His Work and Glory

Scroll along with the film. The scriptures behind each underlined passage stream beside it — biblical witnesses first, Restoration witnesses beside them.

Before the beginning, before the mountains were raised, or ever the earth and the world were formed, there was God. And He, the Father of Spirits, conceived of our existence from before the foundation of the world, He knew us. And so he moved to create us, to fellowship with Him and with one another. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.

In the Word was life, and that life was the light of men. His light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. The Word of God spoke the heavens and the earth into being. [ ♫ music ♫ ] But the earth was without form and void. Darkness was upon the face of the deep.

[ ♫ music ♫ ] The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. He said, “Let there be light.”

And He divided the light from the darkness, saying, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters to divide the waters from the waters.” And God called the firmament heaven. [ ♫ music ♫ ] God spoke again, “Let the waters be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And God called the dry land earth. The gathering together of the waters called He seas.

God, the Father of Spirits, gathered a Divine Council of heavenly beings. He described the day. “When I laid the foundations of the earth. The morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.” The first among them was the WORD, the First Born of every creature, the express image of the Father.

This same Word would be born as Jesus of Nazareth. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. Of the Father are all things. And by the Son in heaven and in earth, visible and invisible, all things were created by Him, and for Him, and by Him all things consist.

He is before all things the Heir of all things, by whom God the Father made the worlds. The Word commanded, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide day from night. Let them be for signs and for seasons, for days and for years.” Two lights were made to shine. The greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night.

He made the stars also. God did not create the earth in vain. He formed it to be inhabited.

The Word spoke again. “Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life: great whales, and every living creature that moves, which the waters brought forth abundantly.”

“Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the tree yielding fruit.” And God blessed them all, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas.”

“Let the earth bring forth living creatures, the cattle, and creeping things, and beasts of the earth, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. Let them multiply upon the earth.”

Then God the Father said to the Divine council, “Let us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, male and female.” He formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into him the breath of life. And man became a living soul. And God planted a garden eastward in Eden. And there he put the man whom he had formed to dress it and to keep it.

The father said, “It is not good that the man should be alone.” So He made a woman and brought her unto the man, explaining, “Therefore shall a man cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh.” And God commanded, “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 upon the earth.” God blessed them, and said unto them, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over all life.” Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And God looked upon everything that He had made. And behold, it was very good.

The invisible God could be known through the visible creation. Then God rested from all his work which He created and made.

God knew beforehand that Eden would not last, that humankind would be deceived, tempted, sin, and fall from the presence of God to mortality. Still, the father had chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. The dramatic events that took place in the garden led to the conditions of mortality and opposition in all things. It was by God's plan that creation and the state of humankind was brought to their present state. After Adam's transgression.

God addressed the council. “Behold, mankind has become as one of us to know good and evil.” Then the Father asked, “Who shall I send? Who among you is willing to maintain the holy demands of justice while offering atoning mercy and divine grace?” The Word saw that there was no one, and marveled that there was no intercessor.

So by His own arm mankind must be saved. He volunteered to be the Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world. He was foreordained and anointed by God the Father before the foundation of the world, to be the Messiah who would show mankind the way and redeem souls unto the Father. The Word who created heaven and earth, Jehovah of the Old Testament, was the same God that would be born as Jesus of Nazareth, the Savior and Redeemer of the world.

Before withdrawing His presence from the children He had created, God made coats of skins of animals to clothe them. He gave them instructions and sent them forth from Eden to till the ground from whence mankind was taken. The Word came to Adam, “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground. For out of it was thou taken. For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”

Most important of all these events, God promised eventual victory over evil and the fall of mankind. Adam was comforted by the promise of eternal life God made from before the world began, knowing God cannot lie. By Divine Will we experience desire, hardship, sorrow, temptations, enmity, labor, and death. But this is not all we were also meant to know fulfillment, comfort, joy, holy inspiration, love, rest, and life. For each of these life experiences carries its opposite that we might know the one by the other. Adam taught his posterity of God's promises of salvation from evil, and redemption from the fall from God's presence.

From that time, men began to call upon the name of the Lord. Their faith and hope were expressed through prayer, worship, and through sacrifices that foreshadowed the atoning sacrifice of the promised Messiah. The Great Patriarchs and Prophets knew these things since the world began. Each of them learning to walk with God. For the Spirit of Christ, which was in them, testified before hand of the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow those that do His commandments.

For they will have the right to the Tree of Life restored to them as they enter through the gates into the Kingdom of Heaven.

Oh, God. We lift our eyes to the work of your fingers. The moon and the stars you set in their places. And the heavens declare your glory. The skies proclaim the work of your hands.

Day after day they shout their witness. Night after night they reveal knowledge. Without speech. Without words. Without a sound. Their voice still carries to the ends of the earth.

And so we come before You and wonder...

Through your Beloved Son, You made all this, and us. You are the Divine Shepherd of the starry host, calling each of them by name and by Your great power, Not one of them is missing. By Your word the heavens were made, and all their host by the breath of Your mouth. When You laid the foundations, the Morning Stars sang together, and the Children of God shouted for joy.

All things bear witness of You. The earth and everything upon it. Its motion and the planets moving in their fixed courses. The earth turns upon her wings. The sun gives light by day, the moon by night. And the stars shine as they move in their glory.

And in even the least of these, we have seen You moving in majesty and power.

We thank You that nothing You have made is without its witness. The animals teach us of You. The birds of the sky tell of You. The earth instructs us, and the fish of the sea declare the work of Your hand. For which of them does not know that Your hand has done this?

All things You have made bear witness of You. Things in the heavens above, things upon the earth, things beneath. All of them testify of You. Everything You have given points to You. And in the fullness of it all we behold Your Son, through whom all things were made. He came to us as an offering, a sacrifice to save and redeem the world.

And into all this vastness, You still turn Your face toward us. What are we that You keep us in mind? What are mortal children that You care for us? Yet You have made us a little lower than the angels, and crowned us with glory and honor. You have given us charge over the works of Your hands and entrusted the earth to our care.

You created us in Your own image and called us Your own. For this we have no worthy words, only thanks.

Your glory is plain. Oh, Father, let us never fail to see it. Since the world was made, Your unseen qualities, Your eternal power, Your very nature have been plain in the things You have made. And we will not turn our eyes away. So we confess Your hand in all things, and withhold nothing from Your will.

All creation answers You, and we answer with it. Let the sun and moon praise You. Let all the shining stars praise You. Let them praise Your name. For at Your command they were created.

The hills break forth and singing before You. And all the trees of the field clap their hands for joy.

God our Father, how majestic is Your name in all the earth.

Send us from this place with eyes open to Your glory, hearts humbled by Your goodness, and hands willing to care for all You have made. We offer this prayer in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

This film is a form of worship · No endorsements or polemics implied