Gen 1:1, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 
	We now come to the conclusion of our consideration of this first passage in scripture. Lord willing, we have taken to heart the earnest importance of accepting what God tells us in His Word as true and faithful and of absolute importance. To believe His Word is to believe, with all our heart, in His plan and purpose in the creation of this universe. That will be the course of this morning’s message. What God has done goes so far beyond simply the thought of you and me. As humans, we are often prone to think just in terms of what our place in the universe entails. But from before the eternal ages began, God had something far more glorious in mind as He created the heavens and the earth.
It has always been for the glory of His Son that God created all things. He did not do so with the temporal attitude which infests sinful mankind. We think in terms of leaving a legacy of our hard work in the hands of our children as a means of showing how wonderfully inventive or artistic or benevolent we were in our dealings with the hardships of life. We try to build a tribute to our greatness in the heritage that we leave behind, in order to keep ourselves at the forefront of other’s consciousness. 
But that is not the way of God. As He determined to bring all glory and honor to His Son, it was in a manner far beyond our ability to comprehend. His eternal glory is not a means of promoting Himself in any measure, but of showing the greatness of His love toward us. In making the Son the recipient and the focal point of the eternal ages, He made us fellow partakers of that glory in purity and holiness and righteousness.
Col 1:13-20, For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. And He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things have been created by Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; so that He Himself might come to have first place in everything. For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fulness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. 
	In the entire creation process, God, the Son, was ever the One in view. All things were created by Him and for Him. This is especially true of the creation of mankind. We were always to be the recipients of the manifold grace and wisdom and salvation of God through His Only Begotten Son. The main thrust of creation was that God would have a means of establishing a relationship with a people who would love Him as He so loved them. When we truly look into the very reason that God would create anything, it only comes into central focus as we see its purpose in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 
	Otherwise, why would God so choose to suffer the unfathomable loss at the Cross of Calvary? That was no small thing in the immense span of time. Upon the death of His Son on the cross hung the whole balance of God’s heritage and manifestation of Himself. Nothing else was sufficient to render the utter death to sin and life everlasting in the presence of His Holiness. 
He invested every facet of Himself, His Life, His Love, His Plan, His Purpose, His Word, His Holiness, His Righteousness, His Faithfulness, His Promise, and His Heart upon that cross of wood. He was nailed there suffering all the ridicule and the torment and the relentless onslaught of the vicious evilness of this age for but one reason. It was to reveal the fullness of Himself to you and to me. Heb 1:1+2, God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. 
	In the inspired and resourceful force that He wielded in the beginning, He invested Himself into His creation. The Son made the world His own inheritance by so loving the world that He lay down His own life for it. It wasn’t enough to just create a habitation for the beings of His construction. He wanted to invest Himself in a living manner into us, in order for us to partake of something so much greater than just an existence! That is fine for the birds and the animals and the fish, the soulless multitudes of creatures that perform the functions necessary to maintain physical life on this planet. God was after something far more important and far more urgent. He wanted a people who could appreciate and commune in a heart to heart and spirit to spirit relationship with Himself, a relationship of mutual and perfect enjoyment of one another.
	What was needed was an establishment of a bond that superseded all other considerations and motivations and attitudes and duplicitous endeavors. It is the relationship that is created by the faith of Jesus Christ, the Son. Heb 11:1-3, Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible. 
In faith, we accept that God created the heavens and the earth. In faith, we believe that God sent His Only Begotten Son to die for us on the cross. In faith, we hold onto the reality that God raised up His Son, on the third day, and in so doing raised us up together with Him, a completely new creation. In faith, we understand that our lives are no longer to lived for ourselves but for His testimony of love on this earth. In faith, we hold to the precept that we have eternal life forevermore because of Christ’s covering of holiness and righteousness. In faith, we know that we are joined together as fellow partakers in spiritual life, joint heirs with Christ in the very family of God. It is by the faith of Jesus Christ, that God has created a bond with us that can never be broken or forgotten. We belong to Him because we hold to His great promises through the faith of Jesus Christ who indwells us by His Holy Spirit. 
The Apostle Peter encourages us to hold forth this living faith in a manner that will constantly serve to glorify our Lord God Creator and Savior. He reveals the dire consequences that will separate between those who disbelieve from those who choose to believe the Word of God. 2 Peter 3:5-16, For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. But the present heavens and earth by His word are being reserved for fire, kept for the Day of Judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, on account of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, and regard the patience of our Lord to be salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. 
	As we live by faith on this earth, our lives will evidence the relationship that God has produced in us by His Son. We will more and more desire, with all earnestness and commitment, to reflect Him in all our dealings with others. There will be an urgent awareness of the shortness of the time at hand in which to share the blessing and the reality of the new life that God has created in us by Christ’s death and resurrection. We will share in the earnestness of proclaiming Jesus Christ, alive and victorious in our lives for the sake of those who are perishing. Our eyes will begin to see past the facades of this age into the eternal reality of what God has accomplished in His creation. We will find ourselves more and more seeking after those manners of giving Him glory for all that He has done. 
	We will begin to echo the chorus that is recorded in Rev 4:8-11, And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come." And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, "Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for Thou didst create all things, and because of Thy will they existed, and were created." 
	Our minds and hearts will be enlivened to more clearly understand the mystery of God that the angel declares in Rev 10:5-7, And the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things in it, and the earth and the things in it, and the sea and the things in it, that there shall be delay no longer, but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as He preached to His servants the prophets. It is the mystery that is only revealed by the knowledge of Christ in us, the hope of glory. All the creation power of God is vested in Him and because of Him, we partake of His everlasting life. 
	This should cause us to more urgently and more perfectly honor God as the Creator of heaven and earth, as voiced in Rev 14:6+7, And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people; and he said with a loud voice, "Fear God, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters." We need to fear and to reverence God for exactly the fact that He is the Lord God Creator. He is to be worshipped and glorified for all that He has done throughout the course of the establishment of His eternal plan and purpose in His manifest heart of Love and faithfulness. To give Him anything less than utmost honor and glory and praise and adoration is to belittle and to besmirch His Holiness and Righteousness. 
	Rather, let us ever consider Him in the light of Jesus Christ, and settle our hearts upon those things which will offer Him the majesty and the worship and the adoration that He deserves. Let us reverence Him for all that He has done by His creative Hand in living operation in our lives and in the lives of all those who have so believed His Word and joined their hearts and minds and spirits to Him in His Only Begotten Son. Let us always seek after being the living testimony to His so great grace and mercy and love in the lives that we willingly and knowingly and freely offer unto Him. 
	This we do, not because we are forced into it, but because He first so loved us that we want to give Him complete satisfaction in the life that He has created in Jesus Christ. We look forward to the great promise held in Rev 21:3-7, And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He shall dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be among them, and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there shall no longer be any death; there shall no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away." And He who sits on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." And He said, "Write, for these words are faithful and true." And He said to me, "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. "He who overcomes shall inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son. 
	Everything finds its place only as it relates to God’s own Son. He is the fulfillment of all that was in the heart of God when He first created and as He continues to create newness of life forevermore. As we are told by Jesus, Himself, Rev 22:13, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end." Everything began with Christ and will find its conclusion in Him. There is no other way of it because that is what was always in God’s own heart, from the beginning. So be it!
Gen. 1:1, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And Rev 22:21, The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.

	This morning’s benediction is Ps 71:17-19. O God, Thou hast taught me from my youth; And I still declare Thy wondrous deeds. And even when I am old and gray, O God, do not forsake me, Until I declare Thy strength to this generation, Thy power to all who are to come. For Thy righteousness, O God, reaches to the heavens, Thou who hast done great things; O God, who is like Thee? Amen.