The Gospel of John opens with words that echo across time: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1, NKJV).
When I read those words, I immediately hear Genesis. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1). John isn't starting somewhere new. He's taking us back to the very beginning and showing us something we missed the first time through.
The Word Was There
Genesis tells us *what* happened. John tells us *who* made it happen.
Every time God spoke in Genesis 1 — "Let there be light," "Let the waters be gathered," "Let the earth bring forth" — that was Jesus. The Word. Speaking creation into existence.
John makes it clear: "All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made" (John 1:3). When God said, "Let Us make man in Our image" (Genesis 1:26), Jesus was standing right there. The Word was with God, and the Word *was* God.
I've spent most of the last 40 years studying Scripture, and this truth never gets old. Jesus didn't show up in Bethlehem. He was there before time began, creating everything we see.
Life and Light
In Genesis 1:3, God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. The first thing spoken into existence. Light before the sun. Light that came from God Himself.
John picks up that thread: "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men" (John 1:4). The light that pierced the darkness in Genesis wasn't just physical light. It was Jesus — the Light of the world, the Life of all creation.
The darkness in Genesis 1:2 didn't comprehend that light. The darkness in our world today still doesn't. "And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it" (John 1:5). Same light. Same darkness. Same inability to overcome it.
The New Creation
Here's what struck me as I read Genesis again through John's eyes: Jesus came to do what Adam could not.
Adam was created in God's image, given dominion, placed in a perfect garden. And Adam fell. Sin entered. Death entered. Everything broke.
But John tells us that as many as received Jesus, "to them He gave the right to become children of God" (John 1:12). A new birth. A new creation. Not born of flesh this time, but "born of God" (John 1:13).
Jesus is the second Adam, come to restore what the first Adam lost. He spoke creation into being in Genesis. He speaks new life into us today.
Let There Be Light — Again
When John says, "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14), he's telling us that the Creator stepped into His creation. The One who said, "Let there be light" became the Light. The One who formed Adam from dust became the Son of Man.
And just like in Genesis, when God spoke, things changed. When Jesus speaks into your life, darkness cannot stand. Death cannot hold. The same power that called the universe into existence calls you by name.
I encourage you to read Genesis 1 again, slowly. Then turn to John 1. Let the words sit together in your heart. The God who created everything is the same God who became flesh to save you.
The Word is still speaking. Are you listening?
Genesis 1:1, 1:3, 1:26; John 1:1, 1:3, 1:4, 1:5, 1:12, 1:13, 1:14 — NKJV