January 1, 2026, Day 1 – The Beginning of Everything

Genesis 1:1–2:17; Psalm 1;

Matthew 1

"Genesis 1," © by Terri L. Stricker - Original Oil on Canvas

Happy New Year!  Today we come to 2026 – a new year – and I want to wish you and your loved ones a whole year filled with new beginnings and God’s special blessings.  Like last year, we begin this new year with the books of Genesis, Psalms, and Matthew.  Genesis is actually God’s first book of revelation in which God discloses His truth about the beginning of everything.  Here we learn truths that we can learn nowhere else.  As our sovereign Creator, God stands absolutely outside of His creation – completely unlimited by the ordinary dimensions of our universe – time, space, and limited information.  These dimensions hold man – the creature – entirely under their authority, boundaries, and limitations, but such precincts place no restraints on God whatsoever.  Genesis reveals that God merely spoke everything into existence.  Here, God simply tells us truthfully, mercifully, and graciously what He did, but He does not tell us how He did it.  Nor is He obligated to tell us that.  Throughout the first six days, God applies the formula, “And God said,” to create, and then He evaluates His creative work with, “He saw that it was good, and there was evening and morning …” (cf., Genesis 1, ff.).  After creating man on the sixth day, God’s evaluation proclaimed that everything was “very good” (cf., Genesis 1:31).  On the seventh day, however, God did not apply this creative formula because “He had finished the work,” so He “rested,” blessed, and sanctified the seventh day as “holy” (2:1).  In this way, we see that God established an exemplary pattern by which He requires us to rest from our work – rest is good – and people need it.

Genesis 2 continues with a more detailed account of God’s creation: the man and woman, the Garden of Eden, the responsibility of working and caring for the garden, and the command that Adam should not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  This command established God’s truth about knowledge – not all sources of knowledge are authorized.  Before anything can be truly known and understood, it must first be believed. The most reliable Source for knowledge about anything is not a tree; not a book, not an encyclopedia, nor a teacher, nor a university.  It is God Himself.  Why?  Because He is the Creator of reality and the Author of truth.  God requires belief (i.e., faith; trust; etc.), which is His prerequisite for knowing – not only knowing the truth that God reveals, but also for knowing anything at all (cf., Hebrews 11:1-6).  Knowledge – and its proper source – continues to be a major problem for post-modern man today.

Psalm 1 tells us that the man who refrains from an association with "the wicked" (i.e., with sinners or mockers) is “blessed” (verse 1).  This man takes "delight in God’s laws, on which he meditates day and night." Such a man is like a well-watered tree yielding seasonal fruit and whose leaves do not wither – sharing nourishment and comfort with others who come into contact with him.  God enables him to prosper in all he does.  However, by contrast, the “wicked are like chaff” (verse 4).  They are rootless, unstable, easily led astray by other wicked men and sinners, and ultimately, they will “perish” (verse 6).  The man of God is able to “stand in the judgment” (verse 5) because “the LORD watches over him and his way” (verse 6).  God looks after His own – He does not make bad investments.

Matthew is the initial New Testament book that represents the beginning of the Age of Grace in God’s eternal plan.  In Matthew 1, we see God's gracious purposes begin to unfold in the genealogy of Jesus Christ as it goes back to Abraham.  Matthew’s gospel focuses on the Jewish nature of Jesus, and his purpose is to show Christ as the rightful, royal King of Israel and the Messiah for the Jews – relative to David and the ancient Hebrew patriarchs. Matthew gives us the birth of Christ as the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy (cf., Matthew 1:22; Isaiah 7:14; Isaiah 9).  Thus, with these readings today, we begin our 2026 daily pilgrimage through the Word of God.  May all our readings and reflections truly bless you throughout this new year!