God's Love In Creation

GOD’S LOVE IN CREATION

God has always existed. He has never had a beginning and will never have an end. It is hard for many people to understand this for the reason that we are used to things having a starting point. However, this is not the case with God. He does not have a genealogy where you can trace His heritage. He has no ancestors because that would mean He would have had to be born. No, God is just who He says He is…God. There’s no other explanation to define why He exists. He just simply does. Hebrews 7:3 Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever. (NIV)

In the beginning, God created a beautiful world. He created a universe full of people, animals, and other living things because He wanted someone with whom to share Himself with. God could have existed without making one living being, plant or animal. He could have existed with only the company of Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit, but that was not God’s desire. He created living beings, starting with the angels, to share in His glory. He desired living creatures who would love, honor and serve Him, but most importantly was for them to be in relationship with Him. God wanted and created a perfect universe full of life, but despite His best efforts, there would be a battle to be fought brought on through the very ones He had made.  Psalm 33:6 By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth. (NIV) Some people may ask, “Couldn’t God had kept man from sinning altogether? Why would God create people, while knowing that we were going to mess things up?” Well, to answer the first question…yes. God could have kept man from sinning by not giving man a choice in the matter. However, what would that make us? We would be no more than mere robots without the ability to have free will. Would you want someone to be forced to love you, or would you prefer them to want to love you on their own free will?

Now, to answer the second question, imagine being in a world where there was only you. There was no one to communicate with, no one to share your life with, and no one with whom you could experience joy and happiness. One can only imagine that this may have been the feeling of God prior to creation. What an empty world it must have been and therefore, one can understand why God desired to create a universe full of life and splendor. He wanted living beings to celebrate His creation. You can liken it to the parable of the banquet as told in the Bible. What if you prepared this huge celebration for people to enjoy, but there was one problem. There weren’t any people. This is what God must have felt like and therefore, He decided to do something about it even while knowing the final outcome. Let’s read the passage in the Bible concerning the parable of the banquet that Jesus gave.

 Luke 14:25-24 ⁽¹⁵⁾ When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.” ⁽¹⁶⁾ Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. ⁽¹⁷⁾ At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ ⁽¹⁸⁾ “But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’ ⁽¹⁹⁾ “Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’  ⁽²⁰⁾ “Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’ ⁽²¹⁾ “The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’ ⁽²²⁾ “‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’ ⁽²³⁾ “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. ⁽²⁴⁾ I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’” (NIV)

In order to populate Heaven and the world, God first started with creating heavenly creatures. Yes, the angels were the start of living beings who would love, honor and reverence Him. They would have many tasks of importance to perform in Heaven and later on Earth. God took great care to create them and one of His most precious creations was the angel Lucifer. God seemed to have made him a little more special in comparison to the other angels. God loved Lucifer and adorned him with special jewels as part of his unique beauty. Ezekiel 28:12-15 ⁽¹²⁾…This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “ ‘You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. ⁽¹³⁾You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: carnelian, chrysolite and emerald, topaz, onyx and jasper, lapis lazuli, turquoise and beryl. Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared. ⁽¹⁴⁾You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones. ⁽¹⁵⁾You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you. (NIV)

 Yes, God made Lucifer to be a very special angel. God actually loved him as He did all of His creation. Lucifer was an angel to whom God had given many gifts and talents. He was deemed remarkably exceptional in God’s eyes. Unfortunately, Lucifer allowed pride to get into his heart. Therefore, he became sinful and arrogant because of his beauty. He thought that he could become higher than his Creator and this was when sin first came into existence. Ezekiel 28:17 Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings. (NIV) God never wanted any of His creations to turn against Him, but Lucifer did. God wanted Lucifer’s love and admiration, but only received pride, jealousy, hate, and contempt. What had God done to deserve such treatment from an angel who He specially created? All God did was show him love, but even Lucifer was given the ability to have free will. Why had this beautiful  being  turned against him in such a way? He even caused 1/3 of the other angels to try and overthrow the God of the Universe? Revelation 12:3-4 ⁽³⁾Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. ⁽⁴⁾Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born. (NIV) The “stars” as mentioned in the above text represents the angels who fell out of heaven along with Lucifer who became known as the devil and/or dragon.

This must have truly broken God’s heart. Oh, how He must have been hurt to have loved Lucifer so deeply prior to his fall. God cares deeply for all of His creation, so Lucifer was no different. However, due to Lucifer’s rebellion, God had to kick him out of Heaven. This is why the Bible says that there was war in Heaven.  

Revelation 12:7-9 ⁽⁷⁾Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. ⁽⁸⁾But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. ⁽⁹⁾The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. (NIV)

Can you imagine God having to watch His beloved creation battle one another all due to pride because of the beauty that He created? How heart-wrenching this must have been for Him and yet, He had to do the unthinkable. He had to kick the rebellious angels, His creation out of Heaven where they could no longer disturb the peace and love that filled the atmosphere, for sin can have no place before God. Despite this, God still wanted to create more living beings who would be a little beneath the angels in order to love and have them to reciprocate it back to him. Psalm 8:4-5 ⁽⁴⁾What is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them.  ⁽⁵⁾You made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. (NIV)

 Therefore, God created man in His image. Not only did He create man, but He made a world for us to enjoy and be able to appreciate the love and glory of God. Unfortunately, the devil in all his hatred had to poison God’s creation and therefore, God improvised so that man would not be eternally lost.