In the context of infinite time, this second phase—the entire age of mankind, from the seven-day creation week to the end of the Last Great Day—occupies only an exceedingly narrow span within God’s overall purpose and creation. Yet within this brief span, God has meticulously laid out a detailed blueprint for His creation, especially for human life. Much of that blueprint was covered in the first eight chapters, but there is still more to understand about this specific period of time.
This phase begins with God’s six-day work of creation, followed by His rest on the seventh day, as recorded in Genesis.
As already explained, the Genesis account is not describing the original creation of Earth itself. Rather, it describes Earth and its waters as already existing.
The creation week begins with the earth in a state of desolation and ruin. The atmosphere had become filled with a dense mass of fine debris, the result of Satan’s attempt to destroy the earth, so light could not penetrate to its surface.
Earth could no longer support physical life, whether plant or animal. Therefore, God first had to restore its orbit, clear its atmosphere, and prepare its surface. This was not the original creation of Earth, but the correction and restoration of what had been destroyed. God was preparing the earth to become habitable once again.
The Genesis Account
Within six days, God reestablished the conditions necessary for life to exist on Earth once again. Then He created plant life, animal life, and finally mankind. On the seventh day, He rested from all His work and established the seventh day as the weekly Sabbath—a day of rest for mankind to observe.
The Sabbath was set aside as a time for people to rest from their jobs and the normal work of the other six days of the week. It also provides an opportunity for families to spend more time together than they ordinarily can during the rest of the week. Above all, God sanctified the Sabbath as a time for His people to assemble together to learn about Him and His way of life.
The Sabbath day was established to be a perpetual reminder that God is the Creator, the One who has given us life. In addition, the six days of creation followed by the seventh day of rest was the foundational pattern for God’s 7,000-year plan: six millennia of human self-rule followed by the 1,000-year Sabbath rest of Christ’s reign. This pattern stands as one of the most significant prophetic themes woven throughout scripture.
Within the creation week, God created physical life, but His 7,000-year plan involves creating everlasting life.
As it was previously covered in Chapter 2, the weekly Sabbath is the first appointed time God commands His people to observe in Leviticus 23. It carries such importance that God even describes it as a “sign” between Himself and His people, identifying those who belong to Him.
The weekly Sabbath is therefore both a sign of God’s covenant with His people and a recurring picture of the coming millennial rest in God’s Kingdom. Each Sabbath points forward to the time when Christ will establish His reign and bring true rest to the earth.
There is still more in this Genesis account that must be reviewed:
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth” (Genesis 1:1).
The opening phrase is commonly translated as “In the beginning.” However, the Hebrew is more accurately understood as “In a beginning.” This distinction is important because it reveals that Genesis is describing the beginning of a specific phase of God’s creative work rather than the absolute beginning of all things.
This verse does not say that the earth began to be created during the six-day period that follows. Nor does it say that the earth was the beginning of God’s creation of the universe.
Furthermore, the word translated as “heavens” is used in three different ways in scripture. It can refer to the spirit heaven where God and the angelic realm exist. It can also refer to the physical heavens—the vast expanse of the universe. Finally, it can refer to the heaven of Earth’s atmosphere. The context determines which meaning applies.
In this verse, it would be more accurately understood as saying, “In a beginning, God created the Earth and its heavens—the atmosphere surrounding it.”
The next verse becomes especially important because it sheds greater light on what was actually taking place:
“The Earth was without form, and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep. Then the spirit of God moved over the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:2).
This verse states that the earth was “without form, and void.” The Hebrew word translated “without form” is tohū, meaning a waste, wasteland, a desolation, or a place of chaos.
The word translated “void” is the Hebrew word bohū, meaning emptiness or void of anything.
A more accurate translation of this would be: “The earth was desolate, void of anything, and darkness was on the face of the deep.” This better reflects the context of what God was about to do—prepare the earth once again for plant and animal life. At that point, the earth lay desolate, devoid of all life.
Isaiah spoke of God’s creation of Earth, declaring that God had not created it in tohū—in chaos, waste, or desolation:
“For thus says the Eternal who created the heavens, God Himself who formed the earth and made it, who established it, who did not create it in vain [Hebrew: tohū—a wasteland], who formed it to be inhabited: I am the Eternal, and there is no other” (Isaiah 45:18).
Genesis then states something most read over without grasping its significance: “darkness was upon the face of the deep. ” This refers to the depths of the waters that covered the earth.
If Earth was only just beginning to be created, then it would naturally be empty and void of anything on it. But that is not what is being described. Rather, Genesis is describing the condition Earth had come to be in. It was not the original act of creating the planet itself.
Then the rest of the verse says that God’s spirit moved upon, or over, the face, or surface, of the waters. It does not say that this is when God created the waters. Instead, it shows that the earth already had waters covering its surface, but those waters were under darkness because of the ruined state of the earth.
Most religious scholars and teachers regard Genesis 1 as the account of the original creation of the earth and everything upon it, including all life, within a six-day period. But that is not what was taking place.
Once this is understood, the account becomes far easier to follow. God was restoring the earth and preparing it to support life once again. He then created plant and animal life upon it once more. Finally, He created mankind, and on the seventh day, He rested from all the work He had done.
The previous chapters have already explained God’s plan for mankind during this second phase of time. Unlike the other two phases, this period is finite. It lasts 7,100 years, and then it comes to an end.
A Physical Mind Created in Mankind—Not an Immortal Soul
Because the angelic mind that sinned became permanently set in evil, God had a specific and deliberate reason for creating the human mind differently. A physical mind can repent. It can be transformed. Through the help of God’s spirit, it can grow over time into agreement with God through the choices each person makes.
This was not a weakness in mankind’s creation. It was the very design that makes mankind’s potential greater than that of the angels.
Before we can explore this truth more deeply, we must first address one of the most pervasive false teachings in religious history. That false teaching is the belief in an immortal soul and the idea that it goes to heaven or hell immediately after death. This was touched on briefly in Chapter 5 when discussing how Christ fulfilled the Wave Sheaf Offering.
However, scripture presents a very different picture. When a person dies, life ceases unless God resurrects that person back to life. Without a resurrection from God, death would be permanent. The false teaching that humans have been given an immortal soul has obscured what God actually placed within mankind.
When Genesis describes the creation of mankind, many translations state that man became “a living soul.” Traditional Christianity teaches that when scripture uses the word “soul,” it refers to something inside the body or mind that possesses immortality. That is not true. Such a teaching directly contradicts God’s plan and purpose.
In the original Hebrew, the word “nephesh” is used. This word simply means a living, breathing being and is applied equally to both humans and animals. Yet some translators rendered it as “soul” when referring to mankind, creating a distinction that does not exist in the original text.
Traditional Christianity has made a sustained effort to preserve this concept of an immortal soul, and translation choices often reflect that influence. However, some modern translations have replaced “living soul” with “living being” to more accurately convey the meaning of the Hebrew word “nephesh.”
This understanding is confirmed throughout scripture. Consider King David, whom God called a man after His own heart. On the day of Pentecost in AD 31, Peter plainly stated that David was still in his tomb. If anyone could be expected to have gone to heaven at death, it would have been David. Yet Peter declared that David had not ascended into the heavens.
The teaching that human beings possess an immortal soul is not found in scripture. The dead are simply dead, and the only way to receive life again is through a resurrection. This truth lies at the very heart of God’s plan and is a foundational message found throughout the Bible.
No Immortal Soul, But a Spirit Essence in Mankind
What God placed within mankind is far more precise and purposeful than the false idea of an immortal soul. Although human beings have only temporary physical existence and do not possess an immortal soul, God has given every person a spirit essence that exists within the human mind.
Because of modern technology, especially the development of computers and programming, it is now easier today to understand a certain aspect of how God created living creatures, and then mankind.
In animal life, different creatures possess instinct. But instinct did not evolve. It was created and placed within each species in a distinct way. It is a programmed condition within the physical animal brain. There is some limited room for individual traits to develop within animals, but instinct governs automatic responses and behaviors that are unique to each species.
Ducks, geese, and other birds migrate south for the winter in the Northern Hemisphere and then return north in the summer. They do not plan or calculate when and how to accomplish this. It is not done through intellect. It is instinct. The same is true throughout the animal world.
God also gave animals some ability to learn, but that ability is highly limited. It is nothing like what God gave to mankind. God programed instinct within animals and allowed for limited learning, but in human beings He gave intellect. That intellect is made possible by a spirit essence that God placed within every human being.
This spirit essence, or “human spirit,” does not have life in itself. It can be called a human spirit because God placed a spirit essence within the human mind. Its function is to give the physical brain the ability of intellect. This human spirit—this spirit essence given by God—is something that scientists cannot measure or see. This is truth that the world has not been taught and cannot discover by physical means.
Again, it is the human spirit that imparts the power of intellect to the physical human brain. Yet this spirit cannot see, hear, taste, smell or feel. The brain sees through the eyes, hears through the ears, and receives input through the physical senses. The human spirit does not think by itself; the physical brain thinks. This human spirit essence functions only while it is joined to the living brain and empowered by the life that exists within it.
This human spirit essence in every person enables the brain’s intellectual functions, including the ability to acquire knowledge, think, reason, make decisions, and develop moral attitudes of good or evil.
Yet this spirit essence—this human spirit—serves in an even greater way. It stores everything a person has experienced, learned, and become. It preserves everything that identifies each person as a unique individual. When the body dies, the brain stops functioning, and this spirit essence ceases to function as it enters a dormant state.
Although this spirit essence is given by God to each person who lives, it returns to God at death. The spirit essence has no life inherent in it. It functions somewhat like a spirit-composed “super chip”—the closest analogy we have for understanding it in human terms—that contains the record of a person’s identity and individuality. In a resurrection, God can place it into the mind of either a physical body or a spirit body in a resurrection, thereby restoring the same individual to life.
For example, when King David is resurrected, God will give him a spirit-composed body containing the same spirit essence that was in him when he died. He will be the exact same person as he was before death but now having spirit life.
The spirit essence God placed within mankind is far more than the source of human intellect and individuality. It also provides the foundation for the transformation God intends to accomplish within the human mind. As we will see, this transformation leads toward becoming a new creation and ultimately offers the potential for everlasting life in the Kingdom of God.
The Natural Human Mind Must be Transformed
God created mankind to have a physical and temporary existence. He did not create human beings with an immortal soul. Yet He does offer the potential of everlasting spirit life through a resurrection into a new spirit body, if the mind becomes transformed in the way God has made possible during physical life.
Of necessity, God gave mankind an existence different than that of the angels, though the human mind does share certain similarities with them. God created both angels and mankind as free moral agents, with the ability to think, reason, choose, and develop individuality. Each being is responsible for the choices made in life, and each has the freedom to make those choices.
God’s purpose for mankind is to bring humanity into a new level of advancement through spiritual development, resulting in a transformation of the mind.
Yet all human beings were first designed to live only a temporary physical life. All would die. But in God’s plan, everlasting spirit life has been made possible, depending on the choices each person makes once they are given the opportunity to truly know God. Most of the world has not yet been given that opportunity, but they will receive it in God’s time.
This is why God created the human mind as He did. He made it capable of receiving the potential for spiritual development within physical life, within the spirit essence of the human mind. As that process of spiritual transformation takes place, a person can eventually be led to being born into spirit life—everlasting life in the Kingdom of God.
This is what Christ meant when He said that a person must be “born again”—born of spirit—in order to enter the Kingdom of God. Traditional Christianity has never fully understood the meaning of this expression.
From birth into adulthood, the carnal mind is in bondage to the natural pulls of the flesh. Scripture describes these pulls as the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. That is simply the natural state of the physical human mind.
God tells us that human nature naturally resists Him, and that this will not change unless we receive His spirit into our lives. Once His spirit is received, the mind can begin to be changed. It can begin moving toward the point where it may ultimately be born into a new life that is fully spirit and everlasting. Paul explained this difference in Romans.
“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit, the things of the spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh [without God’s spirit working in the mind] cannot please God” (Romans 8:5-8).
Those who have only the natural carnal mind cannot help but focus on the things of the flesh—on what concerns self. But once a person receives God’s spirit into the mind, they can begin to “think differently,” which is the very meaning of repentance in scripture. They can begin focusing on God’s way of life—the things of the spirit.
The reality is quite basic. All human beings are created with a carnal nature that naturally turns first toward self. Though difficult to admit, we are selfish by nature. We naturally put self first. We can learn to fight against that nature and change much of it, but as long as we are in this physical human life, selfishness remains part of our natural condition.
Romans also states that this carnal mindset leads to death. This is not speaking of the first death that all people must experience, but of the second death, which is God’s final judgment against unrepented sin. That death is forever.
That is sobering. Yet Paul also states that to live according to the spirit brings life and peace. Living according to the spirit means change can take place in our lives and in our thinking through the help of God’s spirit, enabling us to begin living in a way that is pleasing to Him.
So, although the carnal mind is naturally at enmity with God, the mind can be changed.
Once a person is exposed to God’s truth and given the ability to see it, they can begin to distinguish what is false in religious beliefs of the world from what is true. Then decisions must be made. Will they continue holding on to what is false, or will they embrace what is true?
If a person embraces the truth and desires to make the changes that can lead to becoming part of God’s Family, then there is a definite process that must take place. A new mind must be developed within them. Through God’s spirit, the mind can be changed from one dominated by carnal human nature to one that embraces and lives by godly character—God’s way of life. This cannot be accomplished without God’s help.
Therefore, it is vital to understand that this transformation of the human mind is possible. That is what the following passage explains:
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice [sacrificing the ways of self and accepting and striving to live God’s ways], holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove [proving it to oneself by living it] what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:1-2).
This passage states plainly that the mind can be transformed. Our thinking can change. This transformation requires fighting against the natural, carnal selfishness of the human mind. It takes time, as a person begins to prove through practice and experience that only God’s way truly works.
The Greek word translated “transformed” is metamorphóō. Many are familiar with the word derived from it: metamorphosis. It describes a complete change in form and nature, like the remarkable transformation that turns a caterpillar into a butterfly.
This is the kind of complete transformation that must take place within the human mind in order for a person to be resurrected into God’s Family.
Another verse reveals an essential part of this process as we continue choosing to follow and apply God’s ways in our lives:
“Let this mind be in you that was also in Joshua the Christ” (Philippians 2:5).
This is a matter of coming into agreement with the same thinking Christ had—the way He lived and what He chose to believe—and then applying that to how we live, especially toward God and others, and away from “self.”
This transformation of the mind takes time. It does not happen in a year or two, but over many years. It is a creative process in which God works to create a new mind within us through the power of His spirit. It is not something God simply commands into existence instantly because this process requires personal choices made voluntarily by free moral agents. Through those choices, and with the help of God’s spirit working in the mind, real change in thinking can take place.
This verse clearly shows that human beings have the potential to have the same kind of mind that was in Joshua. Yet this cannot happen by human effort alone. It does require work and effort on our part, but above all it requires power we do not possess within ourselves. It requires that we receive God’s spirit into our lives continually and ongoingly, and God reveals how that can happen.
To grasp the full purpose behind God’s creation of human life, we must return to the very beginning—to Genesis—and to a name God used for Himself that reveals everything about His purpose for mankind.
Elohim and God’s Pattern for the Creation of Life
“Then God said, ‘Let the Earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth,’ and it was so. Then the Earth brought forth grass, the herb yielding seed according to its kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed is in itself, according to its kind. Then God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:11-12).
Beginning with plant life, God created every variety of plant to produce seed according to its own kind. A seed of wheat cannot produce corn, and so it is within all of God’s creation of life, reproducing according to the pattern God established within it.
“God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. Then God saw that it was good. God blessed them, saying, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.’ So the evening and the morning were the fifth day. Then God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth the living animals according to its kind: livestock and moving animals and wild animals of the Earth, each according to its kind,’ and it was so. God made the wild animals of the earth according to its kind, livestock according to its kind, and everything that moves on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:21-25).
Just as God created plant life to reproduce according to its kind, He did the same with animal life. Every creature was created to reproduce according to its own kind. The order and laws involved in this are far beyond what scientists can fully measure or understand, yet they are evident throughout life on Earth. Life itself is miraculous. The idea that such order slowly evolved over millennia defies true logic and the very laws of science.
“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the Earth and over every animal that moves on the Earth.’ So God created man in His image. In the image of God, He created them. He created them male and female” (Genesis 1:26-27).
Generally, most people read that mankind was created in God’s image and likeness and assume this refers mainly to physical appearance. But the meaning is far greater that that!
These verses point back to how God identifies Himself. The word translated as “God” in this passage is Elohim. This is the identifying name God used throughout the earliest period of scripture until the time of Abram, later called Abraham. It was then that God began progressively revealing Himself as El Shaddai, God Almighty. Much later, He revealed Himself to Moses by the name Yahweh—the Eternal Self-Existing One.
Much has already been covered concerning how God reveals that He alone is the One Eternal Self-Existing God, and that there is no other God besides Him. Yet the name Elohim has become a stumbling block both to Judaism and to traditional Christianity.
Traditional Christianity often claims this word supports the doctrine of the Trinity, teaching that the Godhead consists of three persons: God Almighty, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost. But as already explained, that teaching is not true.
Judaism, on the other hand, often speaks around the word. Though it recognizes that Elohim is plural in form, it generally treats it as singular in concept. Once again, many rely on the explanation given by the commentator Rashi, who used convoluted reasoning to explain the plural form as a reference to the fullness of God’s strength and power. In that view, the plural expresses the sum of all power while still referring to one singular God.
Yes, the word Elohim is plural. More specifically, it is a word that can function in both a singular and plural sense. It is similar to words such as team, family, church, or group. Each can refer to one collective body, while also including multiple individual members within that body.
By identifying Himself as Elohim, God reveals His plan and purpose for mankind. Mankind was created in His likeness and image with the potential to become part of that Family—Elohim.
All living things created by God follow a specific pattern: each reproduces according to its own kind. This is what God is placing before mankind as well—the potential to become created after the God kind—far above that of the angelic realm.
Mankind was first created physical in nature, and for a little while lower than the angels while existing in physical bodies. But God’s purpose in creating mankind is that human beings may ultimately become spirit in composition as members of the God Family—Elohim.
This is the Family that Joshua the Christ entered as the first of the firstfruits when He was resurrected and accepted by the Father on that Sunday morning during the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
At Christ’s second coming, 144,000 additional members will be added to Elohim—the God Family! Then, beyond that, after the Last Great Day has come to completion, the potential exists for hundreds of millions more to be added to Elohim.
But the process by which a human being can enter that Family has been buried beneath another profound mistranslation — one that has misled millions.
The Creation of Elohim Through Begettal
God created mankind differently from the angels. Human beings were created physically, yet with a spirit essence—a human spirit—within the human brain. God’s purpose in giving mankind this human spirit is that it can be joined with another spirit essence that comes from Him: His holy spirit. This is far greater than the spirit essence all human beings possess, which gives the physical brain the power of human intellect.
The impregnation of God’s holy spirit within the human spirit makes it possible for a person to begin partaking of God’s own thinking—His mind, His word, His ways. Through this begettal, the human mind can begin to know what God reveals. It is through God’s spirit that His mind can begin to be seen and understood by the human mind.
This is how God communicates His will, His ways, and His word to the human mind on a spiritual plane that mankind does not possess.
The spirit essence of God’s holy spirit allows for the generation or creation of new spiritual life to begin developing in a person who receives this impregnation within the mind. This is the process of first becoming begotten of God’s spirit while still in physical life, with the later potential of being born into everlasting spirit life.
This is a direct type of human reproduction. In physical reproduction, the begettal of sperm with an egg begins the development of a new life in the womb. Although that new life begins at begettal, it is not yet fully born into physical life.
In the same way, a person must first be begotten of God’s holy spirit within the human spirit. From that point, spiritual growth can begin within a mind that can be changed. The human mind can be transformed in its thinking and brought into true unity, agreement, and oneness with God. This process is one of spirit begettal, followed by spiritual growth and development, which can then lead to being born of spirit life in a resurrection into Elohim.
This is what scripture is addressing when it speaks of being “born again.” Yet this term, like many others, has often been misunderstood and mistranslated because people have not known the process by which God is creating His own Family after His kind.
The New Testament has often been confusing to people when they read expressions like “born again” and “begotten.” The Greek word gennaō can mean either begettal or birth, depending on context. Traditional Christianity’s teaching of being “born again” as an intense religious experience bears no resemblance to what scripture is actually describing.
Understanding birth and how one is begotten is an easy enough process to understand physically. Confusion arises when the process is applied to spirit life that comes from God. This confusion exists largely because people have not understood the truth of God’s purpose and plan, nor how that plan is to be accomplished. This is another example of the need to uncover truth that has been buried for centuries.
This change that begins in the human mind after receiving the impregnation of God’s holy spirit is often described in scripture as the renewing of the mind, the transforming of the mind, and the development of a new life within a person—a new person.
“Now be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new person who according to God is to be created in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:23-24).
“But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old person with its deeds, and have put on the new, who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created them” (Colossians 3:8-10).
God’s purpose is to give mankind the ability to change the natural carnal mind, which thinks selfishly, into a mind that can think differently on a spiritual plane. This change is made possible by God’s spirit dwelling in the mind. Through being begotten of God’s holy spirit, a person can experience an ongoing spiritual creation within the mind that can potentially lead to being born of spirit into Elohim—the Family of God.
Indeed, mankind has not understood what it means to be begotten of God and to receive the potential to become born into spirit life in His Family. Scripture reveals that becoming begotten into God’s Family takes place after baptism, when hands are laid upon a person and God grants the begettal of an essence of His holy spirit within the human mind. It is then that a spiritual impregnation takes place.
The matter is straightforward. No one can have the potential to be born of spirit into God’s Family unless they are first begotten into God’s Family through the laying on of hands. That spiritual begotten family is God’s Church, where those begotten of His spirit can receive nourishment, guidance, knowledge and understanding from God, and the tools necessary for spiritual development.
Mankind’s Potential—A Greater Creation than the Angels
As covered earlier, God revealed to the angelic realm, after potentially billions of years, that His purpose in creating the universe would become centered upon His greatest creation yet: mankind. This creation was designed to potentially lead into an even greater creation beyond physical life—one in which mankind could be born into a new life of spirit.
The process of being begotten by God can facilitate the transformation of the human mind as a person yields to Him and comes into full agreement with His will. This transformation makes it possible for humans to be born into His Family, Elohim.
This spiritual creation in the mind of human beings cannot be created by fiat—by God simply decreeing it into existence. Physical mankind could be, and was, created by fiat through God’s command and power. But the spiritual development of the human mind is a far greater creation, and it cannot be accomplished by decree alone. This new level of development can lead to everlasting spirit life—a life in complete unity with God forever.
Such spirit creation requires the willing participation of those who desire that life and are willing to work toward it in a right relationship with God. This second stage, which follows the creation of mankind, requires each individual to freely choose to allow that creative process to work within them. It requires willingly embracing God’s ways and working to develop holy, righteous character through the power and exercise of God’s holy spirit in one’s life.
Character cannot be created by decree. It must be freely chosen and developed over time within temporary physical human life. God has shown that there is no other way to create such spirit life—life greater than that of the angelic realm and life that will forever remain in unity and agreement with Him in all things.
Before anything was ever created, God’s plan was focused first and foremost on this creation, which would become greater than the angelic creation. This is part of the very purpose for which He created the universe. Even more incredible is the truth that God’s own Son was preordained to be the cornerstone of that creation—as the Passover and Messiah for all mankind—before anything began to be created. Peter’s words testify to this reality. He states that Christ was “foreordained before the foundation of the world”:
“Forasmuch as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before [determined beforehand] the foundation of the world, but now has been revealed to you in these last times” (1 Peter 1:18-20).
This passage, along with others, shows that God had preordained, or predetermined as part of His plan, that His Son would serve as the cornerstone of all His creation. Before the foundation of the world—before the ages that would follow and before anything was ever created—God had already determined that the creation of mankind would require a Passover who would become the Messiah and King over all under God.
This is because only through Christ can God’s purpose of creating the God Family—Elohim—be accomplished.
The Further Purpose in Creating Mankind
There are numerous places where God speaks of His purpose and plan in creating mankind, but one of the clearest outlines is found in what Paul wrote to the Hebrews.
“For He [God] has not put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to [under the control or authority of] angels” (Hebrews 2:5).
As discussed earlier, when God created the physical universe, He placed that creation under the authority and service of the angelic realm. This was a responsibility He gave them to carry out under His direction.
Paul’s point is that the future world will not be made subject to—placed under the authority of—the angelic realm. The Greek word translated as “world” is not limited to Earth, but can also refer to the universe itself, which is the broader context being addressed here. The future creation God is bringing about will be placed under the order and government that He has determined.
Paul then continues by quoting what David wrote in the Book of Psalms:
“But one [David] testified in a certain place, saying, ‘What is man that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You take care of him [Gk.- look after, look out for, look upon in order to help]? You have made him a little [Gk.-also, “a little while”] lower than the angels. You have crowned him with glory and honor and have set him over the works of Your hands. You have put all things in subjection under his feet’” (Hebrews 2:6-8).
Paul is quoting David and revealing the deeper importance of what David wrote. In the original Psalm, just before the portion Paul quoted, David gives the context of what is being discussed.
“When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man, that You are mindful of him, and the son of man, that You visit [look over, attend to] him? ” (Psalms 8:3-4)
David was not speaking only of the Earth. He referred to the heavens, the moon, and the stars— the universe itself. This gives context to Paul’s statement that the “world to come” will not be placed under the subjection of angels. Instead, God’s purpose is that His creation will ultimately be placed under the care, rule, and authority of mankind—but not mankind in its present physical condition.
Paul continues in Hebrews with even greater clarity:
“For in that He put all [the whole creation] in subjection under him [under mankind], He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him. But we see Joshua, who was made a little [a little while] lower than the angels, for the suffering of death [in order to be our Passover] crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings” (Hebrews 2:8-10).
This reveals that God’s plan is to eventually place all that He created under mankind. Then Paul makes it clear that this has not yet happened. At present, we do not see all things under mankind. What we do see is Joshua the Christ, who was made for a little while lower than the angels as a human being and who suffered death for all mankind as our Passover.
Paul then explains that Joshua was crowned with glory and honor. This means He was resurrected from death and given everlasting spirit life. He received glory, life, and power beyond that of physical mankind and far beyond the angelic realm. Christ was the first from among mankind to receive such honor and authority from God.
The point is that this same future awaits mankind—those who will become able to be resurrected into everlasting spirit life, just as Joshua was. For it says that “we do not yet see all things put under him”—under mankind—but we do see that Christ has already attained it.
The final verse also states that, through Joshua the Christ, many sons will be brought to glory. This is possible only because Christ made a relationship with God available to mankind through His life, sacrifice, and role as our Passover. Through Him, human beings can receive God’s holy spirit and undergo the transformation of mind necessary to come into agreement with God’s ways. This process ultimately leads to the fulfillment of God’s purpose for mankind: bringing many sons into His Family as spirit-born members of Elohim.
Spirit Life Beyond Mere Temporary Human Existence
God’s purpose has always been to give mankind the potential to be changed in nature so that human beings can eventually be born into spirit life—life far greater than that of the angelic realm.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Joshua the Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings that exist from heaven in Christ, according as He [God] has chosen us in Him [Christ] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love: having predestinated [predetermined beforehand] us unto the adoption of children [“those appointed to be sons”] through Joshua the Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will” (Ephesians 1:3-5).
This passage contains another mistranslation that resulted from translators not understanding God’s purpose in creating mankind. They used the awkward term “adoption” to describe what they believed was a relationship with God. But God is not adopting anyone. That word gives a totally false picture of the true relationship God intends to establish with mankind.
The phrase translated as “the adoption of children” is from a single Greek word formed from two specific Greek words. The first part of this compound word means “appointed” or “to give placement.” The second means “son,” “sons,” or “children.”
This verse is simply saying that God predetermined that mankind could be appointed, or given placement, to become His sons through Joshua the Christ. This is not about adoption. It is about the potential to become literal children of God—sons of God—actually born into His Family. That is the incredible human potential God planned in the creation of mankind.
Nowhere in scripture is mankind, by natural physical existence alone, referred to as the sons of God. A person becomes a son of God only after being begotten of His spirit—not yet born, but with the potential to be born into spirit life.
Even though angels are referred to as sons of God, they are sons only in the sense that they were created as spirit beings within the angelic realm. They were not born into God’s Family.
As covered earlier, God predetermined the purpose of Christ’s life before any of His creation began. He also predetermined that mankind would have the potential to become His children on a plane higher than the angels through begettal and then spirit birth. In this way, mankind has the potential to become sons of God—born into the Family of God.
What Lies Beyond the Existence of Mankind?
Throughout this book, layer after layer of false teaching has been removed.
The incorrect timing of Passover concealed Joshua’s identity as the true Passover Lamb of God. The obscuring of His name hid who He truly was. The traditions of Good Friday and Easter erased the only sign He gave to prove He was the Messiah. The doctrine of the Trinity replaced a clear understanding of God with Roman religious tradition. The teaching of an immortal soul distorted what God actually placed within mankind. The misunderstanding of being “born again” reduced a literal begettal into God’s Family to a religious emotional experience within traditional Christianity.
Every one of these false teachings served the same purpose: to keep mankind from seeing what God has truly planned for the future.
Now, with these layers removed, we can begin to see more clearly what lies ahead—not through the haze of religious tradition, but through the truth of God’s own blueprint. That blueprint has always been contained within His annual Holy Days, waiting to be seen.
What lies beyond mankind’s 7,100 years is not vague. It is not boring or passive. It is not an eternity of idly gazing upon God’s face or watching over loved ones from above.
It is far greater.
It is an inheritance of the universe.
The Church of God - Preparing for the Kingdom of God