In The beginning...God was

As a parent, at some point, if you raise your child in the church, you will hear the question, "Daddy/Mommy, where did God come from?"

If you are new to faith, you might ask the question, "Where did God come from?"

What a great question? And not an easy one to answer without faith. Because, God didn't come from anywhere. God was.

In Genesis 1:1 we read the follow words.
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."

Familar words to many of us, whether we are in the faith or not. Like John 3:16, Genesis 1:1 is often quoted. When we think about creation and the creation story, it's the introduction to how all things came into begin. And thus we focus on the words, 'God created the heavens and the earth." But it's not the seven last words of the sentence that cause me to stop an think. It's the first four words. It's the phrasing, 'In the beginning God...'

You see, it's in these four words that we get a hint of where God comes from; before the beginning. When you read this verse, it's sets up a timeline for us. In the beginning... or in the beginning GOD. In other words, we could say, before the beginning, there was God. God existed before the beginning. Before anything else came into being, God was first there. Prior to time, before the heavens and the earth, God was.

Hard to wrap your head around?

Yeah, it is. But it's true, God was.

In fact, we can look elsewhere in scripture and find some support to this big thought. Consider these quick verses.

God is from everlasting to everlasting.
- Ps. 90:2 reads, "Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from EVERLASTING to EVERLASTING you are God." From everlasting to everlasting paints a picture of always. Always was and always will be. No beginning and no end. God is everlasting.

God is from all eternity.
- Ps 93:2 reads, "Your throne was established long ago; YOU ARE FROM ALL ETERNITY."
Eternity is a forever existance. It's ongoing, never ending. God is eternal.

In speaking of himself, God declare he's own state of being. Look at these verses.

God is the Alpha and Omega.
- Rev. 1:8 reads, (God is speaking) "I am the alpha and the omega,' says the Lord, 'who is and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.'" By taking the positions of the first and last letters of the greek alphabet, Alpha and Omega, God says that it all starts with me and ends with me. Even more, he really drive the thought home when he says, he is, he was, and he will be!

Revelation 22:13 says something similar.
- Rev. 22:13 reads, (again God is speaking) "'I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End."

And there are many, many more that speak to God existance as being eternal, forever, or without end. But even if we were to list every verse from scripture that spoke of God's eternal nature, I don't think we could fully grasp the concept of being eternal, partly because we can only think in terms of a beginning and an end.

For example, consider your own life spam. You have a clear and defined beginning; the moment of your conception. It's from that moment that doctors begin counting the days till your birth. On that day, with your first breath, we begin counting you days on earth, marking each year based on that day. This is your beginning. And life goes on; day after day, month after month, year after year, till the end comes. Following the defined beginning there is a definitive end; death. It's the reality for all living creatures. You are born, you live and you die. It's your beginning and your end. But with God, He has no beginning, nor does he have and end.

He was. He is. And He always will be.

As you live your life in pursuit of God this week, take a few minutes to consider the 'awesomeness' of God, in that God Was. God is. And God always will be.

- jay

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