The very first verse of the Bible reads, “In the beginning God created the heavens and

the
earth”. That is the beginning of the beginning of the Bible’s account of beginnings for all things
sans God himself (indeed, God calls himself “I AM” in the Bible, the One Who Is, meaning he is
the only Self-Existent One). The Bible begins with an account of origins. Origins, beginnings.
Let’s explore some concepts about the origin of things.



— “Something can not come from nothing”. 

Should be obvious, right? Rewind and break it down: SOME THING can not come from NO
THING. A statement that is self-self-evidently true. Another way to think of it is like this: from
nothing, nothing comes. Philosophers may argue over this (they do), but even common sense
informs us that “out of nothing, nothing can come”. No THING comes from NO THING! But yet
… we live in a world full of things? How? First, let’s take a quick look at a few related
statements.



— “Everything that begins to exist has a cause”. 

Otherwise, how could it begin to exist? Why would it begin to exist? Simple: it would not.



— “Everything must have a cause or a reason”. 

Put in other words: for every effect there is a cause, as in, cause and effect. Believe it or not,
there are philosophers (and even some normal people) who take issue with all these
statements.

Facts like these remind us that things have a background - they came from somewhere. This
means things have origins - they begin somewhere. And just like Batman has an origin story
and Black Panther has an origin story, so too every thing has an origin story.

Origins. Origins matter. The origin story you believe about yourself tells you who you are, why
you are here, and where you are going. Identity. Purpose. Goal. Without knowing the identity,
purpose, and goal of a tool, it can never reach its potential. In fact, the tool may become
essentially useless. YOUR origin story informs you about your identity, purpose, and goal.

When it comes to our universe, our world, our life … what is the “origin story”? Here’s the
thing: there are competing origin stories. Did the universe itself “pop” into existence for no
explicit reason? Perhaps universes “pop” into existence on a regular basis? Does the universe
even require an explanation? Perhaps it’s not really there anyway? Maybe it’s an illusion?
Perhaps explaining the origin of any of these things is simply beyond us? Perhaps it’s not
something we should know? Perhaps it’s not something we can know? Perhaps it doesn’t
matter? Perhaps we can pick which origin story fits our personal tastes? Perhaps we should
pick an origin story which seems most beneficial to us?

Now, if the universe is simply here - no reason needed, no explanation required - then even
saying “perhaps it’s something we should not know”, doesn’t even make sense. Who or what
would be limiting us? “You SHOULD not”! To whom would we be obliged? “Should not”? Says
who? Why shouldn’t we? “Should not” indicates a rule we can transgress, a place we should
not go. But who or what is telling us “we should not”? Is this accidental universe somehow
“personal”? Would this universe, which is just here (no reason), have authority? Why? In what
way? Even if there was some kind of official authority in an accidental and purposeless
universe, how would it “communicate” to us this knowledge? How would we receive any
information?

I’ll stop here. You can probably tell this could go on for a while. But let’s stop merely asking
questions (important and significant questions to be sure), and instead offer an alternative
explanation. In fact, there is an explanation that is the only sure fire for us not to drift into a sort
of madness in which it becomes impossible for us to truly know anything!

We should recognize when it comes to THE questions of life like, “how did the universe get
here” or “why am I here” … we have no way of knowing with any certainty on or own. The
answers are actually unattainable. Why? Who among us was there for the beginning of the
universe? Who among us is responsible for our own existence? None, no one, no, not one.

Yet, it matters. And so it goes like this: we could be told these answers. IF there was one who
was not simply there at the universe’s origin point but was actually the cause of the universe …
this one could perhaps tell what the reason for it all was. 


But wait, how can there be something able to cause the universe? This something would not
be able to have a “beginning” itself, because then we would be stuck in a situation asking, well,
what was BEFORE that”? It would have to be personal in order to communicate to tell us
anything. Otherwise, how would it even communicate to us as personal beings? This is where
the concept of revelation comes in. A revelation is something revealed which was previously
disclose. Knowledge not known now known. Again, we were not there and can never go back
there. But we can be told.

But this voice of revelation would have to be its own authority. It would have to be a voice
which doesn’t rely on something else for its information or authority. If this source relied on
another source, then we would need to hear from that source instead; we would need to go to
the source behind the source! This source would have to indeed be the final and ultimate
source. And if we have no access to a final and ultimate source of truth, then we can never
really know anything at all - because there would be no true certainty to be found anywhere.
Nothing rock solid, everything would be potentially shaky.

This is why it is perfectly rational to rely on a certain and ultimate source. But where? No
human man, no philosopher, no scientist can qualify because they are stuck in the same place
as us. They err and are mistake prone. Sometimes, they even purposefully deceive! We need a
place to go where we can trust the answers … a place where deception is no where to be
found.

These characteristics can only be found in the God of the Bible. Other gods or other religions
don’t even claim these qualities. For example, the Greek gods such as Zeus were portrayed
often deceiving mortals. Yet, the God of the Bible is described just this way:



— Abounding in truth (Exodus 34:6)

— God of truth (Deuteronomy 32:4)

— All his paths are truth (Psalm 25:8-10)

— He is the God who does not lie (Titus 1:2)

— It is impossible for God to lie (Hebrews 6:18)

El Emet in Hebrew (the language of most of the Bible) means “God of Truth", (Psalms 31:5).
Romans 3:4 makes it simple, “Let God be true and every man a liar”. These statements are
statements about the nature and character of the only kind of being who can set the record
straight about the true facts of life. And these are things we would not now unless God told us.
This is part of what the Bible is: it is God’s self-disclosure of who He is to us. It’s hypothetically
possible, I suppose, we could have a God who did not reveal himself to us. But this is not the
case. Now, we know from the created world itself as well as our own conscience there is a
God, but all we can know from those two inputs is that he is powerful! The best Scripture about
this is Romans 1:18-20:

 

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all
ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their
unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known
about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.For his invisible attributes, nam
ely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the
creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse”.

This means that all of us have a sense we are creatures. And we even have a sense of our
imperfection: that we are imperfect creatures. We can look up or down, in or out, and in each
direction we know we are not “it”. We are not the Alpha or the Omega, we are not the First nor
the Last, we are not the measure of things. We are under … but this doesn’t mean we like it.
We don’t like now knowing all. We don’t like thinking of ourselves as needing. We don’t like the
idea of being less. We don’t like the idea we are not #1, not on top, and not the ultimate boss.
So, what has humanity done? We have fabricated thousands of origins stories which place as
in the epicenter, at the pinnacle, or at the very least, there is nothing above us, we are under
nothing, we are not under anyone. Romans 1:21:

“For although they knew God, they did
not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became
futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened”.

Evolution is the perfectly fabricated tale we can then tell ourselves: an origin story in which we
are accountable to none, owe none anything, and have nowhere to go except up … perhaps
we can achieve the next stage of human development ourselves? Perhaps we have reached a
point in the evolutionary story in which we can now write it ourselves? We can now use our
technological creations to enhance species into something new: trans-humans. We can
increase our knowledge, strength, and lifespans to exceed a mere level of human existence.
Indeed, by sheer will and dogged determination, we can re-invent ourselves! Why not, the
secular man or woman ask as they look up and imagine nothing but clouds and look inward
and imagine nothing but electrochemical reactions and molecules of material - and nothing
else.

No. This is the insanity of humanity described in Romans 1:22-23:

“Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged
the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal
man and birds and animals and creeping things”.

We can avoid the inescapable prison of irrationality and meaningless if we just listen and
believe to the One Who Knows. For this One who can tell us and has told us. God tells us in
Genesis the true origin story: he made all, he made us, he gave us one rule, we broke that one
rule, and then there was a massive fallout because of our willful rebellion (Genesis 1-3). We
suffered and the created order suffered. Often, we are the cause of the suffering (Romans
8:19-25). We all recognize the world is not right. Something seems off. It’s as if it is not
supposed to be this way. Yup. Because it’s not.

We also know WE are not right. The shame we feel comes from the guilt we feel. We feel the
guilt because we are guilty. We are supposed to, and we don’t. We aren’t supposed to, and we
do. We aren’t supposed to, and we don’t. Why? What’s wrong with us?

The Bible tells us this problem is sin. It didn’t just happen once back during humanity’s origin
story in Genesis 3, it happened again and again and again ever since. And just like how God
punished sin back in Genesis 3, he still does so and will do once in a final time at the end of
the age. God will also judge each snd every one of his creatures at the end of their life
(Hebrews 9:27). And every human will fail, they will all fall short of God’ standard (Romans
3:23).

What to do? You’ve heard the bad news, now hear the good news: God himself wrapped
himself in flesh and lived amongst his own creation, He did this in part to communicate with us
directly, as Hebrews 1:1-3 explains, 



“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to
our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he
has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of
all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is
the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his
nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power”

What this means is that a man named Jesus Christ, who lived in Israel in the first century, was
not only fully man but also fully God: “he is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact
imprint of his nature”. Further, he is responsible for our origin story: “through whom he also
created the world”. Finally, he is the most explicit and direct communication we have received
directly from God to us.

But the message of the gospel (good news) doesn’t end there. This unique, one-of-a-kind
“God-Man” communicated to us, as John 1:14-18 relays, 



“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and
we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the
Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John bore witness about
him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who
comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) For from his fullness we have a
ll received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and
truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God
who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.



Not only did Jesus Christ tell us about God and ourselves like no other, he also died for us.
Wait, what? Why would he need to do that? See, we don’t only need information, we need
transformation. We need to be different than we are, from the inside out.

So, Jesus took the punishment for our rebellion that we deserved, providing substitution and a
way out - we can escape what we rightly deserve because he willingly took our place. He did
this by being executed as a criminal, although he was innocent. As 2 Corinthians 5:21 explains,
“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the
righteousness of God”.



He died on a cross but rose again on the third day. From the grave, he was bodily resurrected
(1 Corinthians 15). This resurrection vindicated his message and demonstrated his power over
death. Jesus left this earth but promised to return again in order to judge righteously the whole
earth and set the creation aright - the physical order itself will be renewed and even brought to
perfection, meaning, it will be how it is supposed to be in its fullness!

It is amazing to realize the grandest of all stories (a true story) happened around 2,000 years
ago in a dusty region in the Middle East in Jerusalem - but it did. The cross and subsequent
resurrection from the grave mark a new origin story for those who will put their hope and trust
in Jesus Christ.

If you are able to see the emptiness of all “competing” origin accounts, if you realize the vapid
nature of life in light of these other origin stories, I challenge you to seriously consider the
narrative of reality as disclosed in the Bible.

In doing so, you will not only understand the truth about the physical creation - you yourself will
not be part of a new and transformative origin story.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is ja new creation.
 “

The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 

2 Corinthians 5:17
Origins matter.