–  re’shiyth  (ray-sheeth’) the first, in place, time, order or rank (specifically, a firstfruit) — beginning, chief(-est), first(-fruits, part, time), principal thing.

The first word of the Bible starts with a letter “B” in Hebrew and followed by the word (ray-sheeth)  which means beginning, chief, principal thing. Hebrew language is read from right to left. The letter “B” pronounced “bet” is represented by a symbol enclosed on three sides with an opening to the left. A careful investigation at the way “BET” was written depicted a message that creation and all that was created is to the left of the “ ” symbol.  Anything to the right is inaccessible to human investigation.

Isaiah 40:22 It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.

To the right of “BET” there was nothing, no “space time” . As God stretch out the heavens or space ( cosmologists uses the term super inflation) simultaneously time began at His appointed beginning. God transcends time and space. In Him time and space is irrelevant. There is no beginning and no end in Him. When Moses asked of His name, He said “ I AM” which in Hebrew means “eternally self existed”. There is no sequence of past, present and future in Him.

2 Peter 3:8 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

4000 years after Moses wrote the Torah, Alexander the great summoned 70 of the finest Hebrew scholars to translate the OT to Greek. After a great deal of deliberation to convey the first word of Moses, they decided on the word

αρχη  – arche  ar-khay’:  beginning, corner, (at the, the) first (estate), magistrate, power, principality, principle, rule.

400 years later, Apostle John, inspired by the Holy Spirit took the Greek word “arche” translated by the 70 Hebrew scholars as the first word of his account of the gospel followed by the word “LOGOS” and then “THEO”. The concept he was communicating was “BEGINNING” “WORD” GOD”. Before we go any further we must bear in mind that John also wrote the book of “Revelation. In which he wrote

Revelation 1:8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

This brings us to wonder why God inspired Moses to start the first word in Scripture with a letter “B” in Hebrew and saying He is the “A or alpha in Greek – “the beginning”.  John understood it all. He inserted grammatical tenses in between “Beginning” “Word” and “God” to indicate the order of events. He wrote “in the beginning … WAS …” meaning before the beginning of all beginning, WORD already existed. There was no space-time when WORD was. The physical law that God placed into His creation that no two matters can occupy the same space was irrelevant. The NO SPACE picture is beyond any mind can grasp. LOGOS, THEO and the Spirit of God cannot be described as 3 or one. It is an unthinkable singularity. For the sake of communicating this mystery to our finite mind theologian used the word “triune”. Any explanation of TRINITY  on this side of existence will break down.  We can only received it by FAITH that LOGOS THEO … as what was written in Deuteronomy  ‘ The Lord is One”.Going back to the first word of Genesis –the first letter – why “B” and not “A” since God said I am the “alpha” the beginning? The old testament Hebrews knew God so well they dare not even mention the name of God. He is holy, holy holy, unsearchable, infinite …The first letter is too holy too majestic too great too infinite .. to utter. They all knew before “B” is God. And all creation is to the left of “B”. that God is totally transcendent.

WORD – anything we can think of , any existence, any event or time, anything at all is represented by word. Word is composed of symbol or alphabets. A letter – take “C” for example is meaningless. And so is “T”. but if you insert a letter “A” in between “C” and “T” now it gives a meaning. All existence that can be named lies within the combination of the alphabets a to z. God said I am the alpha and the omega … He is not only transcendent but also immanent. Not only He existed before “in the beginning”  He became flesh and dwell among us.

John 1:14 ¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Hebrews 1:1-3  God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, ² has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; ³ who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself^a] purged our^b] sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high

Not only is God transcendent, He is also immanent.

The Chinese culture is very close to Hebrew culture. There are many similarities in their practices. When the bible was translated into Chinese there was already a character available to convey the concept of “in the beginning”. In Genesis it uses the word 起初.

起 means rising , 初early, initial and in John 1:1 it uses the word “太初”

太 means extreme, supreme, primordial –初early, initial It denotes that the beginning in John is earlier than the “beginning” in Genesis. Before creation – God is.