One of the things I love about faith, Christianity, and the Scriptures is the various conversations involved. Specifically, when it comes to some of the more enriching teachings and deep understanding of scripture. Much of what I have learned over the years stems from my own research, it also comes from many conversations that challenged my faith, currently held beliefs and interpretations of passages of scripture, and ongoing studying, fellowshipping, and sharing insights with others.
It just so happened that Pastor Mark Driscoll (Pastor of The Trinity Church in Arizona) is doing a devotional and study on Genesis. It also happened that my Facebook feed showed a post where Pastor Driscoll leads out with this question: What happened before Genesis?
Okay, so I will bite and take a peek at what he has to teach on the subject. And what I discovered is something quite interesting. While there are some theological tenets that I am in disagreement with, the overall understanding message is summed up in his last paragraph:
Before the creation of the world and mankind, in eternity past, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit dwelt together in glory and love. Additionally, God the Father chose God the Son to execute the plan of salvation by coming to earth to die for the sins of His people and rescue us from Satan, sin, and death. This plan of salvation that was executed by the Son through the Spirit’s power was devised by God the Father before Creation and before we sinned. In this we see that though God is not responsible for human sin, He also was not taken by surprise when our first parents sinned, but rather foreknew it would occur and had already devised a plan to remedy our sin by redeeming us through Jesus.
Pastor Mark Driscoll – Real Faith – What Happened Before Genesis?
His summation is not that far off from what I have come to believe is true. Our Heavenly Father has placed in motion a plan of salvation for each one of us. That through Jesus Christ, this plan was carried out. And I am not going to split hairs over this.
And he does ask a very good question: Have you ever thought about what happened before the creation of the World?
I also agree with his initial assessment:
Genesis records the beginning of Creation and human history. However, Genesis does not record what happened in eternity past as Moses chose not to tell us about such things as the creation of angels, fall of Satan in the unseen realm of Heaven or what the eternal God was doing before Creation. Therefore, it would be a mistake to view Genesis 1 as the beginning of history as it is instead an explanation that creation from God and was made habitable for human life.
The only disagreement I have is the statement that Moses chose not to tell us about such things… This is where many Evangelical and Protestant Christians tend to get hung up on. The idea that neither God nor Moses had chosen to reveal such things to us. As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we are learning that Moses not only was commanded by God to write these things down, to reveal these things to the children of Israel, and to keep them for a remembrance – he was also informed that such things would be lost over time. This is because of the restoration of the Book of Moses and the revelation contained therein. Mainly the revelation focused on God’s marvelous work, glory, and purpose was to bring about humanity’s immortality and eternal life. This was accomplished through the plan of salvation.
We also learned, because of the Book of Abraham, that there was a reason Satan fell, taking with him 1/3 of the host of heaven. Additionally, we learn much more through the Book of Abraham concerning the eternities past regarding creation of our spirits from the intelligences that existed.
Pastor Driscoll even admits that there is a definite history in eternity past regarding God, plan of salvation, the fall of Satan, and the foreknowledge of Adam’s transgression:
Before Creation and mankind, there was history independent of creation; before energy, time, space, or what we know of as the material world was spoken into existence, God existed and made the angels and other divine beings before humanity was created. The rest of scripture gives us some clues as to that part of history in eternity past which preceded human life.
He then quotes a sampling of New Testament scriptures that all refer to the pre-existence of Christ, the foreknowledge of God, and the choosing of us prior to mortal existence, and even his own purpose and grace (2 Timothy 1:9).
It is quite refreshing to see that such teachings are prevalent within an Evangelical Context and message.
So, the question stands do we truly know what happened prior to Genesis? From my point of view, studies, discussions, research, and personal revelation – yes, we do know exactly what happened prior to the creation of our world, the purpose behind the fall, and the plan of Salvation and purpose of the infinite atonement.
Thus, while I may disagree with Pastor Mark Driscoll on Moses choosing not to reveal to us such things and the doctrine of the Trinity – his devotional message does touch on a very important question we all may have, or are presently, wrestling with. And I further agree with his concluding remarks that we are to stand in awe and wonder, praise God for the fact that He existed before even the creation of the world and thank Him that [He} is personal and our loving Heavenly Father.
Mindful Latter-day Saint Apologetics 
Was there something that happened before Genesis on Earth, though? Were there human beings around before Adam and Eve?
I asked myself that question at a very early age, because I grew up with two parents who came from completely different religious perspectives and disagreed on this issue.
Answering that question led me to some very remarkable discoveries. And to summarize, unless we understand what happened before Genesis on Earth, there are aspects of end-time prophecy that we CANNOT properly understand.
I’ve recently been posting a series of articles on the Discover Isaiah FB group, on my research on Genesis 1-11 and what it tells us. Remarkably, there’s a repeated textual structure in Genesis 1-11 that directly points to there being an EARLIER repeat of this same pattern!
A – Gen. 1:1-2:4 – Earth born out of water
B – Gen. 2:4-5:1 – God covenants with man, but sin and murder enter
C – Gen. 5 – Genealogy of the sons of God (Seth’s descendants)
D – Gen. 6:1-9 – Evil generation of Noah’s day
A’ – Gen. 6:10-8:22 – Earth reborn out of water
B’ – Gen. 9:1-10:1 – God covenants with man and warns against murder, but sin enters
C’ – Gen. 10 – Genealogy of the Gentile sons of God (Noah’s descendants)
D’ – Gen. 11:1-10 Evil generation of Shem’s day (the Tower of Babel)
So, what’s going on, here?
God destroyed the Earth with water because of an evil generation that had filled the earth with violence in Noah’s day. We have the same evil generation in Shem’s day with the Tower of Babel, but God had promised not to destroy the earth through water again, so instead the people were scattered.
But wait…if the world is in a state of formless chaos in Genesis 1:1-2, then how could it have gotten that way to begin with, unless it were through the agency of man?
That tells us that we’re looking for a repeat of this same pattern, BEFORE Genesis 1:
God covenants with man, but sin and murder enter
Many generations of “sons of God”
An evil generation that fills the earth with violence
Earth destroyed in a global cataclysm that leaves it in a state of formless chaos, setting the stage for Genesis 1
And…we find NEARLY THAT EXACT PATTERN, in the myths and legends that relate what happened more than six thousand years ago. The only difference, interestingly enough, is that instead of God covenanting with man, we have a man claiming to be a god, in an Edenic homeland.
Sound familiar? Look at Ezekiel 28.
There are specific details about this earlier “repeat” that shed a lot of light on the end time. Including:
Why Tyrus is said to be fated to sink into the sea in Ezekiel 26:19, when that didn’t happen historically
Why “Mystery, Babylon” is also fated to sink into the sea (Rev. 18:21)
Specific symbolism of destruction in Rev. 8:7-13
Ten kings who “rule for one hour” (Rev. 17:12)
What the great “mystery” actually is – including what that “great and abominable church” must be (Rev. 17:5)
Here’s the original article:
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