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BEFORE CREATION

Before considering various aspects of Creation, perhaps it would be instructive to mention briefly Who existed and what transpired before Genesis 1:1. Simply stated, all that existed “before” Creation was God (Ps. 90:1-2). In eternity, before time, only God could declare, “I Am.”

From the full Revelation, we know that the one God, the true and only God who inhabited eternity before time is Trinitarian: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Word, who was to assume flesh as the God-Man, existed; He was with God and He was God (Jo. 1:1). The Son was with the Father; He was loved by the Father and had a glory that in some way ceased, or perhaps better stated, was concealed or hidden, at the Incarnation. It was the glory that He prayed for the Father to renew so that His followers could see the glory that He and the Father shared before Creation (Jo. 17:5, 24). With the Father and the Son was the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead who had a significant part in Creation (Gen. 1:2; Ps. 104:30). The Trinity existed in holiness and harmony. There was eternal love and communication—before Creation there was Glory, unspeakable, indescribable Glory.

Also prior to the events of Creation, there was purpose, a purpose that was an element of God’s eternal omniscience. It was not a plan that was formulated at some point; that is, there was no sequential development of the plan, but one that was, or is, as everlasting as God is everlasting. At no instant did God’s purpose to create and His purpose in Creation not exist. God and His plan cannot be separated; essentially they are one and the same. It should be understood and emphasized that the “purposing” of God was not a point-in-time decision, or a point-in-eternity decision (really, an illogical phrase for you cannot use temporal terminology to speak of eternal reality), but actually was the timeless plan of God (see: God is Omniscient).

In addition to God’s everlasting plan of Creation and central to that plan was the Incarnation of the Son and the Redemption effected by the Son in time, giving reality to that which was the eternal thought of God. Before Genesis the Triune God existed, sharing glory, love, and communion, and the great acts of Incarnation and Redemption were in the thought of God (I Pet. 1:20). History is not the record of God’s reaction, but is simply the unfolding in time of His eternal purpose before time—before the appearance of sin, redemption was determined.

Involved in this plan were future believers, and the promises made to those believers. The believer was chosen by God to be before Him holy and blameless in Christ (Eph. 1:4); the believer was given grace (II Tim. 1:9), and also the hope of eternal life was promised to the elect (Tit. 1:2). All this is possible because of the sacrifice of Christ who “was foreordained before the foundation of the world” (I Pet. 1:20).



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