• Genesis 1:1-3, John 1:1-5, Colossians 1:15-17

Genesis is the book of beginnings. It provides the foundation on which the Bible is built. Genesis was written by Moses around 1300 B.C. and is quoted or referred to more than 165 times in the New Testament. We often don’t associate Jesus with Genesis because Jesus was born 2,000 years after the events described there. But Jesus permeates its pages; He was there from before the beginning of time. We find Jesus in the Book of Genesis.

Jesus was Present at the Beginning of Creation

The New Testament illuminates the Old Testament by offering additional details that were made known to us only after Jesus’ birth, death, and resurrection. We cannot fully understand Genesis without the New Testament. This is undoubtedly the case with the creation story.

Genesis opens with these words: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). “God” is translated as “Elohim” in Hebrew, the original language of the Old Testament. Elohim is the plural of the Hebrew word El and is used throughout the Old Testament with a singular verb; yes, this is a grammatical oddity and the first suggestion of the Trinity: God, three in one.

Then in the New Testament, what was hinted at in the Old is made clear. John opens his Gospel with these words: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” We know that this “Word” John is describing is Jesus because, in verse 14, he says, “So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son” (John 1:14).

Genesis 1:1 tells us WHAT happened in the beginning, and John 1:1 tells us WHO existed in the beginning. The Old and the New together show us that Jesus was there from the start.

Jesus is God’s creative power.

Jesus was not only present from the beginning of creation, but He was the very instrument for creation. God spoke the world into existence through His WORD (Genesis 1:3), and His Word is Jesus (John 1:14). This is further demonstrated in Genesis 1:26 when God said, “Let US make mankind” (Genesis 1:26). Us is more than one. “Us” is the Trinity: “Us: includes Jesus.

In the New Testament, the Apostle John further explains Jesus’ role in creation when he says, “God created everything through him [Jesus], and nothing was created except through him [Jesus] (John 1:3).” Paul also says in Colossians 1:15-17, “Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him, God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through Him and for Him. He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.”

Because of God’s complete revelation from the Old Testament to the New Testament, we can comprehend Jesus’ role in the creation story. From the very first page of Genesis, we find Jesus; He is there from the beginning. Next time, in “Finding Jesus In Genesis: The Last Adam,” we will look at Adam and Jesus and the story of the fall of man.