Simply stated, the name Jehovah means ‘the self existent one’. This title conveys that God was, is, and always will be. The rich meaning of this name is perhaps why Isaiah called God ‘the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity’ (Isaiah 57:15). Since God has eternal existence, it follows that He is without a beginning. Interestingly, however, Proverbs 8:22 declares that the LORD’s way did have a beginning:
The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. Proverbs 8:22
But what event marked the beginning of the LORD’s way? Wisdom makes it clear that Jehovah’s way did not begin with ‘his works of old’ (the creation of our world). This is supported by the fact that heavenly angels were in attendance at the laying of ‘the foundations of the earth’, at which they ‘shouted for joy’ (Job 38:4, 7). Since the angels were created by God prior to our world, the Genesis account cannot be regarded as the beginning of the LORD’s way. Yet as Proverbs 8 continues, Wisdom conveys details that help us ascertain what did begin the LORD’s way:
I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. Proverbs 8:23
In this verse, the beginning of His way is paralleled with Wisdom’s being ‘set up’, which means ‘anointed’. It is clear from this that we not merely reading about wisdom as a virtue. Wisdom here is a title for ‘Christ…the wisdom of God’ – the King whom Jehovah anointed ‘upon [His] holy hill of Zion’ (1 Corinthians 1:24, Psalm 2:6). It was Jesus who was anointed ‘in the beginning of [Jehovah’s] way’. Wisdom reveals more about the LORD’s beginning as He proceeds:
When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Proverbs 8:24
The depths here referred to are the waters of Genesis 1:1-2, when ‘darkness was upon the face of the deep’. In the days of eternity, long before the creation of those dark watery depths, Jesus tells us, ‘I was brought forth’. This term means exactly what it sounds like – to be born. What more glorious event could mark the beginning of the LORD’s way than the moment Jesus was begotten in eternity past? In this beginning of all beginnings, Jehovah became the Father, and Jesus became His only begotten Son. Although the LORD evidently existed alone prior to this, He did not commence His way until He had His Son. Indeed, ‘God…created all things by Jesus Christ’ (Ephesians 3:9).
In summary, the beginning of Jesus is the event that marked the beginning of the LORD’s way. This is repeatedly established to have happened before the Genesis creation, which Wisdom terms ‘his works of old’. The repeated parallels found in Proverbs 8 testify that those works include ‘the depths’. So while the primordial waters are not specifically mentioned in Genesis 1:1, the fact that they are grouped together with ‘his works of old’ proves that the waters do not predate the first verse of the Bible. And thus, it can truly be said that ‘in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is’ (Exodus 20:11).
Consider the following table which helps to highlight the striking parallelism found in Proverbs 8.
So dear and significant to God is the event that began His way, that in John 16, Jesus makes the following declaration:
For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. John 16:27
What a wonderful thought! The Father cherishes our belief in the glorious truth that Jesus ‘came out from God’ ‘in the beginning of his way’.
Christopher Sparks