We were with God before we were born in the flesh

Preexistence

It is commonly taught that when God created man on the 6th day (Genesis 1:26-27) that was the beginning of our (humans) existence, and when we were born our soul was created then and there. I believe the Bible declares that we all existed long before we were born in the flesh and that God created our souls long ago in an age before this one in which we lived with God for eons of time as spiritual beings.

Let's start our study by examining what the Bible says about the age of the Earth.

First of all we must understand that the Earth is very old. In fact the Earth is likely millions or even billions of years old and that there was an age before the one we are currently in. We have a study on this topic called 'Age of the Earth' and another called 'The Three Earth Ages'. These studies should make it clear that the Bible declares that the Earth is very old and there was an age before this one and that there will be a new age after this. So, since the age of the Earth has been documented in these studies we will not go too deep into the age of the Earth or into the first Earth age. We will concentrate on the assertion that we that are alive now and those that have lived and died, all existed in the first Earth age prior to being born in the flesh.

Consider the following passages that support a prior existence.

Romans 9.13 - As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
God says, Jacob I loved, Esau I hated, and this was while they were still in the womb. Jacob and Esau were twins and were not even born yet when God said this. Now how could a God that is always fair and just, love one child and hate the other even before they are born? Because God knew them before they were born in the flesh and knew what they did before. Esau apparently did not please God. This must be the reason, otherwise God would not be fair and we know that is not possible.

Jeremiah 1:5 - Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
God says to Jeremiah, I knew you before you were born. How did God know Jeremiah before he was born unless, he, Jeremiah, existed before that time? The word "knew" in this verse is Strong's #3045, the Hebrew word yada, which has in it's meaning, to know (prop. to ascertain by seeing) ... including observation, care, recognition, etc. Jeremiah was known by God before He formed him in the womb of his mother. God has already ordained Jeremiah before he was born! Why? Because He knew him from the prior age and knew He could count on him and use him to do His work.

Paul has the following to say about preexistence.
Ephesians 1:4 - According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
,and,
Galatians 1:15-16 - But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, 16 To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:

Paul says he and all the elect were chosen before the foundation of the world. The word foundation in this passage is the beginning of this age, that is, before Adam and Eve and the creation of man kind as defined in Genesis. In other words, before this Earth age began, he, Paul, was chosen by God to preach.

Paul was selected as a man to be used by God before the disruption, the overthrow, the second earth age, (see 'The Overthrow'). Therefore, God knew Paul and how he was in the first earth age, or prior age, and knew He could trust Paul to be used as a messenger of His word. This is quite the opposite of how God felt about Esau. God knew them beforehand and based on that knowledge He selected Paul to be used to bring forth His gospel but He did not select Esau as He knew He could not count on him.

In 2 Peter 3:5-8 we learn more about the world that then was, (see 'The Three Earth Ages') –
5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: 6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: 7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

The world that then was that this passage refers to is the prior Earth age, not the flood during Noah's time. Thinking this was the flood during Noah's time is a common mistake and a gross misinterpretation of what this verse is talking about. This fact is also documented in the Bible study 'Purpose of Noahs flood'.

Genesis 1:26, And God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: 27 So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.”
So who was God talking with when He said ‘let us make man in our image’? Who is the ‘us’ and ‘our’? Is it possibly God speaking to the angels (us) who were all in the spiritual form at that time? He says, Let us make flesh man in our exact likeness, a copy of how we look. So according to this passage, we as flesh man were all made to look just like we did in our spiritual form except that we are confined to the flesh body until we die. Paul makes reference to this inner man as well as the outer man in Romans 7:22 and 2 Corinthians 4:16 .

Let's turn to John 3:3 where Jesus tells Nicodemus that he must be born again in order to be saved.  

John 3:3-8, 3 Jesus answered and said unto him, “verily, verily I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus saith unto Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into His mother’s womb and be born?” This means born of the spirit. In verse 5 Jesus goes on to say, “Except a man be born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.” So, contrary to what is often taught the term “born again” according to the Strong's Greek Concordance #507 means “born from above”. What is said here is that a man must be born of a flesh womb with the water being that of a woman when she has a child in the bag of water and the spirit from above that is put into the womb. This is in contrast to the fallen angels (nephillim) that left heaven on their own accord and chose to come to earth without being born of the flesh (water) as an innocent babe, Jude 6. The fallen angels were the cause of the Giants being born in the days of Noah and the days of ‘David and Goliath.’ (See 'Purpose of Noahs flood'.) This makes it clear that if a spirit, one of the children of God, chooses to not be born innocent in the flesh (born from above), he sentences himself to death. All people born in the flesh are innocent as they have no memory of the prior age and are given the right to choose whether to follow God or satan. We all must be born in the flesh to make up our minds as who to follow because in the prior earth age satan went bad and caused 1/3 of God’s children to follow him instead of God. So, instead of just destroying those 1/3, God chose to give them a chance to change their minds and thus we are all to be born innocent in the flesh without any recall of the prior earth age. This is because of Gods great love for us.

God called out specific people such as the prophets, the disciples and Paul, etc. because He could count on them and these people along with some to this day are considered His elect. These are people that stood with God and against satan in the first earth age. These elect people have already proven themselves and are used in this age to help other people to come to salvation. It is God’s desire that all of His children are saved (1 Timothy 2:4), but they have free will choice to either chose God or be deceived by satan and his followers.

In summary: We are all going thru this life in the flesh to make a choice to either follow God or follow satan, ('The Overthrow'). Why are we going thru this flesh age to make that choice? Because satan chose to go against God in the first earth age and in so doing caused 1/3 of God’s children to follow along with him and turn against God. We cannot say that the other 2/3 were all for God because we don’t know. Possibly many of them were undecided or didn’t really care. So God chose to cause all His children to be born innocent, without knowledge of the first earth age, to make a choice whether to follow Him or satan and once this age is over there will be the Great White Thrown Judgment that God will determine who lives in heaven forever and who will be burned to ashes and never be anymore. (No eternal hell – see 'Is Hell never ending'.)

Revelation 20:11-15; 11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

After the Great White Thrown Judgement everyone will either be granted eternal life or cast into the lake of fire. There is no other choice and that is the whole reason for this age of the flesh, to determine if we will live in heaven for ever or be consumed in the lake of fire and be no more. The choice is totally up to you.

John 3:16 - For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

For a more in depth study of the spiritual body see Companion Bible appendix 94, 'The Spirits in Prison'.
This should help explain and clarify that we were spiritual beings before this Earth age and we will be spiritual beings again in the eternity.