December 1 – Creation

Genesis 1:1 (KJV)
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

The Backstory

Have you ever experienced the awkwardness of being involved in a conversation between good friends who share a longer history together than you? As they reminisce about old times, they may laugh hysterically over references to people and events you know nothing about. You are left staring at them blankly as you try desperately to figure out what is so funny. It’s a relief if at least one kind soul fills you in on the backstory, so you have some context to follow along.

The story of Christmas is like that. If we begin our study with the New Testament account of the birth of Jesus, we may be missing a whole bunch of biblical context to help us fit the pieces of the story together. We need that backstory to have a more complete understanding of the narrative.

Would you be surprised to learn that, to tell the backstory of Christmas, we need to go all the way back to the beginning….the very beginning? That is, to the story of Creation?

Why would we do that? Well, because the story of Christmas is about the relationship between God and humanity. And that story started at Creation. The first two chapters of the Bible (Genesis 1-2) explain to us how the world in which we live was created by the very words of God.

Genesis 1:2-3(WEB)
The earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep and God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters. God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

If you continue reading through the Genesis account, you will see over and over again that God spoke and good things came into being. From stars, planets, and galaxies, to the smallest animal, plant, or insect, He created it all! Skies and seas, mountains and molecules, they all were created through Him. And they all speak to us about who God is.

And then on the last day of Creation, God did something a little different. He bent down and took some of the dust and dirt of the ground which He had created and shaped it with His own hands.

GENESIS 2:7 (KJV)
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Do you see the intimacy described here? This is not a picture of a distant God, cold and indifferent to humanity. This is a picture of the most powerful being in the universe stooping down to gently and tenderly form and bring to life a being like none other, shaped by His own hands, filled with His own breath, made in His own image. This scene is filled with intimacy and purpose and love. And it is a scene that defines the entire story of the Bible; the story of an Almighty God who stoops down to pursue and love and give His very life to the people He created. He intended that they use the life they had received from Him to be creative and do good, just like Him. But they chose otherwise.

And that, my friend, is the beginning of an epic story about a God who loved so much that He was willing to become like those He had created to redeem them back to himself.

John 1:14 (WEB)
The Word became flesh and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the only born Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Scripture marked WEB is taken from the World English Bible, Public Domain.

Scripture marked KJV is taken from the King James Bible, Public Domain.