How did our Story with God begin? (Genesis 1:1)

 

Genesis 1-4. For the complete StudyMap of Genesis, click here

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 

Jesus, please speak to me about this first verse of the Bible. 

Response received:

The Bible is not a book of science, it is a book of encounter. It was not designed to explain creation in detail, but to guide humans to fellowship with us, to salvation from death and sin, to eternal love. 

The translation of this first verse could also be: as a first thing, God created the heavens and the earth. This beginning is not the beginning of our existence or of our actions, but the beginning of the Bible, the beginning of the creation of the world that you know. People try to use the Bible as a tool to analyze us, but it does not allow that. It is simply a tool of great use to come to us, to understand enough about us and our relationship with humans to show the path of salvation from sin and death, to guide to eternal life through fellowship with us. 

This first verse mentions the heavens and the earth. The heavens are later presented as the place where we reside (our Father who is in heaven), and the earth as the place where humans live. Yet, even this is metaphorical, it is a way to show that eternal life is not on the physical earth where you stay. We use human language to communicate who we are, even if your finite languages cannot completely grasp who we are. We are beyond time and beyond space in the way you know them. It is why one of my names is the alpha and the omega, as a way to say that I am beyond your universe. We created the universe you reside in, which is so much bigger than just the earth. 

The description we give at the beginning of Genesis is setting the stage for our interactions with humans, since it is the subject of this blessed book. Since the first sin of Adam and Eve until now, humans have developed the tendency to focus more on factual knowledge than on relationships (relational knowledge). They often want a freedom made of control and self-centeredness, they look for ways to protect themselves. The freedom we offer is a freedom to love and interact, a freedom to learn together and to rejoice. This true freedom is not a rejection of relationships but a discovery of the creativity possible in respectful and loving relationships. 

The purpose in saying that there is the heavens and the earth is to define two domains that will be both distinct and in interaction. Without distinction, there would be confusion. When you meet someone else, it is very important to realize that they are different, that you will have to learn who they are and how to interact with this person. As you learn this difference, you have to learn to value both who you are and who the other is. If both of you show respect and a desire to interact, you can learn what love is, in a similar way we want you to learn to love us. 

You cannot invent love, you have to learn it. You learn it from us, and most learn it also from their human parents. You cannot give what you have not first received. Your parents help you to learn what love is, when they provide for your food, respond for you need of security and affection, when they guide you in your first interactions on the earth. As you grow, you are invited to discover that beyond human parents, we created the world and humanity, we are therefore the parents of humanity. This is why you can call God your Father. The name given to humans for me is the Word or the Son. It was the Word in the first books of the Bible, and it became ‘the Son’ when I came on earth to show the way back to the Father. 

As we created the heavens and the earth, human parents are participating in creation when they give birth to children. We always wanted for humanity to participate in the act of creation, an act that invites to love. When parents have a baby girl, they have to take care of her, they have to feed her and train her how to love. This is the way we embedded in humanity key features of who we are. We created humanity a little like parents give birth to children. We guided this creation and humanity on our paths of love. As perfect parents, we always wanted and always want the best for our children. It does not mean that all our children choose the best. 

Human parents will always need our help, since they are limited in their love and understanding, and ultimately each human is invited to discover that the only perfect parent is the heavenly Father, who loves them more than any human parent can love. I came to lead people back to this heavenly love of the Father, so that the heavens and the earth don’t remain separate, so that you can be united with the heavenly Father. I am the bridge between heaven and earth, really man and really God, I came to help humans to find their way back to the heavenly Father. 

Our purpose in creation is to teach what loving relationships are. You need our help to learn that, to learn to be loved and to love in return. Humans often try to mimic our love and to love even when they have not received much love themselves, but this does not bring many fruits. You cannot give what you have not received. 

I came to show what loving the Father and loving your neighbor meant. I then told my disciples to do the same (see John 15:9-12). We want to pour our love in each human being. When you open your heart to welcome my teachings and the Father’s love, when you welcome the Holy Spirit we can then help you fulfill your destiny of love. Our purpose is to teach you to love by pouring our love in you and guiding you. I said that when the Holy Spirit would come, it would be like rivers of living water flowing out of your heart (John 7:38-39), because love always wants to overflow. As you receive our love, you will want to pour it in others. 

Many try to do our will without learning to receive our love, and this often ends up in many of rules and very little joy and peace. Don’t do this mistake. If you want to receive our love, ask us. I promised that those who ask would receive, in particular the Holy Spirit that wants to pour the Father’s love in your heart (see Luke 11:13 and Romans 5:5). As you learn to let our love fill you, as you are helped by other believers who have learned to receive and communicate our love, you will also become able to love as I love. As you learn to love, as you learn to remain in me and I in you, you will discover the intimate relationship between heaven and earth, how you can welcome the kingdom of heaven in you and in your relationships (see Luke 17:20-21). 

In this way you will better understand heavens and earth, you will better understand the purpose of all creation, you will better understand what was the purpose for starting with “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”