In the season of advent, as we consider and anticipate the coming of Jesus into the world, our thoughts go to the beginning. But going to the beginning of Jesus’ story is much more difficult than trying to nail down the date and place of manger’s, shepherd’s, and magi, and kings and a census. Jesus’ appearance on the scene in Bethlehem approximately two thousand years ago is not the beginning of his story. Not by a long shot.
Gen 1:1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (2) He was in the beginning with God. (3) All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Before Jesus uttered the humble cries of an infant child in the arms of his mother, before his frail body was formed in her womb, before he emptied himself of glory he reigned over and received the worship of heaven. The angels exalted in his glory and cried out day and night magnifying his incredible glory. Jesus’ story does not even begin here, for he was never created, he has always been. He has no beginning and no end. Before he ever spoke a single angel into existence, he was.
Col 1:15-18 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. (16) For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. (17) And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (18) And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.
As we look to the beginning of the story, it extends past our ability to perceive. It is beyond our reach. Jesus has always existed; God the Son, along with the Father and Holy Spirit. There has never been a day when he was not. There has never been a day that existed outside of his powerful word calling it into being and sustaining it and all that it contains. How majestic is our triune God. One God in three persons. Eternally existent. Creator and sustainer of all things.
This is the beginning of the story. This is where the finite connect in our minds to the infinite. This is where we try to comprehend the incomprehensible. The beginning of this story urges worship from our lips and adoration in our hearts.
