The Bible teaches that it is the potential and destiny of man to enter the Kingdom and Family of God; that is, to become an immortal and eternal God being. The Bible tells us that we, who are called today, will be what Christ is today. We will be like Him, as He is. We will share the Father’s and Christ’s very divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). We are to inherit “all things” with Christ.
As God beings, we will of course have the ability to create, as God the Father and Jesus Christ create. But we will always be UNDER the authority of God the Father and Jesus Christ. We will never do ANYTHING contrary to the Will of the Father and the Son. As God Beings and members of the God FAMILY, we will be TOTALLY unified with the Father and Christ—we will think and act EXACTLY as they do.
1 Corinthians 15:45 tells us that Christ is “a life-giving spirit.” That is, He is a Spirit being who can give and create LIFE. In fact, that is what He did before He became a human being. That is what He is doing today, and what He will continue to do after His return. We know, for instance, from the book of Revelation that all living things in the oceans and rivers will have died before His return (Revelation 16), but we also read in several passages that there will be fish in the Millennium (Ezekiel 47). This shows that God will create LIFE – in this case, physical fish. He created life when the surface of the earth was renewed; and He created (“had prepared” or “had made”) a great fish or “sea monster” to swallow up Jonah (Jonah 1:17).
This understanding has wide-ranging consequences. Some have wondered about the fate of our pets, when they die. Even though the Bible does not say anywhere that animals will be resurrected, as human beings will be, there is also nothing in the Bible that says that they will not be. We read that animals have a spirit, and while Solomon states that the spirit in man will go back to God who gave it, he wonders about the fate of the spirit of animals, without giving a decisive answer (Ecclesiastes 3:21). Consider that God can CREATE animals—including those resembling our pets. When scientists can clone animals today, how much more will God the Father and Jesus Christ be able to create or recreate animals that God had created in the first place?
Since we will be as Christ is, we will be given the same capabilities.
Romans 8:20-23 tells us that the entire creation waits for us. Why? Ultimately, as we will discuss below, to be transformed into the glorious liberty of the children of God. The entire physical creation will be freed from corruption – it will become spirit, too. But that won’t happen until God creates new heavens and a new earth—which will be long after Christ’s return. So, what are we going to do prior to God’s new creation?
When Christ returns, this earth will lie in ruins, and we will assist Him in the momentous project of rebuilding the ruins so that the earth will become a beautiful paradise. We will assist Jesus Christ to beautify it, which includes, CREATING physical life. Once we have entered the Family of God as immortal God Beings, we will have the same abilities and capabilities which God the Father and Jesus Christ have. We will rule angels and possess more and higher powers than they do. We will heal people. We will assist Christ in judging mankind. And we read that we will rule forever and ever (Revelation 22:5). Over what will we reign, forever and ever?
First, under Christ, over man. But once God’s plan for physical mankind has been completed and all human beings who qualified have become immortal God Beings (while those who committed the unpardonable sin will have been burned up in the lake of fire), then what will the next step be in God’s great master plan? It appears that we will then begin to rule over and beautify the vast universe. Romans 8:18-23 tells us that “the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility in hope; because the creation itself [the entire universe] also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption [or “decay,” compare New International Version and Revised Standard Version]… into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now…”
This passage indicates that once we are God Beings and full members of the God Family, we will participate in the process of beautifying and finishing the creation of the presently unfinished universe. The universe is in decay—the planets are, from all that we can tell, waste and empty. But it is our human potential to become God and, under the leadership of Jesus Christ, to free the universe from decay and corruption.
This has been the long-held understanding of the Church of God under its late human leader, Herbert W. Armstrong who died in 1986.
In his book, Mystery of the Ages, chapter 3, “The Mystery of Man,” he wrote on page 103 [hard copy version]:
“Once… man [has been] BORN INTO the divine FAMILY of God, restoring the government of God to the earth, [he will] then participat[e] in the completion of the CREATION over the entire endless expanse of the UNIVERSE!”
In Chapter 7, Mystery of the Kingdom of God, he stated on pages 355-362:
“God says… that he has decreed the entire universe–with all its galaxies, its countless suns and planets–everything–will be put under man’s subjection… Why should the whole universe—the creation—be waiting with eager longing for the actual birth and appearing of all these sons of God to be born into the family of God? The… verses [of the Bible] portray a universe filled with planets in decay and futility—yet as if subjected now to this dead state in hope!…
“Could the whole universe with its myriad of other planets have been created for the eventual purpose of sustaining life?… when we (converted humans) are born of God—then having the power and glory of God—we are going to do as God did when this earth had been laid ‘waste and empty’… Christ… was renewing what had been destroyed by the rebellion of the sinning angels…
“[The Bible] indicates precisely what all astronomers and scientific evidence indicate—the suns are as balls of fire, giving out light and heat; but the planets, except for this earth, are in a state of death, decay and futility—but not forever—waiting until converted humans are BORN the children of God; born into the very divine family of God, forming the kingdom of God… even the whole universe is to be ruled by us, who, with God the Father and Christ, become the kingdom of God… We are to be given jurisdiction over the entire universe! What are we going to do then? These scriptures indicate WE SHALL IMPART LIFE to billions and billions of dead planets, as life has been imparted to this earth. We shall create, as God directs and instructs. We shall rule through all eternity!”
The foregoing quotes describe our role as God Beings in helping, under the Father’s and Christ’s direction, to beautify and impart LIFE to the entire physical universe. (But as pointed out in previous Q&As, and as will be mentioned again below, this will NOT include the creation of human life. That aspect of God’s master plan will have been completed).
In addition to the beautification of our physical earth and the physical universe, the Bible reveals even more.
We have already pointed out that after these events, God will create new heavens and “a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” The new heavens (including the entire universe) and the new earth will no longer be physical, consisting of matter, but they will be spiritual—consisting of spirit. When the heavenly Jerusalem (a city consisting of spirit) descends to earth, it will descend to an earth consisting of spirit.
The Bible does not only speak of the physical colonization of the universe, as a type or forerunner, but also ultimately of our spiritual “colonization” of an universe which has been transformed into spirit.
Quoting from our Q&A, “What will we do after the Third Resurrection?”
“The heavenly Jerusalem will come down from heaven, after the physical earth and the physical heavens are burned up, and after God creates new heavens and a new earth (2 Peter 3:7, 10–13)… which will remain (Isaiah 65:17; 66:22)… 2 Corinthians 4:18 tells us: ‘…For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.’…
“Lamsa renders [Hebrews 12:27] in this way: ‘And these words, once more, signify the CHANGE of things which may be shaken, because they are made in order that things which cannot be shaken may remain.’
“Romans 8:18–23 tells us very clearly what those invisible things will be: ‘For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption INTO the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption [sonship], the redemption of our body.’
“We saw in verse 21 that the creation will be delivered from corruption ‘into’ (‘eis’ in Greek) the glorious liberty of the children of God. Moffat renders verse 21 in this way: ‘The hope being that creation as well as man would one day be freed from its thralldom [bondage] to decay and gain the glorious freedom of God’s children.’ The Revised Standard Version writes: ‘…the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and OBTAIN the glorious liberty of the children of God.’ The Luther Bible states, ‘The creation, too, will be freed from bondage of temporary existence INTO the glorious freedom of the children of God.’
“The Greek word for corruption or decay that is used in verse 21 is ‘phthora.’ It is the same word used in 1 Corinthians 15:42, where we read: ‘The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption.’ It is also used in Galatians 6:8: ‘For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption.’
“This physical creation, patterned after God’s spiritual creation, waits to be delivered from corruption to obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God. The glorious freedom, which the universe will receive, includes freedom from death. In that new universe, DEATH will be unknown, and so will decay and corruption… In order to obtain such freedom from death and corruption, this universe will have to be changed into SPIRIT, as we also will be changed into Spirit beings. In this way, the new heavens and the new earth will remain, for only the things that the human eye cannot see will remain.”
What will remain is the new earth and the new universe, consisting of spirit (what the human eye cannot see). The physical existence will not remain forever; that is, the physical earth and the physical universe, which can be seen by the human eye, will be changed into spirit (which cannot be seen by the human eye).
We do not know how much time will transpire after the end of the third resurrection period and before the physical earth and the heavens will be dissolved (2 Peter 3:11-12); new heavens and a new earth will be created (2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1); and the heavenly Jerusalem will descend to earth (Revelation 21:2). As Spirit Beings, time will be of no consequence for us. For God, 1,000 years are just as one day (2 Peter 3:8) and “like a watch in the night” (Psalm 90:4). We do not know how much time will be spent to beautify the physical earth and maintaining its beauty, while colonizing the physical universe, before God will create new heavens and a new earth. The Bible would allow for millions, if not billions or trillions of years, if viewed in human terms.
Some may ask why we should even colonize a physical universe, if it is only to be burned up later? The same question could be asked about this physical earth, which we will beautify and rule for a very long time after Christ’s return. It too will be burned up. But the emphasis is on the creation of spiritual heavens and a spiritual earth which will last forever—not on the temporary physical universe and the earth which will expire. Nothing physical will last forever.
We need to remember that the Spirit world was first, and God created first spiritual beings and “things” within the Spirit world. We read of a heavenly spiritual city, a spiritual temple, a spiritual mountain, a spiritual altar and a spiritual tabernacle, as well as spiritual trumpets, spiritual clothes etc. After this spiritual creation, the physical universe and the earth were created—first the spiritual, and then the physical.
But in the distant future, that process would be reversed—first the physical, and then the spiritual (1 Corinthians 15:46). When man was created, he was created physical with the potential of becoming a Spirit Being. And so, the physical world and universe will ultimately be changed to consist of spirit as well. Once the beautification of the physical earth and the physical universe (as a first physical step) has been completed, then they will be transformed or changed into something spiritual. And as we hinted above that physical animals which died might be brought back to physical life, so, ultimately, they might be transformed into spiritual existence. (After all, even angels have animal-like features, but they existed first, and animals were, to an extent, created after their pattern.)
But we do not suggest that our work of the beautification of the earth and imparting life to the universe (physical and spiritual) would include the creation of human beings. As mentioned, this phase of God’s master plan will have concluded with the third resurrection. And we do not suggest that we will ever create angels, or that God will create additional angels. Nothing is mentioned about this in the Bible. Rather, it appears that God created all the angels, whom He wanted to create, before He created man, as they were apparently created for man (Hebrews 1:14). But since we believe that we are going to create at first physical and later spiritual life on earth and in the universe, it remains to be seen what type of life this is going to be.
What exactly God has in store for us after the new heavens and the new earth have been created, we don’t know. But we do know that God says that we will rule forever and ever, and that His peace and government over the new earth and the entire new universe will have no end. God the Father will dwell on the newly-created earth, consisting of spirit, and the new Jerusalem, consisting of spirit, will come down from the third heaven, after the physical earth and the physical universe have been dissolved. Undoubtedly, the new earth will be God’s headquarters over the entire (new) universe, and it appears that we will be assisting God, in the way that He directs.
For more information and Scriptural evidence on this intriguing subject, please read our free booklets, “Angels, Demons and the Spirit World”; “God Is a Family”; “The Gospel of the Kingdom of God” ; “Biblical Prophecy—From Now Until Forever”; and our Q&As on born again; and what we will do after the third resurrection.
Lead Writer: Norbert Link
