Genesis 1:3, “And God said…” Most often we don’t quote that short little phrase of Genesis, or, perhaps, we skim over it without thinking too much about it. However, it is a very important phrase in Genesis 1. In fact, it is so important that it is used nine times… verses 3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26, and 29. That’s not even counting the times the Bible refers to God talking but just doesn’t use the words “God said.” In verse 5, we read, “And God called the light Day and the darkness he called Night.” We can see similar “callings” throughout the Creation week as the Lord named the things which He created. All-in-all, God speaking during Creation is a pivotal part of the work. It doesn’t say, “God thought” or “God crafted with His hands” or even “and God created.” Very importantly, “God said.”

Why is it so important that God spoke during the creation of the universe? This may seem trivial. The truth, however, is much more wonderful than just simple trivia. John 1:1-3 says:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Who is the Word John is referring to here? The Word is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! The Word is the second Person of the Trinity, God the Son! When God created during the first week of the Earth’s existence, the creative process happened through the Word of God. God’s Word is powerful. Powerful to create everything out of nothing!

The Belgic Confession, one of the foundational reformed creeds, states this principle clearly in Article 12: “We believe that the Father, by the Word, that is, by his Son, hath created of nothing, the heaven, the earth, and all creatures, as it seemed good unto him…” Jesus Christ is not simply called the Word arbitrarily. His name the Word shows His power, and it also shows us a glimpse into the inner workings of the Trinity, which will be developed, to an extent, later in this book.

So, why do we study language? Because God’s power is there! God used language to create the world! Note the creativity of God. Out of nothing. God truly is a creative God; the fact that He could fashion in His infinite design and wisdom this Creation and then use His Word to carry forth that creative agenda shows us a glimpse of what God can do. Our mortal, sinful minds will never be able to comprehend fully the perfection – the creative perfection – that went into the creation of the universe. However, we have been given a small understanding and even that is enough to awe us.

The creative power of His Word is not the only example that God gives us of the Word’s power. God’s Word has the power to save. God’s Word is a redeeming Word. The Gospel according to John clearly lays out the significance of the Word’s role in redemption. Returning to John 1, where previously we read about Jesus Christ being the Word, John says in verse 12, “But as many as received him [through the working of the Spirit inside them], to them gave the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” Later, in John 3:16-17, we read:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

This Son of God came to redeem us and to set us free from the bondage of sin that we may be saved to life eternal with Him.

How important is it for us to truly know and understand the redemptive power of the Word? The Heidelberg Catechism clearly shows this to us by incorporating it into the first Question and Answer of the Catechism when it asks, “How many things are necessary for thee to know, that thou enjoying real comfort mayest live and die happily?” Answer:

Three: first, how great my sins and miseries are [which we know from God’s Law]; the second, how I may be delivered from all my sins and miseries [how can I find redemption]; the third, how I shall express my gratitude to God for such deliverance.

The question of knowing what power holds our redemption is crucial to our living and dying happily in the Lord.

The Catechism proceeds to discuss these three things: misery, redemption, and thanksgiving; in Question and Answer 14, we are presented with this question: “By what means canst thou escape this punishment [everlasting damnation due to our sin and sinfulness], and be again received into favor?” Answer: “By such a Mediator, who is in one person very God, and a real righteous man.” This is how we are redeemed from destruction...through a mediator, someone who comes between us and God.

This is where the Word comes in. John 1:14, 16-17 says:

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we behold his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth…and of his fulness have all we received and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses [how we know our misery], but grace and truth [our redemption] came by Jesus Christ.

The Catechism, as it faithfully does, backs up this important truth in Question and Answer 15: “Who is that Mediator?” Answer: “Our Lord Jesus Christ, who in one person is true God, and a real righteous man.” Truly amazing! Our salvation is made for us by the Shepherd, Jesus Christ, laying his life down for us. This is God’s Word! God’s Word is a powerful Word. Blessed be the Word of the Lord!

And what a comfort that is to know that when Jesus comes again on the clouds of glory and when, as Philippians 2:10-11 says, “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow … [and] every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,” we know that “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). We need not fear the Judgment that is to come. Our Mediator, the Word of God, will sit in His Judgment Seat (II Corinthians 5:10 and John 5:22), look down upon us, and say to us the following words of comfort and righteousness: “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). Then the Word shall extend His hand and gift to us a crown of righteousness that has been laid up for us through His justifying work on the cross (II Timothy 4:8). And finally, after setting that crown of righteousness upon our heads, the Shepherd will look into our eyes and say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant...enter thou into the joy of thy lord” (Luke 19:21). What an amazing truth this is! This is the power of His Word, our Mediator, our Redeemer, our Lord Jesus Christ!

This, however, begs the question: why is the Bible called the Word of God if Jesus Christ is the Word of God? What is the connection between these two, at least on the surface, separate ideas?

There is a connection and a very important one at that. The full ramification and understanding of all the complexities is well beyond our human imaginations. Yet, there are some connections revealed unto us. The Belgic Confession Article 2 lays out one such connection between God and His Word, the Bible, when it says:

He [God] makes himself more clearly and fully known to us by his holy and divine Word, that is to say, as far as is necessary for us to know in this life, to his glory and our salvation.

The Belgic Confession acknowledges here that there are things we will not be able to understand. However, everything that we need to know for God’s glory and our salvation are contained within the Scriptures, the Word of God.

That still doesn’t seem to connect the two together: the Word, Jesus Christ, and the Word, the Bible. However, if we dig further into this article of our Christian faith, we ought to note something of great importance. The Confession states that God reveals Himself to us by the Scriptures to His glory and our salvation. How are we to give glory unto God? Through ourselves? Impossible. Only through His powerful Word, Jesus Christ. How do we obtain our salvation? Only through His powerful Word, Jesus Christ.

We reference the Bible by many different names: the Scriptures, Holy Writ, the Word, the Gospel… I want to focus on that last name. This is an example of where words are important in their meaning. Each name we use for the Bible shows something important, a unique aspect, much like the precious Names of God. The Gospel is the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ. So when Jesus’ disciples were called to spread the Gospel, or, more close to home, we are called to spread the Gospel, we are called to spread the Word. The heart of the Gospel is Jesus Christ as the Word!

First off, it’s good news. It’s a joyous word. It’s something to get excited about!!! In fact, as cliché as extra exclamation points are in writing, the good news of Jesus is so exciting that we ought never to have enough exclamation points to put at the end of it. Declare it from the mountain tops, shout it from the streets! Jesus Christ is Lord! Secondly, this good news is for us to hear. The good news is that there is salvation. We can be saved from our sins. Remember, the Heidelberg Catechism listed that as one of the three things to know in order to live and die happily: to know how we can be saved from our sins and miseries. And finally, the third part, the crescendo of the news...IT’S ALL THROUGH CHRIST! Nothing of our doing. We need not fret or worry. Our salvation is not on our shoulders! This is the message of the Gospel. The whole of Scriptures points, revolves, and hinges on Christ Jesus. From the beginning in Genesis 1 as the Word worked in Creation and in Genesis 3 as God promised the Seed of the woman that would crush the seed of the serpent all the way through Revelation 22 as the Word the Lamb says boldly in verses 12 and 13:

Behold, I come quickly; and my reward [salvation] is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

The Word. Jesus Christ. He is the beginning and the end. He is God’s revelation to us, bringing and securing for us the good news of the Gospel. There is salvation from our sins through Him, God’s powerful Word.

END OF CHAPTER 1

THOUGHT QUESTIONS

After reading, please answer the Google Classroom Question with well-thought responses to 3 of the 5 questions below, being specific to what was read in Chapter 1. Please label your responses to match the question # below (#1, #2, #3, etc.).

1. Read John 1:1-17. React to your reading by describing in a paragraph the doctrines presented in these verses and what they mean for you in your life.

2. What comfort do you find in the knowledge that “In the beginning was the Word?”

3. Explain the beauty of the Gospel in your own words. Make it personal.

4. Read Ephesians 1:1-14. How does this passage speak to the power of the Word, Jesus Christ?

5. Try to answer the following question: “Why should we be in awe of God’s powerful Word?” Support with Scripture and/or with the Creeds.