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| The Spiritual Creation |
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30. But remember that all my judgments are not given unto men; and as the words have gone forth out of my mouth even so shall they be fulfilled, that the first shall be last, and that the last shall be first in all things whatsoever I have created by the word of my power, which is the power of my Spirit. 31. For by the power of my Spirit created I them; yea, all things both spiritual and temporal - 32. First spiritual, secondly temporal, which is the beginning of my work; and again, first temporal, and secondly spiritual, which is the last of my work (DC 29:30-32). In verse 30 the Lord clarifies that all of His creations follow the same pattern, which verse 31 describes as a spiritual and temporal creation. Verse 32 provides more information that should be analyzed. The verse is composed of two parallel thoughts dealing with spiritual and temporal creations, and there is an order established which places one before the other. The first phrase identifies the spiritual/temporal order as the "beginning of my work" (DC 29:31), and the second phase reverses the order to be temporal/spiritual, which is identified as "the last of my work" (DC 29:31). What does this mean? The whole concept traces the path of the eternal progression of man. We have already seen the Lord's definition of "my work". That phrase is the shorthand for the process whereby mankind is exalted. In the beginning of this work, man is created spiritually, and the next task is to create the temporal body for that spirit being. That being done, however, merely sets in motion the process of progress. God's work is not completed until God has "[brought] to pass the immortality and eternal life of man" (Moses 1:39). This requires that the temporal man overcome the natural and put on the spiritual. Without that spiritual reawakening, the work of God remains incomplete. Verse 31, in terse poetic form, describes that process. The relationship of the spiritual creation to the temporal creation is clarified as Joseph Smith explained some of the features of the Book of Revelations: 2. ... that which is spiritual begin in the likeness of that which is temporal; and that which is temporal in the likeness of that which is spiritual; the spirit of man in the likeness of his person, as also the spirit of the beast and every other creature which God has created (DC 77:2). The correlation between the spirit creation and the temporal creation is direct, the form of the one mimicking the other. The Book of Moses, where Joseph writes the story and vision of Moses, contains some clarifying information on the order of creation. And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew. For I, the Lord God, create all things, of which I have spoken, spiritually, before they were naturally upon the face of the earth. For I, the Lord God, had not caused it to rain upon the face of the earth. And I, the Lord, had created all the children of men; and not yet a man to till the ground; for in heaven created I them; and there was not yet flesh upon the earth, neither in the water, neither in the air.. (Moses 3:5). Most of the passage is very similar to the Genesis 2:5, after which it was patterned. The difference is the clarification on the nature of the spiritual creation which preceded the temporal creation. The clear correlation to Genesis 2:5 is typical of Joseph's mode of "translating" the King James Version. He leaves much of it alone, but adds information to qualify potential confusions in the King James text. In this case, Joseph discusses the spiritual/temporal creation as a means of providing a reason for what appear to be two creation stories in the book of Genesis. However it might have happened, we do not know, but at some point in the Pre-Mortal time, the earth having been declared our destination, the great process of creation was begun. That creation included the spiritual creation of all that we see here, to be later clothed in the temporal. Exactly how that was accomplished is not revealed. Understanding that we are part of the process, however, may give is the clue that rather than a spiritual frame on which was hung the substance of earthly reality, the spiritual creation likely involved a processual organization of lower forms into higher, until those forms were ready for their next estate, as were we. |
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| by Brant Gardner. Copyright 1998 |
The first stage
of the creation of this earth was apparently similar in concept to the first stage in our own creation. Before
we were here physically, we where there spiritually. Even so was all creation.
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