Why did God create the world?
Repost while I am on leave
This week I am taking a break to focus on finishing a bunch of work for a research project I am involved in. So while I am on leave, I thought I would reshare the post that started this whole journey. So enjoy this one this week, and I will be back next week.
Why did God create the world? This is a question we need to wrestle with before we begin our journey. Before we even open Genesis chapter 1, we need to think about God’s thoughts in Genesis chapter 0. Why did he make the universe? If we don’t understand that, we cannot understand anything that follows properly.
The Bible is clear: God created the universe to glorify God.
Creation reveals God’s glory
God is a glorious God. In the creation, his power and might are displayed for all to see. We all know this - every time we see a beautiful sunset and feel a stirring within our hearts, it is because the glorious sunset reveals a glorious God. This is why the Psalmist cries out in Psalm 19:1
"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands."
And it is not just the skies above that declare God’s glory. It is all creation, from the smallest insect to the largest albatross. This is what the prophet Isaiah saw when he was commissioned to speak God’s word to Israel. He had a vision of God’s glorious throne in heaven, and there were these seraphim (a type of angel) flying around, and this is what Isaiah saw:
"And they were calling to one another: 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.'"
The whole earth is full of his glory.
The apostle Paul makes a similar argument in Romans 1:20:
“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”
Creation reveals God’s glory.
But it is not just creation as a whole that reveals God’s glory. Humans in particular were created for the express purpose of glorifying God.
Humans were made to glorify God
Genesis 1:27 tells us why God made humans:
"So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them."
We were made to bear his image. That means we are to reflect God in his creation. We were made to be mirrors so that when someone looks at us, they would think “How great is God”.
God himself declares that this is why we were made: Look at what He says through the prophet Isaiah says in chapter 43:6-7:
"Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth—everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made."
“Whom I created for my glory”… If you ever wondered whether you have a purpose - yes you do. You were made to glorify God. That is why the Apostle Paul tells the Christians in Corinth, that since they are now believers in Jesus, they are to glorify God in whatever they do. Since their sins had been wiped away, they were now free to pursue their original purpose - to glorify God.
1 Corinthians 10:31: "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."
So the creation glorifies God, and humanity was created to glorify God.
However, true as that may be, these two aspects speak only about how God is glorified, but not why. So why did he do it?
God made the universe to glorify God
Sometimes we fail to remember that God the Father, Son and Spirit had a conversation before the universe was created. When this conversation happened, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit agreed to make the universe - knowing that it would result in the death of God the Son. God was not surprised when sin entered the world. The Son agreed before the world was ever made, that he would ultimately go to the cross to suffer the wrath of God the Father against sin. They agreed on this before there was ever anyone to sin.
Notice how the Apostle Peter describes Jesus in 1 Peter 1:18-21:
18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
The original Greek for the “he was chosen” word literally means he was foreknown. That is, God, as a Trinity, already knew that if the creation was created then Jesus would one day suffer and die in our place, in that creation. God agreed to do it, for his own glory.
Not only that, but before the creation of the world God also chose those for whom Jesus would die. We see this in at least three places in scripture:
Ephesians 1:4-5 - "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love ,he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will."
Romans 8:28-30 - "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified."
2 Timothy 1:9 - "He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time."
So we see that there was a plan from before the world was created for God to glorify God. Jesus himself shows us that this is how he understood his own crucifixion: as an act that would glorify God.
As terrible as it was for him to go through it, he knew it was the step that was necessary for himself to be glorified by the Father, and for him to glorify the Father. In John 17:1-5 just before Jesus goes to the cross, this is his prayer:
"Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now, this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began."
Jesus knew his crucifixion was the moment God would glorify God. Now if it is true that the Triune Godhead had the crucifixion planned and that the crucifixion was planned to glorify God, we have to wonder: How does the crucifixion actually glorify God? Crucifixion is a terrible suffering-filled way to die. Now imagine adding God pouring out his wrath on you while being crucified - that doesn’t seem particularly glorifying. So then, how does the crucifixion glorify God?
God the Son died to Glorify God
We have to recognise that it was necessary for Jesus to die for God to be glorified. Consider God’s attributes: He is perfectly holy, perfectly merciful and perfectly loving, but at the same time he is perfectly just, and perfectly wrathful at sin. For God to be glorified all these traits have to be expressed in their fullness.
The only way for God to do that is through having enemies against whom his wrath against sin could be expressed. But for him to be perfectly righteousness, he could not be the author of sin, so he created people with free will. We needed to be able to choose to sin freely, which we did and when we did we became God’s enemies. But then to be perfectly loving God would need to love his enemies, and for him to be merciful he would have to forgive our sins. But for him to be perfectly just he had to punish sin. The only way all of these things could be true was for God himself to take the punishment for sin on himself - which is exactly what happens.
So in the death of God the Son which he agreed to before the creation even began, we see God glorified.
The Bible ends with God fully glorified
We see in Revelation how the theme of God glorifying God continues to be developed. We see, for example, the people Jesus saves in the great multitude in eternity do nothing but give him glory. We read in Revelation 7 how this great multitude stands around the throne of the Lamb (Jesus) and eternally glorifies him, crying out “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb”.
Finally when the world is ultimately recreated we see that God’s glory is so “bright” that in the new heavens and the new earth, there is no need for the sun because:
"The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp." - Revelation 21:23:
And so all throughout scripture this theme is repeated. God made the universe to glorify God. Creation glorifies God. Humans were made to glorify God. God came to save sinners to glorify God. God the Son died on the cross to glorify God. When the world comes to an end the people God saved will eternally give glory to God and this glory will be so bright that the sun will disappear. Then God’s glory will be complete and the creation will have achieved its purpose: to glorify God. And that is what the Bible teaches us about why God made the universe.
Now as we start exploring the big-picture story of scripture, we need to keep this in mind. Otherwise, we might think that God sent Jesus only to save us.
No - God the Father sent Jesus the Son, for his own glory.
We are but the happy recipients of the desire of God to glorify God.
Good stuff👍🏼