God’s Plan for humankind, revealed in the first two chapters of the Bible. Don’t misunderstand the beginning! You won’t grasp the rest of the book.
God’s Plan for Humans is in Genesis 1 and 2. It reveals the answers to the Who, Why, Where, What, When, and How questions.
God’s plan, His plot is laid bare in Genesis chapters 1 and 2. The first five minutes of the famous TV detective series, Colombo, reveals the intrigues, the instigator, and the protagonist. The rest of the program explains what’s going on. Similarly, with the Bible, the first two chapters reveal all the answers to the big questions in life.
(Origin of Woman, chapter 4.2)
No other book and no human reasoning like observation, philosophy, science, or religion have revealed and explained these phenomena.
As we finish Origin of Humankind, we’re in a position to answer a good part of all those why questions. Those nagging questions that terminate in endless debates and often, in hot disputes. In Genesis 1 and 2, in a neatly written, tight story, we have real answers to fundamental questions about life.
Further crucial answers to questions like, why is there such confusion in the world, are forthcoming. In 2020, week by week, The Explanation will unfold Genesis 3. That chapter will explain the Agony of Humankind, which is the title of the seventh book in The Explanation series. It will detail the relationship between the three main characters, Yahveh Elohim, the Serpent, and Humanity. It will answer questions like, how can a good God allow such evil to exist? Why situations generally get worse before they get better? Why is humankind so stubborn? And many others.
Theology, Bible, Logical Reasoning, Coherent Completeness
As we answer the why questions In establishing God’s Plan, or the 5W1H questions, the Who, Why, Where, What, When, and How questions I’d like you to ponder another subject we discussed at the beginning of Origin of the Universe. The Sacred Book, Could it be the Bible? As well as the definition of Theology, Coherent Completeness is the Logical Reasoning of the Source. You’ll notice that I left out the s/ on s/Source. God’s Plan, as expounded in Genesis 1 and 2, can only come from the Source.
I believe there’s solid evidence for God and the veracity and authenticity of the Bible.
I believe that the Source of the Sacred Book reveals and develops His Plan therein.
I believe that God’s Plan is made visible and clear through the Biblical Hebrew.
We’ve developed all these themes in Origin of the Universe and Humankind, which are Commentaries on Genesis 1 and 2. Please, also note that we have used no exterior, third-party commentaries, or explanations. The Bible, in particular, the Old and New Testaments, totally different eras, totally different objectives, yet so complementary, are the foundation for corroborative texts.
I receive emails with objections to what I write, like flat Earth or Young Earth, the definition of One God. It might be well meaning, but they are short on coherent completeness. These objections twist the puzzle pieces, and it is impossible to establish ONE picture from the multitude of millions of parts that compose the image.
Genesis 1 and 2 encompass all the pieces in the most coherent way.
The first verse of the Bible reveals the Instigator-God, His Spirit, and the Protagonist-Serpent. The WHO. The first two chapters of Genesis tell the entirety of God’s plan for humankind. The WHY, the WHERE, the WHAT, the WHEN, and the HOW. That’s the reason you’ve got to start by understanding the beginning of the book.
The Questions
The following questions and mainly the answers are in short-form. You won’t understand the answers unless you read more detailed accounts of the Biblical Hebrew meanings of words in the context of the story. Please use the links to do just that.
Who?
Genesis1:1-2 establish who is involved, with additional characters mentioned a little later
- Elohim: In the beginning, God (Elohim) created the Heaven and the earth.
- The Serpent: the earth was without form and void;
- God’s Spirit: the Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters. Read the article to see the Spirit is not a WHO, but certainly a critical player in this scenario.
- Humans, male and female: God made, created them in Genesis 1:27
- Yahveh Elohim: Working individually with the details of Creation in the entirety of Genesis 2.
John 1:1-3, which is a parallel context with Genesis chapters 1-3, corroborates the cast.
- In the beginning was the Word, (Yahveh Elohim) and the Word was with God (Elohim), and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
- John 1:32 I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove. A dove moves like the Spirit in Genesis 1:2
- John 1:37 And the two disciples heard him speak. Humans frequently mentioned in John. Christ’s mother and the marriage of a bride and bridegroom represent the female gender mentioned throughout the Gospels.
- Matthew 4:1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil (the Serpent).
Understanding Genesis in conjunction with John, in just a few chapters and verses, it is easy to understand the reason for the plural Elohim and the singular bara (created). Elohim (plural): The Word was WITH God, and the Word WAS God. Two Beings, BOTH GOD = Elohim plural. Bara (singular): All things were made by HIM, the Word = bara singular = Yahveh Elohim.
Why?
Here’s the reason why God is doing what He’s doing, the way He’s doing it.
We are His physical family with the potential of joining His Spirit Family. He is in the process of multiplying His Family, which will reach numbers that defy the imagination, similar to the number of stars in the sky.
God’s plan made humans in His image and likeness. Males and females alike, around the world, past, present, and future, are God’s kin. We are His sons and daughters, His family, now physical with the potential of being spirit beings. PLEASE, remember, this last sentence is the briefest of resumes. GO and READ the details at the links.
Here’s a verse that sums up what God has in mind. Why He created humans, notice the promise God made to Abram, not Abraham. The nuance in names is vital information. Abram was his UNconverted name representing the ENTIRETY of humankind. God made ABRAM the promise of multiplying humanity, of which AbraHAm would become the Father of the Faithful; this means the UNconverted multitude would become a CONverted multitude.
3 And Abram said, Behold, to me you have given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.
5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if you be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall your seed be.
God plans to expand His Family.
Where?
Earth is man’s abode. Humankind is on a small eccentric planet, in a small eccentric universe. God has given humans rule over the whole planet. Notice that we are on Earth by hazard. This orb, with its biodiverse resources and minerals, were created and handed to us. They essentially become our training ground.
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Ps 115:16
16 The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s: but the earth hath he given to the children of men.
I think we can safely say, If we, as the human race, can’t make it on Earth with the resources and know-how we possess, we’re not going to make it on another planet! Not that we’ll ever get to another planet, let alone setting up a colony on the moon.
God’s Plan gives Earth to humankind. Let’s do our best on Earth. That in itself is already a challenge humankind is having difficulty with, as I pointed out in Audit of the Universe and Humankind.
What?
What are humans supposed to accomplish during their life on Earth? Were they created to be idle, or did God give them specific instruction as to what their human occupation was to be? Yes, He did. Genesis 1:28 reveals human orientation. Be you fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; this is the two-part reason God placed humankind on Earth.
- Relationships
- Rulership
Relationships can be summed up by the marriage, and multiply directives God gave the man and woman. In other words, develop the family. We know this is foundational and worldwide. Adult and Infant mental health and development depend on the state of relationships in the family environment. That’s WHAT humankind, worldwide, is supposed to be accomplishing. Audit of Humankind tells us WHAT kind of a job we’re doing.
Rulership of Earth is our second calling. We have another more common term for that today, ecology, how we manage all the resources of our planet home. In a nutshell, this is what we do with our professional and leisure lives. The first five minutes of the story of humankind indicate WHAT humankind is to do with their time on Earth.
God’s Plan is for each human being to have an abundant life with brimful relationships and fulfilling occupations and careers.
When?
Too many people and organizations focus on signs, dates, interpretations of events. Prophecy seems to be the focal point of many Biblical scholars. And misinterpretations follow. Yes, we are to keep an eye on the signs of the times (Matthew 16:3), but remember, there have always been ups and downs in world history, and many have been caught up in wrong predictions. The Explanation does not play that game.
Genesis 1 and 2 do reveal in what timeframe and give us a framework for knowing the sequence of events God has in mind. The Explanation has not devoted a lot of space to these points in particular. That is an upcoming project. There is a timeline of seven thousand years, six thousand of which are now history.
During that 7,000-years-Plan, God has set benchmarks, which, in the Old Testament, were called Moadim, or Seasons and Feasts; this was established on Day 4 of Creation week by the movements of the Sun, Earth, and moon which are the basis of our calendar year. Genesis 1:14 states, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night, and let them be for signs (226), and for seasons (4150-moadim), and for days, and years.”
That allows us to answer the question, WHEN was the length of days and nights, months, and years established? WHEN was the calendar set in motion?
Another enigma is WHEN was the SEVEN-day week established? Generally, nobody asks this question, Why? Because, whereas there are astronomical phenomena to calculate the day, month, and year, there is NO such cosmic movement whatsoever to establish a 7-day week. WHEN was it founded? At Creation as Genesis 2:2-3 states, “And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it.”
The seven-day week is God-originated, and the seventh day is unique. No details now, for lack of space. Consider the parallel between the 7-day week and these two periods:
- Seven-day week: 6 for humankind, 1 for and to develop Godkind
- Seven thousand years: 6,000 for humanity, 1000 for and to develop Godkind
As you ponder this, keep in mind God’s Plan. To take humankind and the Earth from tohu and bohu to nakedness, from chaos to no confusion, proper wisdom.
How?
How is God going to accomplish His Plan? How is God going to multiply humans and take them through a process from turmoil and chaos to peace and prosperity with no confusion? How is He going to enlarge His Family with righteous, loving children?
Genesis 1 and specifically chapter 2 answer this HOW question. It starts and revolves entirely around neshama. Neshama is the critical ingredient with which God is concerned. Neshama is the human mind, the counterpart of God’s mind, that God conferred on humankind when He created the first man in Genesis 2:7.
That neshama endows each human being, worldwide with an identical set of singularities which, by the way, set them aside as the human species. Humans are not animalkind; they are Godkind. Two Human Singularities are the possession of a dual nature, the ability to do good and bad, and free will. Combined, they lead to the third human singularity: behavior. Each human being has their behavior. And therein is the essence of confusion on a personal, community, national, and international level. Humans cannot harmonize their behavior. In Biblical terms, this is called sin.
God’s Plan consists of helping humankind become aware of their sin. I cannot go into details here. Genesis 2 refers to rain, which God uses to test humanity and develop their spiritual stamina. He also provides for forgiveness symbolized by the death of Adam (putting him to sleep) and the creation of a helpmeet, a Church to nurture his physical and later spiritual born children.
The entire Bible is the recital of HOW God is working through this 7000-year process with humankind. It is the process symbolized by both the Sabbath and God’s Moadim, His Feasts.
- Ceasing from sin
- Resting with Christ’s yoke. Matthew 11:29-30 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find REST unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
The pathway from sin to righteousness is the same as tohu and bohu to not ashamed.
21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies (tohu and bohu) in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable (this is NAKED) in his sight:
That is the story of Genesis 1 and 2; this is God’s Plan; this is the story of the Bible. It is the story of what God is doing with neshama. It is the story of what God is doing and going to do with each human being that walks the face of this Earth. It is the sin of humankind, Christ slayed on a tree, building the Church, redeeming and caring for each and every one of us.
God’s plan was written in advance to bring us back to that wholesome oneness with Him in His Family as His brother and sisters. Who would’ve thought God’s plan for all of humankind would be wrapped up in Genesis 1 and 2, but it is all there. This is the untold and fabulous story of humankind.
This blog post is an excerpt from chapter 4.2 of the book Origin of Humankind.
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I wanted to say “thank you” for publishing your thoughts and insights. It is refreshing to read someone who is thinking “outside of the box” in their approach to, and understanding of, the scriptures. Presently I am attempting to simplify the explanation of the ruach, nephesh and neshama. I believe you are correct, i.e. a correct understanding of these, especially neshama, is foundational to our understanding of “humankind.” Again, thank you for the work and for freely sharing your insights.
Blessings
Harold, I appreciate your reply. Your undertaking to simplify the explanation of ruach, nephesh, and neshama is admirable. It’s not an easy task, but using the scriptures as the foundation, and God’s help, it is possible. I’d be interested in reading your final approach. Yes, neshama is the ‘missing link.’ that we’ve overlooked. Courage in your work.