Jesus, the Beginning and the End
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
— John 1:1
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”
— Revelation 22:13
Jesus, the Beginning and the End
The Story of Creation
In the previous study we discovered that Jesus and His inspired apostles repeatedly return to Genesis.
That observation naturally raises another question.
Why?
Why do they so often return to the beginning when explaining Christ, humanity, salvation, marriage, sin, death, and the hope of the new creation?
The answer becomes clear only when we step back and look at the whole New Testament.
Again and again, it tells the story of Jesus in relation to creation.
Not simply as the Saviour who appears within history.
But as the One who stands at its beginning, enters it, redeems it, and brings it to its glorious completion.
The story begins before creation itself.
John does not begin with Bethlehem.
Nor does he begin with Abraham or David.
He begins before Genesis.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
Before introducing Jesus’ earthly life, John first introduces us to the eternal Word through whom all things were made.
Then, in one of the most astonishing movements in all of Scripture, John takes us on Christ’s own journey.
The One who enters creation is the very One through whom that creation came into being.
The Creator enters His own creation.
The apostles continue that same story.
Paul reminds the Corinthians that there is one God, the Father, “from whom are all things,” and one Lord, Jesus Christ, “through whom are all things, and through whom we exist.”
To the Colossians he declares that all things were created through Christ and for Christ.
He is before all things.
In Him all things hold together.
To the Ephesians he reveals God’s purpose to unite all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth.
The New Testament therefore presents creation, not as an isolated event in the distant past, but as a work that both begins and finds its fulfilment in Christ.
Hebrews carries the story further.
God has spoken finally in His Son, through whom He made the universe and who continues to uphold all things by His powerful word.
Yet immediately the writer turns to Psalm 8.
Humanity.
Glory.
Honour.
He shows that God’s purpose for humanity reaches its fulfilment in Jesus, who has been crowned with glory and honour and is leading many sons and daughters to glory.
The Creator has become the Redeemer.
Creation and redemption are revealed to be one unfolding purpose of God.
The final book of the Bible completes the story.
Revelation introduces Christ as “the beginning of God’s creation.”
It concludes, not with the destruction of creation, but with its renewal.
The river of the water of life flows again.
The tree of life is restored.
The marriage of the Lamb has come.
God dwells with His people forever.
Everything that Genesis began reaches its appointed goal.
Just before Christ’s final declaration, His people hear this exhortation:
“Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.”
The story that began with creation ends by calling God’s renewed people to live as the righteous and the holy.
Then Jesus declares:
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”
Seen together, these passages reveal a remarkable pattern.
The New Testament does not simply present Jesus as the Saviour.
It presents Him as the Beginning of creation.
The One through whom all things were made.
The One who entered His own creation.
The One who sustains it.
The One who redeems it.
The One who brings it to its intended fulfilment.
Creation.
Fall.
Redemption.
New creation.
They are not four separate stories.
They are one story.
And at its centre stands Jesus Christ.
This also explains why Jesus repeatedly returns to Genesis.
When He teaches about humanity…
Marriage…
Life…
Death…
God’s purposes…
He is not merely returning to Israel’s Scriptures.
He is returning to the beginning of His own creative work.
Genesis is not merely the beginning of humanity’s story.
It is the opening chapter of the story whose centre is Christ and whose goal is the new creation.
The Creator repeatedly returns to the beginning of His own creation in order to reveal its true meaning and its intended destination.
If this is how the New Testament presents Christ, then our first question should not be,
“What do I notice in Genesis?”
Our first question should be,
“What did Jesus notice there?”
And then,
“What did His inspired apostles notice?”
Those questions now lead us particularly to Paul, whose letters repeatedly return to Genesis as he explains Christ, humanity, the Church, and the new creation.
Before following those appeals, however, another methodological question must be answered.
Continue Exploring
The New Testament presents Jesus as the One through whom creation began, the One who entered and redeemed it, and the One who will bring it to completion.
How, then, should Christians read the apostle whose letters develop these connections more extensively than any other New Testament writings?
Who Should Explain Paul? → Explore this study ←
The next study argues that Paul should first be read as the author of carefully constructed letters, allowing his own arguments to explain his teaching before later systems or reconstructions are imposed upon them. → Explore this study ←