Someone to Believe Inਨਮੂਨਾ

The Same in the Past

John begins with familiar words. “In the beginning.” John assumes his readers have an awareness of the Old Testament, and even a novice Bible student hears echoes of Genesis 1:1. But there is a slight variation. In Genesis 1, Moses writes, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” But in John 1, we read:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. (vv. 1–3)

In Genesis, we see what God does in the beginning. In John, we see how God accomplishes it. As we look at Jesus as someone to believe in, this is foundational. He is not just a good man who walked on the earth and accomplished miracles. This is what sets Christianity apart from cults and other religions. We believe Jesus is God—and has always been God.

His time on earth was a picture of what he has always been and always done—creating all things, speaking life into existence, and upholding the universe. Paul unpacks this further in Colossians when he says that he is also the “firstborn of all creation,” and that every corner of creation was created by him and for him. He goes on to write, “He is before all things, and by him all things hold together” (Col. 1:17).

The believability of Jesus Christ as the Son of God, who has always existed, is not just a nice addition to our belief system—everything hinges on it. Jesus literally walked the earth, even as he literally created all things by his word, and even now is holding all things together. But he doesn’t just exist to sit on his throne ruling at a distance. He is a God who draws near.

*When Paul calls Jesus the “firstborn of all creation,” he is pointing back to Adam, the first created man. Christ is the head of Adam, above Adam, and does what Adam cannot do. He obeys perfectly, and unlike Adam, leads his “brothers and sisters” into righteousness.