God

Also known as: Almighty / Almighty Father / Almighty Victor / Author of all this / Creator / Deity / Eternal / Eternal Father / Eternal King / Ethereal King / Father / Heaven’s all-powerful King / Heaven’s high King / Heaven’s matchless King / Holy One / Jehovah / King of Heaven / Lord God / Maker / Maker Omnipotent / Most High / Omnipotent / Paternal Deity / Presence Divine / Sovran Voice / Supreme Foe / Thunderer / Universal Lord / Voice Divine / great Creator / the Almighty / the Almighty Power / the Eternal / the Father / the Highest / the Most High / the Omnipotent · Family: Heaven · Role: creator and sovereign · First appears: Book 1

In Book I, God casts Satan and the rebel angels from Heaven into Hell. The fallen include Mammon, Mulciber, Belial, and Beelzebub; Leviathan is named among God’s creatures. In Book III, God decrees that humanity may be saved and ordains that the Son will become Man. He declares the Son Messiah and universal King, gives him everlasting power, and, in Books V–VI, commands the angels to bow to him and sends Michael and Gabriel against the rebels. The Son returns victorious and is enthroned at God’s right hand.

In Book VII, God sends the Son and the Spirit of God to create Heaven and Earth from Chaos, then makes light, the firmament, land and vegetation, and the sun, moon, and stars. On the sixth day he creates Adam and Eve, places them in Eden, and forbids them to eat from the tree of knowledge. In Book VIII he grants Adam Paradise and the Earth to govern and cultivate, brings creatures for Adam to name, and creates Eve from Adam’s rib as his companion.

In Book V, God sends Raphael to warn Adam about Satan’s deceit and humanity’s mutable free will. After Adam and Eve disobey, God appoints the Son to judge fallen humanity and serve as its Mediator, Ransom, and Redeemer. In Book XI, he accepts the Son’s intercession, decrees the pair’s expulsion from Paradise, and establishes a covenant never again to destroy the earth by flood. The later history recounted in Book XII includes God calling Abraham, sending Moses and Aaron to lead their people from Egypt, and promising David an enduring royal line from which a Son will arise.