Where was God before Creation?

QUESTION:

Uncle, I am a converted Christian from India. From my childhood I have a question in me that prevents me to go near to God and the Holy Spirit even I am not able to believe Jesus Christ. Here is the question: Before God created the world and everything where was God at the beginning? If there is nothing then how could God exist? Please answer my question. It is my humble request.

Anbumozhi

ANSWER:

Anbumozhi:

Thank you for your sincere desire to know more about God. There are several ways to respond to your genuine question.

First, be saved

1. I think the first thing is that I observe you saying you are a Christian, but you cannot go near God, nor believe Jesus Christ. It is hard to be a Christian and not believe Jesus Christ. So let me address this issue first.

Many times people believe they are a Christian because of church membership, being baptized, belonging to a family who are Christians – or some other external identification. This, however, does not make one a Christian. I invite you to read my study on salvation. You can find it in the table of contents on this website. Basically, there are four steps.

• Know and agree that you are a sinner before God. Paul wrote, “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” 
• Realize that there is a penalty to sin. Paul again wrote, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). This penalty is to be banished forever to a place the Bible calls hell.
• Acknowledge that Jesus Christ paid the penalty for sin. Again, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us…Much more then, have now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him” (Romans 5:6, 8).
• Personally receive Jesus as your Savior. John wrote, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). In another place, it is written, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12).

Anbumozhi, to receive Christ means you accept His pardon for your sins. You do this by a simple, sincere prayer that might go something like this: “Dear God, I admit that I am a sinner in need of salvation. I believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay the penalty for my sins, and rose from the dead to give me eternal life. I personally invite you into my life to be my Savior.” Remember that the actual words do not save you, but the sincere response from your heart.

Now I can tackle your question. 

Where was God at the beginning?

The first part of your question deals with God’s existence. For God there is no beginning. He has always existed. He is eternal, and not bound by time or space. In the beginning means the beginning of the spiritual and physical universe.

John writes, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being” (John 1:1-3). 

In another place, Paul writes, “For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things have been created by Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:16, 17).

Another verse states, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). And one more verse we need to put before us, “By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible” (Hebrews 11:3). 

From this, we see that God made the spiritual (things like heavens and angels) and physical universe. He predated this creation. God was right there in the beginning before anything that He made existed. He created all these things out of nothing. He brought them into existence. Moses writes “And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good…Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. And by the seventh day God completed His work which He had done” (Genesis 1:31; 2:2). 

How could God exist?

2. The second part of your question deals with the issue of if nothing existed, how could God exist? What the Bible teaches is that nothing of this spiritual and physical universe existed, but God Himself existed to make the universe.

3. Now, since neither you nor I were there to watch these things happen, we must accept them by faith. However, our faith is based on very good evidence and reason. There are several philosophical proofs, but here is one that is very popular in this day and age. It is the argument of design. 

The reasoning is that if something looks as if it were designed, and has the appearance of a designer, then a designer must exist. For example, when we look at the marvelous design of the physical universe, it clearly shows signs of being created. The sun, moon, and stars, for example, are designed to rotate and move in such precision that we set our watches by them. 

Another comparison is the watch. If you took all the parts of a watch apart, placed them into a bucket, and shook the bucket for a million years, it would not fall into place as a watch. Furthermore, you have the problem of where did the pieces of the watch come from. Watches carry the mark of a designer and maker; consequently, they must have a creator and maker. It is the same with the universe.

Jesus Christ’s testimony

Another proof is Jesus Christ. He believed in creation, “And He answered and said, ‘Have you not read, that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female….” (Matthew 19:4). By this statement, Jesus affirmed as true the story of creation as recorded by Moses. 

Now we need to look at the credibility of Jesus Christ. The greatest proof of His claims and credibility is the fact of His resurrection from the dead, and the other mighty miracles He performed. John wrote, “Many other signs therefore Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:30, 31). 

The idea is this: if we cannot believe the word of someone who died and came back from the dead, what can we believe? In my mind, there is no better evidence. Besides, since Jesus was there at creation, He was an eyewitness. In fact, He did it.

Anbumozhi, I hope this clarified your question, and that you personally receive Christ as your Savior. 

All the best, and God bless…and, can you do me a favor and tell others about this website?

Dr. Newman