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WHY GOD CREATED MANKIND

Chapter 1

History of the Universe Before Man’s Creation

One of the most basic questions all humans ask at some point in their lives is: “Why was I born?” There are many variations of that question such as “Why did God Create Mankind?”; “What is the purpose of human life?” The answer according to the Bible will be a stunning surprise for most.

Everything God does has a deep purpose, and is very carefully planned. Only fools think that God created mankind for no purpose at all. To understand God’s purpose, we must first understand the history of the universe before man was created. The Bible provides us that history.

HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSE BEFORE MAN’S CREATION

Human minds cannot grasp the idea of some one with no beginning. But there has to be a first source or cause for all that exists. That first source is called God the Father in the Bible, who has always existed. No one created Him. All power in the universe belongs to Him. And literally everything has come from His body, if we can put it that way. He is the primal source of everything that exists.

God the Father originally thought through everything and planned out the entire creation. He did not want to be alone. Then, in a period we can characterize only as pst eternity, He chose first to create just one Being with incredible powers like Himself, another God Being. John the apostle reveals the name of that first created God Being as the Word in John 1:1-3: “1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.”

John reveals that in the very beginning there were two God Beings, and both were God. But then all the spirit [angels] and physical creation was actually done by the Word. Paul confirms exactly what John wrote in Colossians 1:16: "For by Him all things were created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him and for him."

Thus, before anything was created, only two divine Beings existed: God the Father, and the Word, who later came in the flesh as Jesus Christ: “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” (John 1:14)

After God the Father had planned out the entire creation, He then worked with the Word to teach Him the entire process of creation. The Word had to learn the plan because the honor of actually creating everything was to be given to Him. he Word in verse 14 is translated from the Greek word logos which means ‘Spokesman’ or ‘word’. So, the Word, or Spokesman of the divine family created everything in the universe.

There is a very important reason why the Word had to create the entire universe. The two God Beings had planned for possible failure and rebellion against their rule. In that event they had already planned that because the Word had created everything, He could pay the death penalty for the sins of created beings by dying for them. The need for that sacrifice did arise after the sin of angels and then mankind and that sacrifice was made by Jesus Christ who was the Word before He came as a human being to earth.

Many believe that the Word has always existed with God the Father as John 1:1 states. But John is talking about the creation of the angelic world and the physical universe and all things in it. He is not excluding the possibility that the Word was originally created by God the Father. Let’s see from the pages of the Bible if the Word was originally created by God the Father or not.

In summary, here is the proof.

Micah 5:2 states: "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall He come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been of old, from everlasting."

The New International Version (NIV) renders this verse: "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me, one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times."

New American Standard Bible (NASB) renders this verse: "But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel, His going forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity."

This verse states that the Messianic King to come was 'from everlasting.'

The Hebrew word translated 'everlasting' is owlam or olam, which is number 5769 in the Hebrew and Chaldee dictionary of Strong's Exhaustive Concordance. It can mean concealed, i.e. the vanishing point; generally of time, out of mind (past or future), i.e. (practically) eternity; frequently as an adverb, always, ancient (time), any more, continuance, eternal, for everlasting, evermore, of old, lasting, long (time), perpetual, at any time, (beginning of the world) plus without end.

Therefore, the words 'whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting' can mean from so old that we human beings cannot imagine it, or from way before the world began, or from ancient time, or practically past eternity. However, 'practically eternity' does not necessarily mean absolute eternity, i.e. without beginning.

Let us examine more scriptures to see if the Word has always existed along with the Father.

Colossians 1:15 states: "Who [Jesus Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature.” NKJV renders this verse: "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation."

If Jesus Christ before His human birth was the image of God the Father, it can imply that God the Father existed before Him and the Word then became His image. Someone or something has to exist first before another can become his or its image. However, it can also mean that both God Beings existed together with one being the image of the other.

But the verse also calls Jesus Christ as the “firstborn of every creature” or the “firstborn over all creation.” If Jesus Christ is the firstborn of every creature [this would include the angelic world as well], then it implies that He was created before every creature. Firstborn here does not seem to imply firstborn from the dead. Angels do not rise from the dead in a resurrection. By implying 'firstborn from the dead', we are reading something into the text which is not there. So, it does not matter if the translation is 'firstborn of every creature' or 'firstborn over all creation', it still means that Jesus was the firstborn.

Revelation 3:14 states: "And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; these things says the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God."

New King James Version (NKJV) also translates it the same way. So does the New American Standard, American Standard, Revised Standard, New Revised Standard and the New Century Version. But New International Version renders it: "To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation."

The Greek word translated 'beginning' in this verse is arche, pronounced ar-khay, number 746 in the Greek dictionary of Strong's Exhaustive Concordance. It means a commencement, or chief (in various applications of order, time, place or rank); beginning, corner, first (estate), magistrate, power, principality, principle, rule. While this word may mean chief or ruler, nowhere is this word translated chief or ruler in the entire King James Version. Forty times it is translated as 'beginning' and once as 'beginnings'. It is translated as magistrates in Luke12:11, principality in 2 places and principalities in 6 places. But the context of the verse shows that the correct translation is 'beginning', and 'ruler' is the wrong translation.

Other sayings of Jesus also lend support to His statement that He was 'the beginning of God's creation', or that God the Father started His creation first with Him.

Before beginning His messages to each of the seven churches, Jesus Christ is revealing something more about Himself that was not previously known before the book of Revelation was given, or to confirm His identity as the God of the Old Testament. Jesus had already revealed Himself as 'the ruler over the kings of the earth' in Revelation 1:5, and the gospels and the epistles had made it abundantly clear in many places that Jesus is the Creator of all of God's creation and ruler over it. Jesus therefore could not have meant 'ruler of God's creation' in Revelation 3:14. Jesus meant to reveal something new about Himself, that He was 'the beginning of God's creation,' meaning that He was the first Being that God the Father created. This confirms that Jesus was created, or as Colossians 1:15 says "the firstborn of every creature."

Other sayings of Jesus also lend support to His statement that He was 'the beginning of God's creation', or that God the Father started His creation first with Him.

Jesus said in John 14:28, "…my Father is greater than I." And in John 10:29, "My Father ...is greater than all." Paul also stated in 1 Corinthians 11:3, "...the head of Christ is God." Jesus is clearly subject to the Father, and God the Father is the undisputed Head of the God family.

Jesus stated in John 5:26: "For as the Father has life in himself, so has he given to the Son to have life in himself." Jesus is stating here that God the Father granted to Jesus to have life inherent Himself. This means that if God the Father had not granted the gift to Jesus to have life in Himself, then He would not have been the Self-Existent One. God the Father granted that to Him. This then implies that God the Father gave life to Jesus Christ in the first place, long before the world began, or before anything else was created. This means that the Word had not always existed along with the Father, and that God the Father created Him.

Jesus also said in John 8:28: "...but as my Father has taught me, I speak these things." This is a clear statement that the Father taught Jesus Christ before anything was created by the Word. Earlier in verse 26 Jesus had said, "...I speak to the world those things which I have heard of Him." Clearly there was a stage at which the Word needed to be taught. There was a stage at which He did not know everything. This can only mean that the Word has not always existed with the Father, and that He was created by the Father.

God the Father seems to have carried out the creation in stages. He first created the Word. There was no heaven at that time. The days and nights began with the material creation. So, the Word had no 'beginning of days.' He existed before days began. God the Father then taught the Word everything, including His law of love. This could have gone on for a very very very long time, and the only words that come close to describing that length of time is past eternity. God the Father had thought through His entire plan of creation well before He created the Word. Then He let the Word plan all the creation in discussion with Him. The Word learnt from God the Father through this planning process. He had to learn how to create. God the Father taught the Word everything. And He also gave the honor of creating everything to the Word.

The only reasonable conclusion we can reach then is that Jesus Christ was created by God the Father as the Word or Spokesman for the God family. He was the beginning of creation by God the Father.

Confirmation by an Angel

In my booklet titled “God’s Messages Delivered Through Angels,” available free of charge on my website www.ChurchofGodMessage.com, I have written that one of the messages delivered to me by an angel was that Jesus Christ is a created Being. In that booklet, I explained how God Himself provided proof for the world that He had indeed delivered His messages to me through angels.

The proof was that the first message delivered to me was that Sainis of India are of Jewish ancestry. I shared that message with a Church minister in Milwaukee, WI where I attended weekly Church services. Then four years later God revealed to Queen Elizabeth II that I was also a descendant of ancient King David of Israel, a Jew, which the Queen herself is also. If I had not first shared the message with the minister, I could have been accused of just ‘making it up’ that the message had been delivered to me by an angel.

Here is how the message that Jesus Christ is indeed a created Being was delivered to me sometime in late 2007 or early 2008. In one of my weekly messages, I had mentioned that I believed that Jesus Christ is a Being created by God the Father so long ago that we can only call it ‘past eternity.’ This was a complete break with the position of the Church of God which believed that God the Father and Jesus Christ have always lived together for past eternity, and that Jesus Christ is not a created Being.

But my understanding was based on reinterpretation of three scriptures: Micah 5:2, Colossians 1:15 and Revelation 3:14, as already described.

I bolstered my position with the following four additional arguments:

1) Colossians 1:15 says, ‘Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God.” Jesus Christ could not have been the image of God if God the Father had not existed before Him

2) In John14:28 Jesus Christ said, “My Father is greater than I.” Thus, Jesus Christ is clearly subject to God the Father.

3) John 5:26 says, “For as the Father has life in Himself, so has He given to the Son to have life in Himself.” This means that Jesus has life inherent in Himself, which was granted to Him by the Father. This implies He originally received life from God the Father, meaning that He was originally created by God the Father.

4) Jesus also said in John 8:28, “…but as My Father has taught Me, I speak these things.” This clearly implies that there was a stage when the Word did not know everything and needed to be taught by God the Father. This can only mean that the Word, or Jesus Christ has not always existed with the Father, but had a beginning and was originally created by Him and was then taught everything, just as a child needs to be taught.

When I delivered this message as one of my weekly messages, very soon my pastor delivered a sermon reiterating the Church’s position that Jesus was not a created Being but has always existed along with God the Father. Later other ministers gave similar sermons restating the Church’s position.

God restored all the truths to His Church in these end-times through Mr. Armstrong. These truths were all major Church doctrines. But whether Jesus Christ was originally a Created Being or not is not a doctrine. So, I felt a position different from what the Church believed concerning interpretation of Scripture could be taken. But our Church pastors continued to reiterate the Church’s position over and over again in sermons. Then one morning I went down on my knees to specifically pray for God’s guidance in this matter. While I was on my knees only a few minutes praying, God sent His angel to deliver His message to me. In this message God’s angel provided the four proofs that I have mentioned that Jesus Christ was a created Being. Since then I have never wavered from my position that Jesus Christ was originally created by God the Father so long ago that we can characterize that time period only as past eternity.

How God and the Word Lived

To really appreciate why God the Father and Jesus Christ created humanity the way they did, and instituted marriage, we must first understand how God the Father and the Word lived before they created anything. Then we can appreciate the wisdom in further creating other creatures the way They did.

It is difficult for created beings to fathom how God the Father, the Supreme Being, to whom all power belongs, has always existed. Try as we might, it boggles the mind. We as created beings are used to thinking in terms of beginnings. It is impossible for us to imagine a Being who had no beginning.

God the Father first thought of creating. He planned out His creation and thought through the attributes and characteristics that His entire creation and each of His creatures should have. Of course, He wanted company. He was alone. He wanted to create creatures with whom He could have a good, happy, joyous and deeply satisfying relationship. It would be better to have company than to live alone. But the state of companionship would be better only if the relationship would be a harmonious, happy, joyous and respectful one. Otherwise company would only bring misery, pain and suffering.

God mulled over His plan from every angle over untold eons of time. He determined that the only way He could have a loving relationship with other beings would be to create intelligent beings like Himself. It was absolutely essential for Him to give them “free will” or ‘free moral agency.’ They could choose to live according to His way of life, or choose to live any other way they wished.

Without ‘free will’ God’s creatures would be mere robots, programmed to behave in a particular way. We can visualize quite easily why ‘free choice’ was so important by looking at God’s creation on earth. The kind of deeply satisfying, happy and joyful relationship human beings can have with their own children, or other human beings is not possible with any other creatures made of matter, be they trees, birds, fish or any kind of animals, no matter how loving or loyal the animal, dog or cat or another creature might be. The animals have instinct. They have limited freedom of choice. They act according to instinct as they have been programmed, in the interest of self-preservation and procreation of their kind. Animals can have a satisfying relationship among themselves. But it is an animal plane relationship. It is not a human level relationship, or a God plane relationship. In fact, God created the animal world to teach us the importance of creating “free will” in human beings and the angelic world.

God also created different creatures with differing abilities of communication. We can have a better relationship with animals that can communicate verbally in more complex ways than other creatures.

Humans have animal-like bodies, but with a human spirit imparted to them by God which gives them human intellect or intelligence, which is the power to think; the “mind power.”

The best passage that explains what the ‘human spirit’ is as contrasted with God’s holy spirit is 1 Corinthians 2:9-12: “But as it is written, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love Him. But God has revealed them unto us by his [Holy] Spirit: for the [Holy] Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man, save the [human] spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knows no man, but the [Holy] Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the [human] spirit of the world, but the [holy] spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.”

In the above verses, the words “Holy” where Paul is talking about God’s holy spirit, and the word “human” where he is discussing the human spirit have been added. Paul here explains that the ‘human spirit’ in man helps us understand the things of man, a much higher level of understanding than that of animals. But the spiritual things of God can be understood only if we possess God’s holy spirit. The human spirit alone cannot help us understand spiritual things.

Another verse that sheds further light on the ‘human spirit’ is Ecclesiastes 12:7: At death, “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the sprit shall return unto God who gave it.”

Job 32:8 also says the same thing: “But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty gives them understanding.” In Job 34:14-15, he says: “If he [God] set his heart upon man, If he [God] gather unto himself his [human] spirit and his breath; all flesh shall perish together; and man shall turn again unto dust.”

This human spirit in man does not impart human life. Human life is first imparted by God at conception, and is sustained by circulation of blood, oxidized by the breath of air, and fueled by food. But God reveals in the Scriptures that there is a spirit within every human. This spirit is not present in animals. Human and animal brains are quite alike. But man’s superiority in being able to think, reason, acquire knowledge, make complex decisions and choices, communicate at a more complex level in complex languages, create and appreciate music and art, and develop attitudes of both good and evil comes not from the human brain, but from the ‘human spirit.’

Human intellect, similar to God’s intellect makes a personal relationship possible among human beings as well as between God and man, which is a much higher plane relationship than the animal level relationship. But without ‘free will’ a human plane, deeply satisfying and loving relationship would not be possible. Therefore, ‘free will’ is absolutely essential for human beings to have a loving, deep, personal and satisfying relationship with a spouse, children, parents, friends, other human beings, and God.

So, God planned to create intelligent beings who would love Him of their own free will and choose to obey Him. They would obey His laws from the heart, of their own free will, because they would understand that the laws have been given for their own good, as well as for the good of fellow human beings and God’s entire creation. They would love Him as He would love them. God also wanted His intelligent beings to have an abundant, happy, joyous, meaningful and thoroughly satisfying life themselves. By creating beings similar to Himself, God in effect, would be reproducing Himself.

God started His creation work small. He first created a divine Being like Himself - the Word, who later became Jesus Christ in the flesh. Just imagine, a brand new Being with incredible intelligence and power, just like God the Father Himself. Now only two Beings existed, and nothing else. Then God the Father tells the Word that He created Him. God had to begin explaining everything to the Word. He was created out of God’s holy spirit, which is God’s power.

The holy spirit imparts godly character to the person who possesses it. To truly know God, one must know what His character is! The character of both God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son is that of spiritual holiness, righteousness and absolute perfection.

One word that sums up God’s character is LOVE, which is defined as outgoing concern for the welfare of others. It can also be called the way of “giving” instead of “getting”, the way of sharing, helping and serving. God’s nature includes the attributes of PEACE, HARMONY, JUSTICE, MERCY, COMPASSION, HAPPINESS AND JOY towards all those He has created. It is a way devoid of covetousness, lust, greed, vanity, selfishness, envy, jealousy, resentment, bitterness, hatred, competition, strife, violence and destruction.

God the Father and the Word lived this way of life ever since the Word was created for practically the past eternity. They lived the way of their perfect character. This was their “life-style”. When John the Baptist baptized Jesus Christ, God the Father said, “You are my beloved Son.” Beloved means God loved the Word and the Word loved the Father and obeyed Him completely. They lived in total agreement with each other. But it is also a principle of God’s way and government that when two walk together, one has to be the head and in control. One has to be the leader. God the Father was the head.

The results of living this way for eternity were perfect cooperation, peace, harmony, joy, happiness and most important of all, tremendous accomplishment. They made this way of life a LAW, a code of conduct or relationship between God the Father and the Word.

Since Jesus Christ was wholly composed of the holy spirit, LOVE, giving, sharing, peace, happiness and joy were His very nature. God the Father first demonstrated this kind of godly love towards the Word, a much higher level of love - God plane love - than brotherly love, a human plane lover. There was no jealousy, envy, competition, greed, hatred or strife between God and the Word. These feelings arise in human beings because Satan and his demons broadcast these attitudes, moods and feelings into their minds. But there was total absence of these feelings and attitudes between God the Father and the Word. When God the Father exhibited total love for the Word, it was natural for the Word to respond in kind.

Godly love far exceeds what is implied by the English word agape. The love God has for us goes much deeper than we can imagine. It implies a decision to love someone even when there is no expectation of a reciprocal response. It often is not a mutual, two-way love.

Godly love is selfless and sacrificial. Jesus said: “This is My commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:12-13, New Living Translation).

1 John 3:16-18 states: “16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he [Jesus Christ] laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 17 But whoso has this world's good, and sees his brother have need, and shuts up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwells the love of God in him? 18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.”

Godly love is amazing! It does not seek retaliation (Matthew 5:38-39) It is willing to go beyond one’s duty in serving others (verses 40-42). It even means loving one’s enemies! (verses 43-48). The perfect example of these virtues was the earthly life of Jesus Christ!

When there are only the two beings, both composed of God’s Holy Spirit, and no feelings of jealousy, envy or hatred have ever come between them, but instead they have lived in perfect love with each other, and they know that whatever they create will be jointly owned and shared by them, and the one Created knows that the Creator is the Superior and Perfect One, and He has taught the Created One everything he knows, there can be nothing else but love, perfect harmony, peace and joy in the relationship between the two. God the Father and the Word perfectly understood each other and trusted each other completely. They lived for a past eternity of time and became one in their relationship. Jesus said in John 10:30: “I and my Father are one.”

Mankind was created in the way it was created with the institution of marriage to learn to develop the kind of relationship based on love that has existed between God the Father and the Word for past eternity.

The Word learnt that “Nothing is too hard for the Father to do” as He has all the power, understanding and knowledge, because He has generated it all. Later when God’s plan called for the Word to come in human flesh, live a sinless life and die, even though each and every human being ever born had sinned, the Word through practically an eternity of experience trusted that the Father could help Him live a sinless life to become a perfect sacrifice for the sins of humanity. That kind of complete and total trust between the two was developed in past eternity of living together as the only two Beings in existence.

Further trust between the two God Beings, based on the Word’s understanding of the knowledge and power of God the Father, was developed when they planned out the creation together. God the Father must have given ideas to the Word about the kinds of beings to be created which would have convinced the Word that the Father was the Supreme Being of all that existed. Anything that could cause any disharmony between the two was ironed out in an eternity of living together. And the Word came to know that the Father loved Him totally and completely. And He loved the Father wholeheartedly with complete and total trust in Him. The process of planning the creation together deepened the bond between them.

There are two important implications of Law. Law presupposes GOVERNMENT. An authority, the government leadership, enacts the Law, administers and enforces it. The law prescribes penalties for violations of the Law, and the authority enforces the penalties when violations do occur.

When only God the Father and the Word existed, there was government, with God the Father in command. God’s form of government is from the top down, with God in supreme control handing down His laws. Laws are not legislated by the governed. It is not a government by the consent of the governed. Since God the Father created the Word, this put His government over Him, with the Father as the supreme ruler. Since the Word created everything else, this puts Him in supreme authority over all He created, and God the Father over everything that exists.

There was no problem of government between God the Father and the Word. They were confident that they would never violate the law of love or the way of life between them. They also knew that further intelligent beings would also have to live by that law for there to be perfect love, peace, harmony and joy in the universe. But they had to consider the possibility of some of the intelligent created beings choosing to live another way of life, contrary to the laws that God the Father and the Word had instituted. As a result, conflict and adversarial relationships would arise, leading to discord and hatred. The penalty according to law would then apply.

Perfect spiritual godly Love is how we can describe the relationship between God the Father and Jesus Christ. This is how they want human beings to relate to them, to each other, and in marriage and family relationships. The institution of marriage was created only for human beings in all of God’s creation to develop that character trait in them.

Next Phase of Creation

God always begins His projects small as if proceeding cautiously. He is never in a hurry. He does not need to be. He has always existed and will always exist. When His first creation project proved to be perfect and a total success, only then did God and the Word decide to proceed further.

Now since the Word had the honor of creating the rest of the creation, would He proceed by creating hundreds of millions or perhaps billions of beings, or would He proceed cautiously and create a small number of beings first? To see if we can find the answer, we should consider what the Bible says about the twenty-four elders. They are mentioned in Revelation 4:2, 4: “And immediately, I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne…And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold…”

These verses show that the twenty-four elders are clothed in white raiment, a symbol of righteousness [which is given after testing and trial of one’s total obedience to God], wear crowns and sit on thrones. Jesus Christ also is pictured in Revelation 19:12 as wearing many crowns. And God the Father and Jesus Christ sit on thrones.

No angels are pictured as wearing crowns, or sitting on thrones, except for Lucifer who was given a throne to sit on as ruler over the earth. This is implied by Isaiah 14:13 where Lucifer says: “…I will exalt my throne above the stars [angels] of God…”

When human beings qualify to become eternal beings as God’s literal sons in His kingdom, they also will wear crowns and sit on thrones (II Timothy 4:8, Revelation 3:11, Matthew 19:28). This indicates that the twenty-four elders have higher authority than the angels. They are God’s counselors who have qualified to sit on thrones and wear crowns. If the twenty-four elders were created at the same time as the angels, it is difficult to imagine that the twenty-four elders qualified to sit on thrones and wear crowns, but none of the angels (except Lucifer), including the archangels Gabriel and Michael, qualified to wear crowns and sit on thrones. This indicates that the twenty-four elders were likely created before the angels were created.

It is therefore likely that God the Father and the Word decided to proceed cautiously in the next phase of their creation. They first decided to create 24 spirit beings instead of hundreds of millions or billions of them. It appears that these elders look like the Word, and have human-like faces.

After the twenty-four elders were created, they were taught God’s way of life and His laws. Of their own free will, they learnt to love, respect and honor their Creators, God the Father and the Word. Living that way of life produced perfect harmony, peace and abundant joy for the Creators and the twenty-four elders. They also learnt about God’s method of government.

It is hard for us to imagine what the twenty-four elders did, but it probably had at least something to do with future creation. Of course, in the process they had to learn all the science behind it as the Word had to learn it before them. They participated in planning for further creation and learnt how to do it from God the Father and the Word, as the Word had learnt from God the Father. And while planning out future creation, the twenty-four elders visualized and learnt how God’s way of life and laws would apply to the creatures that would come into being.

The process of learning and living God’s way of life for the twenty-four elders must have gone on for a very long time, perhaps hundreds of millions, or even billions of years. The Word lived for practically a past eternity before the twenty-four elders were created. It stands to reason that the twenty-four elders would have lived a long-time and proved themselves faithful to God and the Word before God would move ahead with the next phase of His creation. They too lived God’s way of life perfectly and had no inclination to go contrary to that way even in their thoughts. They loved God the Father and the Word with perfect agape or godly love as they were loved by God.

This phase of God’s creation plan was also a perfect total success. God’s creation lived in perfect peace, harmony, happiness, joy and love for God and for one another. And the twenty-four elders honored and respected God the Father and the Word as their Creators. As a result, the elders qualified to sit on thrones and receive crowns. They have also qualified to be called righteous, because they are shown clothed in white raiment which is a symbol of righteousness.

Now the 24 elders are counselors of God the Father in heaven. They see what is going on in the earth and with the angels in heaven, find solutions to problems and discuss them with God the Father and Jesus Christ who then implements them.

When Was Heaven Created?

It seems there was another phase of creation before the material universe was created. The Bible mentions three heavens: the first heaven is earth’s atmosphere; the second heaven is space where all the galaxies, stars and planets are located; and the third heaven is where God the Father’s throne is located. Genesis 1:1 tells us: “In the beginning God created the heaven[s] and the earth.” Does this mean that all the three heavens were created when the material universe was created? It may not be so. Question then is: When was the heaven created where God’s throne is located?

Genesis 1:1 is talking primarily about the material universe. Therefore, it seems that our atmosphere and space with its billions of galaxies, stars and planets were created at the same time as the earth was created.

Ezekiel 28:14 talks about Lucifer: “Thou art the anointed cherub that covers; and I have set you so: you were upon the holy mountain of God; you have walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.” Lucifer was one of the two cherubs who covered God’s throne in heaven. It is possible that God’s throne and hence the third heaven was already in existence when the angels were created. So, God the Father and Jesus Christ may have created the third heaven, where God’s throne is located before the angels were created.

Psalm 45:6 supports this view: “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever.” God’s throne has thus always existed in His holy city, heaven. Psalm 11:4 tells us: “…the Lord’s throne is in heaven…”

This is the creation the 24 elders may have been involved in planning with God the Father and the Word well before the material universe was created.

However, it is also possible that the third heaven was created by God the Father and was in existence before even the Word was created.
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