The Second Beginning

The Greek word Genesis means origin or source. The book contains a passage about beginning that many people are familiar with:

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

Another beginning is also mentioned in the book of Genesis. It is brief, subtle, and often over-looked.

At that time men began to call on the name of the Lord.
Genesis 4:26b

These two beginnings were not the same.

In the first beginning many things came into the world out of nothing. All of these things -the sun, the moon, the land, the ocean, the animals, and the people- all of this had a beginning before the second beginning.

And certainly God was there long before either of these beginnings.

So when people began to call on the name of the Lord, how could it be said that something was "beginning"? Wasn't it all there already?

Men began to call on the name of the Lord.

This was not the beginning of men, nor was it the beginning of the One who never had a beginning. This was the beginning of men relating to God in a very new way.

In the same way, Jesus came to earth -not to create new bodies, or a new law, or a new government. Jesus came to tell us that we could have a new beginning. That a man could be born again.

To some, this seemed to be a very strange proclamation.

"How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"
John 3:4

Confused Nicodemus thought the first beginning was like the second. In some ways the two are very similar. God brought out in a strange and wonderful way something which was not there before.

But Jesus explained a key difference between the two beginnings: flesh gives birth to flesh, and the Spirit gives birth to spirit.

The Psalmist David indicated that human birth takes place when God knits a baby together in his or her mother's womb. The second beginning takes place when God takes a human body and puts someone -a spirit- into that body.

Why does the Bible describe these events as distinct and separate?

The question could be asked in a number of different ways.

Someone could say, 'I am alone here in my house about to eat dinner. Everything is in place, so who is it I hear knocking on my door?'

Or they could say, 'Our ancestors have used this well for over a thousand years. What makes the water you offer any different?'

In the first beginning, everything seems to be set and put into place.

It is like a date that has been arranged by a man for whom the woman has no regard. The candles are lit, the violins play softly in the background, the food -how fragrant! But something is missing. The night has begun, but ... it has failed to start. It has everything ... yet it has nothing.

The second beginning is the completion, even if everything from the first beginning is terminated or destroyed. Not even death itself can stop the second beginning.

Soon after we hear about the "new beginning" in Genesis, we also hear about Noah. The book continues to tell us about Melchizadek, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.

When God reveals Himself later to Moses, He says, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."

Jesus notes that if God is indeed a God of the living, of those who have not ended, these men who had died are alive even though their bodies have ended.

The second beginning has no end.

Paul writes as he is led,

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:38-39

What of you, my reader? Have you found a new work beginning inside you? If not, know that God sent His Son and that he knocks upon the door of your heart to offer you a new hope and a new beginning.

If you have found this beginning, search it out and you will find that its wonders far exceed every difficulty the world threatens us with.