Introduction:

2 Timothy 1:9 "Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began." (Bold and italicized added for emphasis)

Before time began means that before God created our universe, He not only had a purpose for creating it—which had been hidden from us—but within that purpose was also intricately hidden the mystery of grace, and both were destined to be revealed to us in Christ Jesus.

Romans 16:25 "Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret (hidden) since the world began." (Words in parenthesis and italicized are added by me unless otherwise noted.)

I believe this mystery to be the revelation of the purpose behind the creation which is two-fold, God's purpose and grace. Now we who presently know God's mercy and have tasted of the sweet nectar of God's grace toward us, in the salvation that we now enjoy in Jesus, have also been given the privilege to know the hidden purpose behind the creation in which we now exist.

Romans 11:33 "Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God (God's purpose and grace)! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!"

It is with confidence in the abilities given to us by the Holy Spirit through the power of His grace that works within us that we now endeavor in searching out what God's real purpose was behind the creation of our universe, and how grace was the bulwark that sustained that purpose.

Daniel 2:22 "He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells with Him."

I believe the key that unravels the mystery behind the purpose for creation lies in understanding the meaning of darkness and its interaction with light. We could also call it the struggle between good and evil. In either case, the true revelation of the mystery behind God’s creation can only bring glory to God and to Jesus Christ, who is the manifestation of God's grace, through whom also the abilities to reveal such secrets is given to us.

Daniel 2:47 "…'Truly your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, since you could reveal this secret.'"

Chapter One: The Shadow

Psalm 91:1 "He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty."

So many things within our physical realm serve as types of spiritual truths: Water Baptism, Holy Communion, and Holy Matrimony, which must be between a man and a woman in order to preserve its significance, all serve as symbols of great spiritual truths. I believe shadows to be a great metaphor—if not the greatest—for explaining the purpose behind the creation of our universe. For it is only within the physical and visible parts of our universe that shadows are cast, since without a physical figure exposed to the light in three-dimensional space the shadows cannot reveal their silhouettes.

2 Corinthians 4:18 "While we do not look at the things which are seen (the things that cast shadows), but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary but the things which are not seen are eternal (there will be no shadows in the future eternity, for our eternal physical bodies will have flesh and bones animated by pure energy)."

Since Paul admonishes us, regarding the interactions between the physical and the spiritual, to put our emphasis on those things which are spiritual—the things which cast no shadows—then let us ask this question: What spiritual type does a shadow represents?

Within our natural understanding, our shadow is but a silhouette of our physique; from the general perspective a shadow/shade can be a shelter from the hot bright sun, or as in the Psalm above metaphorically speaking, a shadow can be seen as a covering of protection that God Himself provides for those who dwell in the secret place revealed to us in God's amazing grace!

But there is a greater mystery revealed to us in Psalm 91 if we look closely; God is Spirit, and spirits cannot cast shadows for they are in essence energy—energy manifests itself as light which casts no shadows—so we must interpret the phrase, the shadow of the Almighty metaphorically of course. But just like the Light of God casts a good metaphorical shadow of protection, a shadow can also be interpreted as an opposite or a negative of what the real thing embodies.

It is the same with God's goodness, which casts a metaphorical shadow which represents the opposite or a negative of the reality it mimics. You see, God is God, but He is also Good—as a matter of fact, the only One who is Good—that means that in the presence of Good, the opposite of Good—Evil—has to exist as a contrast, like a lurking shadow which has no entity; and since we know that the antitype of Good is Evil, the shadow represents the opposite of all that is Good, which is what Evil is: a shadow or opposite of God's goodness.

Mark 10:18 "So Jesus said to him, 'Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.'"
After being called "Good Teacher" by someone who was seeking salvation, Jesus makes the point to the seeker that if he is going to call Him Good, he is calling Him God also, since only God is good. Jesus seems to be going out of His way to make this point to us.

Why is the fact that only God is Good so important? In order to know the importance of this question, we must ask another question first; Does Evil exist only here, part of our present creation, or did Evil exist before God created the universe, way back in infinity time or the time before time began?

We can establish by reading the Scriptures that Evil took on essence when iniquity was found in Lucifer whose name means light bearer, who up to that moment was good and perfect; since he had been created in the image of God, like the rest of the angels and archangels.

But we know that his nature was changed immediately from light-bearer to devil after he rebelled and was instantly removed from the Kingdom of the Heavenly Lights. Devil means the personal supreme spirit of evil. He also became Satan which means adversary or opposite; that means that Lucifer became Satan, the shadow or opposite of all that is Good, which is God.

But the very fact is that Evil had to exist in some type, without essence of course, before the fall of Lucifer for Lucifer to be able to turn to it and become the essence of it.

That brings us to what I call The Shadow of Evil. Way back in infinity time—before the creation took place—God, who is Good and has always been Good and is the only Good; outside of God, Evil had to exist but only in principle, due to the fact that the very goodness of God, which is the essence of God Himself, necessitated the existence of Evil, outside of God, to exist in principle; in order to affirm that goodness is Good and that Evil is bad, by the presence of the antitype—the shadow—which represented the very existence of Evil itself, yet without essence or form.

God is infinite and He dwells in an infinity which is and will always remain undefiled, even by the mere presence of Evil. So that Evil could only exist as a metaphorical shadow that was cast by the Light of God's goodness, but existed only in principle, without essence or form.

In other words, how can only God be Good if there is no antitype or contrast to His goodness? How can we be called physical humans if we do not cast shadows when exposed to the light? Angels are made of light/energy, they do not cast shadows. How can God be the only Good if there is no opposite or antitype to His goodness that defines what goodness is not?

This brings us to the first part of His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.

What was God's real purpose for the creation of our universe? Following the premise that I've just laid out, and employing our knowledge of God's character and virtue, it would have been impossible for God to create creatures that embodied the goodness and sovereignty of God in infinity time, without risking the corruption of infinity time itself.

Here is what I mean, let's say that God creates the same angels that He created when He created our universe, but let us place them in infinity time before God created our universe. Since Evil had no essence back then, none of the angels could have known what Evil was.

They would only have knowledge of the goodness of God, but since God created them after His own image which includes God’s sovereignty, at some point in time, one or some of these good angels might venture to test the boundaries of their existence and come to the flawed conclusion that there is goodness everywhere, believing therefore that they could be good without God.

That flawed thinking is what brought Lucifer down, and the many that followed him.

Isaiah 14:12-15 "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 (the angelic class that God created) 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."

No one can be like God on their own for only God is Good; that means that anyone outside of God and without God becomes the opposite of what God is. The shadow which represented the fullness and sum of all that is called Evil, in an instant indwelled Lucifer, the entity who dared to claim to be like God, and by so doing became the host of Evil and the antitype of all that God is.