I AM THE ALPHA AND THE OMEGA. These words echo in my mind as I think of the glory of creation by an omnipotent God eternally unconstrained by time, space, matter, or anything that we can possibly comprehend using our limited minds.
Existing eternally in perfect unity and fellowship, God out of an overflow of love, decided to create. The eternal Logos spoke the cosmos into being. For the Word was with God and the Word was God.
Among His creation was a host of angels, spiritual beings with a free will. Utterly enamored in awe of the majestic scene that no ear has heard and no eye seen, they could not but sing “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord Almighty!”
Yet somehow in the midst of all this glory, and for reasons unbeknownst to man, one of those angels, who most likely held a position of authority over the angels, decided he wanted to be in charge. He wanted to be King. So he fell from the glory that he once beheld face to face, along with angels that followed him. God’s heart must have broke to see this happen. But this is the price of freedom. This is the price of love.
No one knows how much time went by, or if there even was “time” as we know it now.
Then God decided to create again. But this time His creation would not be of mere spiritual beings, this time He would give them a physical body. They would be both spiritual and physical. Not only so, but for the first time ever, He would create a being in His own image; a being for whom He created the entire cosmos with perfect precision; a precision that will not be fully discovered in all of human history.
Once again God created out of an overflow of love. He still existed in perfect triune unity and fellowship, yet He wanted to create a being in His own image whom He would invite to fellowship within His triune nature. What an incomprehensible thought!
So God created man in His own image. Male and female He created them. He named the man Adam. And He created a helper comparable to him from Adam’s rib, and Adam named her Eve. For the first time God does not just speak into existence, but He forms man with His hands and breathes into him the breath of life. And He gives man stewardship over His creation. Man is created to work with God; to govern and care for God’s breath-taking masterpiece.
What incredible fellowship Adam and Eve must have enjoyed! The Lord God walking with them in perfect fellowship and harmony! But someone didn’t like what was happening. The Deceiver, the Liar, whose mission is to steal, kill, and destroy, had an evil plan. Would man fall for it?
Taking the form of a serpent, he did what he does best. He lied. He said to Eve, “Did God really say that you must not eat from any of the trees in the Garden?”
Unfortunately, Adam and Eve took the bait. Satan used the same line that caused his fall, “you will be like God.” He wanted to be like God and fell. And here were Adam and Eve, they too thinking that they don’t need God as King. They wanted to rule their own world.
Immediately after their sin, God looked for them. He loved them more than they could ever comprehend and was heartbroken that they chose to ask Him to leave the world that He had created. For in eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, Adam and Eve were basically telling God that they wanted to determine what was good and evil for themselves. They didn’t need God. Or so they thought.
Once again God loved and with love comes freedom. And so they departed from the presence of God and set out to rule their own world. But the Deceiver would not let them rule on their own. This was his chance. He would take over the rule and become the Prince of the Power of the Air. And humanity would continue living in a state of anomie; this miserable state of lawlessness with no point of reference for good and evil.
Yet God would not give up. For at the moment of the Fall, while pronouncing the verdict for man’s sin, He offered a glorious, unfathomable promise. The eternal Logos had a plan that He Himself would execute, but this time not through speech.
But that’s for another story.