“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.” John 1:1-2
From the very first verse of the Bible to the climactic end of the book of Revelation, we find that God is not only seen in the beginning, but that Christ is the Alpha and Omega, the very beginning and ending, the first and the last. John emphasizes this in his gospel. Before the creation of the world, the Word, or Christ, was there. He was the very essence of the beginning, being the very beginning of all things Himself. Why does God reveal Himself to man in this way, with respect to not only to His eternal character, but as the great origin and meaning of all things good? It is so that the faith of man will not rest upon anything, or anyone, less than the Creator and Sustainer of all things. Christ, the complete and perfect foundation of faith, sole Redeemer of mankind, alone saves from sin, Satan, and death itself. In other words, the vision of God in Christ as the beginning and the ending is given in Scripture because He is everything, not man. In Him alone man is to trust, hear, and obey. If man is to have the faith to be saved from his sin, then he must see God as He is, in order to trust Him fully. The revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ in His glory is given to the church, His body, so that there will be the greatest appropriation of His life and power by the Spirit, according to the vision. That vision is base upon His living, quickening word. It is as the Spirit of God quickens the soul, draws out the soul to God evidenced by the seeking heart, that Christ becomes the reality that He desires. Out of that conscious and certain reality, His saving and sanctifying presence, the Christian is to live, abiding in Him, and Christ abiding in the believer. This is Christianity, Christ dwelling in us, revealing His Life in and through us.
How then does the knowledge of Christ as the beginning and the ending practically apply to the believer? And what should be the effects of such a transforming truth?
First, the knowledge of the truth, as revealed in the gospel, is not only essential to faith, but its very basis. The turth of God gives us a correct vision of God. It is very important to grasp first that there is no lie, or untruth, in God. Paul would express the lie as being, “…every high and lofty thing that exalts itself against God.” God is not known by speculation, or the imaginations of men, only according to the eternal truth of His character and nature. This is why the Lord dealt so severely with Israel concerning idolatry. A physical idol is the expression of an idea that is a lie concerning God. The more bizzar the idol, the greater the number of lies expressed by it. Just as God cannot be put into the box of men’s devisings, so man has not the capacity to think rightly of God in and of himself. God therefore has, through the Scriptures, the prophets of old, and men and women of faith, revealed the reality of Himself to us. The supreme revelation of God has been, and is, the Lord Jesus Christ, the “…same yesterdaty, today, and forever.” (Heb. 12:8) If true faith is to be given to the earnest seeker of God, then that individual must know the truth of God. True faith is always based upon the truth.
Secondly, as Christ put it, it is “…the Son that sets us free.” Knowing the truth of God is essential for faith. But to truly know God, there must be the power of a new Life received into the heart which God alone can give. It is a power, a Person, the Spirit, to be received by faith, the very life of Christ.
Dear Father, Open our eyes today to see Christ. In Jesus’ name, Amen.