Genesis and Matthew III

God said . . . it was so . . . God saw that it was good.

. . . and they shall call his name Emmanuel (which is translated "God-with-us").

Imagine all the time it took for God to create everything. Yes, we say six days, but how long were the days, before the sun and moon were created (the fourth day)? By the way, on the third day of creation, plant life was created. Plants are life that comes up from out of the ground. They are living things that come out of seeds, which are as good as dead unless activated by outside forces. Christ rose from the dead on the third day.

Was there "time" before God began to create our universe? If there were other beings, angels perhaps, did they fellowship, did they while away the hours, if there were such a thing as "hours"? Did the waiting seem interminable? Did they have to wait, at all?

Once He began creation, it meant He had finally taken a step of completion of the next phase of His Greater Plan. For whatever reason, He wanted creatures not unlike Himself, with intelligence, character, and integrity, with whom to share the Universe. But He began to create. It was the beginning of "God-with-us". (From this point, I will use the actual translation, and not "Emmanuel").

For ages upon ages He created the Universe. Our geologists believe it took millions and millions of years. Maybe it did. Yet it was God-with-us, doing the creating. There had to be an end-game to what He started. God-with-us was here from that beginning, yet God-with-us, the man, did not appear for ages yet to come.

Did some in God's eternal realm grow impatient with His plan? Did they get tired of the waiting? Was impatience the beginning of sin, which some believe first manifested itself in rebellious angels?

Did they say, "You said you would be "God-with-us" but all it turned out to be is eons of creation. The only living things here are these plants. We cannot fellowship with them!

God-with-us began at the moment God created the Heavens and the Earth. When he formed organization and order, out of chaos - before there was even light, before planets, before plants, before animals, before humans, God-with-us was already here. Only much later did God-with-us appear as a man.

We show great arrogance in growing impatient, by suggesting that God got something wrong. His plan is proceeding, whether we understand, or like it, or not.