“The Beginning” Genesis 1:1-2:3

“The Beginning” Genesis 1:1-2:3

An Expositional Sermon
The Bible starts with a prepositional phrase “in”. Prepositions are grammatical arrows that point to location. On, in, under, at, etc. The first phrase gives a particular location, a setting, a place. It’s creating the tapestry on which God is going to display His creative power and goodness. But the particular location isn’t a physical geographical place, but a location or period of time – the beginning. The beginning of what? This was the period of time when God created the heavens and the earth “at the first”. It was before this time that Revelation describes that God wrote the book of life of the Lamb who was slain (Rev. 13:8), and that Ephesians describes that before this beginning is when God chose His people in Christ (Eph. 1:3-4). God eternally existed before the beginning, and He eternally exists after the beginning. He is the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end (Rev. 1:8; 22:13). The first main point of this text is that God exists.  God is the source of all time, existence, and matter. Hebrews 11:3 describes, “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.” The subject and main point of this text is God. The text refers to God 34 times: God created (1:1, 21, 27 twice); His Spirit hovered over the waters (1:2); God spoke (1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26, 28, 29); saw (1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31); separated (1:4); called (1:5, 8); made (1:6, 16, 25); set (1:17); blessed (1:22, 28; 2:3); finished (2:1, 2); and rested (2:3). God is active, powerful, glorious, and worth of all praise!