From the beginning!
by Pastor Nathan Hedt
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That which was from the beginning, which we have heard … seen with our eyes … looked [and] … touched – this we proclaim concerning the word of life (1 John 1:1).
It’s New Year’s Eve. It’s the end of 2021, a year that has been one of ‘uninterrupted disruptions’, as I recently wrote in my journal. A year that when it began, I was hoping would turn out quite different from 2020. However, for us citizens of Melbourne, the year just past turned out to be more of the same: time-warping and somewhat traumatic COVID lockdowns.
It has sometimes been hard to hold on to hope this year. It has been difficult to remember that God is the Lord of all history, and he is working all things together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose.
The apostle John powerfully reminds us that the Word of Life, Jesus, was ‘from the beginning’. The words of 1 John 1, Genesis 1 and John 1 say, ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth’, ‘In the beginning was the Word’, and ‘That which was from the beginning’. This reminds us of the truth that the Word of God spoke the world into being. Whatever may be happening, Jesus – the incarnate, crucified, resurrected, ascended and exalted Word – is the one who gets the first and final word on how history turns out. Jesus speaks life where there is no life. He gives hope to the hopeless, forgiveness to the sinner, and healing to the broken.
Whatever you have been through in this last year, whatever you may be going through now, whatever situations may arise in 2022, Jesus is the Word of Life, who is, was and is to come. He holds the future, shapes the present and heals the past. On this New Year’s Eve and into the new year, you can trust in him, the Word of Life, from beginning to end.
Dear Jesus, you are the Word of Life who was from the beginning. You are the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. I commit to you this year that has been and the year that will come. Speak your word and bring life and light into my past, present and future. In your mighty and eternal name, I pray. Amen.
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