What was created first, the visible world or the invisible?
The invisible realm was created before the visible, and the angels before human beings. Of the difference between the two, the Apostle writes: “what we aim for is not visible but invisible: visible things are transitory, but invisible things are eternal” (2Co 4:18). In the symbolism of the Temple, “Day One”, the Holy of Holies, is the place of the throne of God from which all things are derived; and it is from the invisible realm that the visible world is not only sourced but sustained, “held together” by the Word of God: “upholding all things by the word of his power” (Heb 1:3; see Q096, Q114); “he is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Col 1:17).
In the book of Job, God speaks of the creation of the earth thus: “Who laid its cornerstone? When the stars were created, all my angels praised me with a loud voice” (Job 38:6–7 LXX); or, in the Hebrew: “Who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy?” (Job 38:6–7 MT). The angels, then, already stood by, rejoicing, when the foundations of the visible world were laid.
