Jeremiah 1:5 is intriguing . .
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart. . .

I think of the many cells and atoms formed in these flesh bodies ~~ and then I think of the above verse, our God saying we were IN HIM before He formed us, He knew us then. We do know as His saved He lives in us ~~ Spirit to spirit, ~~

Were we little 'lights' 'spirits' IN HIM whom He knew before He created the Heavens and the earth? Did He choose to create for Himself a family on earth to know Him and love Him by 'free choice' to adore Him as our Father . .
"Then God said, "Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us . . "Gen. 1:26

Oh, so MUCH we don't know about our Mysterious GOD WHO KNOWS ALL. Our God knew us when we were IN HIM . . did HE talk to us spirit to Spirit before He formed us? . . Has He placed us here, did we agree to abide on earth as His vessels to be a part of His Great Plan for His Glory?

OH, our God Infinite can learn nothing ~~ What an Amazing and Majestic and Eternal GOD ~~ what a Truth that throughout eternity we'll still be learning, enjoying, increasingly adoring our JESUS~~

Truly we existed in the mind and heart of God. That's enough for me. And that He fashions each of our spirits before our natural birth. That's an awesome God, who is like Him, none!

Love & blessings...Tender Reed

I'm inclined toward the view that God knows us through His foreknowledge, as Thom says. One aspect of Hebrew poetry is parallelism, which in this case from Jeremiah would link "Before I formed you in the womb" with "before you were born" and
"I knew you" with "I set you apart."

It is dreadful enough to contemplate an eternal soul being cut off from God forever. It seems even more sad to think of that soul having once been in fellowship with God and possibly becoming lost after coming to this world. I wouldn't categorically rule it out, since Scripture says nothing definitive about the matter; it just seems unlikely to me. I have heard others that thought otherwise.

And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? John 9:2

This is either a poorly thought out question, or it indicates some sort of belief in an existence before birth (which doesn't necessarily mean a correct idea). I sort of think the disciples were just trying to cover all the bases.

Anyway, it's an interesting question, Donna.

I have a question, and forgive me if it's not a bright one but what does (us) mean in this verse ?
(Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us . . "Gen. 1:26) Who is us if there is only one God? Again forgive me for asking but when I read it it made me wonder. What a day in heaven it will be when we finally know the answers, AMEN!

TR, I agree with you that we existed in the heart and mind of Almighty God before we existed in physical form. I have issues with the idea of us having been free willed spiritual beings cavorting around before we became incarnated. That situation only applies to Yeshua to my understanding.

But this same Almighty God who spoke the Universe into physical existence has known us from before the foundations of the Earth. His mind is big enough and powerful enough to have our entire essence and nature in mind for all eternity. Before we were a gleam in our father's eyes we were a gleam in our Father's mind.

It's easy to remember that the Potter forms the clay into the shape and usage according to His purposes and desires. It's sometimes harder to remember that our Almighty God is also the Eternal One who formed the clay out of nothingness to start with and He knew from the get go what He planned to do with all of it.

Thank you so much David and Donna for explaining that to me....I'm still learning and I appreciate your teachings and knowledge very much!

The nature of God is an enigma. There are three Persons, and yet, They are all three "God". It is quite obvious God deals with us in three distinct ways, but He is NOT three Beings. There are NOT three Gods up there, there is only ONE Throne in Heaven.

I think of God like a braid, three strands, but one plait. Each strand has a "job", but they're so intertwined as to be one braid.

I have done some searching into the Trinity/Oneness debate and I've come to the conclusion that God is more "One" than we realize, and yet, also Three distinct.

In other words, it is correct to call the Father Yahweh and the Son Yahweh and the Spirit Yahweh. They together are GOD and God is Yahweh. So Yahweh isn't a title for the Father alone. I say this because Jude 1:5 mentions that it was Jesus who led the people out of Egypt. Also, Christ is the Creator according to John 1:3. But in Luke 1:35, it was the Holy Spirit who overshadowed Mary. Therefore, "Yahweh" encompasses all three, in my opinion.

Scholars also believe the One who "walked and talked" with Adam and Eve, and also Abraham, Jacob and such was the pre-incarnate Jesus.

However, we know God didn't leave Heaven's Throne empty when Christ was on earth. We also know He didn't leave us alone when Christ ascended back to Heaven.

I will say that God is Spirit, and we don't fully understand the spiritual realm yet. Once we're glorified and before Him, we'll be saying, "Oh, so THAT'S what You're like! It's SOO obvious!" :P

God is Three, but He is One. That math doesn't compute in our wee meat-brains, but neither does having no beginning and no ending. So I chalk it up to something we'll fully understand when we're Face-to-face.

~~Becka

Oh Donna, I just LOVE your thoughts on this thread!
Soon, we will know. :)

Nicole xo