. In response, God confused their languages and scattered them over the Earth.
Unfortunately, humans are rebellious at our core, and that remains true today. A quick look at our society, our community, and even our own hearts will prove this true.
Genesis 5 provides the first genealogy of the Bible, tracing man’s lineage from Adam to Noah. While genealogies can be dry to read, a closer look at them can shine light on interesting facts.
For instance, Enoch lived 365 years, but he never died. That’s because of a special circumstance. Genesis 5:24 says, “Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.”
Another interesting fact is that people lived a lot longer before the flood. Take Methuselah, the oldest recorded person. He was 969 years old when he died.
For each man listed in the genealogy, the Bible tells us the age they were when they had their son and how many years they lived. If we start with Adam at year zero, we can easily do the math and come up with the chart below.
Obviously, that isn’t how years are marked historically, but that isn’t the point of this exercise. Look once again at Methuselah and note the year he died. 1656.
Now let’s read Genesis 7:6: “Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth.”
What year was the flood? Noah would have turned 600 years old the same year that Methuselah died—1656.
Coincidence? Maybe. It also would be logical to connect Methuselah’s long life as a metaphor for God’s long-suffering mercy prior to judgment. Could this be an example of the point Peter was trying to make in 2 Peter 3:9: “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
Could the flood be a demonstration of God’s mercy as well as his judgment?
Last week we talked about the protoevangelium of the Bible, the first gospel, found in Genesis 3:15. That was the first promise of a redemptive plan from God. After He curses Adam and Eve in 3:16-19, we see the evidence of God’s instruction on sacrifice.
Genesis 3:21 says, “The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.”
It’s logical to assume this is where God teaches Adam and Eve about sacrifice since skins indicate a dead animal was involved in the process. We know that the idea of sacrifice came from God because of Genesis 4:3-7:
“In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD look with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”
The Bible doesn’t explain how, but it’s clear from these verses that Cain and Abel knew that God expected sacrifices and they also knew the proper way to sacrifice.
Immediately after the original sin, God not only promised redemption but began showing mankind how He would do it.
Today, we’re still called to sacrifice, but in a different manner.
Romans 12:1 says, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”
As we daily sacrifice our will for God’s, let us remember the true purpose of sacrifice—to help us understand God’s love and God’s plan of salvation.
After Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, God cursed the serpent. Genesis 3:15 states, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
Scholars refer to this verse as the Protoevangelium, or the first gospel, because it’s the first promise in Scripture of the sacrifice Jesus would make on the cross.
Jesus would one day crush Satan’s head by dying for humanity’s sins and rising from the grave, while Satan would bruise Jesus’s heel on the cross.
What’s worthy to note is that this promise of salvation comes even before God curses the woman (Genesis 3:16) and the man (Genesis 3:17-19).
In Ephesians 1:4, Paul writes: “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.”
God is not merely reacting to humanity’s fall; He had a plan in place for our salvation from the beginning.
What is the shortest verse in the Bible? John 11:35: “Jesus wept.”
What is the longest verse in the Bible? It depends.
In the original languages, Revelation 20:4 has 58 words while Esther 8:9 has 43 words. So, the longest verse in the Bible in the original languages is Revelation 20:4, while the longest verse in the Bible in English translations is Esther 8:9.
Revelation 20:4 – “I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.”
Esther 8:9 – At once the royal secretaries were summoned—on the twenty-third day of the third month, the month of Sivan. They wrote out all Mordecai’s orders to the Jews, and to the satraps, governors and nobles of the 127 provinces stretching from India to Cush. These orders were written in the script of each province and the language of each people and also to the Jews in their own script and language.
If you divide the Old Testament in two, the middle chapter is Job 29.
The middle chapter of the New Testament is Romans 13.
The Bible is the best-selling book of all time. According to the Guinness World Records website (guinnessworldrecords.com), research conducted by the British and Foreign Bible Society in 2021 suggests that the total number probably lies between 5 and 7 billion copies.
If you count Bibles taken from hotel rooms, the Bible is the most shoplifted book of all time.
Once again it’s time for a fun adventure. Enjoy my story below, then follow the links to other stories of participating authors in the blog hop. Leave us comments. We love hearing from you!
This is the 14th installment of GRIT’s adventure. To start at the beginning for context, start with Grim Failure.
Working with Stan
Stan growled. Probably because he had to hunt me down at the collection site since I hadn’t met him near administration like noted in the file. I didn’t want to leave until the authorities arrived to care for the baby. Being a few minutes late is a pretty minor offense for me.
Fortunately, a police car arrived the same time Stan did so I did what I did best—apologize.
“Sorry Stan, we started talking and got sidetracked. We’re ready to go.”
Although I hadn’t saved the baby’s life, no need in stirring up suspicion.
Stan glanced toward the crying baby, then toward the pounding on the front door. He scowled but didn’t say anything.
“Fill out your paperwork while I make this delivery. I’ll meet you in administration. We need to talk.”
He gave the dead soul a frightening look. “Let’s go.”
A couple of hours later (they tell you that the paperwork gets easier when you’re full-time but it doesn’t) I sat with Stan in one of the many meeting rooms with the door closed for privacy.
“What you did for Samantha…” For the first time since I had known him, Stan had a hard time talking.
I waited a long time before I spoke, which upset him even more. “I just reacted. I ignored protocol and we were both lucky you showed up. What I did was no big deal.”
“It is a big deal!” He slapped the table, hard, and if he would have done that when he interrogated me I would have told him whatever he wanted to hear.
Then I saw tears, as in more than one. I didn’t realize he was capable of showing emotion; at least not this kind. I wanted to hand him a tissue or scoot the box toward him so he would use one but I thought that would make him angrier so I waited silently.
“Samantha is like a daughter. I practically raised her and now she’s the only family I have left.”
Much to my relief, he took a tissue and dabbed his eyes. “Rules are rules and I don’t much give a rip for them if they hurt someone, especially when that someone is the only person I love. Your actions saved her life and that’s all I care about. I appreciate it and that’s why I told Samantha I would help you. Don’t get any funny business, though. I can help but I can’t protect you from everything. Do you hear what I’m saying?”
I didn’t know if having Stan as my Guardian Angel was a good thing or not. I decided to remain thankful and try not to be so pessimistic. Besides, wasn’t this an opportunity and didn’t I have a little bit of leverage now? Maybe I could use that.
“I’ve always wanted to be a reaper, and while it hasn’t been what I expected, I think I can do a good job. It’s just that…there will be times I’m going to help people. I can’t help myself,” I quickly added when Stan shot me a knowing look.
“Like the baby today?”
So much for my foolproof plan. “You know about that?” I shouldn’t have sounded so surprised.
He tossed a file that slid across the desk and rested perfectly in front of me. “Of course I know what happened.”
The file was on the baby, a girl named Bonnie. She would have frozen to death overnight, alone in the house. In my reaper state I didn’t realize the house’s heater didn’t work.
“Be smart. Cover your butt and mine as best you can. I’ll do what I am able on my end but know that you can still screw up enough to get booted from being a reaper. Frankly, I’d still bet on it,” (there’s the Stan I know) “but Samantha is convinced otherwise. If you ever disappoint or hurt her, Hades won’t be able to protect you.”
