Lesson 2
Spirit Beings, Creation, Man
You will learn following topics in this lesson:
Do angels exist?
Do Satan and demons exits?
Is the universe a product of chance or the work of a creator?
What is the reason behind mankind’s present state?
These and many other questions of similar nature will be answered in this lesson.
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1. Angels
- What are angels, Satan and evil spirits?
- How did they come into existence?
- Where did they come from?
These questions are a subject of much discussion among people. We find the answer to these questions in the Bible, the word of God. God Himself created all spirits beings. Spirit beings are invisible beings who were created by God with a special purpose. These beings have been give various names, such as, spirits, angels, cherubs, seraphs, army of the LORD, principalities, power, rulers of darkness, “stars”, etc. The Bible is not referring to celestial bodies when calling these spirits beings “stars”, but rather the name is based on their peculiar characteristics.
- Only God existed from eternity past. None of the spirit beings existed before Him. God Himself brought them into existence and gave them life. The Bible says (in John 1:3), “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” In another place the Bible says (in Colossians 1: 16), “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him.” Therefore, spirit beings actually exist, and God created them for His purpose. The Bible says, “Thou, even thou, art LORD alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee.” Angels were created for God’s service and work. Therefore, angels serve and worship God.
- God created the angels without physical bodies. They are spirits that cannot be seen, They are able to move about freely, but they are not omnipresent like God. The word “angel” means “messenger”. In the beginning they were created perfect. They were not proud or sinful in any way. They were given great wisdom and power. It is written in the Bible, “Bless the LORD, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that so his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.”
- Those angels are innumerable. About angels the Bible tells us the there are, “…ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands.” There are so many angels that we cannot count them.
- Angels live in heaven. This raises the question, what is heaven and where is it? The Bible explains, “The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD’s throne is in heaven.” Heaven is the dwelling place of God. The Bible always indicates that heaven is up above. Heaven is a real place.
2. ORIGIN OF SATAN AND THE EVIL SPIRITS
- When God first created angels, he created and angel named Lucifer to have chief position among all the angels. Lucifer literally means bright one. ( In Ezekiel 28:14, 15) The Bible call him the “anointed cherub”. He was an innocent cherub. He had power, and he had authority over all the other angels.
- But even though Lucifer lived in heaven, where there was no sin or sickness or trouble or death, one day Lucifer rebelled against of his fall. He said, “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.” (By this he meant that he wanted to make himself like God does.) Lucifer exalted himself by saying I, I, I, I, I five times. Because of this, God expelled him from his position and from heaven. Many other angels followed Lucifer in his rebellion. God expelled them, too. Since then, Lucifer has been called Satan and his angels have been called evil spirits.
- God prepared the everlasting lake of fire for Satan and his angels (Matthew 25:41, Revelation 20:10). This everlasting fire is also called hell. All people who rebel against God and who reject God and God’s salvation will go to hell after they die. One day in the future, God will cast Satan and his angels into this lake of everlasting fire and torment forever and forever.
- Since their fall, Lucifer and his angels have hated God and they continually try to make people rebel against God and reject God’s way of salvation. But God is supreme and no one can fight against God. Those that rise up against Him do not profit. There is nobody or nothing greater than God. Moreover, He is perfect and holy. He never does unrighteousness nor is HE unjust in any way.
3. CREATION OF EARTH
The universe was not created by chance but was created by God Himself. In the Holy Bible, it is written in Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created heaven and the earth.” In the beginning there existed no one and nothing except God. Everything in the earth and universe had a beginning…but God always existed. When someone makes or builds something, he needs the necessary materials with which to make the things. No person can make something out of nothing. But what we need to realize is that God created all things without any pre-existing matter. As the Bible says ( in Hebrew 11:3), “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” Creating things from nothing is not impossible for God. The Bible says (in Jeremiah 32:17), ” Ah, Lord God! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee.” God did not need anyone’s advice to accomplish all this. He Himself has all knowledge. The Bible wisely says, “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgement, and his ways past finding out! ” (Romans 11: 33)
The earth was without form and void with God first created it. The earth was filled with darkness. The whole earth was covered with water. The spirit of God was moving upon the face of the waters. God was getting ready to bring His creation to completion. He completed His work of creation in six days. The following description gives the order of creation:
FIRST DAY:
God created light on the first day. He said, “Let there be light” and there was light. Thus began the existence of physical light. God is the source of light. God created light by merely speaking a word. He created it without using anything. Then He divided the light from the darkness. He called the light day and the darkness He called night.
SECOND DAY:
God created the firmament on the second day. Initially, the earth’s surface was covered with water. He separated the water into two places. He put one part on the earth and the other He put above in the sky. In between, He created the firmament, or open sky. The waters above covered the whole earth and carried a great quantity of water in the form of vapour. The earth’s climate was protected and made comfortable because of this special vapour covering.
THIRD DAY:
God accomplished another amazing work on the third day. He commanded and as a result the water upon the surface of the earth all gathered itself into one place and dry land appeared. How great an event must have shaken the earth then! God omnipotent was in the process of creating the world by His power. And God caused innumerable kinds of vegetation to come from the ground, bearing seed after their own kind. The appearance of grass, herbs and trees made the earth look very beautiful.
FOURTH DAY:
God did more amazing things on the fourth day. He created the sun that gives light and heat to rule the day in order to make the climate of the earth even more suitable and useful. He also created the moon to rule the night. And He instantly filled the sky with innumerable stars. This further helped to make the earth a habitable place. These celestial bodies which are useful to mankind were created by God by His spoken Word itself.
FIFTH DAY:
On the fifth day, for the first time God created living creatures that move on earth. The sea became filled with innumerable kinds of sea animals. Creatures ranging form enormous whales to microscopic aquatic life began to move about in the waters. The great empty oceans now became a place of wonder as well as great value. Also, on this day itself, He created many different kinds of birds to fly in the open sky. The many kinds of birds with all kinds of sounds made the earth even more wonderful and precious. The earth was very beautiful and good.
SIXTH DAY:
God made even more powerful and capable creatures on the sixth day. They were the many kinds of land animals. They began to move about on the land. The climate of the earth was just right for them. God created these land animals by His word itself. The Bible tell us, “And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his own kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so” (Genesis 1:24). The world was extremely beautiful and perfect. What was God‘s purpose in creating all of these wonderful things?
4. CREATION OF MAN
When we consider all that God created the order in which He did so, we can easily understand that He was preparing it all for someone. If we see a family making ready some little clothes, a little cap, a crib and other such things, we conclude that someone is about to be born into that family. Similarly, the fact that the earth was adorned and made habitable in a special progression, leads us to conclude that someone special was about to be created and placed on earth. That “someone” was Ma. It was for man that the earth was made suitable. The Bible reveals, “And God said, Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth” (Genesis 1: 26). Thus God created man in His own image. It is also written, “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.” (Genesis 2:7) Thus God created man in a special way from the dust of the ground. In all other instance of creation, God simply used His word. But in the creation of man, God did something very special.
Man was created in God’s image. In what way?
- God has intellect. Intellect is the capacity to think, reason, learn, know and understand. God placed in man an ability similar to His own so that, that man might know and understand God and be able to think and reason like God. God wants to talk with and fellowship with man. God wants to have a closer relationship with the people He created. This is why man possesses a specially equipped intellect that is not found in animals and birds.
- God has emotion or feelings. Emoting consists of the capacity to love, to hate, to be angry, to be happy, to be joyful, etc. God is a Person that loves. He hates sin. He is displeased with wrong but is pleased with the right things. He is pleased with good. God created man with emotion consisting of these qualities. Why? Because God wants man to love Him. God created man with the capacity of emotion so that man might love God, so that man could be pleased in good things but displeased in the wrong or evil.
- God has a will. He has the power to choose between what to do and what not to do. God always chooses to do good and not wrong. He gave to man a similar capacity so that man could choose to obey God, glorify God, do good and to avoid evil. Man can enjoy friendship and fellowship with God because of this capacity of will to choose.
Thus, man was created in God‘s image.
- The first man was Adam. He was created perfect and without any sin. He was created perfect and without any sin. He was created to live forever. Adam himself is the father of all mankind. God appointed him to be the ruler of all the earth. After creating man, God gave him that authority with these words, “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 everything that moveth upon the earth.” (Genesis 1:28) God gave man the responsibility of managing the earth. God did not give this authority to angels not to any other spirit beings.
5. GARDEN OF EDEN
God is the creator of man. He is also his Master. For the first man God created a beautiful garden, a most delightful and plentiful place. That was the Garden of Eden. Trees with fruits of every taste, flowering plant of every colour and beauty were arranged in that garden. Beautiful rivers were placed there for watering the garden. The rivers were plenteous in precious metals. Beautiful aquatic animals were placed in them. In addition, there were two specials trees in the midst of the garden. One was called the Tree of life and other the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil. This garden was given for man’s dwelling place in which the first man was vested with authority and entrusted with responsibilities.
- Man was given the work of taking care of the garden and naming all the animals and birds. Moreover, man was given authority to eat from all the fruits of the tree of the garden expect from the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil which was in the midst of the garden.
- God knows the need of man. The Creator is knowledgeable about the stat of His creation. God saw that it was not good for Adam to be alone. God saw that he needed a companion. He said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him” (Genesis 2:18). Hence, God caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep during which He removed one of his ribs. Form Adam’s rib He made for him a suitable companion, namely a perfect and beautiful woman. Then God brought her unto Adam. In the presence of God and in the presence of the angels, Adam accepted the woman as his wife and recognized her as his own body. This was the first marriage by which the first family was established . And thus, in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve entered into a happy married life. They were recipients of a marvelous life. Humanity lacked absolutely nothing in any area of life. Man was rich with the blessing of God. Man walked with God and glorified God. Man knew God as his Lord and Master and was in perfect, happy submission to Him.
- God had given the man a warning. God had forbidden man to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil which was in the midst of the garden. God said, “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” (Genesis 2: 16-17). The wages of sin is death. If man disobeys God, that is sin. And the result of sin is death. Death means a separation. There are three kinds of deaths: spiritual death, physical death and eternal death. Spiritual death means separation from God. Physical death is the separation of the spirit from the body. Eternal death is the separation from God forever to be punished in hell. Thus God declared that if Adam would disobey His commands, Adam would be punished by the death in these three ways. God loves man and therefore warned him of danger beforehand. When God said that man would die if he ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God was talking about two kinds of death. First of all, man would die spiritually. That means his spirit would be separated from God and that would need a Saviour in order to restore this relationship with the living God again. Also, God meant that man’s body would begin to grow old and eventually would die. Before Adam and his wife disobeyed God, there was no death in the world. After sin entered the world. Nowadays, because of sin, all people are under the condemnation of both spiritual and physical death.