“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” The very beginning of the Bible points us to one of the fundamentals truths of God’s nature, and one of the toughest for us to get our heads around: God was the First; He has always been here, and He will always be. In Revelation 22:13, Christ says “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” Isaiah 44:6 says “This is what the Lord says – Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God.” Before anything, before time or space or matter, there was God.
Mankind has been trying on its own to wrap its collective head around what ‘forever’ could mean, how everything could have come into being, and where this origin point could have itself originated from. But we Christians know the answer through His word – God has always been, beyond our comprehension of these topics can reach. Isaiah 55:9 summarizes the Lord’s position very well on this: “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Beyond the how, though – in this topic, so conceptually beyond our grasp we have trouble keeping up, it can be easy to gloss over how amazing this truly is and what exactly to take away from it.
I think about all of the emotions of beginning a new, monumental task; for example, buying a house or piloting a new project at work. All of the nervousness, excitement, hesitation, and trepidation that goes into those decisions that can have a huge effect for a long time to come. It can be difficult and incredibly stressful to start something new – now imagine starting literally everything. But these human feelings can’t begin to compare to how God handled such a momentous beginning. No, He had perfectly planned out every single event in time to culminate with the birth, life, and death of Christ here on earth without trouble.
God’s impeccable work as the progenitor of existence itself points to a simple takeaway: not only was God the first to be, but He ensured He would forever be the First. God is wiser, God is mightier, God is beyond us in all ways. And what’s more, he calls us to place Him first as well. As Deuteronomy 6:5 says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” Think about that today – are you placing the Lord, the first and the last, first in your heart and first in your soul? Pray for humility today, that we could see just how far above us God truly is, and for direction to show our appreciation and praise for how monumental and everlasting God is.