Day 1 – Eternity Past

readings

• Genesis 1:1-5
• John 1:1-18
• Colossians 1:15-19

Prayer

Perhaps you could pray for the year ahead, the exciting things we’ll learn together, and for God’s help in making this an important and regular part of each day.

Day 1 – Eternity Past

God’s Eternal Plan from Before Time Began

Happy New Year!

Welcome to day 1 and the start of a wonderful new year’s resolution – to get into God’s Word daily. First things first – pray before you start each day’s readings. Each day I’ll give a short suggestion, but of course your prayer time can be used to say whatever is on your mind. My suggestions are on the left hand side over there (or at the top if you’re reading this on your mobile). When you’re done, read the three passages before you look over my notes below.

• Welcome to the very start of our exciting new bible reading plan. You are about to embark on a challenge that few other people manage, let alone at your age! But this is more than just a challenge, or an activity, or a new hobby. This is simply giving a structure to what is already a wonderful privilege – the chance to read God’s Word, given to us, in the Bible. It’s important you let that sink in. Today’s passages show God’s eternal nature in a striking way, but sometimes we’ll read passages which are much harder work! They are all, however, God’s Word. All Scripture is God-breathed, and is useful for teaching and learning.
• You may well know the words in these passages well. I wonder if you learned anything new by reading them together? If you can, grab another bible, and compare the Genesis and John passages side-by-side. What similarities can you find? Why did we read the passage in Colossians today, too?
• “In the beginning” is mentioned twice in today’s reading. What do we learn from each time it is mentioned? Who is “the Word”?
• One of the big questions about Creation that is debated by scientists and Christians alike is the age of the universe. A literal reading of the Bible would suggest it’s around 6,000 years old. Scientists say it’s billions and billions of years old! Some have tried to answer this by suggesting something called the “Gap Theory”, which says that there could be a gap of billions of years between the first and second verses of Genesis. This is not the place to debate that (although I would discourage such a view), but you might like to think about this subject and explore it further in your own time.
• This reading plan shows us God’s salvation plan throughout all of time. That’s the case even before sin comes to wreak havoc – something we’ll read about when we get to Genesis 3. Therefore it’s of no surprise that Jesus is in all three passages today. What does John say about Jesus? Was He created? Has Jesus ever not been part of the eternal Trinity? How was Jesus part of Creation?
• John 1 shows us creation (v1-4), the fall (v5) and redemption (v9-13). It’s a like a mini overview of what we’ll see as we read the whole Bible. Take a few moments to make sure you can see this for yourself. Isn’t it a beautiful passage? It’s one of my favourite ones, and you may remember that it was read at our Christmas Day service a week ago. Don’t stumble on the verses relating to John; major instead on the ones which point to Jesus. Even though His name is never mentioned here, they are all about Him!

Colossians is one of the most Christ-centred books in the entire Bible. Verses 15-19 almost read like a poem. What things does Paul, the human author, write about Jesus? Do you think it’s possible to be any grander? And yet, this “image of the invisible God”, this head of all rulers and authorities, this person in whom the “fullness of God was pleased to dwell”…. came to earth to live a servants life, and humbled himself to death upon a cross. “The world was made through Him, and yet the world did not know Him” – words we read in John today – hint at this too. I hope through this reading plan you’ll come to marvel at who Christ is, and yet what he has done, out of his great love and grace, for us.

Well done on completing your first day! Make sure your notes, if you’ve written any, will be helpful to you when you come to look at them in the future.