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“Beginnings and Endings, Part III” by Romans
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc6SSHuZvQE
We are continuing our Series “Beginnings and Endings.” And we are also continuing the “Beginnings” aspect of our Series. Tonight, we are going to be looking at the occasions of the word and the concept of “beginnings,” as it occurs in both the Old and New Testament, and comment as we go along. I hope you find this as interesting in hearing and reading what I present, as it was to me in putting in together.
Let us begin at the first, perhaps best known beginning, in Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
We, as both Jewish and Christian believers, are so familiar with the phrase “In the beginning,” that we fail to appreciate how truly significant that phrase is: In the Beginning! There was a Beginning. That also means there was a time when all that currently exists did not exist. There was a time when there was nothing. And I mean absolutely nothing. As Frank Turek puts it in his book, “I Don't Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist,” “Nothing is what rocks dream about.” And now there is something: a wonderful, awe-inspiring and unspeakably magnificent Universe where there was once nothing.
The Scientific Community has finally come, kicking and screaming to, what for them is, an unhappy reality: both matter and Life, itself, each had a beginning. And both are inexplicable without the Creator they will not acknowledge. I can only enthusiastically cite Scripture's commentary on this sad predicament first from the Psalm 14:1 where David writes: “The fool hath said in his heart there is no God.”
Of this Matthew Henry writes, “See how malignant it is: - The contempt it puts upon the honour of God: for there is something of practical atheism at the bottom of all sin. The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. We are sometimes tempted to think, “Surely there never was so much atheism and profaneness as there is in our days;” but we see the former days were no better; even in David's time there were those who had arrived at such a height of impiety as to deny the very being of a God and the first and self-evident principles of religion.
Observe, the sinner here described. He is one that saith in his heart, There is no God; he is an atheist. “There is no Elohim, no Judge or governor of the world, no providence presiding over the affairs of men.” They cannot doubt of the being of God, but will question his dominion. He says this in his heart; it is not his judgment, but his imagination. He cannot satisfy himself that there is none, but he wishes there were none, and pleases himself with the fancy that it is possible there may be none. He cannot be sure there is one, and therefore he is willing to think there is none. He dares not speak it out, lest he be confuted, and so undeceived, but he whispers it secretly in his heart, for the silencing of the clamours of his conscience and the emboldening of himself in his evil ways.”
One-thousand years later, the Apostle Paul adds to David's words, and is equally point-blank when he writes, “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” (Romans 1:21). If there were ever any vain imaginations, it is the senseless assertion that there is neither truly wondrous design, nor a brilliant Creator as the Source of of all that we see, and all that we are.
Of Paul's words, Adam Clarke writes, “Because that when they knew God - When they thus acquired a general knowledge of the unity and perfections of the Divine nature, they glorified him not as God - they did not proclaim him to the people, but shut up his glory (as Bishop Warburton expresses it) in their mysteries, and gave the people, in exchange for an incorruptible God, an image made like to corruptible man. Wherefore God, in punishment for their sins, thus turning his truth into a lie, suffered even their mysteries, which they had erected for a school of virtue, to degenerate into an odious sink of vice and immorality; giving them up unto all uncleanness and vile affections.
They glorified him not - They did not give him that worship which his perfections required.
Neither were thankful - They manifested no gratitude for the blessings they received from his providence, but became vain in their imaginations, in their reasonings. This certainly refers to the foolish manner in which even the wisest of their philosophers discoursed about the Divine nature, not excepting Socrates, Plato, or Seneca. Who can read their works without being struck with the vanity of their reasonings, as well as with the stupidity of their nonsense, when speaking about God? I might crowd my page with proofs of this; but it is not necessary to those who are acquainted with their writings, and to others it would not be useful.
In short, their foolish, darkened minds sought God no where but in the place in which he is never to be found; the vile, corrupted, and corrupting passions of their own hearts. As they did not discover him there, they scarcely sought him any where else.”
Let's continue in our examinations of the occasions of the word, “beginning.” Genesis 10:10: “And the beginning of his {Nimrod's} kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
Adam Clarke writes, “The beginning of his kingdom was Babel - בבל babel signifies confusion; and it
seems to have been a very proper name for the commencement of a kingdom that appears to have been founded in apostasy from God, and to have been supported by tyranny, rapine, and oppression.” After the Flood, when earth population began to be built up, again, a man named Nimrod came to power. He is described as being “a hunter before the Lord.” In the original Hebrew, the phrase, “before the Lord” signified a position of self-aggrandizing pre-eminence.”
In Genesis 11:6, we read of the unity of purpose of, what appears to be, the entire population of the earth: “And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.”
Matthew Henry writes, “Observe, (1.) The righteousness of God, which appears in the considerations upon which he proceeded in this resolution. Two things he considered: - [1.] Their oneness, as a reason why they must be scattered: “Behold, the people are one, and they have all one language. If they continue one, much of the earth will be left uninhabited; the power of their prince will soon be exorbitant; wickedness and profaneness will be insufferably rampant, for they will strengthen one another's hands in it; and, which is worst of all, there will be an overbalance to the people of God, and these children of men, if thus incorporated, will swallow up the little remnant of God's children.”
Therefore it is decreed that they must not be one. Note, Unity is a policy but it is not the infallible mark of a true church; yet, while the builders of Babel, though of different families, dispositions, and interests, were thus unanimous in opposing God, what a pity is it, and what a shame, that the builders of Sion, though united in one common head and Spirit, should be divided, as they are, in serving God!”
Have you noticed how man's pattern of God-defying behavior seems to be stuck in a time loop that we cannot break out of? Adam and Eve were the beginning of humankind, they defied God, and were summarily evicted from the Garden of Eden, and barred form the Tree of Life. Cain and Abel were the beginning of the expanding human race, the first two people to be born on earth. Cain killed his brother. Society only got worse until finally it reached a point where, to me, one of the most terrifying verses ever written describes the levels that humankind had degenerated to in the words, “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Genesis 6:5).
Of this, Matthew Henry writes, “This degenerate race slighted the honour their ancestors had obtained by virtue and religion, and made themselves a great name by that which was the perpetual ruin of their good name. The charge exhibited and proved against them. The evidence produced was incontestable. God saw it, and that was instead of a thousand witnesses. God sees all the wickedness that is among the children of men; it cannot be concealed from him now, and, if it be not repented of, it shall not be concealed by him shortly.
Now what did God take notice of? 1. He observed that the streams of sin that flowed along in men's lives, and the breadth and depth of those streams: He saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth.
Observe the connection of this with what goes before: the oppressors were mighty men and men of renown; and, then, God saw that the wickedness of man was great. Note, The wickedness of a people is great indeed when the most notorious sinners are men of renown among them. Things are bad when bad men are not only honoured notwithstanding their wickedness, but honoured for their wickedness, and the vilest men exalted.
Wickedness is then great when great men are wicked. Their wickedness was great, that is, abundance of sin was committed in all places, by all sorts of people; and such sin as was in its own nature most gross, and heinous, and provoking; it was committed daringly, and with a defiance of heaven, nor was any care taken by those that had power in their hands to restrain and punish it. This God saw. Note, All the sins of sinners are known to God the Judge. Those that are most conversant in the world, though they see much wickedness in it, yet they see but little of that which is; but God sees all, and judges aright concerning it, how great it is, nor can he be deceived in his judgment. 2. He observed the fountain of sin that was in men's hearts. Any one might see that the wickedness of man was great, for they declared their sin as Sodom; but God's eye went further: He saw that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually - a sad sight, and very offensive to God's holy eye! This was the bitter root, the corrupt spring: all the violence and oppression, all the luxury and wantonness, that were in the world, proceeded from the corruption of nature; lust conceived them.
(1.) The heart was naught; it was deceitful and desperately wicked. The principles were corrupt, and the habits and dispositions evil. (2.) The thoughts of the heart were so. Thought is sometimes taken for the settled judgment or opinion, and this was bribed, and biased, and misled. (3.) The imagination of the thoughts of the heart was so, that is, their designs and devices were wicked. They did not do evil through mere carelessness, as those that walk at all adventures, not heeding what they do; but they did evil deliberately and designedly, contriving how to do mischief. It was bad indeed; for it was only evil, continually evil, and every imagination was so. There was no good to be found among them, no, not at any time: the stream of sin was full, and strong, and constant; and God saw it.”
The Bible next takes us to the calling of, and Covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who had 12 sons. We read in Genesis 49:3 Jacob's blessing of his first son: “Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power:” Adam Clarke writes, “Reuben as the first-born had a right to a double portion of all that the father had; The eminence or dignity mentioned here may refer to the priesthood; the power, to the regal government or kingdom... The Targum of Onkelos paraphrases it thus: “Thou shouldst have received three portions, the birthright, the priesthood, and the kingdom:”
As the history of Abraham's descendants unfolds, Jacob's sons sell their brother Joseph into slavery in Egypt. God was with Joseph and elevated from Pharaoh's prison to the second in command in Egypt. God then uses a famine to reunite the family. After over four centuries in Egypt, the Israelites experience both enslavement and deliverance. Once free, God speaks through Moses, and tells them in great detail how they will erase the Egyptian culture from their minds and begin anew, worshiping God according to His Laws and Statutes which included, even a new calendar. We read in Exodus 12:2: “This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.”
In Deuteronomy 2, God tells the Israelites that their possession of the Promised Land is about to begin: In verses 24-25: “... behold, I have given into thine hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land: begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle. This day will I begin to put the dread of thee and the fear of thee upon the nations that are under the whole heaven, who shall hear report of thee, and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of thee.” In Verse 31, Moses says, “And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have begun to give Sihon and his land before thee: begin to possess, that thou mayest inherit his land.”
God promises the Israelites unending Blessings in return for their faithful obedience to Him and His Laws. He includes as one of His Blesssings on the land. We read in Deuteronomy 11:12: “A land which the LORD thy God careth for: the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.
Many years later, in 1 Chronicles 17:9, God continues to reassure Israel that He is with them and for them
to firmly establish them in the Promised Land: “Also I will ordain a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, and they shall dwell in their place, and shall be moved no more; neither shall the children of wickedness waste them any more, as at the beginning.”
Most of us know the story of Job, and the horrendous ordeal he endured, but we read how everything was resolved by God in its conclusion in Job 40:12: “So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning:”
John Gill writes: “All blessings are of the Lord, temporal and spiritual; and sometimes the last days of a good man are his best, as to temporal things, as were David's, and here Job's; though this is not always the case: however, if their last days are but the best in spiritual things, that is enough: if they have more faith, hope, love, patience, humility, and self-denial, and resignation of will to the will of God; are more holy, humble, spiritually and heavenly minded; have more light and knowledge in divine things; have more peace and joy, and are more fruitful in every good work, and more useful; and often they are in their very last moments most cheerful and comfortable: the best wine is reserved till last.”
We will touch very briefly to two Beginnings references found in the Book of Judges. After Samson revealed the secret of his strength to Delilah, we read in Judges 16:19: “And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him.” After he was taken away as a prisoner of the Philistines, something began that Samson's enemies had somehow not considered: We read in Judges 16:22: “Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven.” We know the rest...
We move, next, into the Book of Psalms. We read in Psalm 111:10: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: Albert Barnes writes, “The fear of the Lord - Reverence for God; respect for his law, his will, his government, himself; the fear of offending him, which will lead us to do right. This fear is not that of a slave; it is not mere dread; it is not terror. It is consistent with love, and springs from it. It is consistent with calmness of mind, and promotes it.
It does not produce terror, but rather delivers from it, and preserves the mind from alarms. The word here rendered “fear” is a noun of the same origin as the word rendered “reverend” in the previous verse. The suggestion to the mind of the psalmist that the “name of the Lord” was “reverend,” or was to be venerated, introduced this thought that such reverence is the very foundation of wisdom.
Is the beginning of wisdom - The foundation, the origin, the commencement of being truly wise. It is so. There is no true wisdom which does not recognize the being, the perfections, and the claims of God. The highest wisdom - the most lofty endowment of man - is that he “may” know and honor God. This, in capability, makes him wise above the brute creation; this, in exercise, makes one man more wise than another; this, when it springs up in the soul, makes a man more wise than he was before - or, is the “beginning” of true wisdom in the soul.”
Next in Psalm 119:160: “Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.”
John Gill writes, “Thy word is true from the beginning,.... Every word of promise God made from the beginning of the world, and in any period of time; as to Adam, to Abraham, to the Israelites, or to any other person or persons; was true in itself, and faithfully performed, not one ever failed; particularly the promise concerning the Messiah, made to Adam in Eden; and which has been spoken of by all the prophets which have been since the world began, Gen_3:15. Or it maybe rendered.. "the beginning of thy word is truth (h):''
which a man finds to be so as soon as ever he enters upon the reading of it. Some refer this to the first chapter of Genesis; others to the first part of the decalogue, concerning the unity of God and his worship... The same is mentioned... as one of the senses, though the first he gives is agreeable to our version: but there is no need to restrain the sense to those particulars, or to the first part of the Scriptures, since the whole is truth; and the meaning may be, "the sum of thy word is truth" (i): so the word here used is sometimes taken for the sum of anything; all that is contained in the word of God is truth; its promises, precepts and doctrines, histories, prophecies and proverbs, all the sayings of it are faithful and true; and everyone of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever; every precept of the word, and doctrine of it.”
(h) ראש דבריך אמת "principium verbi tui veritas", Pagninus, Musculus; "vel verborum tuorum", V. L.
(i) "Summa verbi tui est veritas", Cocceius, Schmidt.”
Next, we move into the Book of Proverbs, and read in Proverbs 1:7: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Of this, Adam Clarke writes, “The fear of the Lord - In the preceding verses Solomon shows the advantage of acting according to the dictates of wisdom; in the following verses he shows the danger of acting contrary to them. The fear of the Lord signifies that religious reverence which every intelligent being owes to his Creator; and is often used to express the whole of religion, as we have frequently had occasion to remark in different places.
But what is religion? The love of God, and the love of man; the former producing all obedience to the Divine will; the latter, every act of benevolence to one’s fellows. The love of God shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Spirit produces the deepest religious reverence, genuine piety, and cheerful obedience. To love one’s neighbor as himself is the second great commandment; and as love worketh no ill to one’s neighbor, therefore it is said to be the fulfilling of the law. Without love, there is no obedience; without reverence, there is neither caution, consistent conduct, nor perseverance in righteousness.
This fear or religious reverence is said to be the beginning of knowledge; the principle, the first moving influence, begotten in a tender conscience by the Spirit of God. No man can ever become truly wise, who does not begin with God, the fountain of knowledge; and he whose mind is influenced by the fear and love of God will learn more in a month than others will in a year.”
Next, we read in Proverbs 8:22: “The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.” Matthew Henry writes, “That it is an intelligent and divine person that here speaks seems very plain, and that it is not meant of a mere essential property of the divine nature, for Wisdom here has personal properties and actions; and that intelligent divine person can be no other than the Son of God himself, to whom the principal things here spoken of wisdom are attributed in other scriptures, and we must explain scripture by itself. If Solomon himself designed only the praise of wisdom as it is an attribute of God, by which he made the world and governs it, so to recommend to men the study of that wisdom which belongs to them, yet the Spirit of God, who indited what he wrote, carried him, as David often, to such expressions as could agree to no other than the Son of God, and would lead us into the knowledge of great things concerning him.
All divine revelation is the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, and here we are told who and what he is, as God, designed in the eternal counsels to be the Mediator between God and man. The best exposition of these verses we have in the first four verses of St. John's gospel. In the beginning was the Word, etc. Concerning the Son of God observe here, I. His personality and distinct subsistence, one with the Father and of the same essence, and yet a person of himself, whom the Lord possessed, who was set up, was brought forth, was by him, for he was the express image of his person.
II. His eternity; he was begotten of the Father, for the Lord possessed him, as his own Son, his beloved Son, laid him in his bosom; he was brought forth as the only-begotten of the Father, and this before all worlds, which is most largely insisted upon here. The Word was eternal, and had a being before the world, before the beginning of time; and therefore it must follow that it was from eternity. The Lord possessed him in the beginning of his way, of his eternal counsels, for those were before his works. This way indeed had no beginning, for God's purposes in himself are eternal like himself, but God speaks to us in our own language.
Wisdom explains herself (in Proverbs 8:23): I was set up from everlasting. The Son of God was, in the eternal counsels of God, designed and advanced to be the wisdom and power of the Father, light and life, and all in all both in the creation and in the redemption of the world. That he was brought forth as to his being, and set up as to the divine counsels concerning his office, before the world was made, is here set forth in a great variety of expressions, much the same with those by which the eternity of God himself is expressed.”
We move, next into the Book of Isaiah the Prophet. We read in Isaiah 41:4: “Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he.”
Albert Barnes writes, “Who hath wrought and done it? - By whom has all this been accomplished? Has it been by the arm of Cyrus? Has it been by human skill and powers. The design of this question is obvious. It is to direct attention to the fact that all this had been done by God, and that he who had raised up such a man, and had accomplished all this by means of him, had power to deliver his people.
Calling the generations from the beginning - The idea here seems to be, that all the nations that dwell on the earth in every place owed their origin to God. The word ‘calling’ here, seems to be used in the sense of commanding, directing, or ordering them; and the truth taught is, that all the nations were under his control, and had been from the beginning. It was not only true of Cyrus, and of those who were subdued before him, but it was true of all nations and generations. The object seems to be, to lift up the thoughts from the conquests of Cyrus to God’s universal dominion over all kingdoms from the beginning of the world.
I the Lord, the first - Before any creature was made; existing before any other being. The description that God here gives of himself as ‘the first and the last,’ is one that is often applied to him in the Scriptures, and is one that properly expresses eternity. It is remarkable also that this expression, which so obviously implies proper eternity, is applied to the Lord Jesus in Revelation 1:17 and Revelation 22:13.
And with the last - The usual form in which this is expressed is simply ‘the last’ Isa_44:6; Isa_48:12. The idea here seems to be, ‘and with the last, I am the same;’ that is, I am unchanging and eternal. None will subsist after me; since with the last of all created objects I shall be the same that I was in the beginning. Nothing would survive God; or in other words, he would exist forever and ever. The argument here is, that to this unchanging and eternal God, who had thus raised up and directed Cyrus, and who had control over all nations, they might commit themselves with unwavering confidence, and be assured that he was able to protect and deliver them.”
Isaiah 46:9-10: “Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:”
Matthew Henry writes: “He again produces incontestable proofs that he is God, that he and none besides is so: I am God, and there is none like me. This is that which we have need to be reminded of again and again; for proof of it he refers, (1.) To the sacred history: “Remember the former things of old, what the God of Israel did for his people in their beginnings, whether he did not that for them which no one else could, and which the false gods did not, nor could do, for their worshippers. Remember those things, and you will own that I am God and there is none else.”
This is a good reason why we should give glory to him as a nonsuch, and why we should not give that glory to any other which is due to him alone. (2.) To the sacred prophecy. He is God alone, for it is he only that declares the end from the beginning. From the beginning of time he declared the end of time, and end of all things. Enoch prophesied, Behold, the Lord comes. From the beginning of a nation he declares what the end of it will be. He told Israel what should befal them in the latter days, what their end should be, and wished they were so wise as to consider it. From the beginning of an event he declares what the end of it will be. Known unto God are all his works, and, when he pleases, he makes them known.
Further than prophecy guides us it is impossible for us to find out the work that God makes from the beginning to the end. He declares from ancient times the things that are not yet done. Many scripture prophecies which were delivered long ago are not yet accomplished; but the accomplishment of some in the mean time is an earnest of the accomplishment of the rest in due time. By this it appears that he is God, and none else; it is he, and none besides, that can say, and make his words good, “My counsel shall stand, and all the powers of hell and earth cannot control or disannul it nor all their policies correct or countermine it.”
As God's operations are all according to his counsels, so his counsels shall all be fulfilled in his operations, and none of his measures shall be broken, none of his designs shall miscarry. This yields abundant satisfaction to those who have bound up all their comforts in God's counsels, that his counsel shall undoubtedly stand; and, if we are brought to this, that whatever pleases God pleases us, nothing can contribute more to make us easy than to be assured of this, that God will do all his pleasure. The accomplishment of this particular prophecy, which relates to the elevation of Cyrus and his agency in the deliverance of God's people out of their captivity, is mentioned for the confirmation of this truth, that the Lord is God and there is none else; and this is a thing which shall shortly come to pass.
God by his counsel calls a ravenous bird from the east, a bird of prey, Cyrus, who (they say) had a nose like the beak of a hawk or eagle, to which some think this alludes, or (as others say) to the eagle which was his standard, as it was afterwards that of the Romans, to which there is supposed to be a reference. Cyrus came from the east at God's call: for God is Lord of hosts and of those that have hosts at command. And, if God give him a call, he will give him success. He is the man that shall execute God's counsel, though he comes from a far country and knows nothing of the matter. Note, Even those that know not, and mind not, God's revealed will, are made use of to fulfil the counsels of his secret will, which shall all be punctually accomplished in their season by what hand he pleases. That which is here added, to ratify this particular prediction, may abundantly show to the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel: “I have spoken of it by my servants the prophets, and what I have spoken is just the same with what I have purposed.” For, though God has many things in his purposes which are not in his prophecies, he has nothing in his prophecies but what are in his purposes. And he will do it, for he will never change his mind; he will bring it to pass, for it is not in the power of any creature to control him. Observe with what majesty he says it, as one having authority: I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass.”
In conclusion, these are the cross-sections of the Beginnings we find in The Old Testament. They cover many things from Creation, to the Flood, to the Tower of Babel, to the confounding of languages by God, to Israel's deliverance from bondage, and their establishment as the People of God in the Promised Land. We have read of the beginning of wisdom, and how God alone knows and can bring about the end from the beginning. Next week, I plan to move into The New Testament for more Beginnings. I hope you all can join me then.
This concludes this week's Discussion, “Beginnings and Endings, Part III.”
This Discussion was originally presented “live” on July 18th, 2018.