The Road To Bethlehem: Jesus, Creator

As we begin the month of December and look forward to Christmas, I want to work our way through the Old Testament (with some journeys into the New Testament) and see what it has to say about Jesus. We'll be looking at prophecies about the coming Messiah that were fulfilled by Jesus as well as passages that - thanks to what we read in the New Testament - are about Jesus. Today, we'll begin at the beginning: Genesis 1.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:1

Now of course, we read that "God created," it doesn't say "Jesus created." Why is it that we can read this and think of Jesus?

¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²He was with God in the beginning. ³Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

John 1:1-3

• Here in John, "the Word" refers to Jesus. Thus, we could read this passage as:
1. In the beginning was Jesus, and Jesus was with God and Jesus was God.
2. Jesus was with God in the beginning.
3. Through Jesus all things were made, without Jesus nothing was made that has been made.
• Based on what we read in John, would you agree that Jesus was involved in Genesis 1:1?
• Though Jesus had not come into the world, the world was created through him. Let's read a little bit more in John 1.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

John 1:14a

• What is this verse talking about?
• Though Jesus was there in the beginning, he did not become flesh until that first Christmas!
• Now that we've seen Jesus in the very first verse in the Bible, we'll be looking out for him in other places in the Old Testament as we go through the month of December.