Let’s look at two “beginnings.” 

  1. Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
  2. John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

These two “beginnings” are not in reference to the same event.

  • Genesis 1:1 refers to the beginning of God’s creation of the heavens and the earth.
    • John 1:1 refers to the beginning of anything that ever had a beginning. 
  • Genesis 1:1 shows that God created the world.
    • John 1:1 shows that God has always existed even before there was anything created. 

Hebrews 1:10 is in reference to Genesis 1:1.  That says, “And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands.”

Psalm 90:2 brings out the truth of John 1:1. That says, “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.”  God is eternal.  No one else and nothing else is eternal.  Only God has always existed and will always exist.  Isaiah 57:15 shows us the God “inhabits eternity.”  He dwells outside of time, even as the creator of time, He often respects the limits of time, but He is outside time.

As to the beginning of time, the Bible mentions seven days of creation.  Part of God’s creation includes the gift of time.  While we believe that time began “in the beginning” as given in Genesis 1:1, it was on the fourth day that the Lord made the sun, moon, and stars which are used to measure time.  Genesis 1:14-19 tells us, “And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.” 

Time began at the exact point at which PHYSICAL MATTER and SPACE came into existence. The initial creative event is a simultaneous occurrence of both matter and time.  I believe we can realize from the Bible that time began in Genesis 1:1.  (CC)  (572.4)