As I meditate on the wonder of Christmas, how God, in the person of Jesus Christ, came to earth to become one of us so He could suffer and die to pay for our sins and defeat Satan (Heb. 2:9, 14,15), I can’t help but wonder why God made us in the first place. As you think of what it cost Him to come to earth and atone for our sins, why didn’t He just continue as He had from eternity past, just the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in perfect fellowship?.  He knew man would sin and He knew the price He would pay for those sins. Yet we read in Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi: “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.  And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:5-8). 

     If God hadn’t made us in the first place, none of this condescension, suffering and death would have been necessary. So, why did He create us?  It wasn’t because of some need or lack in His life, for He is the all-sufficient, perfect God who has need of nothing outside of Himself. He didn’t need us to entertain Him or provide amusement (although I’m sure we have done plenty of that!).  In no way was it because He was lonely or was dissatisfied with His own eternal existence!  Nor did God create us as His “peers,” for “...the LORD, He is God; there is no other besides Him” (Dt. 4:35).  He said to Isaiah: “I am the LORD, and there is no other; besides Me there is no God” (Isa. 43:5,6). To emphasize how Jesus Christ is superior to Moses, the author of the book of Hebrews wrote: “For He has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God” (Heb. 3:3,4). Obviously, an all-powerful, sovereign God cannot create other “gods” like Himself. His attributes (His eternal intrinsic perfections) limit there to being only one God.

    So, if it wasn’t because He had a need or lacked something, nor because He was lonely, nor because He wanted to have some “peers.” Then “why in the world” did He create us despite knowing we would sin and that He would end up coming to earth, taking on a human body, being rejected by His chosen people the Jews, and suffering a cruel death by crucifixion all to pay for our sin?  God created us in His own image and likeness (Gen. 1:26,27; 5:1) so we could choose to love and serve Him freely, knowing this free will meant the possibility of sin, which then paved the way for God to demonstrate His unconditional love by sending Jesus to die on the cross as a sacrifice to redeem humanity and offer forgiveness for sin, ultimately revealing God’s grace and mercy. 

     Just as “The heavens are telling of the glory of God…” (Psa. 19:1 cf Psa. 8:1-3), God created man, the crown of all creation (Psa. 8:3-8) to display His glory.  We read in Paul’s letter to the Colossians that Jesus Christ created all things, “both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities…” Everything was “created by Him and for Him” (Col. 1:16).   We were created by the sovereign will of God “for His glory.” When John was caught up to heaven, as recorded in Revelation, he saw a scene of living creatures around the throne giving “glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne” and heard them saying, “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created” (Rev. 4:9-11). 

     God chose Abraham in order to establish a nation, Israel, through whom the Scriptures would be revealed and through whom the Messiah would come to earth to be the Redeemer-Deliverer promised in Gen. 3:15 and through whom all the nations of the earth would be blessed (Gen. 12:1-3). Of Israel, God said, “…whom I have created for My glory…You are My servant, in whom I shall show My glory” (Isa. 46:13; 49:3).  Israel was to reveal the glory of God to the other nations of the earth. Similarly, we were all created to bring glory to God, to display His love, His grace, His compassion, His mercy and forgiveness.   All of this required the creation of beings in His image with free will to obey, love and serve and have an intimate relationship with God.  We chose to disobey, resulting in broken fellowship with God, but that gave Him the opportunity to manifest His attributes of mercy, grace and love by coming to pay for that sin–all in God’s plan “from before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:4).  Nothing ever took God by surprise or caused Him to “go to plan B.”  We were created by the will of God to display His glory.  

     So, that is why God made us. That is why we have Christmas and Easter.  Do I understand all this? No!  It will always amaze me and blow my mind, but it does help me understand why Paul, in writing to the Roman believers about the sovereignty of God broke forth with these powerful words: “Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!  How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!  For who has known the mind of the LORD, or who became His counselor? Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again?  For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen (Ro. 11:33-36). 

Forever His,

Pastor  Dave N