To understand--to comprehend the whole picture in the order of time sequence--we must now go all the way back into prehistory. That missing dimension in knowledge, too, is revealed in the Word of God--God's message and revelation of knowledge to mankind.
Did you ever start viewing a motion picture when it was more than half way through? You probably were bewildered--not having seen what occurred before and led up to the point where you first began to see. It's the same in coming to an UNDERSTANDING of what God has prepared for humanity--of the ultimate human potential.
True understanding can come only by beginning the story at the beginning!
If one should ask, where do you find the actual beginning of events in the Bible, most who possess even a slight knowledge of the world's "best seller" would say, "Why in Genesis chapter one, verse one, of course."
WRONG!
The real beginning, in order of time sequence, is found in the New Testament, in the first chapter of John, verse one. The events portrayed in Genesis occurred later--possibly even millions of years later. But the event recorded in John 1:1 reveals an existence perhaps long prior to the time God created the earth and the material universe. Note it: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God." It continues, "The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made."
The term "all things" is translated in Hebrews 1:3, in the Moffatt translation, as "the UNIVERSE" The entire UNIVERSE was made by HIM! The fourteenth verse of John 1 says: "And the Word was made 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."
The Personage called the Word was the one who ultimately--yet more than 1,900 years ago--was born Jesus Christ. The name, "the Word," is translated from the original Creek text, and means, literally, just what is translated into English--"Spokesman." But He was not the Son of God "in the beginning." Yet the Scriptures reveal that He has always existed, and always will--"from eternity to eternity." He was "without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life..." (Heb. 7:3).
So think on this, if you will!
Originally there existed only these two Spirit Personages, self-existent. They had creative powers--they had perfect supreme minds--they possessed perfect, holy and righteous CHARACTER. But THERE WAS NONE ELSE--NOTHING ELSE! There was no matter--no material universe--YET! No other living being or thing.
Only these two, equal in mind and powers, except that God was supreme in authority, and the Word in perfect harmony under that authority. They were of one mind, in absolute agreement. But ALL THINGS--the universe and everything existing in it--were made by the Personage called the Word. Yet, as we read in Ephesians 3:9: "God ...created ALL THINGS by Jesus Christ." And prior to becoming Jesus Christ, He was "the Word!" Also, in His human life Jesus said He spoke only as the Father directed.
Yes, THINK!
In the eternity even prior to "prehistory" there were these two Supreme Beings. Alone! No other life forms--no other living beings! Nothing else! But they possessed MINDS of supreme capacity. And, much, much later, they created humans after their own likeness and image. They endowed MAN with the power of MIND. It seems obvious that human minds were made to function in the same manner as the Creator's, although in an inferior way.
But how do we humans use our minds? We are endowed with something akin to creative powers. Man produces buildings out of existing materials. Man has produced intricate machines. But how? Man thinks it out--makes plans--before the actual making. How much must the Great God and the Word have thought out, planned, and designed in their minds, before the actual Creation?
They did not create matter first. The laws and facts of radioactivity tell us with certainty that there was a time when such matter did not exist. God through the Word first designed and created SPIRIT BEINGS--angels, each individually created--millions or perhaps even billions of them! They were composed wholly of Spirit. They were given self-containing life--life inherent--immortality. But also God created within them MINDS--with power to think, to reason, to make choices and decisions!
THE SUPREME CREATIVE ACCOMPLISHMENT
But there was one super-important quality that even God's creative powers could not create instantly by fiat--the same perfect, holy, righteous CHARACTER inherent in both God and the Word! This kind of character must be DEVELOPED, by the CHOICE and the INTENT of the one in whom it comes to exist.
So mark well that perfect, holy and righteous character is the supreme feat of accomplishment possible for Almighty God the Creator--it is also the means to His ultimate supreme PURPOSE! His final objective!
But How?
Such perfect character must be developed. It requires the free choice and decision of the separate entity in whom it is to be created. But, further, even then it must be instilled by and from the Holy God who, only, has such righteous character to endow. Perfect, holy and righteous character is the ability in such separate entity to come to discern the true and right way from the false, to make voluntarily a full and unconditional surrender to God and His perfect way--to yield to be conquered by God--to determine even against temptation or self-desire, to live and to do the right. And even then such holy character is the gift of God. It comes by yielding to God to instill HIS LAW (God's right way of life) within the entity who so decides and wills.
Actually, this perfect character comes only from God, as instilled within the entity of His creation, upon voluntary acquiescence, even after severe trial and test. Now as to the angels: God 1) created them with minds capable of thinking, reasoning, making choices and decisions with self-will, and, 2) revealed plainly to them HIS TRUE AND RIGHTEOUS WAY. But God of necessity allowed them free moral agency in accepting God's right way, or turning to contrary ways of their own devising.
What was God's ULTIMATE OBJECTIVE for the angels? Beyond question it is that which, now, because of angelic rebellion, has become the transcendent potential of humans! As the testing ground, and opportunity for positive and active creative accomplishment, God created--brought into existence--the entire vast material universe. God now created not only matter, but with and in it energy and such laws as man has discovered in the fields of physics and chemistry. God formed matter to be present in both the organic and the inorganic states.
And so we come now to that which is revealed in Genesis 1:1: "In the beginning [of the physical universe] God created the heavens and the earth." The word "heaven" appears in the singular. But this originally was written by Moses in Hebrew. And in the Hebrew the word is in the plural--"heavens"--thus including not only our earth, but the entire material UNIVERSE.
It is therefore indicated that at that time--after the creation of angels--the entire universe was brought into existence at the same time as the creation of our earth.
THE PERFECT CREATION
The original Hebrew words (the words originally written by Moses) imply a perfect creation. God reveals Himself as Creator of perfection, light, and beauty. Every reference in the Bible describes the condition of any completed phase of God's creation as "very good"--perfect .
This first verse of the Bible actually speaks of the original PHYSICAL creation in its entirety--the universe--including the earth, perhaps millions of years ago as a perfect creation, beautiful and perfect as far as its creation was a finished, completed work. God is a perfectionist!
In Job 38:4, 7, God is speaking specifically of the creation of this earth. He said all the angels (created "sons of God") shouted for joy at the creation of the earth. This reveals that angels were created before the creation of the earth--and probably before the material universe. The suns, planets, and astral bodies are material substance. Angels are individually created Spirit beings, composed solely of Spirit. It will come as a surprise to many to learn that angels inhabited this earth BEFORE the creation of man. This passage from Job implies it.
ANGELS ON EARTH SINNED
Other passages place angels on earth prior to man. Notice 11 Peter 2:4-6. First in time order were "angels that sinned." Next in time sequence, the antediluvian world beginning with Adam, carrying through to the Flood. After that, Sodom and Gomorrah.
This Book of books, containing the revealed knowledge of the Creator God, tells us that God created angels as composed of Spirit. But can you imagine angels becoming sinning angels? Angels were created with power of thought, of decision and of choice, else they have no individuality or character. Since sin is the transgression of God's law, these angels rebelled against God's law, the basis of God's government.
Notice carefully what is revealed in 11 Peter 2:4-5: "For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; and spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly."
These verses show that universal sin brings universal destruction to the physical earth. The antediluvian sin, culminating with the Flood, was worldwide, universal sin. Notice: "...the earth was filled with violence... for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth... for the earth is filled with violence..." (Gen. 6:11-13). "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.... Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God" (verses 8-9). All flesh had sinned--over the whole earth. But only Noah "walked with God." So, the Flood destroyed the surface of the whole earth--all but Noah and his family.
The sins of Sodom and Gomorrah spread over the territory of those two cities. And physical destruction came to their entire area. The sin of the angels was worldwide; the destruction of the physical earth was worldwide.
The verses quoted above place the sinning of the angels prior to the antediluvian sins that started with Adam, prior to the creation of man. And that should be a surprise revealing of one phase of the missing dimension in knowledge! Angels inhabited this earth before the creation of man. And the government of God was administered on earth until the rebellion of the sinning angels.
How long these angels inhabited the earth before the creation of man is not revealed. It might have been millions or even billions--of years. But these angels sinned. Sin is the transgression of God's law (I John 3:4). And God's law is the basis of God's government. So we know these angels, apparently a third of all the angels (Rev. 12:4), sinned--rebelled against the government of God. And sin carries penalties. The penalty for the sin of the angels is not death, as it is for man. Angels are immortal Spirit beings and cannot die. These Spirit beings had been given dominion over the PHYSICAL EARTH as a possession and an abode.
The universal, worldwide sin of the angels resulted in the physical destruction of the face of the earth. God is Creator. God is also ruler over His creation. He preserves what He creates by His government. What God creates, He has created for a purpose--to be used, preserved, and maintained. And this use is regulated by God's government. When the angels rebelled against God's government, the preservation of the physical earth and all its original beauty and glory ceased--and physical destruction to the surface of the earth resulted!
God is Creator, Preserver, and Ruler.
Satan is Destroyer!
So, now, we read in Jude 6-7: "And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire."
Now back to Genesis 1:1-2. Verse 1 implies a perfect creation. God Is the author of life, of beauty, of perfection. Satan has brought only darkness, ugliness, imperfection, violence. Verse 1 shows the creation of a perfect earth, glorious and beautiful. Verse 2 reveals the result of the sin of the angels.
"And the earth was [became] without form, and void." The words "without form and void" are translated from the Hebrew tohu and bohu A better translation is "waste and empty" or "chaotic and in confusion." The Hebrew verb translated "was" is on occasion translated "became," as in Genesis 19:26. In other words, the earth, originally created perfect and beautiful, had now become chaotic, waste, and empty, like our moon, except its surface was covered with water.
David was inspired to reveal how God renewed the face of the earth: "Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth" (Ps. 104:30). Now another surprise for most readers. Here is another bit of the missing dimension in knowledge, actually revealed in the Bible, but unrecognized by religion, by science, and by higher education.
From verse 2 of Genesis 1 on, the remainder of this first chapter of the Bible is not describing the original creation of the earth. But it is describing a renewing of the face of the earth, after it had become waste and empty as a result of the sin of the angels. What is described from verse 2 on, in the supposed "Creation chapter" of the Bible, did occur, according to the Bible, approximately 6,000 years ago!
The earth had become waste and empty. God did not create it waste and empty, or in confusion. God is not the author of confusion (I Cor. 14:33). This same Hebrew word--tohu--meaning waste and empty, was inspired in Isaiah 45:18, where it is translated "in vain."
Using the original Hebrew word, as originally inspired, it reads: "For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain [tohu], he formed it to be inhabited."
Continue now with the remainder of verse 2 (Gen. 1): "And darkness was upon the face of the deep [the ocean or fluid surface of the earth]. 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" (verses 2-4).
Satan is the author of darkness.
The rebellion of the angles had caused the darkness. God is the author of light and truth. Light displays and enhances beauty, and also exposes evil. Darkness hides both. The verses which follows in this first chapter of the Bible describe the renewing of the face of the earth, yielding beautiful lawns, trees, shrubs, flowers, vegetation--then the creation of fish and fowl, animal life, and finally man.
THE GREAT LUCIFER
But first, before coming to man, we need to fill in the prehistory portion. How did this sin of the angels come to take place? How did it start? Remember, God the Creator preserves, improves and enhances what He creates by His government. What He creates is created to be used. This earth was to be inhabited and used by angels, originally.
When God placed angels--apparently a third of all (Rev. 12:4) on the newly created, perfect, beautiful and glorious earth, He set over them, on a throne, to administer the government of God, an archangel--the great cherub Lucifer. There were only two other beings of this extremely high rank of cherub, Michael and Gabriel.
So far as is revealed, these are the supreme pinnacle of Spirit-composed beings within God's power to create. This Lucifer was a super being of awesome, majestic beauty, dazzling brightness, supreme knowledge, wisdom and power--perfect as God created him! But God of necessity created in him the power of choice and decision, or he could not have been a being of individuality and character. First, notice what is revealed in Isaiah 14. (This famous chapter begins with the time, shortly ahead of us now, when the Eternal God shall have Intervened in this world's affairs.) "And it shall come to pass in the day that the Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve, that thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! The golden city ceased! The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers. He who smote the people in wrath... he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth" (verses 3-6).
This is NOT speaking of the king of ancient Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar. The time is yet ahead of us--but shortly ahead. It is speaking of the modern successor of that ancient Babylon of King Nebuchadnezzar. This "king of Babylon" shall at the time of this prophecy have been utterly defeated by the intervention of the living Christ in His power and glory. Continue on: "The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth into singing. Yea, the fir trees rejoice... and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us" (verses 7-8).
This passage in Isaiah 14 speaks of the doom of this coming king at the hands of the glorified, all-powerful Christ. It refers to him as Satan's chief political ruler and military destroyer, totally deceived by Satan in the years very shortly ahead of us. Then, coming to verse 12, this human earthly type of Satan the devil suddenly transposes to Satan himself--the former archangel, Lucifer:
"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!" A better translation here is: "How art thou, who didst weaken the nations, cut down to the ground." The Revised Standard Version translates it: "How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low!" This the former Lucifer did through the human political-military leader in his power--spoken of in the first eleven verses.
The word "Lucifer" means "Shining star of the dawn," or "Bringer of light," as God first created him. Now continue: "For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars [angels] of God."
Notice, Lucifer had a throne; he was a ruler. His throne was on earth, for he was going to ascend into heaven. Continue: "I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds: I will be like the most High" (verses 13-14). Actually, it is plain that Lucifer had nothing less in mind than knocking the Creator God off His throne and becoming supreme God himself.
Apparently he planned to put himself in place of God, over the universe! But finally, as the context returns again to the human type: "Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell [Heb. sheol], to the sides of the pit" (verse 15). From that point, the thought returns to the human king. Lucifer was the supreme masterpiece of God's creative power, as an individually created being, threatening, as a Frankenstein monster, to destroy his own maker--and assume all His powers to rule the whole universe.
His rebel rule was NOT a government based upon the principle of love--of giving, of outgoing concern for the good of others, but based on SELF-CENTEREDNESS, on vanity, lust and greed, on envy, jealousy, the spirit of competition, hatred, violence and destruction, on darkness and error, instead of light and truth, on ugliness instead of beauty. Look now at the other biblical passage describing this supreme angelic creation of God, in Ezekiel 28.
LUCIFER A CREATED BEING
Actually, the entire concept in chapter 26 speaks of the ancient great commercial city of Tyre. It was the commercial metropolis of the ancient world, even as Babylon was the political capital. Tyre was the New York, the London, the Tokyo, or the Paris of the ancient world. The ancient Tyre, port of the world's shippers and merchants, gloried herself in her beauty, even as Paris in our time.
Chapter 27 carries on with comparisons to passages in the eighteenth chapter of the book of Revelation referring to a politico-religious leader to come (verses 9-19). But coming to chapter 28, the theme comes more completely to the time just now ahead of us, the same time depicted in Isaiah 14. Ezekiel 28 speaks of the prince of Tyre, an earthly ruler. God says to the prophet Ezekiel: "Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus [actually referring to a powerful religious leader to arise SOON, in our time], Thus saith the Lord God; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a god, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God: Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from thee: with thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures [or "treasuries"--RSV]... and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches: therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God; behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations... they shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas" (Ezek. 28:2-8).
(Compare with II Thessalonians 2:4, speaking of that man of sin, "who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God...so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.")
WHAT A SUPER BEING!
But at this point, as in Isaiah 14, the lesser human type lifts to a greater spirit antitype. Instead of the prince of Tyre--a human man--it now speaks of the KING of Tyre. This is the same Lucifer. Ezekiel the prophet continues: "Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the KING of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty" (verses 11-12).
Please read that again! God would never say anything like that of a human man. This superb spirit being filled up the sum total of wisdom, perfection and beauty. He was the supreme pinnacle, the masterpiece, of God's creation, as an individually created being, the greatest one in the almighty power of God to create! The tragic thing is that he rebelled against his Maker!
"Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God" (verse 13). He had inhabited this earth. His throne was here. "Every precious stone was thy covering... the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created" (verse 13). He was a created being--not born human. He was a Spirit being--not human flesh. Great genius and skill in music was created in him. Now that he has become perverted in all thinking, acting and being, he is the real author of perverted music--of discordant moans, squawks, and shrieks, wails--unhappy, discouraged moods. Think of all the supreme talent, ability, and potential in a being created with such capacities. And all perverted! All gone sour--all dissipated, turned to hatred, destruction, hopelessness!
Yet, take courage. The awesome human potential, if we care enough about it to resist Satan's wiles and evils and discouragements and to persevere in God's way, is infinitely superior and higher than Lucifer's--even as created, before he turned to rebellion and iniquity! But continuing the particular revelation of this crucially important missing dimension in knowledge: "Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so," says God of this Lucifer. This takes us back to the twenty-fifth chapter of Exodus, where God gave Moses the pattern for the Ark of the Covenant. The description begins with verse 10, and verses 18-20 show, in the material pattern, the two cherubs who were stationed at each end of the very throne of God in heaven--the throne of the government of God over the entire universe. The wings of the two cherubim covered the throne of God.
TRAINED AT UNIVERSE HEADQUARTERS
This Lucifer, then, had been stationed at the very throne of God. He was trained and experienced in the administration of the government of God. God chose such a being, well-experienced and trained, to be the king ruling the government of God over the angels who inhabited the whole earth. Continue: "...thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire." This is not talking about any human being. But continue: "Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity [lawlessness] was found in thee" (Ezek. 28:15).
He had complete knowledge, understanding and wisdom. But he also was given full powers of reasoning, thinking, making decisions, making his choice. And, with all this foreknowledge--even of results and consequences--this superb being, the highest that even God could create by fiat, turned to rebellion against his Maker--against the way that produces every good. He turned to lawlessness. He had been trained in the administration of perfect law and order. As long as Lucifer continued in this perfect way, there was happiness and joy unspeakable over the whole earth.
There was glorious peace--beautiful harmony, perfect love, cooperation. The government of God produced a wonderfully happy state---as long as Lucifer was loyal in the conduct of God's government.
WHAT CAUSED THE ANGELS' SIN ?
Lucifer was created gloriously beautiful--perfect in beauty, but he allowed vanity to seize him. Then he turned to erroneous reasoning. God's LAW--the basis of God's government--is the way of Love--outgoing concern for the good and welfare of others, love toward God in obedience, humility, and worship--the way of giving, sharing, helping, cooperating. He reasoned that competition would be better than cooperation. It would be an incentive to excel, to try harder, to accomplish. There would be more pleasure in serving SELF and more enjoyment.
He turned against God's law of Love. He became jealous of God, envious, and resentful against God. He allowed lust and greed to fill him, and he became bitter. This inspired a spirit of violence! He deliberately became his Maker's adversary and enemy. That was his choice, not God's--yet allowed by God! God changed his NAME to what he became, SATAN the DEVIL--which means adversary, competitor, enemy.
He directed his supernatural powers henceforth to EVIL. He became bitter not only against God, but against God's LAW. He used his subtile wiles of deception to lead the angels under him into disloyalty, rebellion, and revolt against the Creator and finally into a destructive WAR of aggression and violence to attempt to depose God and seize the throne of the UNIVERSE.
As long as Lucifer remained loyal and administered the GOVERNMENT OF GOD faithfully, this earth was filled with wonderful and perfect PEACE. The angels were vigorously HAPPY to the extent of JOY! The LAW of God's government is THE WAY OF LIFE that causes and produces peace, happiness, prosperity, and well-being. Sin is the WAY OF LIFE that has caused all existing EVILS. God now RENEWED the face of the earth, preparing it to become the abode of MAN! But WHY?
WHY GOD CREATED MAN!
Here is a truth perhaps never before understood by man!
Here is AWESOME TRUTH!
Look, now, at the situation as God must have seen and considered it. God has given us minds like the mind of God--only inferior and limited. God made us in His image, after His likeness (form and shape), only composed of matter instead of Spirit. But God says to us, "Let this MIND be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 2:5). We can learn to think His thoughts after Him. If we have His Spirit, we can learn to think, to some degree, even as HE THINKS!
HOW must God have looked at this situation after the colossal debacle of Lucifer and the angels that sinned? This LUCIFER was the supreme MASTERPIECE of God s creative power as a single, separately created Spirit being! He was created the most perfect in beauty, mentality, knowledge, power, intellect and wisdom within the almighty power of God to create in a being, with power to think, reason, make choices and decisions on his own. God knew that no higher, more perfect being could be created as an initial creation.
Yet this superior being, trained and experienced at the very throne of the GOVERNMENT OF GOD over the universe, had resorted to wrong reasoning and made a diabolical perverted decision. He worked on the angels under him until he turned their minds to rebellion also. When Lucifer allowed thoughts of vanity, jealousy, envy, lust and greed, then resentment and rebellion, to enter and occupy his mind, SOMETHING HAPPENED TO HIS MIND! His mind became perverted, distorted, twisted! His thinking became warped. God gave him and the angels control over their own minds. They can never straighten them out--never again think rationally, honestly, rightly.
Lucifer was the supreme masterpiece. If Lucifer and his angels went wrong, there was no assurance the other two thirds would not. As God surveyed this tragic cataclysm, He must have realized it left only a God-plane Being who would not and CANNOT SIN! The only possible ASSURANCE of accomplishing His great PURPOSE was for Him now to reproduce Himself!
But let us answer another question before concluding:
WHY is it IMPOSSIBLE for God to sin? No greater power exists that will prevent Him--but God has simply by His own power--supreme and above all power--set Himself that He will not!
What God saw was this. No being less than God could be certainly relied upon NEVER to sin, that is, NEVER to turn against God's LAW, and God's government, which makes possible His ultimate PURPOSE. To fulfill His PURPOSE for the entire UNIVERSE, God saw that nothing less than HIMSELF, and His holy, righteous and perfect CHARACTER, could be absolutely relied upon to carry out His SUPREME PURPOSE throughout the entire, vast, endless UNIVERSE!
The question might be raised: Could not God have known, in advance, what Lucifer and the angels under him would do? Doesn't God know EVERYTHING? The answer is NO. If God were to have known in advance what choice they would make, He would have had to FORCE them to make it--taken away from them power to think, to reason, to have a choice, to make decisions. God does not CHOOSE to know, in advance, what you or I will be thinking, reasoning, deciding, tomorrow or in the future. He gave these Spirit beings, as He gives us, the power to think for ourselves, to choose, to make decisions. Otherwise we should be nothing more than automatons, doing what we are compelled to do. He simply did not choose to know. His PURPOSE includes the development of CHARACTER in His created beings. All that had happened caused God to now UNDERTAKE THE MOST STUPENDOUS CREATION OF ALL--that of REPRODUCING HIMSELF IN MAN! The ultimate creation, in humans, of God beings in His God Family--superior to angels!
This is the CROWNING PINNACLE of even God's unmatched creative POWER! The very zenith of all Divine accomplishment! A project so incredibly transcendently AWESOME it is hard for the human to grasp. The great GOD--self-existent, before all else, is CREATOR of all else, is reproducing HIMSELF INTO MULTIPLIED millions of others JUST LIKE HIMSELF--Divine, supreme in power, perfect in character--each by his own choice perfectly likeminded with the Father, each having so set himself that he CANNOT SIN!
What an incredible potential!
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