INTRO: We are laying the foundation for understanding what it means to live by faith. It is my view that to rightly understand faith we need to understand somewhat of the purpose of creation and the place God has put mankind. We saw that at one point, as far as any revealed Scripture tells us, that the Triune God alone existed. Then God created free moral agents that had the capacity of knowing His goodness, and the capacity to worship Him. These free moral agents were angels. Creation began with angels. So God created angels to worship Him, and they did. Then we asked that if God created angels to worship and adore Him, if that did not make Him an entirely selfish being? But we saw that when angels worship God, they get that which is the very best thing angels can experience, fulfillment. And so this brought about a state in which God was glorified, and the angels, in doing that for which they had been created, were fulfilled. It was perfect. We left off in the last message with the creation of angels and that they worshipped God as they had been created to do. And when they worshipped God, He was glorified. God no longer existed alone. Now there were millions of angels, and they were created in such a way as to be able to appreciate God’s good character. And they worshipped Him and as they worshipped Him, they were fulfilled, and it was a glorious union. And when they should have lived happily ever after, something very drastic took place in the realm of spirit beings. |