““In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.””
It's hard to imagine how anything could have happened before the creation of the universe. We can kinda grasp it because everything has a beginning, right? (Except God, of course.) But to think of before the beginning—that's just mind-blowing.
Also, remember that this isn’t just the beginning of "stuff" like the planets and stars, but this is also the beginning of time itself.
What could we possibly know about what happened before the beginning? To be honest, not that much. Most of the knowledge of "before Creation" is shrouded in mystery. We can file this under "Things We Won’t Understand Until We Get to Heaven." The Bible does give us a few details though.
God was Not Alone
We know that God was not alone, because He existed before the creation of time (Acts 17:25). God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit existed at once and as one being. God exists as a triune being in perfect harmony, fulfillment, and pleasure (Psalms 16:11).
Why is it important to know that God was perfectly fine before the beginning of Creation? Because this tells us that God did not create the universe out of loneliness. God has perfect knowledge of Himself and perfect unity, yet He still chose to create this universe and all of us—knowing exactly how everything was going to play out. Can you imagine?
Jesus was the Word
““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 through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.””
Looking at this passage, you might find you need to read it a couple times to really grasp what it means. (I know I still need to.) Jesus is the one referred to as "the Word" here. So Jesus existed before the beginning of everything. After He became human, we hear Him pray, “Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was" (John 17:5).
The Spirit was Present
““The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.””
This whole thing is crazy to think about, isn't it? The Holy Spirit was hanging out too! And the three of them had discussions with one another. Before time began, God discussed the redemption of the world—even before there was a world to redeem (2 Timothy 1:9; John 17:24).
““Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will.””
Before Creation, God existed—just as He has always existed. Beyond what Scripture tells us, we get to use our imaginations to wonder and dream about what "before the beginning" might have been like.