"In the beginning." (Genesis 1:1)
The Bible is the only book in the world that gives any plain, direct, tangible statement of any real beginning. The Bible does this, and does it in a way that, in the very wording of it, conveys the conviction that the writer is sure of his ground and knows what he is telling.
The Bible writer not only knows that there was a definite and tangible beginning, but knows the true Source of that beginning. "In the beginning, God." (Genesis 1:1)
The beginning had its origin in God. God is the source of the beginning. And this in one word, and a single thought, gives a sure and perfectly satisfactory resting-place for the mind in its inquiries after the origin of things. "In the beginning, God." (Genesis 1:1)
God, when He is found, is the all-satisfying answer to every inquiry. This splendid fact that the origin of things, that the beginning of the beginning is in God, is well worth thinking of in our own affairs. Is the beginning of each one of our daily tasks found in God? Each purpose of life, each business calculation, each journey, each aim, each ambition, let there be said of it, "In the beginning, God." (Genesis 1:1)
Of each day itself, as at waking the day begins, let it be said, "In the beginning, God." (Genesis 1:1)
This will be found to give a sure and perfectly satisfactory resting-place for the mind, the soul, the spirit, and all the life; for there from this beginning as from that other and original one, God will be found to be the mighty worker unto a finished creation to His own glory and the eternal salvation of the soul. For, "In the beginning, God created." (Genesis 1:1)
The first of all that God is to any person, or to anything, is Creator. And whoever will have the beginning of everything in his life to be from God will find his life and affairs to be the creation of God. He will know God as Creator indeed. "In the beginning, God created heaven and earth." (Genesis 1:1)
And He did it by Christ Jesus the Lord. For, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made." (John 1:1-2) "God created all things by Jesus Christ." (Ephesians 1:9)
But the creation in the beginning is not all that there is of creation. Christianity is creation; for, "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation;" (2 Corinthians 5:17) and, "We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 2:10)
Thus creation and Christianity are identical. The Creator is the Redeemer; redemption is only creation over again of man and the world when both had been undone by sin. "And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. And He said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely." (Revelation 21:5-6)
In the beginning, creation was accomplished only by the Creator's speaking the word. For, "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. ... For He spoke and it was." (Psalm 33:6,9)
And in Christianity, the new creation is accomplished in the same way. For, "Of His own will He begat us with the word of truth." (James 1:18)
And, we are "born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which lives and abides forever. ... And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you." (1 Peter 1:23,25)
This is the characteristic of the creative word, that the word which is spoken, itself produces that which the word speaks; the word of the Creator is self-fulfilling. In the beginning when the word was spoken, "Let there be light ... there was light." (Genesis 1:3)
And in Christianity when the word is spoken, and by the same One, "Your sins are forgiven you," (Luke 5:20) "I will; be you clean," (Matthew 8:3) it is equally so. To expect the word of the Creator itself to do what that very word speaks, and to depend upon that word itself to do it,--this is faith. For when the centurion came to Jesus, saying, "Lord, my servant lies at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented," (Matthew 8:6) and Jesus answered, "I will come and heal him," (Matthew 8:7) the centurion replied, "Speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed." (Matthew 8:8)
And upon this Jesus. Said, "I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel." (Matthew 8:10)
And Jesus spoke "the word only," and "his servant was healed in the selfsame hour." (Matthew 8:13)
And thus it is that "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen, were not made of things which do appear." (Hebrews 11:3)
When a person recognizes and receives the word of the Creator, and receives it "not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God," (1 Thessalonians 2:13) and expects that word only to accomplish what the word speaks, and depends upon the word only to do it, this is faith. Then upon that faith, that word, self-fulfilling, effectually works in him that so believes, and the thing is done, according to the will of God.
And whosoever thus understands the power and working of the creative word in his own experience, thus also understands that the worlds were framed by the word of God. He understands the truth and the fact of creation in the beginning.
Thus Christian experience is inseparable from creation, and the understanding of creation--even the creation in the beginning--is inseparable from Christian experience. And so true it is that creation and Christianity are identical.--Medical Missionary, April 29, 1908.