John 1 - In The Beginning
1 In the beginning the Word already existed.
The Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
2 He existed in the beginning with God.
3 God created everything through him,
and nothing was created except through him.
4 The Word gave life to everything that was created,
and his life brought light to everyone.
5 The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness can never extinguish it
6 God sent a man, John the Baptist, 7 to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony.
8 John himself was not the light; he was simply a witness to tell about the light.
9 The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
10 He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him.
11 He came to his own people, and even they rejected him.
12 But to all who believed him and accepted him,
he gave the right to become children of God.
13 They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan,
but a birth that comes from God.
14 So the Word became human and made his home among us.
He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness.
And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.
In the beginning: How do we possibly begin to wrap our finite minds - our created mind - around the infinite Creator God?
From Merriam Webster:
What is the difference between condescending and patronizing?
Very few words in English have exactly the same meaning; even words which appear to be entirely synonymous often will be found to have small differences in certain contexts. The words condescending and patronizing present a fine example of this. At first glance these words appear to be defined somewhat circularly: condescending often has the word “patronizing” in its definition, and patronize is defined, in part, as “to adopt an air of condescension toward.”
But both of these words have specialized senses that lend a shade of meaning to their synonymous senses. Patronizing can mean “giving support to” or “being a customer of,” suggesting that the “condescending” sense implies superiority gained through a donor-dependent relationship.
The verb condescend used to be free of any hint of the offensive superiority it usually suggests today. It could mean literally “to go or come down” or, figuratively, “to willingly lower oneself to another’s level,” senses that are still occasionally encountered in writings on the Bible. The idea of self-consciously lowering oneself is implied in the “patronizing” sense of condescending. —MW
The crisis comes when I need God to make himself small enough for me to fully understand. And while He’s at it, make himself agreeable to all my opinions, biases, prejudices and preferences. And also still able to be big enough to control good and evil while being small enough to control good, evil and the weather according to my understanding and agreement.
What did God “say” at the beginning?
Genesis 1
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.
3 Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day” and the darkness “night.”
And evening passed and morning came, marking the first day.
6 Then God said, “Let there be a space between the waters, to separate the waters of the heavens from the waters of the earth.” 7 And that is what happened. God made this space to separate the waters of the earth from the waters of the heavens. 8 God called the space “sky.”
And evening passed and morning came, marking the second day.
9 Then God said, “Let the waters beneath the sky flow together into one place, so dry ground may appear.” And that is what happened. 10 God called the dry ground “land” and the waters “seas.” And God saw that it was good.
THEN GOD SAID - and at that, everything else does not matter.
God SPOKE existence into existence. And not some random collection of corporeal planes of existence, but a specific designation of physics and matter that would sustain the people he would create and have visual evidence of His creative power, as well as His desire to make himself known to us.
Colossians 1
15 Christ is the
He existed
16 for through him God created
He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—
such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.
Everything was created through him and for him.
17 He
and he
Isaiah 45
18 For the Lord is God, and he created the heavens and earth
and put everything in place.
He made the world to be lived in, not to be a place of empty chaos.
“I am the Lord,” he says, “and there is no other.
19 I publicly proclaim bold promises.
I do not whisper obscurities in some dark corner.
I would not have told the people of Israel to seek me
if I could not be found.
I, the Lord, speak only what is true and declare only what is right.
What Is Faith?
Hebrews 11.3
By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from
Hebrews 1
1 Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. 2 And now in these final days, he has spoken to
God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance,
and through the Son he created the universe.
3 The Son radiates God’s own glory
and expresses the very
and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command.
Romans 5
8 God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. 9 And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. 10 For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. 11 So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.
There will not be another ‘showing’; God has spoken. We must believe.