In the Beginning: An Opening Witness of the Messiah in Genesis

"Then said they unto him, Who art thou? And Jesus saith unto them, Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning."

John 8:25 (emphasis added)

It's fitting that in the beginning of the biblical record, God couches a wonderful series of witnesses of His Son within the opening Hebrew phrase בְּרֵאשִׁית (beh-reh-SHEET), commonly translated into English as "In the beginning." Looking at the word's structure unlocks several of these testimonial elements as well as presenting a few Hebrew language examples of inclusio, a literary bracketing device, that witness to Christ being the First and the Last, the Creator and End of Times Sealer. 

Before analyzing the phrase, I need to disclose that there's nothing new that I'm bringing to the "theolingual" table except my own personal perspectives coupled with tying in a few scriptural references that support the doctrinal links between the language used in the initial Old Testament phrase and several of Christ's divine roles. 

To discover how the opening phrase references Christ, especially His capacity as Creator, it's necessary to break it down to into various consonant-based sub-words. The entire phrase, בראשית, means "in the first place" or "at inception". But progressively moving the consonant component groupings in order from right to left, since Hebrew is read in that direction, within this phrase yields the following sub-grouped words: 

1) בר (bahr) = son

2) ברא (bah-RAH) =  (verb) formed or shaped

3) ראש (rosh) = start, head, top, summit, God

4) אש (esh) = fire 

5) ת (the final letter of the Hebrew alphabet, tav) = life, sign, signature, seal of authority, seal of completion  

It's entirely fitting that the first consonant grouping within בראשית begins with the בר (bet-resh) combination, which means "son". That cluster is followed by the three consonant grouping that signifies the past tense verb "formed or organized", ברא (bah-RAH). The word bah-RAH is repeated as the second word in the biblical record. In the literal Hebrew word order, the opening verse reads, "In the beginning formed God the heavens and the earth." Next in order comes the word ראש (rosh), a logical follow-up since two of its key meanings are "start" and "God". 

The final two consonant signifiers, אש (esh) and ת (tav), introduce the poetic element of inclusio and again point the reader to Christ as the Creator and Sealer, harmonizing the Old Testament (Talmud) record with John's similar New Testament witness: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same (i.e., the Word) was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him..." (John 1:1-3. Also see Mosiah 3:8, The Book of Mormon) The first inclusio frontend and backend bracketing of theological teachings occurs with the constructive beginning in fire (esh) as the Earth was formed, then culminates in destructive renewal as the Earth is cleansed with fire sometime after the Lord's return. (See 2 Peter 3:12, 13) The second inclusio bookend reference is the letter ת (tav), which seals or closes the phrase בראשית. The bracketing begins with the Son (בר) and also closes the phrase with Him and His sealing or conclusion of the creative work of forming the heavens and the earth. Interestingly, the Early (Paleo) Hebrew pictograph for the letter tav was the crossed sticks/branches, or cross. So references pointing to the Son of God literally begin and end the first word of the Old Testament. 

The same can be said of the Bible itself since it begins by identifying the Lord, who began it all, with בְּרֵאשִׁית (beh-reh-SHEET) and then ends the record with the word amen (Revelation 22:21), which is an alternate name for Christ. 

"These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God."  Revelation 3:14

One of the most enlightening doctrinal messages captured in the the grammatical structure of בְּרֵאשִׁית (beh-reh-SHEET) is that the Lord's creative works continue. In Hebrew scholar Reb Jeff's blog post titled Bereshit: In the Beginning of What? (blog link), the author points out that the grammatical structure of the Hebrew phrase implies that "In the beginning..." was simply a beginning that was begun before at other times, making it part of a regular cycle. The doctrinal message implied by this grammatical complexity dovetails with several scriptural references to God's creative work never ending. (See Moses 7:30, Pearl of Great Price, and Doctrine and Covenants 76:24)