In the Beginning
"Haven't you read... that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female'...?"
—Matthew 19:4–5, quoting Genesis 1:27 and 2:24
An ancient fig tree growing from colorful petrified wood with one ripe fig beneath a bright blue sky.
One day, some Pharisees came to Jesus with a question about marriage. It wasn't an honest search for wisdom. They were trying to draw Him into a debate that had divided religious teachers for years.
Jesus could have answered by choosing one side or the other.
Instead, He did something unexpected.
He took them back to the beginning.
“Haven't you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’?”
—Matthew 19:4–5, quoting Genesis 1:27 and Genesis 2:24
Whenever I read those words, I find myself asking another question.
Why did Jesus begin there?
He could have started with Moses and the Law. He could have quoted one of the prophets. Instead, He reached back to the very first pages of the Bible.
There must have been a reason.
This is where the story begins.
Genesis opens with a simple statement that has shaped every page of Scripture ever since.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” — Genesis 1:1 (NIV)
Before there were nations, kings, prophets, or even sin, there was God.
The Bible does not begin by trying to prove that God exists. It simply introduces Him as the Creator of everything that is.
The sun, the stars, the oceans, the mountains, every living creature, and every person owe their existence to Him.
Jesus believed that.
In fact, when He spoke about creation, He never treated Genesis as a legend or a poem meant only to inspire us. He spoke about Adam and Eve as real people and about the beginning as real history.
That tells us something important.
If Jesus trusted the opening pages of Genesis, perhaps we should take another look at them ourselves.
Genesis tells us that after each act of creation, God looked at what He had made and declared it good.
Then something remarkable happened.
God created men and women in His own image.
That doesn't mean we look like God physically. Rather, we were created to reflect something of His character. We can love. We can create. We can choose. We can care for one another. We can enjoy a relationship with the One who made us.
From the very beginning, the Father's desire was not simply to create people.
It was to have a family.
When Jesus taught His disciples to pray, He did not begin with a title like "Almighty Creator," although that would have been true.
He taught them to begin with a relationship.
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name…” — Matthew 6:9 (NIV)
Jesus often used the intimate expression Abba, a family word expressing trust and closeness. Again and again, He directed people's hearts toward His Father. That invitation did not begin in the New Testament. Its roots reach all the way back to Genesis, where humanity first walked with God in the garden.
Sometimes we picture the Garden of Eden as little more than the setting for humanity's first mistake. Yet before sin entered the story, it was something much more beautiful. It was home. Adam and Eve lived in God's presence without fear, shame, or guilt. They did not hide from Him or wonder whether He loved them. They knew the One who had given them life, and everything was exactly as it should be.
That world did not last. A serpent entered the garden and questioned God's goodness. Instead of trusting Him, Adam and Eve chose their own way. Sin entered the world, relationships were broken, fear replaced peace, and shame took the place of innocence. The first couple who had once walked openly with God suddenly found themselves hiding among the trees.
I have to admit that I sometimes smile when I read that part of Genesis. Not because their disobedience was amusing—it was heartbreaking—but because they tried to hide from the God who had created the heavens and the earth. Have you ever noticed that? It reminds me of a small child hiding behind a curtain while their feet are still sticking out underneath. The child is convinced no one can see them, while the loving parent quietly waits for them to peek out.
Then comes one of the most tender questions in all of Scripture.
"Where are you?" —Genesis 3:9
Of course, God already knew where Adam and Eve were. The question was never for His benefit. It was an invitation to step out of hiding, to come back into conversation, and to face what had happened. Even after humanity's first act of rebellion, God's heart was still reaching toward His children. As we continue through the Gospels, we'll discover that this same invitation echoes throughout Jesus' ministry. Again and again, He came to seek those who were hiding—from sin, from shame, and from the God who loved them.
Jesus understood that better than anyone.
Throughout His ministry, He revealed a Father who continues to seek those who are lost. Whether He spoke about a wandering sheep, a lost coin, or a son returning home, His stories reflected the same loving heart we first glimpse in the garden.
Before the chapter closes, God makes a promise.
The promise is brief, and at first it almost seems easy to miss.
Speaking to the serpent, God said:
“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
— Genesis 3:15 (NIV)
Christians have long understood these words as God's first promise that evil would not triumph forever. One day, a descendant of the woman would defeat the serpent, though the victory would come through suffering.
Jesus knew where that promise was leading.
Although He never quoted Genesis 3:15 directly, His entire mission fulfilled the hope first spoken in the garden. What began as a promise became reality through His life, His sacrifice, and His resurrection.
Before we leave Genesis, it is worth noticing how often Jesus returned to its pages. Again and again, when people asked difficult questions, He led them back to the beginning. When they questioned God's design for marriage, He pointed them to Adam and Eve. When He warned about His return, He reminded His listeners of Noah, saying,
"As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man."
—Matthew 24:37–39, referring to Genesis 6–9
When He spoke about those who rejected God's messengers, He reached all the way back to the first murder recorded in Scripture.
"...from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah..."
—Matthew 23:35, referring to Genesis 4:8
Even when the Sadducees challenged Him about the resurrection, Jesus brought the conversation back to the men we first met in Genesis. Quoting God's words to Moses from the burning bush, He reminded them,
"I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."
Then Jesus explained,
"He is not the God of the dead but of the living."
—Matthew 22:31–32, quoting Exodus 3:6 and referring to the patriarchs in Genesis
I love to sit back and watch what Jesus was doing here.. He wasn't simply repeating familiar verses or recalling interesting stories. He was opening the Scriptures to reveal the Father's heart. In Genesis, He found God's design for marriage, the reality of judgment, the hope of resurrection, and the Father's covenant faithfulness. The book was never merely an account of how the world began. It was the opening chapter of God's plan to redeem the world He loved.
That is why Jesus returned to Genesis so often. He saw in its pages the foundation for everything that would follow. It tells us who God is, why we were created, how sin entered the world, and why humanity so desperately needed a Savior. Even in the earliest chapters, the Father's plan to restore what had been lost had already begun to unfold.
As we continue our journey, we'll discover that this promise echoes throughout the Scriptures Jesus taught. Genesis is only the beginning.
