Genesis 1:1: ‘In the beginning’

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In seven Hebrew words of the first verse of the Bible, God started declaring the end from the beginning. The final result of the creation — shown in the Apostolic Writings, especially in the book of Revelation — will be much greater than “in the beginning.”

The first chapter of Genesis is one of the keynotes of the Bible. Here’s the first verse:

בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ

b’reshit bara ’elohim ’et ha-shamayim v’et ha-’erets

The first word is בראשית bereshit. The word ראשית reshit (Strong’s lexicon No. H7225) means “beginning” or “the first.” This word is used later in Genesis 10 when God tells us about Nimrod and his first kingdom: “The beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar” (Gen. 10:10). We know that Nimrod’s kingdom ended when God confused the languages at the tower of Babel.

Later, in Gen. 49:3, Ya’akov (Jacob) reveals a prophesy over Reuben when he calls Reuben, his first-born son, the “reshit of my strength, preeminent in dignity, and preeminent in power.”

Yeshua told his Apostles that they would do more works than He. Yeshua was the reshit, the beginning of something and the Apostles went further and larger than Yeshua did.

Num. 24:20 says, “And he looked at Amalek and took up his discourse and said, “Amalek was the reshit of the nations, But his end shall be destruction.” Why was Amalek considered the first among the gentile nations? Amalek was the first nation to directly attack the people of Israel in war and God warns that He will destroy them for this.

Prov. 1:7 says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

Isa. 46:10 says, “Declaring the end from the reshit, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, ‘My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure.’” In other words, Genesis reveals not only the beginning of time but the end of time, too.

The Messiah began the Kingdom of God, His death and resurrection was just the beginning. At the end, as recorded in Revelation, His kingdom will be large. The city of Jerusalem, which seems so small now, will be very large.

The second word of this verse is the word ברא bara (H1254a). It has a dual meaning of creating and destroying.

In Gen. 1:27, God created man. In Genesis 2, God said He made man — a different word, עשה asah, 6213a — in His image.

In Gen. 5:1, God said He created — ברא — and made — עשה — man in the image/likeness of God.

In the Garden of Eden, before Adam and Eve sinned, there was no fear but after they ate of the tree of knowledge, the first thing they knew was fear.

You cannot have heaven without the earth and vice versa. Heaven cannot exist without the earth, and the earth can’t exist without heaven.

Messiah Yeshua said that the first shall be last and the last shall be first. Many don’t understand what Yeshua means. He means that the end of time will be greater than the beginning of time. God controls the heavens and controls the waters.

Humans can’t control the rain, or the wind. The mighty Mississippi river flows where it wants to flow, the Missouri and the Ohio rivers, too. Levites can be compromised if God wills. Humans can’t even control leaking roofs.

God separates the heavens from the earth. Then God creates light, but the sun was not the source of this light. The heaven spoken about here is the sky, not the third heaven, which is where God dwells.

As far as God is concerned, this planet, called Earth is the most important planet in the universe. He spent most of His time and care creating it and when Yeshua returns the second time, He is returning here, not to Jupiter or somewhere else in the galaxy.

Abraham was called to leave the land of Ur to go to Canaan, basically from ’eretz to ’eretz. He was moving from one land to a better land. Abraham’s beginning was not as good as his end. He was born in Ur but lived and died in Canaan, which was a better place.

God starts us in one place but promises to bring us to a better place. God started out with Ya’akov and his 12 sons, but at the end we are told that 12,000 people from each of those 12 tribes would appear before the Lord.

Speaker: Richard Agee. Summary: Tammy.