Jesus Christ is the Beginning, the source, of the creation of God. (Revelation 3:14) Apart from Him not one thing was made. "All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made." (John 1:3)
In Him were all things created; that is to say, all things spring from His Being, so that He is "the everlasting Father;" (Isaiah 9:6) for He is the firstborn of all creation. "[He] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him: And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist." (Colossians 1:15-17)
He is the image, and effulgence, the wisdom, and the power of God. All the works of God are begun and completed in Him. The 8th chapter of Proverbs is the call of wisdom; but Christ is the wisdom of God, so that the words are the words of Christ concerning himself. In the twenty-second verse we read: "The Lord possessed me in the beginning of His way, before His works of old." (Proverbs 8:2)
Now there is in the Hebrew of this verse no word indicating
"in," so that, as expressed in some translations, it properly reads, "the beginning of His way." Christ is the Beginning of God's way, as stated in: "And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things says the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God." (Revelation 3:14)
Also the word rendered "possessed," in Proverbs 8:22, is the same as that used by Eve when Cain was born, "I have gotten a man from the Lord." (Genesis 4:1)
So we may read the text thus: "Jehovah brought me forth, the beginning of His way, before His works of old."
With this passage compare 1 Corinthians 1:24; John 1:1-3; Colossians 1:15-17; and Revelation 3:14. Then continue reading in Proverbs: "When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth; While as yet He had not made the earth, nor the fields; nor the beginning of the dust of the earth. When He established the heavens, I was there; when He set a circle upon the face of the deep; When He made firm the skies above; when the mountains of the deep became strong; When He gave to the sea its bound, that the waters should not transgress His commandment; when He marked out the foundations of the earth; Then I was by Him as a Master Workman; and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him; Rejoicing in His habitation earth; and my delight was with the sons of men." (Proverbs 8:24-31,RV) "In the beginning--God." (Genesis 1:1)
And Christ, the Word of God, is the Beginning of His way. "In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." (Colossians 2:9)
Therefore through Him alone we have access to the Father. He died for us "that He might bring us to God." (1 Peter 3:18)
What we must come to, therefore, is the Beginning. Contrary to the usual idea, the Beginning is not what we start with, but what we are to come to. True we ought to start at the Beginning, but we do not, and because we do not, none of us start right. And because we do not come to the Beginning, we keep "out of the way." (Romans 3:12) "Whosoever, shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein." (Luke 19:17)
Where does a little child begin to learn? At the beginning. It does not think that it knows anything, and so allows itself to be taught. It accepts truth by faith, and so it learns. So we, like children, should begin at the beginning, and then we should begin right, for when we come back to the beginning, we come to God.
If men would trust in the Lord with all their heart, and not lean to their own understanding, (Proverbs 3:5) they would always do and say the things that are right, and would make no mistakes whatever. They could not go wrong, for it would be the Spirit of the Lord thinking and working in them.
The reason why we fail is because we assume that we are able to originate plans and to think for ourselves, and do not recognize God as the only Beginning. We are so anxious to get to the end, that we almost entirely lose sight of the Beginning. Just as though it were possible ever to attain the end while ignoring the Beginning! But we are too impatient to "wait on the Lord." (Psalm 37:34)
We are like, the man who is not content to sit quietly on board the steamer and be carried to his destination, but must needs leap into the sea, and try to swim there by himself. Of course he will drown if he doesn't get back into the ship. So with us, unless we abide in Him, "who is the Beginning." (Colossians 1:18)
For He is "the Beginning and the end, the first and the last." (Revelation 22:13)
So when we have got to the Beginning, lo, we are at the end! In Him all fullness dwells, (Colossians 2:9) "and of His fullness have we all received." (John 1:16)
In Him we find all things, from first to last. To go back to the Beginning and to be taught like little children, that is, to take simple statements of fact, and to believe them, and not to profess to know anything except what we have been told (allowing God to be the Teacher) seems altogether too simple. We are ambitious for the complex wisdom of the world, which is foolishness.
But when we humble ourselves to be children and to walk with God and learn of Him, then we find out that the simple beginning contains the sum, of all wisdom. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge." (Proverbs 1:7)
But that does not mean that something else is the end of it for "the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom." (Job 28:28)
Men regard the Beginning as something they advance from, and look back to; whereas it is what we are to come to and abide with. When we come to Christ, the Beginning, we have the end of our faith, even the salvation of our souls. (1 Peter 1:9)
The last message of the Gospel directs us to the Beginning, as the preparation for the end. "Worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." (Revelation 14:7)
To fear God and give glory to Him, "is the whole duty of man." (Ecclesiastes 12:13)
To live in constant recognition of Him as "the Author and Finisher," (Hebrews 12:2) and to allow all our works to be begun and wrought and finished in Him, is righteousness, because He is righteous. The devil has sought to beguile us from "the simplicity that is in Christ," (2 Corinthians 11:3) and has succeeded. Now as the end approaches, the call is sounded "with a loud voice," (Revelation 14:7) for us to come to the Beginning, and to remain there, that we may rejoice in the end.
The Gospel of John begins where Genesis begins, and Revelation ends with the beginning. So the Gospel is an infinite circle, ending where it begins, and enclosing the universe. If we are content to abide at the Beginning,--God,--we have everything. If we despise the Beginning, we have nothing.
There are infinite possibilities of knowledge and achievement in the Lord. He is the One "which is, and which was, and which is to come." (Revelation 1:1)
His name is I Am. (Exodus 3:14) Wherever and whenever we receive Him, we find the Beginning and the end.
In Him alone we learn the truth of that which has been; His Word therefore is the only authentic history. In Him only do we know the truth and reality of that which is; so His Word is the only true text book of science. And He by His Spirit reveals to us things to come, because He takes the things of Him who is to come, and shows them to us. "Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will show you things to come. He shall glorify me: for He shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you." (John 16:13-14)
This is not philosophical speculation, but is simple truth. O that we all might be simple enough to see it, and faithful enough to abide in it! Then we should let all our works be wrought in God, and they would be perfect. We should not boast so much about being "independent thinkers," but should allow God to think for us, and our thoughts would be as much higher than ordinary human thoughts as the heaven is higher than the earth. (Isaiah 55:9)
This would not be the slavish following of another, for the service of God is freedom. It would be God thinking in us, not instead of us. And why should He not, since He is our life? Who should use our brains and our muscles, except the One in whom we live, and move, and have our being? (Acts 17:28) He is able, for He is the Beginning. Whatever He does not begin in us is nothing. When the light of the Sun of righteousness shines on it, it will be found to be emptiness.
Let us then speedily learn the Beginning of God's Word, and find in it the sum of all revelation.--Present Truth, June 30, 1898.