Before It All

I cannot imagine when there was no time, when there was not a beginning to time itself and the creation of everything within time by God. However, God was content with just Himself, Before It All. John 1:1-5 allows us a sneak peek into this non-measured time or existence -

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."

Father God, The Word of The Father (known later to us as Christ Jesus) and The Spirit with them, known as The Holy Spirit - have been in perfect harmony. The traditional interpretation by many preachers and theologians of the only time there was any disharmony was during the planned crucifixion of God's one and only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, for the salvation of humanity. Here, the thought is that while Christ bore all the sins of humanity upon Himself, Father God turned away, producing the following cry from Jesus - 

"About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”)." (Matt. 27:46)

Peter, Paul and John all attest to the fact that this redemption, this salvation of not only humanity, but of all creation was not Plan B. All of what transpired was predestined, a cost God chose to pay before the foundation of the world.

1 Peter 1:19–20 – "He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake."

Ephesians 1:4 – "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight."

Revelation 13:8 – "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." This indicates that God knew humanity would fall and that redemption would cost the life of His Son, yet He proceeded with creation anyway.

Why? God in three manifestations - Father, Word and Spirit - yet One - was content with Himself. So, why create angels and the the spirit realm? Why create the physical universe? Why create humanity? Why be involved so much in the history of mankind as to even become human Himself and restore our fallen relationship with Father God? Why create and deal with the issues He new would arise? Why?

Scripture portrays God's creative power, not as randomness, but as order and purpose that contains supreme wisdom, engineering, and architectural planning.

Proverbs 3:19 says, "By wisdom the Lord laid the earth’s foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place."

Proverbs 8:22–31 personifies Wisdom as being right there with God during creation, acting as a "skilled craftsman" while the foundations of the earth were being marked out.

This is awesome and we could just stop there and credit it all to God's wisdom and His understanding. But wait there's more! Additional Scripture speaks to Father God planning for us what would be a restored relationship through Christ, before Creation -

Ephesians 1:4 — "Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love." This verse shows that God's selection of believers for salvation was set before creation.

2 Timothy 1:9 — "He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time." This highlights that salvation and grace were planned before the world existed.

1 Peter 1:19–20 — Christ was "like a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake." This reveals that Jesus' role as the Savior was appointed before time began.

Titus 1:2 — "A faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time." This affirms that the promise of eternal life originated with God prior to creation. So we have the importance of planning stressed by Father God doing it Himself - Before It All. 

Even Jesus taught His disciples this as a lesson on The Cost of Being a Disciple in Luke 14:28-33 -

"Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’

Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples."

Students of God's Word know when Creation began and that the process involved every part of the Godhead - Father God speaking His Word and activating the Holy Spirit who was "hovering over the waters" -

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, ......." (Genesis 1:1-3)

But the question remains - why? The answer comes from Paul when he addressed the believers in Rome and Ephesus.

“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.” (Ro. 8:29-30)

"For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— (Eph. 1:4-5)"

Why did God plan all this? For a conformed, called, predestined, justified, glorified, holy, blameless and loved family "through Jesus, in accordance with his pleasure and will". In the meantime, until the whole family is called home to be with The Lord, Paul encourages our faith-journey -

"I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently." (Romans 8:18-25)

Family is what God desired and loves, family was the "why" being arranged Before It All.