Would you like a mind-numbing assignment? Try to imagine what God was doing before He created the universe. My imagination sees Him in communion with the Son and the Holy Spirit, taking His time (although He had to create that, too) as they pondered every person who ever lived and how each would serve His purposes. That’s an easy job when considering people like Joseph, Abraham, or the Apostle Paul. But what of Joe Schmo, who lives down the street and talks with nobody? How is God using him? What about the evilest people you can think of? How did God use them to bring glory to Himself? What if God the Father looked at the Son (who is also God) and declared, “What say we send me to redeem the same beings who decided I wasn’t enough?”
I told you it’s a mind-numbing assignment… and it’s totally fiction. God already knows all things throughout eternity. We just can’t imagine the unimaginable—that’s why this assignment is more than mind-numbing. It’s mind-blowing! God gave us everything He wants us to know from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21. Anything else is pure unbiblical speculation—fiction.
However, let’s consider the same question through the lens of Scripture—our best and most trustworthy guide.
What Does the Bible Tell Us about God’s Role as Creator?
God exists. We know this inherently. Whether we perceive Him through His divine nature and eternal power (Romans 1:19-20a) or come to know Him through the Bible—through His Son, Jesus Christ (Colossians 1)—we cannot but know Him. We have no excuse (Romans 1:20b). His Word says He created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1). He also created living beings, both creatures, and humans (Genesis 1:24-27). We can’t help but wonder, “What was God doing before He created the universe?”
What Happened Before God Created the World?
God’s ways are not ours. How He created the heavens and the earth may remain a mystery even after we are in heaven. What He was doing before He created everything is another completely unanswerable question. Don Stewart relates an anecdote about this question:
“Saint Augustine had two answers to those who asked what was God doing before creation. Jokingly he said, ‘God was preparing Hell for people who ask such questions.’ On a serious level, he noted there was no time before God created and hence the question is meaningless.”
Nevertheless, we are curious beings, and we still want to know.
We can infer some things from what we know about God’s attributes. He has never done nothing, and God never experiences boredom. God is omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, eternal, self-existent, immutable (Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever), self-sufficient, wise, faithful, good, just, merciful, gracious, loving, holy, and glorious.
One might wrongly think God was lonely before He created the universe. But He is a social being who has been in communion with the Son and the Holy Spirit forever. Time did not exist before God created it. We humans are limited by our time constraints. God, being eternal, has no limits. This fact is vital as we ponder what God was doing before He created the universe. God exists in the past, the present, and the future. Time has no bearing on Him. If it did, He wouldn’t be God. It’s a hard concept to grasp, but look at what Ephesians 1:4 says. God loved us “before the foundation of the world.” God was busy loving us; we know that.
Revelation 1:8 states, “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
What else was He doing? Ken Hamm of Answers in Genesis says, “When I’m teaching children, I like to explain it this way. There was no ‘before’ God created. There was not even ‘nothing’! God exists in eternity. This is something humans, as finite created beings, can never really understand. That’s why the Bible makes it clear there is always a “faith” aspect to our understanding of God. Now, biblical faith is not against reason, but such things go beyond our understanding.”
When thinking about this question, some wonder about the timing of the war in heaven mentioned in Revelation 12. Did that war take place before God created the universe?
Revelation 12:7–9 depicts a confrontation in heaven between the archangel Michael and his angels versus Satan (the dragon) and his rebellious angels. Satan is defeated in this battle, and he and his angels are hurled to earth (this scene also appears in Daniel 10).
This war in heaven is the counterpart to Satan’s failure to destroy Jesus. In this, we see a picture of the results of Jesus’ work as Redeemer and in His preeminence. Satan, who said he would ascend to heaven (Isaiah 14:13), is already a defeated adversary. Before, he had stood as an accuser. Now he was cast out of heaven.
Some say this war in heaven is a future event that will occur during the tribulation and End Times period. Most scholars agree, however, that this war occurred because of Jesus’ incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension. Jesus’ last words on the cross were, “It is finished” (John 19:30). Michael and his angels were commanded to banish Satan and his angels from heaven when Christ completed His atoning work on the cross. As believers, we now have victory over the devil’s wiles and walk in a triumphal procession with Jesus (2 Corinthians 2:14).
Once again, we consider the timing. Faith is an important key. We must have faith to believe all the Bible says, and without faith, it is impossible to please God, Creator of the universe (Hebrews 11:6). In the end, what God did before He created the universe matters not. What does matter is He is God.
What Does it Mean That God Created the Universe?
(For this article, we will use the terms “world” and “universe” to mean our physical universe, “the heavens and the earth.”)
To better regard what God was doing before He created the world, it will be good to look at His act of creation.
As we have seen, Genesis 1:1 reads, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
The Westminster Shorter Catechism states creation is “God’s making all things of nothing, by the word of His power, in the space of six days, and all very good” (WSC9). Scriptures cited in this are Genesis 1:1, Psalm 33:6,9, Hebrews 11:3, and Genesis 1:31.
“Of nothing.” What on earth? Actually, what in heaven! Theologians use the term ex nihilo, which means, “out of nothing.” God didn’t use anything existing and redesign it into our present world. God created the universe with His breath, as in He spoke the world into existence (Genesis 1:3; Psalm 33:6,9; Isaiah 40:26). The universe is of Him and for Him with nothing external added. We find this utterly inconceivable because we try to understand God from a human point of view, which is impossible. He is beyond our understanding (e.g., Isaiah 40:28, 55:8-9; Job 5:9, 11:7, 36:26; Romans 11:33-34).
God’s act of creation is supernatural and completely other than a human’s conception and an act of creating. We take an object, either in natural form (like a rock or dirt) or man-made (e.g., a blank canvas and paints), and create something else out of it for our purposes.
Did God Exist Before He Created the World?
Because God created the World, He had to have existed before. He is uncreated and eternal.
Ephesians 1:3-4 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him.”
Following are 12 truths and their Scriptural supports.
1. Psalm 90:2 is a beautiful exaltation of our Creator, “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.”
2. The Lord created the heavens and formed the earth and man’s spirit (not re-formed) (Zechariah 12:1).
3. God created the heavens and the earth to be inhabited (Isaiah 45:18).
4. God set the moon and stars in place (Psalm 8:3).
5. God is exalted as the one who made and preserves everything (Nehemiah 9:6).
6. Our help is in God’s name, the one who made heaven and earth (Psalm 124:8).
7. God made heaven and earth (Psalm 115:15).
8. The everlasting God laid the earth’s foundations and created the heavens (Psalm 102:25-27).
9. Jesus, being one with God, is before all things (Colossians 1:17).
10. By God’s will, everything exists (Revelation 4:11).
11. In the beginning, God laid the earth’s foundation, and he created the heavens (Hebrews 1:10).
12. Jesus, who is God, made everything (John 1:1-2).
Does Genesis 1:1 Mean He Created the Universe or Just the World?
The phrase “the heavens and earth” encompasses every bit of created matter. Therefore, God created the universe and the world, which is part of the universe. Corroborating Bible verses include Exodus 20:11, Nehemiah 9:6, John 11:3, Colossians 1:16, and Revelation 4:11).
Further, the phrase “the heavens and the earth” has two components. “The heavens” refers to the sky and the vast expanse beyond with all the stars and planets. The earth is the firmament that we human beings inhabit.
Why Did God Create the Universe?
Ultimately, God created the universe for His glory. On the way to His ultimate glory, though, are other aspects of His design and purpose.
1. He created it for Himself (Romans 11:36).
2. He created it by His will and for His pleasure (Ephesians 1:5; Revelation 4:11).
3. He created it so he would be known (Romans 1:18-32; Ephesians 3:9, 10).
4. The ultimate reason, as stated, is for His glory (Isaiah 43:7; Psalm 19:1).
In conclusion, we serve a good God who has loved us since before He created the heavens and the earth. We can be thankful we have been called to His kingdom by Jesus’ gracious and merciful atonement for us. For us, what matters is God called us to saving faith in Jesus.
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