Dear friends,
It is very important to understand that the Bible’s message is about everything. Of course the Bible does not tell us everything about everything. Sometimes Bible readers have tried to find things in the Bible that are simply not there. That is a mistake and leads to unnecessary confusion and conflict. There is important and exciting, indeed God-given, work of discovery to be done by human beings, through which we learn many things that we cannot learn from the Bible. Indeed so much has been discovered in modern times (I am thinking mainly of the vast scope of human enquiry we call “modern science”) that it is easy for Bible readers to forget that the Bible teaches us the truth about everything. Not every truth about everything, but the essential, fundamental, most important truth about everything.
In the simplest possible terms the first sentence of the Bible tells us this truth: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). “The heavens and the earth” is a Bible way of saying “everything.” Just to make sure we understand the meaning of “everything,” this is how another Bible writer puts the same truth: “… all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created …” (Colossians 1:16). “Everything” means every thing.
Genesis 1:1 is a kind of heading for the whole Bible. “In the beginning, God created everything”—and this book (the Bible) goes on to explain the consequences of that truth.
The consequences are extraordinary, and could never have been deduced by human reason — even when we know the fundamental truth that God created everything. The God who created everything has a purpose for it all, a purpose which he will accomplish in his own way and in his own time.
Ultimately Jesus Christ is the truth about everything. His death and resurrection, which we celebrate this weekend, helps us to rightly understand and cope with everything — including the present crisis. “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross” (Colossians 1:19, 20). By knowing Jesus Christ we know the truth about everything — and the way to peace!
Your brother in the Lord Jesus Christ
John Woodhouse (Acting Senior Minister)