The Process of the Creation of the Universe

Chapter The Principle of Creation

Section V

The Process of the Creation of the Universe and the Period of Growth

1. The Process of the Creation of the Universe

It is recorded in Chapter 1 of Genesis that the creation of the universe commenced with the creation of light out of the chaos, void, and darkness upon the face of the deep. God first created water and then separated the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament. Then He separated the waters from the land.

After having created the plants, fish, birds, and mammals, He then created man. All this took a period of six days. Through this, we can see that there was a six-day period involved in the creation of the universe.

The process of creation as it is written in the Bible is in accord with the evolutionary sequence of creation known to modern scientists.

In the beginning, the universe was in a gaseous state. Out of the chaos and void of the anhydrous age, the heavenly bodies were formed. After a spell of rainfall the world entered the aqueous age with a firmament of water. Then, due to volcanic eruption, land appeared out of the water, and was thus separated from the sea. Next, all the lower plants and animals came into existence. Then came fish, fowl, mammals, and finally man, in that order. Scientists calculate the age of the earth to be some thousand million years.

When we consider the fact that the course of the creation of the universe described in the Bible, which was written thousands of years ago, coincides with the findings of scientific research, we are reassured that this record in the Bible is an actual revelation from God.

The universe did not suddenly come into being without a lapse of time, but it took considerable time for the generation of the universe to take place. Therefore, the six days until the completion of the creation of the universe are, in fact, not six days as calculated by the repetition of sunrise and sunset, but an indication that there were six periods in the course of creation.

2. The Period for the Growth of the Creation

The fact that it took six days--that is, six periods--to complete the creation of the universe indicates that a certain amount of time is necessary to complete the creation of any individual body in the universe.

We read in Chapter 1 of Genesis the story of the creation of the universe, in which each day's creation is described and each day is designated by a number. By this, also, we can understand that a period of time was necessary for the completion of each creation.

The Bible states that, after the creation on the first day, "there was evening and there was morning, one day" (Gen.1:5). Somewhere in the period from the evening, through the night, and until the next morning, the second day should begin; but the Bible states "one day" or "the first day", because any created being can realize the ideal of creation only in the new morning, after its perfection through the night, which is the period of growth.

Likewise, every phenomenon occurring in the universe brings about a result only after the lapse of a time interval. This is because everything made in the beginning was meant to be perfected through a certain period of time.

(1) The Three Orderly Stages of the Growth Period

The universe is the representation of God's essential character and form, substantially developed according to the principle of mathematics. We may infer that God is, in fact, mathematical. God is the absolute reality, the existing neutral center of the two essentialities; therefore, He is the reality of the number "three". Every created being, which is an image or symbolic likeness of God (Gen.1:27), is created to go through the course of the number "three" in its existence, movement and growth.

Accordingly, the four position foundation, which was God's purpose of creation, was to be established through the course of three stages: God, Adam and Eve, and children. In order to establish the four position foundation and enter into circular movement, one must perform the three-stage origin-division-union action, accomplishing the three objective purposes, serving as object to three subjects and subject to three objects. In order to stand in a stable position, a thing needs at least three points to support it. Therefore, in order for any creature to be perfected, it must grow to maturity through the three orderly stages of "formation", "growth" and "perfection". The number "three" appears throughout the natural world which consists of minerals, plants and animals.

For example:

• Matter exists in three forms--gaseous, liquid and solid;
• A plant consists basically of three parts--root, trunk or stem, and leaf;
• An animal consists of head, trunk and extremities.

Let us next draw examples from the Bible.

Man, having fallen before completing the three stages of the growth period, could not fulfill the purpose of creation. Therefore, in order to attain this purpose, he must first go through those three stages. In the providence of restoration, God has worked to restore the number "three".

As a consequence, there are many records in the Bible of the providence centered on the number "three":

• The Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit)
• The three stages in Paradise
• The three archangels, (Lucifer, Gabriel and Michael)
• The three decks of Noah's ark
• The three flights of the dove from the ark
• Abraham's three offerings,
• The three days before the offering of Isaac
• The three days of calamity during the period of Moses
• The three-day period of separation from Satan in preparation for the Exodus
• The three forty-year periods of restoration into Canaan
• The three-day period of separation from Satan centering on Joshua before crossing the Jordan
• Jesus' thirty years of private life and three years of public ministry
• Three wise men from the East with their three gifts
• Three major disciples of Jesus
• Three temptations of Jesus
• The three prayers at Gethsemane
• Peter's three denials of Jesus
• The three hours of darkness during the crucifixion
• Jesus' resurrection after three days.

When did the first human ancestors fall?

They fell during their growth period, while they were still immature. If man had fallen after he had achieved perfection, we could not believe in the omnipotence of God. If man could fall after he had become a perfect embodiment of goodness, then goodness itself would be imperfect. Accordingly, we would have to reach the conclusion that God, the absolute subject of goodness, is also imperfect.

In Genesis 2:17, God warned Adam and Eve that in the day that they ate the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they would surely die. From the fact that they had two choices, either to continue to live by obeying God's warning or accepting the way of death by going against it, we can imagine that they were still in an immature state. All things were created to reach perfection after they had grown through the three stages. Man could not have been created apart from this principle.

In which of the stages of growth did man fall?

We can see that he fell at the final level of the growth stage. This can be logically proven by examining the various situations surrounding the fall of the first human ancestors, and by the details of the history of the providence of restoration. This will be further clarified by studying the first and second parts of this book thoroughly.

(2) Indirect dominion

During the period of growth, each being in creation grows autonomously by the power of the Divine Principle. Therefore, God, as the author of the Principle, relates to the creation indirectly, dealing directly only with those results of its growth which are in accordance with the Principle. Therefore, we call this period God's "indirect dominion" or His "dominion over the result in the Principle".

All things reach their perfection through the dominion and autonomy of the Principle itself, by going through the period of growth (indirect dominion). However, man is created to attain his perfection not only through the dominion and autonomy of the Principle itself, but also by accomplishing his own portion of responsibility in passing through this period.

That is, when we study God's Word, which says, "...in the day you eat of it you shall die." (Gen. 2:17), we can understand that man's fall was his own fault and not God's.

The first human ancestors were to become perfect by believing in the divine Word and not eating of the fruit. However, in their disbelief, they ate of it, thus causing the fall. In other words, the perfection or non-perfection of man depended not only on God's power of creation but also upon man's response. Therefore, man was created to reach his perfection by passing through the period of growth (indirect dominion), accomplishing his portion of responsibility, while God would fulfill His part as the Creator.

God created man so that man could reach his perfection only by accomplishing his portion of responsibility. God does not interfere with man in this regard. Man should inherit God's creatorship and participate in His work of creation. Thus, man may also enjoy the authority of a master, enabling him to rule all things from the position of the creator, just as God, man's Creator, has dominion over man (Gen. 1:28). This is the difference between man and the rest of creation.

Thus, man reaches perfection only after having acquired the ability to rule the rest of creation, including the angels. He accomplishes this by going through the period of indirect dominion, fulfilling his own portion of responsibility, and inheriting God's creatorship.

Therefore, man, who lost his qualification as the ruler because of the fall, can never fulfill the purpose of creation unless he goes through the indirect dominion. Thus, he may restore his dominion over all things, including Satan, by accomplishing his portion of responsibility in accordance with the principle of restoration. God's providence of salvation has been prolonged for so long because the central figures in His providence of restoration have repeatedly failed to accomplish their portions of responsibility, with which even God cannot interfere.

However great the grace of salvation through the cross of Christ may be, the providence of salvation calling at man's door will be nullified unless man himself has faith, which is his own portion of responsibility. God granted the benefit of resurrection through the crucifixion of Jesus, as His portion of responsibility, but it remains man's responsibility to believe (John 3:16, Eph. 2:8, Rom. 5:1).

(3) Direct dominion

What is God's "direct dominion" and what is its purpose?

Man enters the direct dominion of God when husband and wife fulfill the purpose of goodness through the perfect give and take action of love and beauty between them according to the will of the subject, in perfect oneness with God's heart, having established the four position foundation by becoming one united body. Therefore, direct dominion is the realm of perfection. We are destined to bring into being this direct dominion of God because it must exist in order for the purpose of creation to be fulfilled.

What significance does the direct dominion of God have for man?

If Adam and Eve had perfected themselves, centering on God, becoming one united body to form the four position foundation on the family level, and then had lived a life of goodness in perfect oneness with the divine heart, we would call this state the "direct dominion of God". A man in such a state can put into practice the will of God by understanding it and by experiencing God's heart, which underlies it. Just as each section or nerve of the body is set into action by the command of the human mind, which is invisible, man would act out the will of God in obedience to His command, thus fulfilling the purpose of creation.

Next, let us discuss how man assumes direct dominion over all things.

When perfected man as subject, and the physical world, as his object, become one united body centered on God and establish the four position foundation and when man thus fulfills the purpose of goodness through the perfect give and take action of love and beauty with the physical world according to his will, in perfect oneness with God's heart, man attains direct dominion over all things.