Light in the DarkSample

In the Beginning...

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:1-5 NIV

Like all great stories, the story of what God did through the death and resurrection of Jesus starts at the beginning. Not just a beginning though, but the very beginning.

Back before the internet, indoor plumbing, language, life, space, time, atoms, molecules and the universe as we know it.

That beginning is where the story of Easter really starts.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1 NIV

It all started with God creating the heavens and the earth (which is just the ancient Jewish way of saying “everything”).

When God created the universe, it wasn’t just some random thing He did because He was bored. It was an act of love absolutely brimming with purpose.

We can know it was an act of love because the God we’re talking about is love.

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 1 John 4:16 NIV

Everything God does flows from who He is. And He is love.

So, what was the purpose of creating everything?

Easy. Love.

Like all the best things in life, love is meant to be shared. And when it’s shared, it gets even better. The God who is love wanted to share His love. So He created the heavens and the earth. He formed the universe and filled it with light, life, and love.

This is where we come in. The last thing God made, the cherry on top of the sundae, was us. Human beings. There’s something different, something special, about us. Because we were uniquely created in God’s own image.

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:26-27 NIV

Being made in the image of God means you are valuable.You were made to be like God. Which is pretty wild to think about. You have more in common with the Being who created the universe than you do anything else in the universe He created.

Being made in the image of God means you have a purpose. If you didn’t catch it in the verses above, that’s okay because it’s easy to miss.

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” Genesis 1:26 NIV

You were created to rule. God, the true King of the universe, created us to rule over His creation. And just in case we aren’t convinced that God meant it when He said it the first time, He says it again two verses later.

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Genesis 1:28 NIV

You are valuable because you are made in the image of God. Your purpose is to rule over the earth as God rules over the universe. But that’s not all being made in the image of God means. Most importantly…

Being made in the image of God means you are loved. You, your neighbor, your cousin from another state, that annoying person on social media, your favorite athlete, and even your weird uncle all exist because of a love so epic in scale that God created an infinitely expanding universe to hold it.

The story of what God did on the first Easter Sunday begins here, “In the beginning…” with a God who is love, a universe created for love, and people share in that love.

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. Genesis 1:31 NIV

Clearly, that’s not where the story ends. If it was, then there wouldn’t be much of a story to tell. Don’t worry. We’ll get there. But first, just like God took time to rest after He created the universe, we’re going to rest in the comfort of knowing that before anything went wrong, God created it oh so right.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight… Ephesians 1:3-4 NIV