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Particulars of Christianity:
303 Bible Cosmology

Heaven and Earth, Replaced or Restored:
More on the Creation of Angels (Part 1)

Cosmology: Introduction and Definitions
Part 1: The Old Testament - Buildings in Heaven
Bodies in Heaven: Angels and Spirit Bodies
Humans and Angels: How Similar are We?
Hell in the Old Testament
Part 2: From Christ's Death to His Return
Part 3: Christ's Return Through His Millennial Reign
Part 4: The Final Judgment and Eternity
Replaced or Restored: "Restarts" vs. the First Start
Replaced or Restored: Genesis 1 and Angels
Replaced or Restored: Precedent Reveals Restoration (Part 1)
Replaced or Restored: Precedent Reveals Restoration (Part 2)
Replaced or Restored: More on the Creation of Angels (Part 1)
Replaced or Restored: More on the Creation of Angels (Part 2)
Cosmology: Composite Chart
Cosmogony Illustrations

At this point, now that we have established that the creation week of Genesis 1 was the actual, first creation of all things including the angels and their heavenly abode and that the phrase "new heavens and new earth" refers to a rejuvenation, not the replacement, of those items, we are ready to tie up a few loose ends regarding the question of when the angels were created.

In our investigations of the creation of the angels, we first took note of the suggestion that perhaps the angels were created on Day 4 of Genesis 1. The basis of this theory stems from the fact that angels are sometimes referred to figuratively as "stars" and, similarly, there is at times a poetry concerning the phrase "hosts of heaven." Below are some of the more substantial verses where the terms "stars" or "hosts of heaven" are applied figuratively to angels.

In Revelation 9, we see that a "star" falls from heaven.

Revelation 9:1 And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. 2 And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.

The pronoun "he" is twice applied to this fallen star, once in verse 1 and again in verse 2. And this "star" is said to be given a key with which "he" opens the bottomless pit. The context seems to clearly indicate that this "star" is an angelic being.

1 Kings 22 recounts an event that took place during a 3 year period of peace between Syria and Israel. (This event is also recorded in 2 Chronicles 18.)

1 Kings 22:1 And they continued three years without war between Syria and Israel. 2 And it came to pass in the third year, that Jehoshaphat the king of Judah came down to the king of Israel.

Then Jehoshaphat asks to inquire of the prophets to see if they ought to go to war with Syria and so Ahab, the king of Israel calls for Micaiah who is a prophet of the LORD. 1 Kings 22:7 And Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the LORD besides, that we might enquire of him? 8 And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may enquire of the LORD: but I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so. 9 Then the king of Israel called an officer, and said, Hasten hither Micaiah the son of Imlah.

When Micaiah comes, he gives the following message.

1 Kings 22:19 And he said, Hear thou therefore the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host (06635) of heaven (08064) standing by him on his right hand and on his left. 20 And the LORD said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner. 21 And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the LORD, and said, I will persuade him. 22 And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so.

In verse 19, Micaiah refers to seeing the Lord sitting on his throne and all the host of heaven standing by him. The fact that the phrase, "host of heaven" refers to angels is demonstrated in verses 19-20, when God apparently addresses the host, asking for one of them to perform a task and a spirit comes and stands before the LORD to say that he will do what the LORD asks.

This same Hebrew word for "host" as well as the same Hebrew word for "heaven" is used in Genesis 2:1, which announces that the "heavens and the earth" and all the "host" of the heavens and earth have been finished.

Genesis 2:1 Thus the heavens (08064) and the earth were finished, and all the host of them (06635).

Furthermore, Deuteronomy 4:19 uses these same Hebrew words for "host" and "heaven" in the exact same phrase "host of heaven," which is found in 1 Kings 22. However, Deuteronomy uses this phrase right alongside mentions of the sun, moon, and stars.

Deuteronomy 4:19 And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven (08064), and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host (06635) of heaven (08064), shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven (08064).

Examples like this give rise to the understanding that in scripture, angels are sometimes figuratively associated with the stars. As we can see, this association is demonstrable. However, there is more to discuss than these possible indications to the creation of angels on Day 4. During our investigation of these issues, we took note that Job 38 provides another example in which angels are associated with “stars.”

Job 38:4 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. 5 Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? 6 Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; 7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? 8 Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb? 9 When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it, 10 And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors, 11 And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?

The critical verse is verse 7 which describes the "morning stars" singing right alongside the "son of God" shouting for joy. The term "sons of God" is only used in the Old Testament to refer to the angels. In fact, it is Job 38 that proves this fact. Job 38 describes the "sons of God" as being present and rejoicing at the point in time when God laid the foundations of the earth, shut up the doors of the sea, and set a boundary for the waters. These events are described in Genesis 1:9-13 as occurring on Day 3 of the creation week.

Genesis 1:9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. 10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good...13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.

Men were not created until Day 6 of the creation week.

Genesis 1:23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day…26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them…31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Consequently, since the sons of God are present 3 days earlier on Day 3, they cannot be men, but must be angels.

Likewise, the sun, moon, and stars are not created until Day 4 of the creation week.

Genesis 1:13 And the evening and the morning were the third day…16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. 17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. 19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

Consequently, the creation of the stars on Day 4 does not seem to refer to all angels because, according to Job 38, some angels seem to be present on Day 3, one full day before the stars are made. Reading through Genesis 1-2, it is clear that there is no literal or explicit statement about the creation of angels. And the comparison of Job 38 to Genesis 1 shows that figurative references to the creation of angels in Genesis 1 provide indications of the creation of angels on both days 3 and 4. However, during our investigations, we took note that just because we have no information regarding when the angels and where they reside were created does NOT mean the angels weren't created during the creation week of Genesis 1. It's a large and unsubstantiated leap to go from "Genesis 1 doesn't comment on the creation of angels and their heavenly abode" to "angels and their heavenly abode were created prior to Genesis 1."

As we said much earlier in this study, to argue that the angels were created prior to the creation week of Genesis simply on the grounds that there is no specific mention of their creation in Genesis 1-2 is purely an argument from silence. It is an argument which is based on the fact that there is no indication whatsoever about their creation in the text itself. And that is not a very strong foundation on which to support a theory.

Furthermore, as we also noted earlier, this argument from silence disappears entirely in light of a few demonstrable facts. First, as we stated, Genesis 1 depicts that right from the start there is a "heaven" that exists above the waters, even above the upper layer of water, which results from the creation of an expanse on Day 2. Second, Revelation chapters 4, 5, and 15 all clearly depict God seated on a throne above a sea of glass and surrounded by angels. This not only confirms the existence of a heaven above the upper layer of water, but it demonstrates that the angels reside in that heaven. Consequently, as we stated earlier, since the heaven above the upper layer of water is itself included among the created things in Genesis 1, when Genesis 2:1 declares that at the end of Day 6, "the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them," it includes the creation of the angels who reside in that heaven, even though they are not mentioned specifically elsewhere in the creation account.

So, although Genesis may not be explicit concerning the creation of the angels, it is not exactly altogether silent on the subject either. The angels are included in the creation by the text of Genesis 1-2.

However, during our investigation into the timing of the creation of angels, we also considered the impact of combining the presence of the angels on Day 3 with certain other factors. In particular, we took note of Ezekiel 28.

Ezekiel 28:13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. 14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.

Ezekiel speaks of an angel or cherub and it tells us a few things about this cherub. First, in verse 13, it says that he was in Eden, the garden of God. And second, it informs us that this cherub was considered "perfect in all [his] ways from the day that [he] was created, until iniquity was found in [him]."

Furthermore, we noted Jesus' comments in John 8 as well as similar comments from John in his first epistle.

John 8:44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

1 John 3:8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

In both of these passages, Jesus and John attest to the fact that the devil was a sinner, even a murderer, from "the beginning." Earlier in this study, we took note of how the phrase "the beginning" typically refers to the beginning of creation, specifically the creation week recorded in Genesis 1. For example, in Mark 10:6 and Mark 13:19, we see that Jesus used the term "beginning" to refer to the creation week, particularly Day 6, when man and woman were created.

Mark 10:6 "But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female."

Mark 13:19 "For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be."

Consequently, it followed that the devil was already a sinner going as far back as the time of the creation week. This clearly meant that his first sin was committed during that week, which is indicated by Jesus' reference to the devil as "a murderer from the beginning," which is no doubt an indictment of the devil's complicity in the death of man as recorded in Genesis 3.

Furthermore, if the devil's first sin was potentially during the first 7 days of creation, then the timeframe described by Ezekiel didn't seem to quite fit. Ezekiel 28's use of the phrase, "from the day thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee" seems to indicate that there was at least a moderate space of time between the day the devil was created and the day he became sinful. To illustrate, let's give the maximum amount of time and say for example that the devil was created on Day 1. Since we know that he was sinful by the end of the creation week, this would mean that at the very latest, the devil had already become sinful by Day 7. Now, let's reread that into Ezekiel 28.

Ezekiel 28:15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till [a few days later when] iniquity was found in thee.

See how the very phrase "from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee" seems to imply more than just a few days worth of time. So, a common sense reading of Ezekiel's account seemed to imply a greater duration of time than was available within the span of the seven-day creation week known as "the beginning." If the devil's first sin occurred by the end of the creation week, since more time seem to be implied by Ezekiel between the devil's creation and his first sin, time would have to be added before the creation week. And that would imply that angels not only already existed on Day 3, but that their creation had to come sometime prior to Day 1 and Genesis 1:1.

However, this conclusion falls short. Not only does Genesis 1-2 provide solid evidence for the inclusion of the creation of the angels in the creation week of Genesis 1, but there is another significant factor, which dissolves this line of reasoning concerning the need for more time between the devil's creation and the end of the creation week of Genesis 1 and 2.

Simply put, the entire line of reasoning hinges on the assumption that "the beginning" only refers to the creation week itself and that the term "the beginning" cannot extend one minute past the close of Day 7. While such an assumption is convenient, it is not necessary and it is certainly less problematic and less complicated to discard this assumption and extend "the beginning" farther forward after the creation week than to assume an additional creation prior to Genesis 1:1 and extend the history of the universe backward before Day 1.

Let's start by stating what we know. According to John 8 and 1 John 3, the devil had to be a sinner, and a murderer from the beginning. The reference to "murder" necessarily points to the devil's participation and instigation of the death of man. Angels are themselves immortal, so prior to the existence of man, murder simply isn't possible. So, since the devil is a murder at "the beginning," we know that "the beginning" must last up until the tempting of mankind and the sinning of Adam and Eve. The fall of man is recorded in Genesis 3, but the question is, do we know when the fall of man occurred? The assumption had been that Adam and Eve had sinned on the day of their creation, Day 6. This placed the devil's first sin on Day 6, which limited the span of time between his creation and his first sin to only a few days. And this, in turn, implied the need for more time, which would have to come prior to Day 1 thereby implying the devil and other angels may have been created sometime before the creation week of Genesis 1.

But what if Adam and Eve didn't sin on the day that they were created? There is one extremely compelling factor, which indicates that Adam and Eve did not sin until sometime after the end of the creation week. It is not until Day 7 that God rests. Therefore, it is not until the end of Day 6 that God is done working. Furthermore, it is not until the end of His work on Day 6 that God looks at all that he had created, all of his work, which was then complete, and calls it not only "good" but "very good."

Genesis 1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 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: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

This means that by the end of the sixth day, the status of the creation, the status of man and woman, even the status of the serpent was still "good," not sinful or evil. God could not have come down and cursed the earth, the man, the woman, and the serpent during Day 6 and then at the end of the Day before He rests on Day 7, looked around and said, "It's good!" This means that Adam and Eve had not sinned on Day 6, nor was the earth cursed on Day 6, nor had the devil perpetrated his temptation of man on Day 6. These things must have happened afterward.

Now, they could have happened on Day 7, but they might not have. After all, it doesn't exactly seem like a peaceful day's rest for God on the Sabbath if he has to come down, find his recently finished creation now infect with sin, and deal out judgment and a curse on the world He just created. Furthermore, Genesis 2:3 says that God sanctified the seventh day, which would hardly be appropriate if it was on that day that the devil became a murderer, man and woman sinned, and God had to curse the earth.

In reality, the only factor that directly limits when Adam and Eve fell is the birth of Seth. According to Genesis 3:24-4:1, Adam and Eve did not have children until after they sinned and were expelled from the garden of Eden.

Genesis 3:24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. 4:1 And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.

According to Genesis 4:1-2 and 4:25, Seth was the third child of Adam and Eve.

Genesis 4:1 And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD. 2 And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground…25 And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.

According to Genesis 5, Adam was 130 years old when Seth was born.

Genesis 5:3 And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth.

However, there are no dates of any kind given for the birth of Cain or Abel. All we know is that they were born before Seth, and subsequently, they were born some time before Adam was 130 years old. Even if we assume, for example, that Cain and Abel were 20 or 30 years old before Cain killed Abel or that Cain and Abel were born 50 years before Seth, that would still leave a 50 year span between the creation of Adam and the birth of Cain, his first son. And since Adam and Eve didn't have children until after they sinned and were expelled from the garden of Eden, that would leave a span of 50 years from Adam's creation to the birth of Cain during which the fall and expulsion could have taken place at any time.

Consequently, Adam and Eve could have theoretically lived in the garden of Eden anywhere from a few months or years to maybe even 50 or 100 years before being tempted by the devil, sinning, and being expelled. Let's consider Ezekiel 28 again, rereading these new dates into it.

Ezekiel 28:15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till [50 or 100 years later when] iniquity was found in thee.

These new dates provide plenty of time for Ezekiel's statement to make sense and all that would happen is that the phrase "the beginning" would refer to potentially the first few decades or the first century after creation, which doesn't really do any damage to its meaning. All we had to do was discard the notion that Adam and Eve sinned in the first week after creation, which was a factor that is already strongly negated by God's pronouncing of the creation "very good" at the end of Day 6 and his resting on and sanctifying Day 7. Consequently, the presence of the angels on Day 3 combined with Ezekiel 28 and the fact that the devil was a murderer from the beginning still does not provide much weight necessitating additional time for angelic history and the creation of angels prior to Genesis 1.