Every year I get the itch to read through the entire Bible. I usually start with great enthusiasm, a stack of coffee, and a neatly printed schedule. I cannot say I always finish, but I do make it through Genesis with gusto. There is something refreshing about beginning again at the beginning. The opening verse, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth,” is as simple as it is profound. It silences a thousand competing theories in just ten words. Genesis 1:1 does not argue for God’s existence—it assumes it. It does not invite debate; it declares reality. God stands apart from creation as an artist from his painting—deeply involved but never confined to His work. This single verse sets the foundation for all Christian belief: God exists, God acts, and everything that is owes its being to Him. Once you believe that, your entire worldview takes shape.
D. A. Carson once said that Genesis 1 rules out nearly every false philosophy in a single stroke. Pantheism is ruled out because God is separate from His creation. Dualism is ruled out because everything He made was good. Reductionism is ruled out because humans—male and female—are uniquely made in His image. Even the idea of an impersonal God is ruled out because He speaks. “Let there be light” is the first recorded sentence in history, and it came from the mouth of God Himself. Once you accept that the Creator speaks, everything changes. Life has meaning, morality has a standard, and humanity has dignity. Francis Schaeffer famously wrote, “He is there, and He is not silent.” In other words, God is not an abstract concept but a personal being who communicates. The Bible, then, is not an ancient relic—it is the voice of the living God who still says, “Let there be light” in darkened hearts.
The New Testament affirms this beginning and completes it in Christ. John echoes Genesis when he writes, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). The Creator who spoke the universe into being stepped into His own creation as Jesus Christ. Paul writes, “For by Him all things were created” (Colossians 1:16). The God who said, “Let there be light,” now shines “in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6). The same voice that called galaxies into existence now calls us to believe. The Creator has spoken—and His Word became flesh.