THE INCREDIBLE HUMAN POTENTIAL
Chapter 4
by Herbert W. Armstrong
1978 edition
This is the eye-opening story of the real gospel message of Jesus
Christ -- of how this missing dimension was withheld, and the whole
world deceived.
It's positively astounding! It has remained undiscovered by
science! No religion has revealed it! Higher education has never
taught it! Is it possible the whole world has been
deceived -- regarding the awesome purpose of human life -- about the
WAY to world peace and how it will come? And could it be true
that the real gospel message Christ brought from heaven revealed
this missing dimension -- but was suppressed? This is the
eye -- opening story of the real gospel message of Jesus Christ -- of
how this missing dimension was withheld, and the whole world
deceived.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 ..... CHRIST'S GOSPEL WAS
SUPPRESSED -- NOT HEARD FROM THE FIRST CENTURY UNTIL NOW
Chapter 2 ..... THE STARTLING
REVELATION OF WHAT WAS CHRIST'S GOSPEL
Chapter 3 ..... THE INCREDIBLE HUMAN
POTENTIAL AT LAST REVEALED
Chapter 4 ..... PRE-EXISTENCE BEFORE
THE MATERIAL UNIVERSE
Chapter 5 ..... WHAT LED TO THE
CREATION OF
Chapter 6 ..... HOW GOD PLANNED TO
REPRODUCE HIMSELF
Chapter 7 ..... BRIDGING THE GAP
BETWEEN HUMAN MAN AND THE ULTIMATE SPIRIT -- COMPOSED SONS OF GOD
Chapter 8 ..... WHY TODAY'S WORLD
EVILS?
Chapter 9 ..... WHY THE CHURCH?
Chapter 10 ..... JUST WHAT DO YOU MEAN
-- CONVERSION?
Chapter 11 ..... HUMAN NATURE -- AND
HOW A WHOLE WORLD IS DECEIVED ABOUT ITS ORIGIN
Chapter 12 ..... IS THERE LIFE AFTER
DEATH?
Chapter 13 ..... WORLD PEACE -- HOW IT
WILL COME
Chapter IV
PRE-EXISTENCE BEFORE THE MATERIAL UNIVERSE
I have explained to you the awesome potential of man. But why?
Why does the Creator God purpose all this? Why did the living God
decide to create man and put him on earth? God does not do things
without a reason.
To understand -- to comprehend the whole picture in the order
of time sequence -- we must now go all the way back into
prehistory. That missing dimension in knowledge, too, is revealed
in the Word of God -- God's message and revelation of knowledge to
mankind.
Did you ever start viewing a motion picture when it was more
than half way through? You probably were bewildered -- not having
seen what occurred before and led up to the point where you first
began to see.
It's the same in coming to an UNDERSTANDING of what God has
prepared for humanity -- of the ultimate human potential.
True understanding can come only by beginning the story at
the beginning!
If one should ask, where do you find the actual beginning of
events in the Bible, most who possess even a slight knowledge of
the world's "best seller" would say, "why in Genesis chapter one
verse one, of course.
WRONG!
The real beginning, in order of time sequence, is found in
the New Testament, in the first chapter of John, verse one. The
events portrayed in Genesis occurred later -- possibly even
millions of years later.
But the event recorded in John 1:1 reveals an existence
perhaps long prior to the time God created the earth and the
material universe.
Note it: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God and the Word was God." It continues, "The same was in
the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without
him was not anything made that was made."
The term "all things" is translated in Hebrews 1:3, in the
Moffatt translation, as "the UNIVERSE." The entire UNIVERSE was
made by Him!
The fourteenth verse of John 1 says: "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."
The Personage called the Word was the one who
ultimately -- yet more than 1900 years ago -- was born Jesus Christ.
The name, "the Word," is translated from the original Greek
text, and means, literally, just what is translated into
English -- "Spokesman." But He was not the Son of God "in the
beginning." Yet the Scriptures reveal that He has always existed,
and always will -- "from eternity to eternity." He was "without
father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning
of days nor end of life ..." (Heb. 7:3).
So think on this, if you will!
Originally there existed only these two Spirit Personages,
self-existent. They had creative powers -- they had perfect supreme
minds -- they possessed perfect, holy and righteous CHARACTER.
But THERE WAS NONE ELSE -- NOTHING ELSE! There was no
matter -- no material universe -- YET! No other living being or
thing.
Only these two, equal in mind and powers, except that God
was supreme in authority, and the Word in perfect harmony under
that authority. They were of one mind, in absolute agreement.
But ALL THINGS -- the universe and everything existing in
it -- were made by the Personage called the Word. Yet, as we read
in Ephesians 3:9: "God ... created ALL THINGS by Jesus Christ."
And prior to becoming Jesus Christ, He was "the Word!" Also, in
His human life Jesus said He spoke only as the Father directed.
Yes, THINK!
In the eternity even prior to "prehistory" there were these
two Supreme Beings. Alone! In the emptiness of space! No other
life forms -- no other living beings! Nothing else!
But they possessed MINDS of supreme capacity. And, much,
much later, they created humans after their own likeness and
image. They endowed MAN with the power of MIND. It seems obvious
that human minds were made to function in the same manner as the
Creator's, although in an inferior way.
But how do we humans use our minds? We are endowed with
something akin to creative powers. Man produces buildings out of
existing materials. Man has produced intricate machines. But how?
Man thinks it out -- makes plans -- before the actual making.
As an illustration: After much prayer about it to learn
God's will, I was allowed to build the finest modern auditorium
on this earth -- the Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena, California.
But I did much thinking and planning -- I engaged the largest and
best firm of architects and engineers in the world to design my
general idea of such an edifice into finished PLANNING. We were
twelve years thinking out, designing, and putting into actual
plans and blueprints this Auditorium before even breaking ground.
Every cubic inch of the Auditorium was designed on paper before a
single cubic inch went into production.
How much more, then, must the Great God and the Word have
thought out, planned, and designed in their minds, before the
actual Creation?
They did not create matter first. The laws and facts of
radioactivity tell us with certainty that there was a time when
such matter did not exist.
But the Great God through the Word first designed and
created SPIRIT BEINGS -- angels, each individually
created -- millions or perhaps even billions of them! They were
composed wholly of Spirit. They were given self-containing
life -- life inherent -- immortality. But also God created within
them MINDS -- with power to think, to reason, to make choices and
decisions!
The Supreme Creative Accomplishment
But there was one super-important quality that even God's
creative powers could not create instantly by fiat -- the same
perfect, holy, righteous CHARACTER inherent in both God and the
Word!
This kind of character must be DEVELOPED, by the CHOICE and
the INTENT of the one in whom it comes to exist.
So mark well this super-vital truism -- that perfect, holy and
righteous character is the supreme feat of accomplishment
possible for Almighty God the Creator -- it is also the means to
His ultimate supreme PURPOSE! His final objective!
But HOW?
I repeat, such perfect character must be developed. It
requires the free choice and decision of the separate entity in
whom it is to be created. But, further, even then it must be
instilled by and from the Holy God who, only, has such righteous
character to endow.
Perfect, holy and righteous character is the ability in such
separate entity to come to discern the true and right way from
the false, to make voluntarily a full and unconditional surrender
to God and His perfect way -- to yield to be conquered by God -- to
determine even against temptation or self-desire, to live and to
do the right. And even then such holy character is the gift of
God. It comes by yielding to God to instill HIS LAW (God's right
way of life) within the entity who so decides and wills.
Actually, this perfect character comes only from God, as
instilled within the entity of His creation, upon voluntary
acquiescence, even after severe trial and test.
I have devoted a few paragraphs to this point because it is
the supreme pinnacle means in God's overall PURPOSE!
Now as to the pre-historic angels: God 1) created them with
minds capable of thinking, reasoning, making choices and
decisions with self-will, and, 2) revealed plainly to them His
TRUE AND RIGHTEOUS WAY. But God of necessity allowed them free
moral agency in accepting God's right way, or turning to contrary
ways of their own devising.
What was God's ULTIMATE OBJECTIVE for the angels? Beyond
question it is that which, now, because of angelic rebellion, has
become the transcendent potential of humans!
As the testing ground, and opportunity for positive and
active creative accomplishment, God created -- brought into
existence -- the entire vast material universe.
God now created not only matter, but with and in it energy
and such laws as man has discovered in the fields of physics and
chemistry. God formed matter to be present in both the organic
and the inorganic states.
And so we come now to that which is revealed in Genesis 1:1:
"In the beginning [of the physical universe] God created the
heavens and the earth."
As previously stated, in the King James English language
translation (AV) will be found the word "heaven" in the singular.
But this originally was written by Moses in Hebrew. And in the
Hebrew the word is in the plural -- "heavens" -- thus including not
only our earth, but the entire material UNIVERSE.
It is therefore indicated that at that time -- after the
creation of angels -- the entire universe was brought into
existence at the same time as the creation of our earth. I find
strong indication of this in other biblical internal evidence.
The Perfect Creation
The original Hebrew words (the words originally written by Moses)
imply a perfect creation. God reveals Himself as Creator of
perfection, light, and beauty. Every reference in the Bible
describes the condition of any completed phase of God's creation
as "very good" -- perfect.
This first verse of the Bible actually speaks of the
original PHYSICAL creation in its entirety -- the
universe -- including the earth, perhaps millions of years ago -- as
a perfect creation, beautiful and perfect as far as its creation
was a finished, completed work. God is a perfectionist!
In Job 38:4, 7, God is speaking specifically of the creation
of this earth. He said all the angels (created "sons of God")
shouted for joy at the creation of the earth. This reveals that
angels were created before the creation of the earth -- and
probably before the material universe. The suns, planets, and
astral bodies are material substance. Angels are individually
created Spirit beings, composed solely of Spirit.
It will come as a surprise to many to learn that angels
inhabited this earth BEFORE the creation of man. This passage
from Job implies it.
Angels on Earth Sinned
Other passages place angels on earth prior to man.
Notice II Peter 2:4-6. First in time order were "angels that
sinned." Next in time sequence, the antediluvian world beginning
with Adam, carrying through to the Flood. After that, Sodom and
Gomorrah.
This Book of books, containing the revealed knowledge of the
Creator God, tells us that God created angels as composed of
Spirit. But can you imagine angels becoming sinning angels?
Angels were created with power of thought, of decision and of
choice, else they have no individuality or character. Since sin
is the transgression of God's law, these angels rebelled against
God's law, the basis of God's government.
Notice carefully what is revealed in II Peter 2:4-5: "For if
God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to
hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved
unto judgment; and spared not the old world, but saved Noah the
eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood
upon the world of the ungodly."
These verses show that universal sin brings universal
destruction to the physical earth. The antediluvian sin,
culminating with the flood, was worldwide, universal sin.
Notice:"... the earth was filled with violence....for all
flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth....for the earth is
filled with violence ..." (Gen. 6:11-13). "But Noah found grace
in the eyes of the [Eternal].... Noah was a just man and
perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God" (verses
8-9). All flesh had sinned -- over the whole earth. But only Noah
"walked with God." So, the Flood destroyed the whole earth -- all
but Noah and his family.
The homosexual and other sins of Sodom and Gomorrah spread
over the territory of those two cities. And physical destruction
came to their entire area. The sin of the angels was worldwide;
the destruction of the physical earth was worldwide.
The verses quoted above place the sinning of the angels
prior to the antediluvian sins that started with Adam, prior to
the creation of man. And that should be a surprise revealing of
one phase of the missing dimension in knowledge! Angels inhabited
this earth before the creation of man.
And the government of God was administered on earth until
the rebellion of the sinning angels.
How long these angels inhabited the earth before the
creation of man is not revealed. It might have been millions -- or
even billions -- of years. More on that later. But these angels
sinned. Sin is the transgression of God's law (I John 3:4). And
God's law is the basis of God's government. So we know these
angels, apparently a third of all the angels (Rev. 12:4),
sinned -- rebelled against the government of God. And sin carries
penalties. The penalty for the sin of the angels is not death, as
it is for man. Angels are immortal Spirit beings and cannot die.
These Spirit beings had been given dominion over the PHYSICAL
EARTH as a possession and an abode.
The universal, worldwide sin of the angels resulted in the
physical destruction of the face of the earth.
God is Creator. God is also ruler over His creation. He
preserves what He creates by His government. What God creates, He
has created for a purpose -- to be used, preserved, and maintained.
And this use is regulated by God's government. When the angels
rebelled against God's government, the preservation of the
physical earth and all its original beauty and glory ceased -- and
physical destruction to the surface of the earth resulted!
God is Creator, Preserver, and Ruler.
Satan is Destroyer!
So, now, we read in Jude 6-7: "And the angels which kept not
their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath
reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment
of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities
about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication,
and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example,
suffering the vengeance of eternal fire."
Now back to Genesis 1:1-2. Verse 1, as stated above, implies
a perfect creation. God is the author of life, of beauty, of
perfection. Satan has brought only darkness, ugliness,
imperfection, violence. Verse 1 shows the creation of a perfect
earth, glorious and beautiful. Verse 2 reveals the result of the
sin of the angels.
"And the earth was [became] without form, and void." The
words "without form and void" are translated from the Hebrew tohu
and bohu. A better translation is "waste and empty" or "chaotic
and in confusion." The word "was" is elsewhere in Genesis
translated "became," as in Genesis 19:26. In other words, the
earth, originally created perfect and beautiful, had now become
chaotic, waste, and empty, like our moon, except its surface was
covered with water.
David was inspired to reveal how God renewed the face of the
earth: "Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou
the face of the earth" (Ps. 104:30).
Now another surprise for most readers. Here is another bit
of the missing dimension in knowledge, actually revealed in the
Bible, but unrecognized by religion, by science, and by higher
education.
From verse 2 of Genesis 1 on, the remainder of this first
chapter of the Bible is not describing the original creation of
the earth. But it is describing a renewing of the face of the
earth, after it had become waste and empty as a result of the sin
of the angels.
What is described from verse 2 on, in the supposed "Creation
chapter" of the Bible, did occur, according to the Bible,
approximately 6,000 years ago. But that could have been millions
or trillions of years after the actual creation of the earth
described in verse 1!
I will comment later on the length of time it might have
taken before all earth's angels turned to rebellion.
The earth had become waste and empty. God did not create it
waste and empty, or in confusion. God is not the author of
confusion (I Cor. 14:33). This same Hebrew word -- tohu -- meaning
waste and empty, was inspired in Isaiah 45:18, where it is
translated "in vain." Using the original Hebrew word, as
originally inspired, it reads: "For thus saith the [Eternal] that
created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made
it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain [tohu], he
formed it to be inhabited."
Continue now with the remainder of verse 2 (Gen. 1) (the
earth had become chaotic, waste, and empty): "And darkness was
upon the face of the deep [the ocean or fluid surface of the
earth]. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God
saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from
the darkness" (verses 2-4).
Satan is the author of darkness. The rebellion of the angels
had caused the darkness. God is the author of light and truth.
Light displays and enhances beauty, and also exposes evil.
Darkness hides both.
The verses which follow in this first chapter of the Bible
describe the renewing of the face of the earth, yielding
beautiful lawns, trees, shrubs, flowers, vegetation -- then the
creation of fish and fowl, animal life, and finally man.
The Great Lucifer
But first, before coming to man, we need to fill in the
prehistory portion.
How did this sin of the angels come to take place? How did
it start?
Remember, God the Creator preserves, improves and enhances
what He creates by His government. What He creates is created to
be used. This earth was to be inhabited and used by angels,
originally.
When God placed angels -- apparently a third of all (Rev.
12:4) -- on the newly created, perfect, beautiful and glorious
earth, He set over them, on a throne, to administer the
government of God, an archangel -- the great cherub Lucifer. There
were only two other beings of this extremely high rank of cherub,
Michael and Gabriel.
So far as is revealed, these are the supreme pinnacle of
Spirit-composed beings within God's power to create. This Lucifer
was a super being of awesome, majestic beauty, dazzling
brightness, supreme knowledge, wisdom and power -- perfect as God
created him! But God of necessity created in him the power of
choice and decision, or he could not have been a being of
individuality and character.
I want you to grasp fully the supreme magnificence of this
towering pinnacle of God's created beings. Two different biblical
passages tell us of his original created state.
First, notice what is revealed in Isaiah 14. (This famous
chapter begins with the time, shortly ahead of us now, when the
Eternal God shall have intervened in this world's affairs. The
people of Israel -- not necessarily or exclusively the Israelis or
Judah -- shall have been taken as captive slaves, and God shall
intervene and bring them back to the original promised homeland.)
"And it shall come to pass in the day that the Lord shall give
thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard
bondage wherein thou wast made to serve, that thou shalt take up
this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the
oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased! The Lord hath broken
the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers. He who
smote the people in wrath ... he that ruled the nations in
anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth" (verses 3-6).
This is NOT speaking of the king of ancient Babylon,
Nebuchadnezzar. The time is yet ahead of us -- but shortly ahead.
It is speaking of the modern successor of that ancient
Nebuchadnezzar. It is speaking of the one who will be RULER of
the soon-coming resurrected "Holy Roman Empire " -- a sort of
soon-coming "United States of Europe" -- a union of ten nations to
rise up out of or following the Common Market of today. Britain
will NOT be in that empire soon to come.
This united Europe will conquer Israel -- if you know who
Israel is today, and I do not mean Judah, known as the Israelis
today. All that involves a number of other prophecies, which
there is not room here to explain.
But this "king of Babylon" shall at the time of this
prophecy have been utterly defeated by the intervention of the
living Christ in His power and glory. Continue on:
"The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth
into singing. Yea, the fir trees rejoice ... and the cedars of
Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up
against us" (verses 7-8).
(I want to interpose an interesting bit of information right
here. The cedars of Lebanon, biblically famous, are almost
totally cut down. Only one small clump of these trees remains,
high in the mountains. I have seen and photographed them.
However, perhaps the finest specimen of the cedars of Lebanon
surviving on earth are on what was previously our Ambassador
College Campus in England. We prized them highly. It is
interesting to see that this prophecy, written some 500 years
B.C., should record the fact that these beautiful and stately
trees should have been so largely felled.)
This passage in Isaiah 14 speaks of the doom of this coming
king at the hands of the glorified, all-powerful Christ. It
refers to him as Satan's chief political ruler and military
destroyer, totally deceived by Satan in the years very shortly
ahead of us.
Then, coming to verse 12, this human earthly type of Satan
the devil suddenly transposes to Satan himself -- the former
archangel, Lucifer:
"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the
morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken
the nations!" A better translation here is: "How art thou, who
didst weaken the nations, cut down to the ground." The RSV
translates it: "How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid
the nations low!" This the former Lucifer did through the human
political-military leader in his power -- spoken of in the first
eleven verses.
The name "Lucifer" means "Shining star of the dawn," or
"Bringer of light," as God first created him. Now continue: "For
thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will
exalt my throne above the stars [angels] of God."
Notice, Lucifer had a throne; he was a ruler. His throne was
on earth, for he was going to ascend into heaven. Continue: "I
will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of
the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will
be like the most High" (verses 13-14). Actually, it is plain that
Lucifer had nothing less in mind than knocking the Creator God
off His throne and becoming supreme God himself.
Apparently he planned to put himself in place of God, over
the universe!
But finally, as the context returns again to the human type:
"Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell [Heb. sheol ], to the
sides of the pit" (verse 15).
From that point, the thought returns to the human king.
Lucifer was the supreme masterpiece of God's creative power, as
an individually created being, threatening, as a Frankenstein
monster, to destroy his own maker -- and assume all His powers to
rule the whole universe.
His rebel rule was NOT a government based upon the principle
of love -- of giving, of outgoing concern for the good of others,
but based on SELF-CENTEREDNESS, on vanity, lust and greed, on
envy, jealousy, the spirit of competition, hatred, violence and
destruction, on darkness and error, instead of light and truth,
on ugliness instead of beauty.
Look now at the other biblical passage describing this
supreme angelic creation of God, in Ezekiel 28.
Lucifer a Created Being
Actually, the entire concept in chapter 26 speaks of the ancient
great commercial city of Tyre. It was the commercial metropolis
of the ancient world, even as Babylon was the political capital.
Tyre was the New York, the London, the Tokyo, or the Paris of the
ancient world. The ancient Tyre, port of the world's shippers and
merchants, gloried herself in her beauty, even as Paris in our
time.
Chapter 27 carries on with comparisons to passages in the
eighteenth chapter of the book of Revelation referring to a
politico-religious leader to come (verses 9-19).
But coming to chapter 28, the theme comes more completely to
the time just now ahead of us, the same time depicted in Isaiah
14. Ezekiel 28 speaks of the prince of Tyre, an earthly ruler.
God says to the prophet Ezekiel: "Son of man, say unto the prince
of Tyrus [actually referring to a powerful religious leader to
arise SOON, in our time], Thus saith the [Eternal] God; Because
thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a god, I sit
in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man,
and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:
Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they
can hide from thee: with thy wisdom and with thine understanding
thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver
into thy treasures [or "treasuries"-RSV] ... and thine heart is
lifted up because of thy riches: therefore thus saith the
[Eternal] God; Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of
God; behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the
terrible of the nations ... they shall bring thee down to the pit,
and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst
of the seas" (Ezek. 28:2-8). (Compare with II Thessalonians 2:4,
speaking of that man of sin, "who opposeth and exalteth himself
above all that is called, ... so that he as God sitteth in the
temple of God, showing himself that he is God.")
What a Super Being!
But at this point, as in Isaiah 14, the lesser human type lifts
to a greater spirit antitype. Instead of the prince of Tyre -- a
human man -- it now speaks of the KING of Tyre. This is the same
Lucifer.
Ezekiel the prophet continues:
"Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of
man, take up a lamentation upon the KING of Tyrus, and say unto
him, Thus saith the [Eternal] God; Thou sealest up the sum, full
of wisdom, and perfect in beauty" (verses 11-12).
Please read that again! God would never say anything like
that of a human man. This superb spirit being filled up the sum
total of wisdom, perfection and beauty. He was the supreme
pinnacle, the masterpiece, of God's creation, as an individually
created being, the greatest one in the almighty power of God to
create! The tragic thing is that he rebelled against his Maker!
"Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God" (verse 13). He
had inhabited this earth. His throne was here. "Every precious
stone was thy covering ... the workmanship of thy tabrets and of
thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created"
(verse 13). He was a created being -- not born human. He was a
Spirit being -- not human flesh. Great genius and skill in music
was created in him. Now that he has become perverted in all
thinking, acting and being, he is the real author of modern
perverted music -- of discordant moans, squawks, shrieks,
wails -- unhappy, discouraged moods. Think of all the supreme
talent, ability, and potential in a being created with such
capacities. And all perverted! All gone sour -- all dissipated,
turned to hatred, destruction, hopelessness!
Yet, take courage. The awesome human potential, if we care
enough about it to resist Satan's wiles and evils and
discouragements and to persevere in God's way, is infinitely
superior and higher than Lucifer's -- even as created, before he
turned to rebellion and iniquity!
But continuing the particular revelation of this crucially
important missing dimension in knowledge: "Thou art the anointed
cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so," says God of this
Lucifer. This takes us back to the twenty-fifth chapter of
Exodus, where God gave Moses the pattern for the Ark of the
Covenant. The description begins with verse 10, and verses 18-20
show, in the material pattern, the two cherubs who were stationed
at each end of the very throne of God in heaven -- the throne of
the government of God over the entire universe. The wings of the
two cherubim covered the throne of God.
Trained at Universe Headquarters
This Lucifer, then, had been stationed at the very throne of God.
He was trained and experienced in the administration of the
government of God. God chose such a being, well-experienced and
trained, to be the king ruling the government of God over the
angels who inhabited the whole earth.
Continue: "... thou wast upon the holy mountain of God;
thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire."
This is not talking about any human being. But continue: "Thou
wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created,
till iniquity [lawlessness] was found in thee" (Ezek. 28:15). He
had complete knowledge, understanding and wisdom. But he also was
given full powers of reasoning, thinking, making decisions,
making his choice. And, with all this foreknowledge -- even of
results and consequences -- this superb being, the highest that
even God could create by fiat, turned to rebellion against his
Maker -- against the way that produces every good. He turned to
lawlessness. He had been trained in the administration of perfect
law and order. As long as Lucifer continued in this perfect way,
there was happiness and joy unspeakable over the whole earth.
There was glorious peace -- beautiful harmony, perfect love,
cooperation. The government of God produced a wonderfully happy
state -- as long as Lucifer was loyal in the conduct of God's
government.
What Caused the Angels' Sin?
What caused the angels on earth to sin, to turn to lawlessness?
Certainly the ordinary angels did not persuade this great
superbeing to turn traitor. No, it was in him that iniquity was
found. But, after how long? We don't know. God does not reveal
that! It could have been any number of years from one or less to
millions times millions.
And then, even after Lucifer himself made the decision to
rebel and try to invade God's heaven to take over the universe,
it is not revealed how long it took him to persuade all of the
angels under him to turn traitor and follow him.
I know well the method he used. He uses the same method
still today in leading deceived humans into disloyalty,
rebellion, and self-centered opposition against God's government.
First, he turns one or two to envy, jealousy, and resentment over
an imagined injustice -- then into disloyalty. Then he uses that
one or two, like a rotten apple in a crate, to stir up
resentment, feelings of self-pity, disloyalty and rebellion in
others next to them. And, as each rotten apple rots those next to
it until the whole crate is rotten, so Satan proceeds.
If, in the government of God on earth today, the "rotten
apples" are not thrown out early enough, they would destroy the
whole government. But, once thrown out of the crate, they cannot
do any more damage to those in the crate.
But think how long it must have taken the soured and
embittered Lucifer to turn millions of holy angels into
resentment, bitterness, disloyalty, and finally open and vicious
rebellion. It could have taken hundreds, thousands, or millions
of years. This was all before the first human was created.
All this happened after the original creation of the earth,
described in verse 1 of Genesis 1. Verse 2 of this "creation"
chapter describes a condition resulting from this sin of the
angels. The events described in verse 2, therefore, may have
occurred millions of years after the original creation of the
earth.
The earth, therefore, may have been created millions of
years ago. But continue this passage in Ezekiel 28: "By the
multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee
with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee
as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy
[remove] thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of
fire. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast
corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast
thee to the ground ..." (verses 16-17). At this point the
context returns to the soon-to-appear, human, religious-political
ruler -- of whom the prince of ancient Tyre was a forerunner.
Earlier in this chapter, I showed you how physical
destruction, ugliness, and darkness had covered the face of the
earth, as the result of the sin of Lucifer (who is now the Devil)
and these "angels that sinned" (now demons), and how in six days
God had renewed the face of the earth (Gen. 1:2-25).
But why did God create man on the earth (Gen. 1:26)?
Look at this situation as God does. God has given us humans
minds, like the mind of God, only inferior and limited. God made
us in His image, after His likeness (form and shape), only
composed of matter instead of Spirit. But God says, "Let this
mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 2:5). We
can, to some degree, think even as God thinks. How must God have
looked at the situation, as He started renewing the face of the
earth -- after the colossal debacle of the angels!
He had created a beautiful, perfect creation in the earth.
He populated it with holy angels -- probably millions of them. He
put over them, as king, on an earthly throne, the archangel -- the
cherub Lucifer. Lucifer was the supreme masterpiece of God's
creative power as a single separately created Spirit being. He
was the most perfect in beauty, power, mind, knowledge,
intellect, wisdom, within the almighty power of God to create.
God can create nothing higher or more perfect, by instantaneous
fiat.
Yet this great being, knowledgeable, trained and experienced
at God's own throne in heaven over the universe and the
administration of the government of God, had rejected that
government, corrupted his way, rebelled against administering or
even obeying it. He had led all his angels astray and into the
sin of rebellion and disloyalty.
Now consider further. Apparently the entire universe had
been created also at the time of the earth's creation. There is
no evidence either in God's revealed Word, nor in science, that
any of the planets in endless outer space had been inhabited with
any form of life. But God does nothing in vain. He always has a
purpose.
Apparently all such planets in the entire universe NOW are
waste and empty -- decayed (tohu and bohu) -- like the earth was, as
described in Genesis 1:2. But God did not create them in such
conditions of decay -- like our moon. Decay is not an original
created condition -- it is a condition resulting from a process of
deterioration. Evidently if the now fallen angels had maintained
the earth in its original beautiful condition, improved it,
carried out God's instructions, and obeyed His government, they
would have been offered the awesome potential of populating and
carrying out a tremendous creative program throughout the entire
universe. When they turned traitor on earth, their sin must have
also brought simultaneously physical destruction to the other
planets throughout the universe, which were potentially and
conditionally put in subjection to them.
As God surveyed this cataclysmic tragedy, He must have
realized that since the highest, most perfect being within His
almighty power to create, had turned to rebellion, it left God
Himself as the only being who would not and cannot sin.
And God is the father of the Divine God Family.
Notice John 1:1-5. The "Word" who was "made flesh" (verse
14) has existed always -- from eternity -- with the Father. God the
Father has created all things -- the entire universe -- by Him who
became Jesus Christ (Eph. 3:9; Col. 1:16-17).
When Jesus was on earth, He prayed to God, His Father in
heaven. The Father spoke of Jesus as "my beloved son, in whom I
am well pleased." Jesus lived on earth as a human, tempted in all
points as we are, yet without sin.
The fourth word in all the Bible is "God" (Gen. 1:1). And
the original Hebrew word is "Elohim," a uni-plural noun like the
word family, church, or group. The family is God. There is one
God -- the one Family, but more than one Person.
God saw that no being less than God, in the God Family,
could be certainly relied on never to sin -- to be like God -- who
cannot sin. To fulfill His purpose for the entire vast universe,
God saw that nothing less than Himself (as the God Family) could
be absolutely relied upon to carry out that supreme purpose in
the entire universe.
God then purposed to reproduce Himself, through humans, made
in His image and likeness, but made first from material flesh and
blood, subject to death if there is sin unrepented of -- yet with
the possibility of being born into the Divine Family begotten by
God the Father.
God saw how this could be done through Christ, who gave
Himself for that purpose.
And that is why God put man on the earth! That is what
caused God to do this most colossal, tremendous thing ever
undertaken by the supreme, almighty God -- to reproduce Himself!
The following chapter will make this undeniably clear.