Creation was complete—perfect even. But it was about to unravel. But then again, what was finished was really only beginning, and what God begins, He finishes.

Have I confused you? I almost confused myself.

Let me start over from the beginning. In Genesis, God created the world. On the seventh day He rested because His work of Creation was complete (Genesis 2:1-3), and He called it good.

God never looked at anything He made and said, “Oops.”

And yet, it was about to go very wrong at the foot of a tree.

Fast forward across time several thousand years to Calvary, at the foot of another tree, the cross.

As Jesus Christ hung there, nails through His hands and feet, darkness covered the earth for three hours. All that had gone wrong at the tree in Genesis 3 was being restored, as all that was wrong was being poured out onto Him on the cross.

The weight of our guilt and shame crushed in on Jesus (Hebrews 12:2). 

Then, knowing all things had already been accomplished…He said, “It is finished!” He bowed His head and gave up His Spirit (John 19:30). 

Christ’s work of redemption was complete (John 17:4), and it was good—very good—perfect even.

What God completed in the work of Creation wasn’t His finished Masterpiece. It was His perfectly prepared canvas on which the flawless work of Christ was only beginning in Genesis and would be finished on the cross.

What God begins, He finishes!

What had looked like a disaster—everything gone wrong—was part of His plan from the beginning to be accomplished at the appointed time.

But how could part of God’s plan include His perfect Creation unraveling?

God created man in His own image with the ability to reason and rule, and placed him over all His Creation. (Genesis 1:26)

With this right to rule God’s Creation, man was easily tempted by Satan to reason that he had the right to rule himself as well.

Man was made in the image of God. He was not God himself, but the desire to be God was there. Given the chance, he took it, and then discovered he’d swallowed a lie.

Years ago, when I taught my children to draw, one of the biggest challenges I faced was their despair over a blob of paint inadvertently falling into the middle of their canvas. They wanted to give up and throw it away. I taught them, you can’t undo it, but you can work with it.

They learned to use that blob of paint to their advantage and simply redesign their original plan into one that included a big blob of paint right there. Maybe a flower would be perfect right there!

At the foot of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, God’s masterpiece of Creation got a big blob of black paint splattered on it (Genesis 3:6), but God didn’t have to redesign. His design was perfect from the beginning.

God had already taken into account man’s reasoning, which would lead to man’s rebellion. It was simply the next stroke on God’s masterpiece.

At the foot of the cross, Christ’s mother and His disciple John stood in despair. Everything was going wrong, or so it seemed. Darkness covered everything for three hours—surely God was agreeing with them. (Matthew 27:45)

The darkest hour of mankind threatened to crush them. But then Jesus cried out, “It is Finished!” and He bowed His head, and gave up His Spirit. (John 19:30)

Nothing had gone wrong at the cross. It was all part of God’s perfect design to redeem man and restore him back to the Father from whom he’d rebelled.

The darkest hour of mankind had ushered in the greatest joy man can know—

Salvation from sin and restoration to the Father through Jesus Christ.

What God began at Creation, He finished—the canvas was prepared for Christ.

What Christ began at His birth, He finished on the cross—eternal life was prepared for man.

God always finishes what He begins. It’s His work. He will do it. He must.

What He has begun in you, He will finish. 

What God has begun in your child, He will finish.

God’s beginning of anything is His promise to finish it.

Don’t look at the black blobs of paint flying onto the canvas of your life and think for one second that everything has gone terribly wrong.

God has not abandoned you or His plan, and He’s not scrambling to redesign.

Every blob of black paint is a necessary part of the masterpiece.

Don’t despair.

Don’t throw the work away before it’s completed.

Look to the Finished Work on the cross, bow your head, and entrust yourself to the Master.

His Work is flawless, and He always finishes what He begins.

 It is Finished!

Click on the link below to view stunning videos of the Jesus Painter at work. He has many amazing paintings you’ll want to watch him create.

 

The Jesus Painter

 

Christ’s Eyes