Where Did God Come From? Questions That Deserve a Real Answer

Part One: Echoes of Creation - in The Beginning

I'm starting a series today answering basic questions about the Bible and its implications on the world we live in, and to you, the reader. Want to know how Bible prophecy is happening today? Read my new blog page "Signs of the Times".

I feel it is necessary to apologize to the atheist on behalf of modern civilization. After all, you have been set up in a system that has stacked the deck against you. As a child, you were told many things: First of all, you were told about a fat, jolly, bearded man in a red suit who lives at the North Pole. There, he has a toy workshop where he builds toys for all the ‘good’ boys and girls all over the world, despite the fact that those toys say, 'Made in China'. Then once a year, he uses 8 tiny reindeer to make a delivery to every single house in the world. 

Then you’re told about a beast known as the Easter Bunny. This human-sized rabbit jumps fences in every backyard during Easter, without alerting the family dog or the security system in order to hide decorated, hard-boiled eggs as a game for you to find. He also drops off baskets of candy while he’s there. Then you lose your first tooth, and you’re told to put it under your pillow and go to sleep with it there. Sometime during the night, a magical fairy called the Tooth Fairy will come to your house and replace the tooth with money.

Then you’re told about a being that lives in space. He has a place there called Heaven. And he watches over you day and night, making sure you’re good. Then one day, when you die, he will meet you and take you to live in Heaven with him forever. Oh, by the way, this isn’t like Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy, this one is real.

I saw an article recently that stated, ‘16 things atheists would like religious people to answer’, and it got me thinking: Oh, that it was true! How I would love the opportunity to sit down, not in some adversarial role, but to genuinely answer real questions. So, I thought it would be appropriate to write this article and explain things to someone who is truly curious. Not someone whose mind is closed, but to someone who has some real questions on Christianity and why we not only believe but know in our hearts that this is real.

People of The Book

The best place to start is the Bible. So, let’s do that. Let’s start off with what is the Bible and why we believe it. The first religious text is the first 5 books of the Bible known as the Torah, although that isn’t literally true. Torah means ‘to teach’ or ‘to guide’. While it is commonly accepted to refer to the 5 books of Moses as the Torah, it can literally be applied to all books of the Old Testament. But among scholars, the entire Old Testament is called the Tanakh. 

This is the core of Jewish scripture. While Jews rely on other writings for the entirety of their religion, Christians hold fast to 66 books, often condensed into one book, known as the Bible. We are well known for our dedication to the book, even among Muslims who often refer to Christians as “People of the book” meaning the Bible.

So why do we hold this book in such high esteem? Very simply, we believe this book contains the very words of God himself. While I’m not doing it in this article, very frequently in Christian writings you will see someone capitalize the letter ‘W’ when referring to the Bible, making their belief quite clear that the writer believes in the Bible as the Word of God.

Right now, you’re asking yourself, ‘don't all religions claim their writings are from God?’ That is a broad question with just as broad of an answer, but basically no. Many religions hold certain writings as sacred, some more than others, but the Bible is unique in that we as Christians believe that this Bible was inspired by God himself and was written and carefully recorded over the centuries to remain as close to the original texts as possible. In fact, when the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered between 1947 and 1956 archaeologists and scholars alike were amazed to see just how closely the modern scriptures compared with the ancient writings of the scrolls.

The principle behind this is simple. We believe that God took steps to make sure his word would never be corrupted throughout history; by entrusting his scriptures to those people he could trust to hold scripture in such high esteem as to make sure copies were made literally letter by letter without error. And frankly, if a god were unable to preserve his message across generations, it would raise questions about his power and sovereignty. We rely on the power of God himself to keep his word pure, handed down from generation to generation, without error. We are the ‘People of the Book’.

The Bible is unique in all the world. There isn’t another document of its kind known to man. The Bible literally tells the story of mankind, from our creation to the present day, giving us a reason for our very being, a purpose, and answering the age-old question, what happens to us when we die. Over the years, many, many people have tried to discredit and even corrupt the Bible, but every single attempt has failed. Many people have misunderstood the scriptures, claiming it is full of contradiction; but I can assure you, if you find a contradiction in the Bible, it is only because it is being misunderstood. The Bible flows in an invisible harmony; like a symphony played on unseen instruments, the Bible’s messages resonate - not in contradiction, but in cohesion, once the listener is attuned.

The Bible is also unique, because it’s the only document known to man that makes predictions of the future, and those predictions have come true 100%. That’s right; there are no failed prophecies in the Bible. There are some that have yet to come to pass, because they are talking about future events. But the Bible has predicted events that have come true in modern day history. Right now, the Bible is coming true with remarkable clarity and precision; modern events we see in the news were foretold thousands of years ago and we now have the privilege to see them take form while watching the evening news.   *Take a peek into the world of Bible prophecy - Signs of the Times

Other books may make various claims as to its authenticity, but the Bible stands alone in its class; it answers the age-old questions of who we are, why we’re here and what happens to us when we die. It gives us a guideline on what to expect in these very days that we live in right now, and it offers us hope that no other book can promise. No, these aren't the writings of so-called prophets such as Nostradamus; these are clearly written, easily understood words of comfort to some and warning to others.  

Hidden Patterns in Scripture: A Tribute to Chuck Missler and Ivan Panin

In exploring the divine nature of the Bible, few have illuminated the mathematical intricacies of Scripture like Chuck Missler and Ivan Panan. Missler, known for his almost obsessive deep dives into Biblical codes and prophetic symbolism, often stated his belief that every single word of the Bible was divinely inspired. He often referenced Panin's word on something know as heptadic structures - patterns based on the number seven found in the original Hebrew and Greek texts.

Ivan Panin, a Russian-born literary scholar and former agnostic, converted to Christianity in 1890 after discovering a numerical pattern in John 1:1. He spent over 50 years meticulously analyzing Scripture, producing more than 43,000 hand-written pages of research. His findings revealed astonishing consistencies. 

In the book of Matthew, the first eleven verses may seem boring to the average reader. After all, one of the many things that turn people off about the Bible are the seemingly endless genealogies and listings. The first eleven verses deal with the genealogy of Jesus. But perhaps Chuck Missler had a point after all: 

• Matthew 1:1–11 contains 49 Greek words (7×7)
• The total letters: 266 (7×38)
• Nouns: 42 (7×6), Proper names: 35 (7×5)
• Only one city mentioned: Babylon—7 letters in Greek
• Words beginning with vowels: 28 (7×4)
• Words beginning with consonants: 21 (7×3)
• Male names: 28 (7×4)

And that’s just scratching the surface. Panin reportedly documented over 43,000 pages of these numerical patterns, arguing that such precision couldn’t be the result of chance or human design. Missler used this to support the idea that Scripture bears the fingerprint of divine authorship.

What Happened in The Beginning?

Just the other day, I heard of a young man standing up to ask a question of a speaker who had come to a college campus to give a lecture. The young man stood up and asked, “Ok, but where did God come from?”

Perhaps this young man was serious in his question; perhaps this was a sticking point in his mind, that the origin of God needed to be ascertained in order to have the world make sense to him. But for whatever the motives, this is not the right question to be asking. Because to ask this question implies that God only resides in this matter-filled dimension that we inhabit.

Remember science class? Remember the things you were asked to memorize for the upcoming quizzes you were subjected to? The 1st Law of Thermodynamics, I remember from Junior High: Energy can neither be created nor destroyed, just transformed from one state to another. But I want you to think about that. Carefully consider the wording. The phrases. If energy cannot be created, then it must exist outside of time. After all, in this matter-filled universe of ours, everything has a beginning. Think about it; can you even conceive of something existing without a beginning?

We are always trying to point backward to the origins of our earth, or the origins of our universe. But before all of that was energy. If energy has no beginning or ending, that is, it can’t be created, because creation implies a beginning. It can’t be destroyed because destruction implies an ending. Therefore, for anything to simply exist without a beginning or an ending, it has to exist outside this particular dimension, because everything in this dimension has both a beginning and an ending.

If that is the case, and the truth is the 1st Law of Thermodynamics proves it, then energy has the ability to exist both in and out of this dimension. Just like God. God doesn’t have a beginning, because he always was. God doesn’t have an ending because he always will be. Therefore, to ask a question ‘where did God come from’ simply reflects a misunderstanding of the 1st Law of Thermodynamics. God doesn’t have a past because he doesn’t exist in a linear time dimension like we do. To God, everything is, right now. As the Bible says, “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day” - 2 Peter 3:8 KJV

The Bible gives us a precise, albeit short version of the creation of everything. Seven Hebrew words that encompass all existence - not a theory, but a declaration: Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”  End of sentence, end of paragraph. God created the heavens, not the sky as we know it today, because the heavens came before the earth. On many occasions in the book of Isaiah, God describes creating the heavens by ‘stretching out the heavens’ much like a curtain, or a tent to dwell in. Not that God simply threw heaven together but formed and molded everything with a purpose. Like a divine stage being prepared for the unfolding drama to take place. And along with it, the Bible is a cloak of mystery.

Not everything in the Bible is laid out precisely, as a history book. You can’t turn to Genesis alone, for example, and expect to see the detailed layout of the creation of the universe in one tidy package. The Bible itself alludes to this principle in the book of Proverbs: “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter.” - Proverbs 25:2 KJV

But Was That the Beginning?

And if you love a good mystery, if you like looking for clues, if you’re the type of person who loves to get a hold on a certain matter and not stop until you get an answer, have I got a book for you! The Bible. Because the Bible has a lot more to say about the creation of the universe, but it’s not in Genesis. You see, there was a world prior to this one. Shocked? You shouldn’t be; although this is a subject of vast debate, the scriptures clearly point to a time when another supernatural being ruled a planet, and many believe it was earth. And if this is true, it certainly explains a lot of things.

In the book of Ezekiel, chapter 28, we find God angry, very angry at the king of a city called Tyre. He is listing the sins of the king and declaring what the outcome of his sins will be. But then, at one moment, something changes. God no longer continues talking about the king of Tyre but starts talking about this supernatural being.

“You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, Beryl, onyx, and jasper, Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created.

“You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you.” - Ezekiel 28:12-15 NKJV

Suddenly God is no longer talking about an earthly man. No earthly man was present when God created Eden, the garden of God. Since when does God talk about anyone with such language as “the seal of perfection”? No, this is one of those mysteries. One of those hidden passages in the Bible when God decides to give us a glimpse into eternity. Now, as we go on to Isaiah, we find something else about this mysterious creation. In Isaiah, God is talking about the fall of the king of Babylon, and his kingdom, but once again, God breaks away from his pronouncement of judgment and gives us another look at the universe before man.

“How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’

Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit. Those who see you will gaze at you, and consider you, saying: ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, who made the world as a wilderness and destroyed its cities, who did not open the house of his prisoners?’” - Isaiah 14:12-17 NKJV

These aren’t just poetic flourishes; they’re fingerprints on eternity - Clues stitched into judgement narratives that whisper of a world before ours. Like Chuck Missler, I believe there isn’t a single word that wasn’t designed by God himself. He wasn’t just trying to fill up a book with words. Instead, he’s crafting, sculpting, and designing a hologram of his plan; and looking into that hologram we see the purpose of eternity itself; God wants to spend eternity with his family.

While some scholars view these descriptions as symbolic or hyperbole, others - like me - see a deeper, prophetic layer: glimpses into pre-Adamic history woven into divine lament. What we believe is simple. It doesn’t take a college degree to understand, in fact, even small children could easily understand. We take the Bible at face value; we believe what it says. We don’t need someone to explain some complicated interpretation; we read what it says and believe it. The Bible isn't meant to be held in some cloistered room, where its words are subjected to unnecessary symbolism. It's meant to sit nearby and read frequently, and its meaning taken literally whenever possible.

Now we have a clear picture of something taking place long before the world that we know coming into being. God created a being he considered to be perfect. And then God adorned him in some type of special garment crafted with some of the most beautiful gemstones of the world that this creature was to inhabit. Not only that, but this creature had the musical talent to play various instruments and God himself prepared those musical instruments. 

Lucifer, the name of this beautiful creation of God. Literally the name is ‘Light bearer’; Luci (or Lux) means light, -fer from the Latin Ferre, meaning to carry or to bear. So, this creation of God, more than just an angel, carried the very light of the glory of God shining through him. Imagine the beauty!

This inner light shining from his very core, these amazing gemstones, filtering and reflecting that light until it was as dazzling as a brilliant rainbow. Furthermore, we see a familiar tone ringing through on these amazing adornments given to Lucifer. These are the very stones that are mentioned several times throughout the Bible.

• Jasper - Purity, divine presence - Ezekiel, Exodus, Revelation
• Sapphire - Heavenly truth, divine favor - Exodus, Revelation
• Emerald - Covenant, majesty, eternal life - Ezekiel, Exodus, Revelation
• Onyx - Strength, remembrance, priestly duty - Ezekiel, Exodus
• Topaz - Radiance, protection, divine brilliance - Ezekiel, Exodus
• Amethyst - Royalty, spiritual wisdom - Exodus, Revelation

These stone aren't just decorations - they're spiritual markers. Lucifer's original glory was adorned with them. The High Priest bore them as a symbol of intercession and covenant. And in Revelation, they become the foundation of eternity - a city built on restored glory.

It's as if God is saying: "What was corrupted in pride will be redeemed in glory."

But what can we learn here? We know this creature; Lucifer was created to rule over a land made by God himself. We know that this could have been earth itself, and probably was, because the jewels used to create Lucifer’s covering are the same gemstones found here on earth. But then something terrible, something sinister happened.

We know that Lucifer was given a throne, which is a symbol of power and authority, but that throne was not in heaven. Notice carefully; Lucifer said in his heart, “I will ascend my throne into heaven”. Contrary to popular belief it was never Lucifer’s intention to take over heaven. He wanted equal billing: “I will be like the Most High”.

So, all this hints at a time before man walked this earth. We don’t know what the earth was like then, but we do know some very definite things. We know that the glory of God shone through Lucifer and was probably the source of light for the entire world at that time. We know that Lucifer was given a number of angels under his authority, and we can speculate that this was God’s first attempt at creating a family. 

How can we know that? Because it is very plain to see that these beings were given free will and not only free will, but a right to use that free will. God doesn’t immediately exact punishment on Satan right there and then. No, he tells Satan what his rebellion will cost him, but Satan was allowed to continue to exist and was even present at the creation (or recreation) of earth itself. 

This is speculation on my part; feel free to disagree. But when Jesus returns to earth there will no longer be a need for the sun, the Bible says that God’s glory will shine through Jesus to light the world. I believe Lucifer was illuminating the early earth the same way. Again, let’s dig up another mystery:

Genesis: The Beginning or a Re-creation?

Now this is when Bible study gets exciting! Let’s start out with the King James Version and see what we find out. In the very first words of the Bible, it says, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." - Genesis 1:1-2 KJV

Notice carefully, 'And the earth was without form'. Keep that in mind; in the book of Isaiah we read, "For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens, God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else." - Isaiah 45:18 KJV

The phrase “not in vain” translates from the Hebrew word tohu, which also appears in Genesis 1:2 as “without form.” So, Isaiah is directly countering the idea that God made the earth as a chaotic wasteland — instead, He shaped it with purpose, intention, and habitation in mind. 

Some people take it a step further, and they have a good bit of evidence to do so. They claim that in the book of Genesis 1:2 ‘and the earth was’... could and should have been translated ‘and the earth became’. This is the feminine form of the verb הָיָה (hayah), which means “to be” or “to become.” In biblical usage:

• It can mean “was” — a simple state of being.
• It can also mean “became” — a transition or change.

The context determines which meaning fits best. But couple Genesis 1:2 with Isaiah 45:18 and we come up with a thought-provoking conclusion. That God did not create the earth without form and void, but it became that way. Now, let’s take all these strings and tie them up in one big bow.

In the beginning God created heaven and earth. He gave this planet to Lucifer and gave him a number of angels under his command to live and rule upon the earth. And for who really knows how long, that is exactly what happened. Then one day, Lucifer’s heart became swollen with pride, and the thought came to his mind that he no longer deserved to be 2nd in command, but he wanted to be 'like the Most High’. As a result, God brought a deluge of water on the planet. And he took away his glory from Satan, which plunged the earth into darkness. “And the earth was void and without form, and darkness was on the face of the deep.’

Now, there is something I found in Genesis that I thought was very curious. Let's take a look at God's promise to Noah, after the flood. "And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: 

I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. - Genesis 9:11-15 KJV

In this short passage, God uses the word 'covenant' five times. A covenant is a formal, binding agreement between two or more parties, often involving promises, responsibilities, and conditions. Why is God not only remorseful over the flood but appears to be trying to convince Noah that he would never do it again. Why is he doing this? Could it be this was the second time he destroyed the earth by water?

This line of reasoning gives rise to what many call the ‘Gap’ theory; the idea that between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2 there is a sizable gap of time in which Satan's rule came crashing down and plunged this earth headlong into a need for redemption.

And there is more evidence of this actually being the case. In the book of Jeremiah, God revists this very time. Before we dive in however, I think it's prudent to give a little bit of a background into the writings of Jeremiah itself. Jeremiah is known as 'the weeping prophet' because of the time he wrote. He even conceived another book, Lamentations, which is just that; his lamenting over the city of Jerusalem and Israel itself, during the Babylonian exile. In that context, God joins him in the lamenting, saying this:

 23 I beheld the earth, and indeed it was without form, and void; And the heavens, they had no light. 24 I beheld the mountains, and indeed they trembled, and all the hills moved back and forth. 25 I beheld, and indeed there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens had fled. 26 I beheld, and indeed the fruitful land was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of the Lord, by His fierce anger. 27 For thus says the Lord: “The whole land shall be desolate; yet I will not make a full end. 28 For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black, because I have spoken. - Jeremiah 4:23-28 New King James Version

That’s not creation chaos — it’s post-judgment devastation. Cities imply civilization. Fruitful land implies life. Jeremiah’s vision looks like a rewind — a glimpse into a time before Adam when something cataclysmic happened.

This lends real weight to the idea of a gap theory, where a pre-Adamic world fell under judgment — possibly even connected to Lucifer’s rebellion. It would explain why the earth is in ruins before God begins His six-day restoration. Genesis wouldn’t be describing initial creation, but reconstruction after cosmic upheaval.

*****

It is time I explain something about myself to you. There is nothing special about me. In fact, I am a symbol of something very real and relevant and something God specifically wanted people to understand. If God will bless me, then he will bless anyone who simply asks to be blessed. I have done everything in my power over the years to completely ruin my life. But every time, God comes along, stands me back up on my feet, and says, “sigh… Ok, let’s try this again.”

The Bible is nothing short of a genuine supernatural collection of books; and those who take up the challenge to learn its secrets are rewarded with the best prize of all, eternity. There is no shortage of forgiveness to those who ask for forgiveness. But you may ask, why doesn’t God just forgive everyone and turn earth into heaven? This is the next part of Questions That Deserve a Real Answer - Forgiveness.