TOPICAL NOTE 10: WHY GOD CREATED the UNIVERSE with INTELLIGENT LIFE

Genesis 1:1 stated “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”(NIV)- the universe, but without explaining why.   

The three Genesis 1 commentaries explained that the Father Almighty created the heavens and the earth by speaking them into existence, and how the Son made the barren earth into a habitat and the bodies of living creatures and humans in six days of its rotation, and that the Holy Spirit, with the Father and Son created human consciousness in God's image and likeness. Then the Holy Spirit guides the humans for their salvation and provides them with spiritual discernment while they live on the earth.  

But why would the spiritual Godhead create a physical universe populated with free-willed, eternal human spiritual beings who live in temporary physical bodies?  The cited bible verses below provided theologians with evidence for why God created this completely new physical realm of existence.

Before God created the physical universe with humans, heaven was filled with angels He had created in the spiritual realm and Lucifer* was God’s most powerful, talented, and highest-ranking angel. However, he became prideful and desired to be worshiped "like" God by the other angles (Isaiah 14:12-14)*.  Satan obviously realized He couldn't overcome God so He wanted to rule his own heaven apart from God. So, he offered them what he could- more permissive policies for governing his heaven if they left God to worship him instead.  God, Who is all-knowing, knew Lucifer was enticing many angels to consider this rebellion but He didn’t stop it immediately apparently to not violate their free-wills that He had created them with (internet, Lucifer’s rebellion). The absence of an early adverse response from God would have prompted Lucifer to assure the angels He would let them all go without consequence.  However, after 1/3 of the angels (Revelation 12:4) decided to leave God to worship Lucifer God cast them out of heaven and He initially imprisoned them in the Abyss, or “bottomless pit” (Revelation 9:1, 20:1; and internet, Lucifer’s rebellion). This is apparently God’s confining space for unruly angels.  

*The KJV, and NKJV bibles used the Latinized name “Lucifer” that described his brightness and beauty. Other bibles translated his name as “Morning Star”, or similar.  Scriptures that are claimed by Christian theologians to refer to Lucifer’s fall from heaven are Isaiah 14:12-15 and Ezekiel 28 that prophetically referred to the falls of kings of ancient Babylon and Tyre, respectively. However, theologians noticed the spectacular imagery in these verses suggested they were illustrations of someone beyond human kings and described Lucifer’s fall that would make them “double prophecies”.   

Bible verses that seem to refer to Lucifer are rare, but many about him as "Satan" after his rebellion (below) include Job 1:6-12, 2:1-7 (oldest recorded verses); and 1 Chronicles: 21:1 in the Hebrew scriptures. And the New Testament has the following verses about Satan in Matthew 4:10, John 8:44, 12:31, 2 Corinthians 11:14, Ephesians 2:2, Revelation 12:10, 20:1-3,7-10.

God created mankind to justly replace the fallen angels who rebelled with Lucifer:

After their rebellion, God planned to replace the fallen angels with humans He would create (below). However, Lucifer’s highest position in heaven as a created being might always remain vacant. To avoid future rebellions by humans who would necessarily also have free wills, He would need to pre-select them to be loyal before He let them into heaven.  

God desires worship in heaven by those who choose to obey Him out of a heart desire- despite temptations not to (Genesis 3 commentary), but not out of a fear of punishment. So, God created the physical universe with planet Earth as a proving ground to pre-select forever loyal, free-willed human souls to justly replace the fallen angles who knew Him yet rebelled and were cast out of Heaven. Humans live in physical bodies in the realm of the physical universe so they can’t “see” the spiritual God and must accept his teachings indirectly through the witness of godly people and scriptures, by faith.  The fallen angels were simply given their positions in heaven yet they rebelled against God despite personally knowing His goodness, which justly makes tested faithful humans deserving to replace them.

When Lucifer and his fallen angels knew humans would replace them in heaven they were jealous. Those angels who God apparently released from the Abyss onto the earth then became wicked toward humans. They tempted humans to sin against God to trap them in hell and thwart His redemption plan (below). Lucifer’s biblical name was changed to “Satan” that meant “accuser” because he accuses sinful humanity before God to pressure Him to condemn them to hell. Satan goes back and forth between “patrolling the earth” and heaven to converse with God (Job 1:6-12, 2:1-7).  However, God is actually using Satan and his fallen angels today who tempt earthly humans to sin against Him during their lifetimes as part of God’s pre-selection process for their entry into Heaven.

After the coming Great Tribulation on the earth (Matthew 24:21) Satan will be thrown into the Abyss with his “messengers”, the fallen angels on earth (2 Corinthians 12:7). Then Christ will return to righteously rule the earth for 1000 years (Revelation 20:1-3) without their interference. After this Millennium Satan will be released on the earth for a short time (Revelation 20:7-9) to again tempt humans to rebel against God. This will be God’s final testing- for humans who were born during this time to assure that only loyal humans will enter the eternal state with Him.  All of these spiritual battles are invisible to humans during their lifetimes (Ephesians 6:12). Eventually God will put Satan and his fallen angels in hell, a fiery place of everlasting torment (below) along with unsuitable humans (New Testament Matthew 25:31-34,41). So, faithful humans must take their trial lives on Earth very seriously! Revelation 12:7-12, and 20:1-3, 7-10 picture their future final war against God.    

The bible also described “evil spirits”, “demons”, or “unclean spirits” who have a different origin than the “fallen angels” who followed Lucifer (internet). The former group seeks to possess and control earthly humans and animals to their detriment (Matthew 8:28-32, Luke 8:2, Acts 19:15,16). Whereas “fallen angels” who were released from the Abyss onto the Earth by God instead harass faithful humans to discourage their faith and tempt them to disobey Him. God has them under control and He actually uses them as part of His selection process for humans (Ephesians 6:12). All of the above spiritual enemies of humans have their final destinations in hell.

A summary of God’s plans that justified Him to use humans to replace Satan and his fallen angels in heaven follows:   

This explains in very plain language the theology of God’s serial covenants with humans that offered them the opportunity to justly replace the fallen angels in heaven. God’s plans changed to accommodate human failures because of the great value that selected ones have (Matthew 10:28-31) as future subjects in His heavenly kingdom.

Plan A: The first human couple on earth failed God’s loyalty test (with help from Satan and the serpent!).  It was simply to avoid eating fruit from one tree in His garden that He forbade them to eat.  This was the subject of the Genesis 3 account.  Theologians call this the “Adamic Covenant”. God then withdrew His fellowship from humans and He required burnt animal sacrifice to approach Him (Genesis 4:3-7). Early humans (and animals) greatly multiplied and disobeyed God to become carnivorous and violent. So, He destroyed them all in the worldwide Flood except for one righteous man named Noah and his family who worshiped God exclusively and the less violent animals God selected for them to keep in the huge ark they built to protect them all from the Flood (Topical note 4). After the Flood (Topical notes 3B, 4) the people and animals migrated worldwide and repopulated the earth (Topical note 3C).

Plan B: Then God found favor with Abraham, a righteous man who was a descendant of Noah’s caring and eldest son Shem (Topical note 4, Noah’s vineyard). Abraham worshiped God exclusively despite His aloofness and was willing to offer his only son as a burnt sacrifice to Him as God commanded, but God stopped him.  As a result of passing this test, God promised Abraham He would make his descendants, the Hebrews, to be His “chosen people” and become a great nation (Genesis 22) in the land of Canaan that He would give to them. God expected the Hebrews to promote His ways to the world, so He commanded that they and Abraham be circumcised as a sign of commitment to obey Him for His blessings.  Theologians call this the Abrahamic Covenant.

Later, God gave Abraham’s descendants, the Hebrews, a very extensive system of written moral, sacrificial, and dietary laws to live by and prophets and priests who provided direction. In it, God promised material blessings for keeping His laws (Deuteronomy 28:1-12) and He required burnt animal sacrifice to atone for breaking His laws. Christian theologians (below) call this religious system the “Old Covenant”, and the corresponding Hebrew scriptures the “Old Testament”. However, the Hebrews didn’t keep all of His laws, they weren’t righteous like their ancestor Abraham, and many also worshiped pagan gods like the surrounding nations. So, God caused their surrounding enemies to exile them to their nations as slaves for many years.  Then God arranged their return to the land He gave them, as prophesied.  They never again worshiped pagan gods but they still didn’t keep all of His laws.

Did God systematically reject everyone except native Hebrews from heaven under His Old Covenant?

Evidently not. God sent his prophet Jonah (who was swallowed en route by a great fish) to preach to the pagan Assyrian people of Nineveh (Jonah 4:11). And Peter, one of Christ’s closest disciples was sent to preach to the Roman Centurion, Cornelius (Acts 10). Other outsiders specifically mentioned in the Hebrew scriptures who came to faith in God were Rahab from Jericho, Ruth from Moab, and Tamar from Timnath. Rather, God invited his chosen among all people who He foreknew had faith to be led to salvation by His covenant people to believe on Him and adopt His ways. Although God had planned for ancient Israel to be an example to the world of how He wanted all humans to live most Hebrews weren’t good examples to follow.  Apparently, God had other ways to judge people worldwide who didn’t have the opportunity to learn about Him.     

Plan C: Then God gave the Hebrews the Messiah who was prophesied in their scriptures (starting in Genesis 3:15)- and was God Himself because only He was suitable. His sacrificial death and resurrection{1} for their sins was included in His earthly ministry to them. His one sacrifice ultimately provided a forgiveness opportunity for all who believe on him to atone for their sins.  It replaced the endless animal sacrifices. 

However, with pressure from their religious leaders most Hebrews (or Jews*) rejected believing on their Messiah- that was also prophesied in their scriptures. God then temporarily set aside the Jews as His “chosen” people until the end times (New Testament Romans 11) along with His previous “Old Covenant” with them, for His “New Covenant” with all people on earth who accept this Messiah as their savior.  He will not return for His 2^nd coming until the number of Gentiles God planned are saved and Israel has accepted Him as their Messiah (New testament Romans 11:25-26 also Matthew 23:37-39, and Zechariah 12:10, Hosea 5:15 in the Hebrew scriptures).  This Messiah, Christ atones for their occasional sins against God’s moral laws when they confess and repent. Beyond confessing personal offenses to God and not repeating them, “repentance” includes willingness to restore to others for their misdeeds, specifically stealing and false slander (compare Leviticus 6:2 and New Testament Matthew 5:17-18, Luke 19:1-10). The sacrificial and most dietary laws were not continued under the New Covenant, and God promised spiritual blessings in the heavenly realm (New Testament Ephesians 1-3), rather than the material blessings during life in the Old Covenant (Deuteronomy 28:1-12). The Father appointed Christ, the Messiah, as judge of all humanity (New Testament Gospel of John 5:22). These faithful people under God’s New Covenant are called “Christians” and their scriptures are the writings in the New Testament.  Christ referred to the New Covenant in the New Testament Gospel of Luke 22:20. Since Christ’s resurrection ethnic Jewish Christians who have accepted Him as their Messiah have been saved by God alongside of Gentile believers. They consider themselves as “Messianic” Jews but unconverted Jews reject them as "not Jewish".

* Authorship of Hebrew Law, How the Hebrews and Israelites became known as “Jews”. 

Many Christians wonder why God allowed Islam to take over so much of the world since its prophet appeared in the AD600s. The New Testament provides an answer. Circa AD100 Christ made pointed prophecies recorded by His apostle John in Revelation 2:4-5 and 3:16 that were directed to certain churches in the Roman province of Asia. In Ephesus and Laodicea, respectively, Christ threatened to remove their church, and He even spit them out of His mouth! However, in nearly every church He encouraged a faithful remnant who pursued righteousness (Revelation 2:24, 3:4). While all of these prophecies were addressed to the seven churches of Asia they surely applied to churches everywhere.  Many centuries after Christianity began, likewise most Christians eventually became weak and apathetic in their faith. Unknowingly, the prophet of Islam accomplished Christ’s prophesies when he conquered the small nations with Christians across North Africa and the Middle East with his dedicated army and forced Islam on them.  Former churches, even the very largest- St. Sophia in Constantinople became mosques. This "jihad (religious war) by the sword"{2} was continued by other Muslim leaders into parts of Europe but the Muslim armies there were eventually driven out by combat. Then Islam spread to Indonesia and beyond by peaceful trade and cultural exchange. Christians that remained in predominantly Muslim countries have been highly persecuted, and even killed{3}.  Later in medieval Europe and colonial North America God blessed Christian “revivals” that continued church growth outside of the Middle East.  Today, peaceful but more sophisticated methods continue to expand Islam into western Christian democracies by manipulating their freedoms for inroads in a "soft jihad"{2}.

Forcing people to outwardly obey and worship God while on Earth, or killing perceived "infidels", "heretics", or “evil” people conflicts with His purposeful pre-selection plans for human entry into heaven (Matthew 13:29-30). Yet this is incorrectly done by some who believe they are pleasing God.

Importantly, God selects certain faithful humans worldwide who then can respond by faith to be saved, even those in other religions. Then He continues to work with them throughout their lives (Philippians 1:6, 2:13).  Knowing that God evidently created the universe with intelligent life to refill heaven with loyal spirit beings can help to succeed in His selection process.  Christian churches have set their own standards for salvation by following church rules they believe are required. But evidently God simply expects eternal loyalty from His heavenly subjects that He didn’t get from 1/3 of the angels who rebelled with Lucifer when they were tempted by him. The quality of peoples’ lives on earth shows God who will be loyal in heaven. And forgiveness is provided by Christ for humans who sincerely repent of numerous mistakes they made while they lived here.

Unrepentant, rebellious humans who are unfit for God’s heaven (above) choose lifestyles that promote ideals in the recent popular songs- “I did it my way” and “I gotta be me”.  Satan attracts a following by breeding on their discontent and God still uses his temptations today to screen out unfit humans from heaven during their lifetimes.  But Satan has no other option to try to save himself and his fallen angels from eternal doom than to make God “pack hell to get a few into heaven” as some theologians note (Matthew 7:13, 22:14).   

Eternal destiny is a free-will choice exclusively for humans that justly excludes Satan and his fallen angels who God doesn't want back in heaven. (Satan certainly argues with God about the generous forgiveness He offers humans for their transgressions during life while denying forgiveness to him and his fallen angels. Yet they committed the unforgivable sin of rejecting God after they personally knew His goodness.)  And God paid the price for human forgiveness.  This explains why God lets evil in this world run its course that critics complain “He lets happen”:  God will judge it later as reason to reject the unsaved. Although God’s punishment of people for their unrepented evil deeds in life in no way benefits those who were hurt by them. Under the New Covenant, 2 Corinthians 5:10 suggests He will bless His people for keeping faith during their difficult lifetime trials in His “Bema judgment” of the faithful.

{1} Critics objection:  

Christ prophesied that he would be killed and lay dead for “three days and three nights” until His resurrection (New Testament Matthew 12:40, 16:21, Mark 8:31, Luke 9:22, John 2:19-21). According to the Gospels He died late Friday afternoon on Passover (Good Friday) before sundown then rose early on Sunday morning (Easter Sunday). So, the western “day” count was from late Friday afternoon, all Saturday and Saturday night, to Sunday morning. Jewish “days” began and ended at sundown (Genesis 1:3-31), so their “day” count was from late Friday, all Saturday and Saturday night, to mid Sunday.  Either “hour” count would be one 24hr period plus about a 12hr period, or 1-1/2 (24hr) days. Critics ask- How could this be “three days and three nights”?  Some have even tried to claim Christ died on Thursday to add time. However, the cited conservative scholarly reference* answers that according to oriental custom (in Hebrew scripture) “day counts” included partial days as full days. A biblical example that this reference cites is 1 Samuel 30:12-18. Here, a hungry Egyptian who David captured said he had no food or water for “three days and three nights”. It would be humanly unlikely for him to survive for this time in the Negev desert. More likely it was also about 1-1/2 24hr periods. By the same reckoning, Jonah was inside the great fish for less than "three days and three nights" by western day count (Matthew 12:40, Jonah 1:17).

*Haley, John H., Alleged Discrepancies of the Bible, Whitaker publ. (No copyright date), p413.

{2} Yousef, Michael, 2026, An Unholy Alliance, Ascaine Press (book).

{3} The Muslim theologian Wahhabi who lived in Arabia in the 1700s carefully studied the sayings of their prophet in their holy book to resolve the apparent conflict about respecting Christians and Jews as “people of the book” (including Surahs 2:62, 3:64) or instead to kill them. Wahhabi determined that the respectful verses were said by their prophet early in his career (when he sought approval from Christians and Jews to endorse him as a prophet of God) and the other verses were from later (after they refused to do this). So Wahhabi’s conclusion was because their holy book recorded God’s gradual revelation to the prophet the newer verses superseded the older- so their bad treatment of Christians and Jews is the correct response. The surahs are the recorded sayings of their prophet, but they are not given in chronological order in their holy book which made Wahabbi’s study difficult. Modern internet sources apparently whitewash this by saying “mainstream” and “majority” Muslims do not interpret these harsher surahs as saying this and they instead “focus on the other verses” in their relationships with Christians and Jews. However, active Islamist groups including ISIS, al-Queda, Taliban, and Boko Haram who claim to believe in “pure” Islam routinely kill many Christians annually, and even non-Islamist Muslims will sometimes kill a family member who becomes a Christian.      

W. Cook

Independent researcher  January 2026

contact: genesismakessense@gmail.com