Why Did God Create Us?
John Torell and Charles Thorell
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…
Hosea was the prophet who penned those poignant words between 755 and 725 B.C. at a time when the Israelites of the northern kingdom had fully embraced their moral failures. Their debauchery was so great that it was virtually impossible to distinguish them from the pagans. They had no desire to be God’s people because they wanted to be like everyone else. They ignored God’s call to be a shining light to the surrounding nations and were cursed for their disobedience.
Did they turn from their wickedness? No, they clung even more stubbornly to their sins. God eventually evicted them from the Promised Land because they self-destructed and wanted nothing to do with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Yet, mankind’s sin problems stem back to the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve disobeyed Jesus and ate the forbidden fruit. Their rebellion was rooted – to some degree – in lack of knowledge. They understood God’s warning in theory, but they were largely ignorant of sin’s consequences and the contamination it would introduce to their lives, and even worse, transfer to their offspring.
Jesus commanded Adam and Eve not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The world would be a different place today if the first man and woman had treasured the Son of God’s warning. Pagan religions would not exist, nor would the pseudo-Christian offshoots of Roman Catholicism, Islam, Mormonism, and Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Why did God create the human race? This is a question that has been asked by many over thousands of years. Knowing the answer is vital because the childish explanation of “God being lonely” is careless and just plain ignorant. The Godhead is intelligent and everything they do has purpose; the creation in which we live is orderly and deliberately designed.
QUESTIONING GOD’S MOTIVE
The apostle Paul stated in his letter to the church at Rome that God is proving His righteousness. Why would God need to prove that He is righteous? It is an interesting question, but it seems rather shameful, even offensive, given that God created the universe and everything in it.
Paul stated that the law of Moses sheds light on our sins, and in doing so, reveals God’s perfection. The law bluntly makes it known that humanity falls short of God’s perfect standard, and as a result, Jesus was incarnated to redeem mankind from sin and death – to the glory of God!
Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, To declare, I say, at this time his (God the Father's) righteousness: that he (God the Father) might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
Lucifer was not sent to the Lake of Fire and that indicates that his appeal was successful. What did he say? Paul indicates that Satan questioned whether God is righteous. How could the Godhead deliver one of their creatures to everlasting torment? What does that say about justice? This created doubt in the minds of the angels throughout the universe.
The Godhead now faced another issue. If the angels – holy and fallen – doubted His character, it would be caustic and nag at their thoughts, causing doubt, and this could certainly lead to further problems. The issue of righteousness had to be forever settled so that the angels – and later, humans – would not harbor any misgivings about the justice of the Godhead.
What were the options available to God?
1. Abandon the plan for the universe which had been hijacked by Lucifer, dissolve the creation and the angels, and start over.
2. Prove to the angels – holy and unholy – that the Godhead is righteous.
Even though Isaiah was told that the earth and universe would be dissolved in the future, the Godhead had shown they were not willing to give up and secret plans existed to redeem humanity and prove God was blameless in the angelic uprising.
Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.
Hundreds of years later Peter received a similar message that testified to God’s plans for the universe and His character.
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
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.
Peter stated that what he and others had written down was not a wild conspiracy theory. The apostles were eyewitnesses of Jesus, who was authorized by God the Father to come to earth as the personal representative of the Godhead and usher in the redemption plan. This is why God the Father spoke plainly to God the Son, so that mortal men could hear and bear witness of this truth. The apostles were certain of the prophecies they had received from the Holy Spirit.
For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. 18 And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.
We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:
Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
GOD PROVES HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS
The genesis account begins by informing us that God created the heaven and the earth, but then the second verse abruptly states the earth was damaged.
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 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.
I don’t know about you, but such an irregularity between verse one and two does not come across as normal. I understand that there are times when a manufacturer creates something flawed by accident, but I expect a lot more in terms of quality control from God. The discrepancy between the first and second verse could not be solved until about 4,100 years later when Jesus revealed the space war to the apostle John.3
That leads us to conclude that the rest of the chapter one is not an account of the creation, but the description of the earth being refurbished after a devastating war that ravaged the universe as a result of the angelic rebellion. This can be clearly seen in the text when God tells Adam and Eve to replenish the earth.
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.
The dictionary defines replenish as “to fill or build up again.” The use of that word means that something previously existed. The same Hebrew word was used by Jesus when He told Noah and his family to replenish the earth after the flood. All human life had been killed in the global flood and there were only eight survivors to replenish the severely diminished population.
And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
GOD’S WAY OF KEEPING TIME
The refurbishment of the earth took place over a period of six days. It is obvious that the days of creation is a measurement from God’s perspective; after all, how much can you accomplish in a single day? Can you accomplish even a fraction of what God did? Not a chance. There simply is not enough time and this is why the Holy Spirit provided the conversion scale. This is not a simile as some would believe, but a direct revelation for mankind to understand the past and how time functions in heaven4
“But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” (2 Peter 3:8)
But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
Every action by God is being carried out according to His eternal time, not the earthly time which governs our lives on earth. We have a way of measuring time, but God has a completely different way of measuring time in heaven. This is exemplified in the prophet Daniel’s interaction with an angel.
And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.
And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?
And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.
Peter stated that one day with the Lord is the equivalent of a thousand years on earth. This revelation was a fulfillment of God’s promise to Daniel, effectively allowing us to convert heavenly time into earthly time. We can deduce God’s way of timekeeping when we divide 1,000 years by 24 hours.
1 hour with God is 41.67 years on earth.
1 minute with God is 8 months and 8 days on earth.
1 second with God is 3 days and 22 hours on earth.
Using this information leads us to conclude that the refurbishment of the earth spanned six days or 6,000 years. Each day of creation representing a thousand-year time period. The seventh day (1,000 years) was used as a day of rest.
ADAM & EVE
Adam and Eve were created sometime on the sixth day and this means that they lived in the Garden of Eden for at least a thousand years. They were perfect biological specimens, and since there was no sickness, disease, or death, they produced many children during this time period.
Their offspring grew to adulthood, married siblings, and produced children of their own. The mathematical model reveals at least fifty generations – easily numbering in the billions – could have existed by the time the first two humans disobeyed Jesus. A lot of people would contend that Cain and Abel were the first two children born to Adam and Eve, but the Bible does not specifically state that these two sons were the first two children of Adam and Eve. That is an assumption which does not align with the biblical evidence.
And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord.
And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
The two sons grew up outside the Garden of Eden and became proficient in agriculture. Cain was a farmer and Abel was a shepherd. Adam taught his sons about the need to sacrifice. Being a tiller of the ground, Cain tried to offer vegetables in lieu of a blood sacrifice and his effort was rejected by God.
There was eventually some kind of argument between the brothers that angered Cain so greatly that he struck Abel hard enough to draw blood, his brother bled out and died. The verdict declared Cain to be a fugitive and a vagabond. These are words that describe someone who has no home, moving from place to place, never settling down.
… a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.
And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear.
Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.
And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.
As previously stated, Adam and Eve lived for more than a thousand years in the Garden of Eden, and since they were perfect specimens of creation, they had no problems procreating to produce many children during this time period. That trend continued with Cain and Abel after they were evicted from the Garden of Eden.
It is therefore not difficult to imagine other men and women in existence based upon Cain’s language. This is why Cain was so afraid that someone would take revenge. What was their origin? It should be obvious that Cain was afraid of older siblings and cousins that deeply resented his homicidal action. The threat was real and Cain was so fearful that God stepped in to protect him so that no one killed him in retribution.
Cain moved to the city of Nod where he married a woman. Where did she come from? It certainly was not out of thin air. This is yet further evidence of Adam and Eve’s offspring born on the seventh day when God rested.
And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.
And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.
RESULT OF SIN
Adam and Eve instantly became sinful when they disobeyed the prohibition about eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The sin nature was evident in Cain when he killed his brother in a fit of rage. But what about the other offspring? What was the fate of the older siblings and cousins? In giving the Ten Commandments to Moses, Jesus affirmed the sinful actions of Adam and Eve carried over to their children.
… visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.
Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
GARDEN OF EDEN
The Garden of Eden was a beautiful and perfect creation by Jesus. In addition to a huge variety of flora, there were also two very different trees known as the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Why would the Creator intentionally place a harmful tree in the Garden of Eden? It is akin to putting a venomous snake in the crib with your baby. No parent would do such a thing, so why did Jesus act in such a manner? It is obvious that the Godhead set the stage so that Lucifer could tempt humanity. The Son of God could have informed
Adam and Eve about a fallen angel that rebelled against God and started a destructive war that ended in defeat.
What if Jesus had informed Adam and Eve about the potential trap beforehand? What if the first couple had been told to be wary of Lucifer and be diligent about avoiding his trap? Would Eve still have eaten the forbidden fruit? The Creator never told them that the slickest liar in the universe was biding his time until the Godhead gave him the go-ahead to make his pitch.
This indicates that Jesus was not shielding the man and woman from Lucifer; instead, they were exposed to the Devil without knowing he was a master manipulator. This was the same con artist who convinced one-third of the angels to join his cause. What chance did two humans stand against such a swindler? None whatsoever!
This is why some four thousand years later after Adam and Eve rebelled that Jesus finally revealed how plans were made in eternity past for the redemption of mankind. It was a far-reaching campaign that predated the angels, taking into account the weakness of Adam and Eve, knowing they would fail.
And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
SUMMARY
Lucifer rebelled against God and tried to unseat the Godhead. This prideful angel started and lost a war which spanned the universe. He was convicted after a trial, but appealed his sentence on the grounds of God being unrighteous. The Godhead granted a stay of execution and Jesus set about creating a new race of beings with a free will. Humanity was created in the image of God and placed on the refurbished earth. Lucifer was eventually granted access to tempt and turn them away from God.
The sole purpose of the human race is to prove that God is righteous; a grand effort to show that when a human turns from God and follows Lucifer, it is not God’s fault since each human has the right to exercise free will. If they choose to sin by following Lucifer, that is their choice, and God also has the right to punish them by sending them to the Lake of Fire. This is the same fate reserved for the fallen angels and Lucifer, who will finally be cast into the Lake of Fire after the last war on earth.
And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
The revelation knowledge presented in this article debunks the idea of mankind trying to justify that humans were created as a special race for the pleasure of God. If that was indeed the case, why did the New Testament writers never address the subject? They did not think in such a manner because Jesus never stated God was lonely, nor did the Holy Spirit declare humanity was created for the pleasure of God.
There is no record of the apostles contemplating such an idea. It was totally foreign to them. None of the great theologians in the past like Martin Luther, John Calvin, Karl Barth, John Wesley and others thought that way either.
Once you comprehend that mankind was not created randomly, but with a specific purpose, it bestows a sense of duty to live in such a way that glorifies God and shows the angels that you have chosen to accept Christ as Lord and Savior, desiring to be a worthy ambassador and representing God’s kingdom on earth. It is not a choice forced on you by God, but an act of free will on your part.
Humans are proving the righteousness of God on a daily basis. If you reject Christ and the salvation made possible by the sacrifice on the cross, it effectively shows the angels that it was a choice of free will. No one forced you into anything.
Man can choose Jesus and be born again and at death be taken to heaven. The same individual also has the choice to reject Jesus and be taken to hell at death. It does not have to be that way. Remember Peter’s revelation on timekeeping in heaven? He continues with a reminder that God wants all men to repent and avoid the Lake of Fire.
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
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.
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
The Lake of Fire does not have to be your fate. You have been presented with truth that can spare you that horrible fate. Don’t be like the people whom the prophet Hosea bemoaned that were destroyed for lack of knowledge. Ignorance won’t get you far when you stand in front God Almighty and have to give an account of your life.
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
1. Parenthetical remarks added for clarity.
2. Matthew 17:1-9
3. Revelation 12:7-12
4. A simile is a figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind such as brave as a lion, or crazy like a fox.
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