GOD'S PLAN
Why Did God Create the Universe?
The thoughts of God are well beyond our capability to understand. Isaiah 55:8-9 (KJV) sums it up nicely. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Humanity cannot fully comprehend the mind of God, but we can interpret His Word to generally understand the reasoning for His works.
Psalms 19:1 (KJV) says, “… The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.” This speaks to the creation of the heavens, or universe itself. The grand creation of all of the galaxies and nebulas, spread throughout all that exists, was made to show God’s glory.
It is important to understand the timing or order of creation to grasp what is really going on in Genesis 1. On Day 1 God created the heaven (singular) and the earth. Genesis 1:1-5 (KJV) “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.”
Notice that heaven and earth were created first and were formless. Then God created light and dived it to make day and night. Pay close attention here. God hasn’t yet created the sun or the moon!
On Day 2 God creates the firmament and separates it from the waters (formless earth). Genesis 1:7 (KJV) “And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.” God called the firmament heaven. This is the sky above us in our atmosphere.
On Day 3 (Genesis 1:9-13) God creates the land and covers it with vegetation.
For the purposes of this discussion, Day 4 is the critical component from a timing perspective. On Day 4 (Genesis 1:14-19) God created the lights in the heaven, with two great lights, the sun and the moon. In this act He also created all of the other lights, or the rest of the Universe! Genesis 1:14 (KJV) says, “And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years.”
God started with the earth, then made the atmosphere above us and then the rest of the universe.
A key concept of biblical interpretation is to use the whole collection of the Bible to interpret itself. Genesis is the foundation of most biblical concepts, and that certainly applies to creation. Think of Genesis as the stating book end. Revelation is the closing book end. In Revelation we see that the universe as we know it is replaced by a new heaven and new earth. Revelation 21:1 says, “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.”. The Greek word used here and the Hebrew word used in Genesis for “heaven” both mean the universe. The Strong’s definition for the Greek reads “the vaulted expanse of the sky with all things visible in it”, the universe, the world. The Strong’s definition for the Hebrew word for ”heaven” is “visible heavens, sky; as abode of the stars; as the visible universe, the sky, atmosphere, etc.”
God created the rest of the universe for the purpose of providing signs, seasons, days and years. God also did this to show His glory!
On Day 5 God created the animals of the sea and the birds of the air (Genesis 1:20-23).
On Day 6 God creates the animals of the land first and then finally, man. In Genesis 1:26 (KJV), it says, “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”
Here God indicates He made man in His own “image”. The Hebrew word for image is “selem”. It means a likeness, resemblance, or a shadow of. The Hebrew word for likeness is “demut”. It means manner of or similitude. We know from scripture that God is a trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The image of man is Mind, Body and Soul, also a trinity. God said He gave man authority over all the animals. This is very much the likeness of God. God created the world and us and set us to rule over the animals in the world, as God rules over us. The likeness of God is referring to the characteristics or manner of behavior of God.
In Genesis 1:28 (KJV), it was said, “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” God wanted Adam and Eve to populate the world and rule over it.
In Genesis 2:15 (KJV), “And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.” God gave us specific work to do.
In Genesis 3:3 (KJV) it is said, “But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.” Here humanity is being given free will. This makes sense given God’s desire for us to be in his image and likeness. God has free will and so do we. Please see the lesson on Free Will and Sin for an in-depth analysis of this very interesting topic. It covers why we have free will and why there is sin in this world.
Skipping forward to the Book of John, one of the most famous scriptures in the Bible fits in nicely with why we are here. In John 3:16 (KJV), it says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” The key point to this passage is the word “love”. God loved the world. God loved us so much that He sacrificed His only Son, the physical manifestation of God, Jesus Christ, so that those who believe could be saved from eternal damnation and have everlasting life. This verse is primarily about salvation, but it is the reason behind it that fits here. Love is the reason we are here. God wants us to have everlasting life with Him because He loves us. That means God wants a relationship with each of us.
The Big Picture of This World
Imagine it this way. God is the eternal energy, infinite intelligence, creator of all. God decides that He wants to create a new way of being. God creates the physical universe. God creates the world and everything in it for us to rule over. God creates us in His own image, with free will so that we can demonstrate true love in choosing to be in a relationship with God. God creates the rest of the universe to show us his glory and grandeur and to give us signs and seasons.
Think of God as the great painter creating a living canvas. God creates us as animated beings who can choose Him or not and asks us to love Him and promises He will care for us if we do. God is making the greatest painting in existence. It is an artwork that He loves and can love Him in return. That is a good way to summarize the reason for creation. It is beautiful and shows His glory. Most importantly, it Gives God something He otherwise does not have, physical beings that can be in a loving relationship with Him and willingly choose to walk with Him.
For those who claim that God is the universe, or worse, you are the universe, that is like saying the painting is the painter! Hardly. God is so far above and beyond our universe, it is not even imaginable that the painting can be the painter. Even more so that you, an extremely small speck of paint on the canvas are the universe! Not even close.
Why Two Worlds?
As mentioned earlier, in Revelation 21:1 we see that this world will pass away and be replaced by a new heaven and a new earth. Why?
The scripture tells us that God knows all things and knows the end from the beginning. In Isaiah 46:10, it is said, “Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.” God already knew before creation began what was going to happen. God knew that by giving humanity free will, we would choose sin. To learn more about the reasons why, see the lesson on Free Will and Sin. God planned from the start to give humanity the opportunity to live in perfection with Him and when we screw it up, His plan was to then give humanity a course in choosing God and righteous living. At the end of the school, those who choose God will be separated from those who do not and then we will be restored to the state of perfection in a new world.
Why not just fix the world we are in? Because it had been corrupted by sin. God cannot tolerate sin of any kind. Although we can be forgiven our sins by accepting Jesus Christ as our savior, the physical earth we live on has no such redemptive capability. Hence it is completely replaced with a new earth; a second earth. The number two (or second) will be a theme that repeats throughout the study of God’s plan.
