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What did God do prior to creation of this world?

I believe when it says “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and the earth was without form and void.” that there is a gap between His transforming the formless earth.

The presence of Satan in the garden suggests Satan’s creation prior to the shaping of the earth. Perhaps it was included in the “the heavens” part of creation. However, we know that all that was not God was created, so therefore, our cosmology (biblically based) asserts that all sentient beings in addition to humans are also created.

Eden itself was a “spiritual” realm for God walked there openly and “God is Spirit and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth.” Additionally, the way to Eden was closed to humanity, which suggests that it was a spiritual realm with direct intersection to the physical realm.

Therefore, the Triune God existed (I Am) from eternity and was, by virtue of that Triunity of 3 persons, complete and entire in Himself.

The course of Creation, brutal at times in history, was an act of Love focused on a purpose that renders all tragedy moot, glorifies God, and elevates Love. “Faith, hope, and Love, but the greatest of these is Love.” for “God is Love.”

I believe when it says “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and the earth was without form and void.” that there is a gap between His transforming the formless earth

Yes, but God existed for all eternity, and that was way before the creation, isn't it? What did God do all those eons before he started creating was my question? IOW, what does God do outside time when he doesn't deal with his magnum opus?

The presence of Satan in the garden suggests Satan’s creation prior to the shaping of the earth

Padre, there is nothing in the Bible that says the serpent is the same Satan that God deals with in the Book of Job, an angel of God. Surely, you don't think God "pardoned" him after cursing him in the Garden, only to restore him to one of the "sons of God" in the Book of Job sometime later?! LOL!

So why wold the serpent (animal) not be created along with all other animals instead of before the formation of earth?

Therefore, the Triune God existed (I Am) from eternity and was, by virtue of that Triunity of 3 persons, complete and entire in Himself.

Of course, God would is by deifnition self-sufficient, which makes creation even more of an enigma, don't you think?

Thank you oh so very much for sharing your testimony, dear brother in Christ!

I strongly aver that Creation refers to both the physical realm and the spiritual realm, that God is the only observer and that the perspective of Scripture does not change to man's until Adam is banished to mortality at the end of Chapter 3 of Genesis. Emphasis mine.

These [are] the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and [there was] not a man to till the ground. – Genesis 2:4-5

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. – Genesis 1:1

The difference between the physical and the spiritual is not a “here v there” matter of geometry, e.g. the ark, the tabernacle, the holy mountain, the temple, you and me.

Note that the tree of life is in the center of the garden of Eden and also in the center of Paradise.

And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. – Genesis 2:9

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. – Revelation 2:7

That the Creation includes both heaven and earth, spiritual and physical is even more clear in the following passage, my favorite "summary" of what "all that there is" is all about.

Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether [they be] thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all [things] he might have the preeminence. For it pleased [the Father] that in him should all fulness dwell; And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, [I say], whether [they be] things in earth, or things in heaven.– Colossians 1:15-20

When speaking of God the Creator, Jewish mystics wisely use the term Ayn Sof which literally means "no thing" - that none of our language terms apply to the Creator of them, e.g. space, time, causation, energy, mass, and so on.

God's Name is I AM.