#3 The “Problem” Facing God As He Considered Creating Intelligent Life
Go to #1 - Start of Study
In discussing the "Godhead" (exactly who and what it comprises) we must go back to the "Beginning" --
before the "Creation" of Heaven and Earth, and everything that exists save God Himself. This is necessarily
important because GOD is eternal and omniscient (all knowing - knowing the "end" from the "beginning").
Anything and everything God has done, is doing, or will do has a purpose - and if His
purposes are not to be thwarted or overthrown in any way, He must have made provision for every c
ontingency.
So let's consider for a moment, as much as is humanly possible, the plans of God and the predicament
in which those plans placed Him. Sometime in eternity past God purposed to Create intelligent life --
Life that would exist not only "by" Him, but also "for" Him and "with" Him. Because God is a God
of "LOVE" (because "God IS Love" (1 John 4:8)) His special, intelligent, created beings would
not only be capable of Love themselves - they must also be granted "free will" (because
Love cannot be "forced" or "imposed" on anyone or anything). This poses certain
problems because with the capacity to Love also comes the capacity, or power NOT to Love. Love must
be Chosen. In other words: Love can be given, but "giving" love does not insure
that it will be received, accepted, or returned! If God were to Create Beings capable of experiencing,
expressing and returning love (sharing in His very "essence" which is love) they must also be created as intelligent,
"Free" moral agents - capable of acknowledging and returning God's Love but also capable of deciding
to reject that Love.
God wanted intelligent beings to share His life and essence. He wanted beings that were capable
of appreciating HIM and who would acknowledge Him AS God - the source of Love. He wanted, more than
anything else to be the recipient of love as well as the giver of it! But this brought with
it the risk (just as it does with us when we choose to love another) of rejection
- the risk of being hurt - the risk of not having His love returned and thus, the inevitable
consequences of that rejection. Which, in the case of God, meant not only pain and suffering - but
also ultimately DEATH for those who would reject His Love. A life devoid of love; devoid of God; a
life chosen to be lived apart from Him; a life in which His Creatures would assert themselves
to be superior to Him could not be allowed to continue, for it would ultimately be a "Life" or existence
worse than "Death."
God, the consummate author and sustainer of life, could not allow HIS creatures (creations) of love
to continue living apart from His love. Because God is Love those beings choosing to
reject love (and therefore HIM) would, of necessity, cease to exist. Death for these beings would,
in reality, be the ultimate act of Love on God's part for they would NEVER be happy, joyous and fulfilled
apart from Him! That could be the subject of entire study in itself but, sufficient for the one at hand,
it brings into focus the problem God faced in creating intelligent, free-moral beings!
This brings up another conundrum. How could a God who IS LOVE and who's very Being is SO PURE that it
would consume anything impure instantly, create other beings that had the "potential" to become
imperfect? God knew that He would create everything "perfect," albeit with the capacity for growth.
But in the case of free-moral agents, beings with the capacity to choose to become something other
than He desired, how was He to exist in their presence -- or they in His? What was He to do?
God would have to make a way possible for created beings not only to exist in His presence but also
to interact with Him (even those who would make the mistake of doubting Him). He would
have to make it possible for intelligent beings to be able to approach and learn from Him. He would have to
make it possible for them not only to receive His Love, but also provide a way for them to share
it - a way for them to return and express their love for Him and a way for them to grow in it.
He would have to have a way to communicate with them in a way that they would understand
(He would have to come down to their level if you will). There would HAVE to be some sort of "go-between"
or mediator between Himself in His Total Consuming Purity and those with whom He wished to commune -- Someone
capable of communing in HIS physical presence while also being able to commune in the presence
of His created beings (even those who would become "imperfect" and separate from Him through sin). He would
need someone through whom He could reveal Himself while maintaining the opportunity for mercy and forgiveness
if and when that should become necessary.
That "Someone" could NOT be one of the beings He intended to create. No, that "Someone" would
have to be someone who was like Him. Indeed, someone who was ONE with Him -- someone who shared
His very essence. That someone would have to be (in human terms) "Flesh of His Flesh," "Bone of His Bone,
" Blood of His Blood"; while at the same time, being capable of partaking of the nature of the beings He
intended to create. God would need someone who could communicate His love to created beings AND
could communicate their love back to Him in return. It would have to be someone that could serve as a
mediator, if you will, between Him and His creation when Sin would appear so that they would not
simply be consumed and immediately cease to exist. Where was God to find such a being?
God was not alone:The Bible informs us in John 1:1 that;
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." That this "Word"
was the person of Jesus Christ in His pre-incarnate form is made evident by verse 14 of the same chapter:
"And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us."
This could only refer to the person of Jesus. The phrase "with God" in John 1:1 carries the meaning of being
"by the side of God" and expresses a uniqueness or individuality from God (the Father). The phrase
"was God" indicates a state of being and expresses the nature that Jesus had at this time.
So Jesus co-existed "with" God the Father as a separate or individual being, and He shared
the Father's nature of "being" God. Christ was in fact God AND existed with the Father (God)
before the creation of intelligent life. "The Word
existed as a divine being, even as the eternal Son of God, in union and oneness with his Father…Before men
or angels were created, the Word was with God, and was God." (RH April 5, 1906; par. 5).
The fact that the Father God was not alone and that He had someone else who existed with Him who shared
all of His attributes is what actually made it possible for Him to create intelligent life in whom
would be imbued the capacity and freedom of choice. Had He been alone in His creation of intelligent beings
possessing the freedom to choose whom they would serve (God or "self"), those beings whom He created who
would choose to serve themselves would have been incapable of existing in His presence and
would have been instantly destroyed by His absolute purity.
This is why the Father created (and had to create) all things through the Son, Christ Jesus.
There had to be a mediator between Himself and His created beings. Someone who could fully
reveal the Father's character and purposes to His created beings and who could interact directly
with them and with Himself. Someone who could serve as a "buffer", if you will, between the Father's
absolute and consuming purity and the beings He wished to create who would fall short of His ideal - while they
were learning to serve Him, and when some would choose not to serve Him. Jesus was that person.
"From everlasting he was the Mediator of the covenant" (RH April 5, 1906; par. 5).
"Christ is mediating in behalf of man, and the order of unseen worlds also is preserved by His mediatorial work." (MYP, p. 254).
"It was for them [unfallen worlds and Angels] as well as for us that the great work of redemption had been accomplished.
They with us share the fruits of Christ's victory." (DA, p. 758). "Christ was appointed to the office of Mediator
from the creation of God, set up from everlasting to be our substitute and surety." (1SM p. 250).
The Bible clearly reveals that: "All things came into being
through Him [Christ], and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being." (John 1:3 - see also Heb. 1:1).
The Spirit of Prophecy (referred to as the "SOP" in the remainder of this book) confirms this in a most concise and clear
way - "The Father wrought by His Son in the creation
of all heavenly beings." (PP p.34, par. 2). Most of us have no problem
accepting and acknowledging this fact. However, right here is where we have missed
an important and vital Truth concerning the Godhead, the Creation, and the plan of Salvation.
Here is what we have missed:
BEFORE God could create intelligent "free-will" beings through His Son, there had to be
a change in the Nature of the Son and of the Godhead. Had Jesus maintained His
"pure God" nature, the same problem would have existed as has been outlined above. Christ's purely "God Nature"
would have consumed imperfect beings and sinners just as surely as the Father's pure nature would! So what
was the change that took place? What change had to take place in order for God to accomplish both the
work of creation and the plan of redemption? What was the change, and how would this change affect the Godhead?
| 