Just before his final journey to be in the eternal presence of God, Moses recited the words of a song in the hearing of all Israelites, calling God “The Rock” and proclaiming that the “Lord’s portion is His people” (Deuteronomy 32:4 &9). God was well aware of man’s sinful ways before anything was created yet He decided to create man filled with the desire to create and the power to destroy. This power became subject to Satan and his forces after sin entered humanity and its final act against the kingdom of heaven is revealed in the Book of Revelation when nations will gather together against God’s chosen people and be eventually destroyed. Despite all this God did not lose faith in man and in the inherent goodness that He had revealed to man and placed in him a desire to develop a relationship with the holy God.
God was not only well aware of the nature of every living being but also knew about the forces of darkness on the earth and the likelihood of man’s succumbing to the same. Yet He retained faith in the inherent righteousness that He had placed in the heart of man to finally prevail over sin and lead him into the path of seeking God and His holiness. A perfect God created everything perfect and on inspection found it to be “indeed very good” (Genesis 1:31). God being All-knowing about everything from eternity past to eternity in future decided to create mankind despite these likely sinful deeds and their turning away from Him. After receiving the call from God about his final journey into His Divine presence Moses spoke the words of his song in the presence of the assembly of all Israel calling God “The Rock, His work is perfect for all His ways are justice, a God of truth and without injustice, righteous and upright is HE” (Deuteronomy 32:4). As per Scripture the most important trait of God is considered to be His righteousness and justice and all His acts are always in conformity with this.
Why did God not stop the process of creation of man when He was in the know of all that they would do in their sinful nature after surrendering to the ways of the devil? Man developed the destructive streak in himself due to his sinfulness while straying into evil deeds even through his strength of creation given by God. Because of this man became a danger to the whole of creation and the results of this are clearly evident in the world today. God’s action of stopping the process of creation before man came into being would have amounted to passing judgment even when no wrong had been committed through prejudging of sin. God being just could not have violated this.
“Let Us” – a consultation – During the whole process of creation God simply commanded and it came to pass, whereas it is only before creating man a different approach is visible in Scripture. For “Then God said, “Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness, let them have dominion” (Genesis 1:26). As per this the process of creation of man brought into action other forces not involved earlier in the creation of other things, including animals and other living beings. As per the Jewish scholars this consultation involved seeking the viewpoint of angels and this was done twice when the angels requested Him to stop creating man and were destroyed for this suggestion. It is only the third time that the group of angels left it to God to decide for it was “His universe”. This view is seemingly biased for the Jews refuse to believe Lord Jesus to be the Messiah on the basis of the “Shema” command (Deuteronomy 6:4-5). The following contradict this thought:
- God revealed His glory to light up the universe for the first four days of creation while sun and moon were created only on the fourth day.
- God revealed His glory through His Son – to be born in Bethlehem – whose going forth are from of old, from everlasting (Micah 5:2)
- John 1:3-4 – In Him was life, and the life was the light of men – All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
- The Spirit of God was already present over the waters before the creation process was started (Genesis 1:2).
I think Lord Jesus as Creator was involved in the whole process from the beginning and since the creation of man was to affect the whole of creation causing its fall through sin requiring a redemption plan – He sought help of God the Father through consultation and approval since His Spirit was already involved. In this God retained His faith in man and even when Cain brought his offering, God warned him to “overcome sin crouching at his door”. Though aware of his evil intent to kill his brother Abel, God did not intervene and yet ‘placed a mark on him’ to save him from others after his sin (Genesis 4:7; 15). Even when mankind had sunk to a new low causing deep anguish to God making Him feel ‘regret for having created man’ the righteousness of eight people of Noah’s family provided God with enough reason to retain that faith in mankind (Genesis 6:5-6). After the flood when Noah offered sacrificial offerings to God, love and faith of God prevailed and He declared never to cause destruction through such a flood again (Genesis 9:11). God chose Abraham, Isaac and Israel to reveal Himself to mankind through them, openly declared to them His likes-dislikes through the Law and the Ten Commandments. Despite man’s rebellious nature and disobedience, God still continued speaking to man through His chosen Prophets and finally through His Son, born as one of them, living among them and speaking their language to provide them knowledge about Himself to lead them to His righteousness (Hebrews 1:1-2).
Result of Divine consultation – Whatever was the original plan, God placed a part of Himself in man at the time of creation and breathed His glory into man to make him in ‘His image and likeness’. After commission of the sinful act by Adam and Eve, God still did not curse them but revealed to them the result of their action. It was only them that Adam realized his mortal state and the woman being the only source through whom he could ensure his continuation in his children that the old state of acrimony ended and in a new relationship, he named her as Eve – the mother of all. In another act of love and faith in man, God provided them with ‘garments of skin’ to cover His glory in them and provide protection from the fallen nature outside the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:19-21). Solomon had received wisdom from God and understood this love and faith of God to say “I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end” (Ecclesiastes 3:10-11). What was an act of God to keep a fire burning in the heart of man to search for Him was perceived as a burden and eternity being in God alone, the desire to know about this put man on the path to continuous yearning for his Creator. This caused that perpetual yearning in man which God alone can fill but ensured development of various facilities for his comforts.
Being in the image of God, man has a spiritual thirst and an eternal value in himself and only God can satisfy this hunger in him. God had created a perfect world and all nature also craves to return to that perfection which will only be made available in God’s kingdom on earth by His Son. To partially satisfy this desire of Man, God has revealed His will through dreams and visions to man and while Jacob could get a glimpse of the way to heaven through the ladder, Joseph saw his future revealed to him and Daniel received revelation about coming of the Redeemer of mankind. We are also provided a glimpse of perfection in nature but to receive a glimpse of our future life we have to depend on God. Each person is required to seek and find satisfaction in God, set worthy goals in life and rejoice in what God has already given as gifts to us. Man, however, repeatedly aspires to make a name for himself rather that glorify God and the creation of “Tower of Babel” is one such attempt to make a mark for themselves as also to reach into heaven without help from God. In a state of complete understanding and acting in unison “nothing is impossible for man” and to prevent any such future efforts God confused their language and scattered all of mankind over the earth (Genesis 11:4-6). Though man tried to replace God through his own efforts, yet God did not lose faith in mankind and did not destroy them.
Birth of the Redeemer as Man was another act of God to reveal His glory to mankind through His Son, the glory that God had initially shared with man at the time of his creation. Simeon, who was blessed to see God’s glory on earth before his death, worshipped Lord Jesus with Anna, the prophetess, when the child was brought to the Temple. The Magi from the east saw the star in the sky and seeking God’s “Morning Star” for mankind declaring the coming of the blessed dawn, reached the house, worshipped the Child Jesus and offered gold, myrrh and frankincense to Him. God considered it fitting to cause sufferings for His Son to “bring many sons to glory” as the given mission to the Redeemer (Hebrews 2:10). The glory of God that was given to man initially at the time of his creation was revealed and restored through the Messiah. Lord Jesus prayed to the Father confirming this fact “The glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one” (John 17:22). God blessed the believers with oneness with Him first through union with His glory and on the Day of Pentecost with the indwelling Holy Spirit, the same Spirit that raised His Son from the dead. God raised us thus from the deadness of sins and has seated us in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:5-6).
To satiate man’s yearning for eternity and quest for heavenly knowledge, all believers are blessed with the gifts of the Holy Spirit especially knowledge and wisdom to help discern the mysteries of the Word (1 Corinthians 12:8). And man’s inherent fearful nature also gets changed and transformed into a state of “power, love and a sound mind” through the same Spirit of God (2 Timothy 1:7). God’s faith in man was further reiterated by the Messiah through His Divine declaration that any believer will do ‘the works He did and even greater works than these’ (John 14:12). Apostles Peter and John found the linen clothes in which the Lord was buried, lying there in the empty tomb while He had risen with His body from which the garments of skin given to mankind were removed and all natural barriers could not hold Him back (John 20:6-7). God has empowered all believers through the indwelling Holy Spirit to face all challenges from the forces of darkness while also helping us to learn the mysteries of His Word to satisfy the ‘fire of eternity in the heart’.
The life of every believer starts the process of transformation into God’s image and likeness as revealed through the Son in the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit to be filled with His love to overflowing through our works of love towards all in need. Prophet Jeremiah declared about God’s plan for His children, a plan of hope and a bright future in Him (Jeremiah 29:11) and we are the recipients of this blessed state in Lord Jesus. God never gives up on mankind and declared “Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you” (Isaiah 46:4). This was fulfilled by God in His Son and while earlier we were slaves to sin we were redeemed through His blood to become ‘slaves of God’ by giving us fruit to holiness and everlasting life (Romans 6:17; 22). Lord Jesus’ promise to “prepare a mansion for us in His Father’s house” is final confirmation of His faith in us.
The Holy Bible is not the story of God by man but the story of man by God and man repeatedly lost faith in God to complain and indulge in evil practices yet nowhere does God lose faith in man. This is best exemplified in the great act of love through sending His Son as a sacrificial offering for our sins (John 3:16). Almighty God promised “I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be there God and they shall be My people… I will be a Father to you and you shall be My sons and daughters” (2 Corinthians 6:16; 18). Pentecost is fulfillment of one part of God’s acts of faith in man and the grand finale will be on Lord Jesus’ second coming and establishment of His kingdom on earth. In the meanwhile God’s Holy Spirit empowers us and guides us to understand eternal God and eternity in Him. Our act of faith is only to seek Him through faith in His Son!
