As a person, I have so many questions for which I wish I knew the answer. As a Christian, I have fewer questions for which I need the answer. For instance, I don't need to know if the hot blonde babe is digging me. I don't need to know the lottery numbers. I don't need to know if I can get away with a little white lie to the IRS.
Not only do I not need the answers to a lot of question, but, as a Christian, I know the answer to a lot more questions. One of the biggest of them is the question of creation. Why did God create mankind and place him in the universe which he created to be his dwelling.
The simple answer is found in Revelation 4:11 (KJV), "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." But, this begs the question. What pleasure could we provide God?
Let us attempt to get some insight into the mind of God, so we can answer this? We know that "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my (God's) ways higher than your ways and my (God's) thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:9). This is reiterated in Romans 11:33, "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!" If we are to get answer, God will have to provide them in the Bible, because our feeble attempts at reasoning can no way compare to God's thinking.
The question having been posed needs some attention. And, the point having been made that we need God's help to understand why. Then we will turn to his word, the Bible, to find the answer. Consider how Adam and Eve came to be in the Garden of Eden. Some of the scriptures about Adam and Eve will provide insight into God's special care for and relationship with mankind.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them" (Genesis 1:27 KJV). "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. … And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him" (Gen 2:7-23). "And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man" (Genesis 1:28). … " And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?"(Genesis 3:6-9).
An image is not the real thing. So, we are not mini-gods or god-like. We are human being. But, God made man superior to all his creation in that mankind was to have dominion over all on this Earth. And, we unlike all of the creatures on Earth are able to know God, to love God, to worship God, to serve God and to fellowship with God.
God can observe the acts of the creatures he created and God can communicate with them, if he chooses. It appears from the above that He did come regularly in the cool of the day and walk and talk with Adam and Eve; He enjoyed fellowship with them. Does God need this? I don't know, but he must have wanted it. He did create the universe and place man in it. So, God created man to have fellowship with him. But, there was a problem.
When the thought entered the mind of God that he would create a people to bring him pleasure, He immediately knew that Satan would tempt man causing man to sin. This rebellion against God would stand between mankind and God. It would keep mankind from entering into the presence of God. Jesus words from the cross which were taken from Psalm 22:1, " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" points to this fact. Thus, man's choice to sin eternally separated man from the presence of God. God knew that He had to bring an end to sin in order to fully enjoy His creation. So, he developed a plan to do just that. Specifically, he had a plan " to finish the transgression and to make an end of sins, and to make atonement for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy" (Daniel 9:24). How this is accomplished is the next in this series of articles. All that is happening in the world is part of God's plan to restore man, so that he can once again walk with God in the cool of the evening.
