Readings for today: Genesis 1-2
”In the beginning God…” Before God does. God is. Before God speaks. God is. Before God acts. God is. God is the fundamental reality of all existence. The universe and all that is in it are contingent realities. They are temporal realities. They have a beginning and they will have an end. Not so with God. He is. He was. He will be. I am reminded of how God reveals Himself to Moses in the burning bush. He says, “I AM who I AM.” A statement which in English can be rendered a number of different ways including “I WILL BE who I WILL BE.” It signifies the timelessness of God. The eternity of God. God is the one constant in the universe. The true North Star. The firm foundation on which all of reality rests.
Remarkably, God creates. God creates everything in heaven and earth. He dumps it all out on the floor of his workshop where it lies formless and void. Darkness on the face of the deep. The waters of chaos swirling and churning while the Spirit hovers over everything. Then God speaks. Interestingly enough, J.R.R. Tolkien (author of the Lord of the Rings trilogy) imagined God singing at this point. Singing light into darkness. Singing matter into being. Singing life out of lifelessness. The song of creation crescendos with the creation of human beings. Creatures made in God’s own image. Bearing His own likeness. Male and female together.
God blesses all He has made. Declares it good and righteous and pure. God has brought order to chaos. He has created a home to live in. A Temple to dwell in. And then He turns to humanity. Ordains them as priests and priestesses over all He has made. They are to be fruitful. Multiply. Bear His image over all the earth. They are to care and cultivate all He has made. They are to exercise dominion. Responsibility. They have the authority to reign and to rule in His name. It’s a truly astounding picture. The grandeur and scope of all God has done takes our breath away.
This is the vision of God from the beginning and it’s critical not to lose sight of it as we move forward from here. This was God’s plan. This was God’s design. This is what God is working towards even today. He wants to reclaim that which was lost. He wants to restore that which was broken. He wants to redeem that which was ruined and corrupted by the Fall. And God is eternally consistent. Just as He entrusted His creation into our hands at the beginning, so that call continues to this day. He will not allow us to abdicate our responsibility. He will not allow us to relinquish our high priestly role. Christ is our forerunner. He serves as the Second Adam. The Faithful Adam. Adam as he should have been. And those who are found to be in Christ also become priests. Revelation 20:6 says, “They will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.”
Friends, this our eternal destiny! But it’s not something that begins the moment we cross from this world to the next. It actually begins the moment we receive Christ. As soon as we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior, we become Temples of the Holy Spirit. God sanctifying us from within so that we may fulfill our high calling to serve as His priests to the world. What does this mean for our lives? It means everything we do comes weighted with glory. Freighted with meaning and purpose. There is nothing mundane about your life. No interaction that is insignificant. For you are a high priest of the Living God! An image-bearer of the King of kings! Called forth into the world to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth with His glory!
Readings for tomorrow: John 1:1-3, Psalms 8 and 104