In the Beginning

     Elohim is the plural of El and is "a plural of majesty, honor, or fullness. That is, he is GOD in the fullest sense of the word. He is "GOD of gods" or literally, "ELOHIM of elohim" (Deut 10:17; Ps 136:2) (Hebrew Streams; Paul Sumner). What does El mean? God in the singular and Elohim, when capitalized, means "God" in the plural. 

     God is not God's "name". In fact, God has no name. He just Is (Am), and referred to Himself to Moses as  "I AM" (Exod 3:14). Moses should have known that because God had used that expression often with previous patriarchs. "I Am" is hayah in the Hebrew. "I Am That I Am" is transliterated into English as 'ehyeh 'aser 'ehyeh. The Hebrew letters for that are Yod He Waw He (JHWH) or (JHVH). We say Yehowah or Jehovah in English. Hebrews, because God's "name" is so sacred, don't write it but use Adonai instead which is JHWH with diacritical marks and means "The Lord". Yehowah and Jehovah are actually non-words. It is believed that Yahweh is a better pronunciation of JWHW. (Wikipedia; "Tetragrammaton") 

     It seems that for some what God called himself should not be used, and for others the pronunciation of God's identity is unpronounceable. That is how Holy God Is! We should certainly take seriously to not use God's Name in vain! 

    Let's look at Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." "Beginning" is reshith or first. The second Hebrew word is bara which is create or what we call birth, although it is not a natural birth but a supra-natural one! Hence, the heaven and the earth are the first-born of God. Perhaps because God gave us his "first-born", He expects in return that we give Him our first-born:

“When the Lord brings you to the land of the Canaanites and gives it to you, as he swore to you and your ancestors,  sacrifice every firstborn male offspring to the Lord. The firstborn male offspring of each of your animals belongs to the Lord. (Exod 11:12; GW).

     Look at that: God created the heaven and the earth for mankind. As such, the creation was God's "first born". As God was about to give the promised land to His people, look what He expected - their firstborn!  Words mean things, and "first born" was among the first thoughts of God. Giving first to God in all things is what God expects.
     He recounted that too many times to list! In modern times that expectation is called quid pro quo. God gave mankind something for something! He gave us the heaven and the earth for our firstborn sacrifice. Under Mosaic Law that firstborn was the firstborn of the animals. Under the Doctrine of Christ, that firstborn is you!

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. (Rom 12:1).

     It should be obvious that our firstborn are ourselves. God really doesn't want or need our animals. He wants us! God gave His firstborn - Jesus - for our firstborn - us. We are to present our bodies, inclusive of heart, mind, soul, and strength. (Mark 12:30. What more do we have? It is our firstborn.
     Our natural firstborn is blemished. Although, the priests had to bring an unblemished lamb for the sacrifice, that is understandable. The priests' sacrifices represented the perfect Lamb of God - Jesus. In our case, under the Doctrine of Christ, God expects his creatures to bring their firstborn - us because we belong to our father the Devil (John 8:44).
     We are to come as we are - all dirty, blemished, and beastly. That sacrifice is how God's creatures, His firstborn, are born again. Jesus said, "You must be born again." (John 3:7). That is his requirement for entering into Heaven (John 3:3) - His firstborn location, noting that I believe the Garden and Heaven are the same creation., is Paradise or the Garden in Heaven which is now the City of God.
     Since we must be born again, then presenting ourselves a living sacrfice is our "reasonable service". That sacrifice of the self is what we do to be reborn a new creature. How do we sacrifice ourselves? To willingly allow our natures to be changed.
     Since God created us, it is He that can recreate us. That is termed regeneration since the Creation was Generation (Genesis). Born  gain is re-genesis or re-originating. However, our part is the willingness to change. That change is a new attitude, going from proud to meek, from hating to loving, from meanness to kindness, and from self-serving to Christ-serving (self-esteeming to Christ-esteeming). Our sacrifice is our hearts, minds, souls, and strength. Note that God doesn't want our contaminated bodies because they are not an acceptable sacrifice. He wants everything else though. He created our first bodies and He will recreated a better, pure, incorruptible glorified body such as Adam had as the firstborn man!
     Why all this? Because creation is important. We know that the natural world is complex and we should credit God for creating all that complexity. It is made up of trillions of identifiable permutations of various systems. However, his firstborn was created with just a few identities: dust, heart, mind, soul, and strength. How simple yet so complex! The dust will return from where it came!
     While we have those aspects. God has three: His own Mind, Heart, and Strength. Why only three? They are the Holy Trinity: the Creator Father, the Savior Son, and the Comforter Holy Spirit; the latter aspect which is God's Power! Elohim, God in the plural, represents God's three aspects. El, God in the singular, represents the Godhead, or the three-in-one aspects which are called the Holy Trinity.
     Mankind, God's firstborn tame creatures, were made in the image of God. God's image has Spirit. We, however are not spirit, so we needed a container to hold God's Spirit. That "container" or "cup" is the human soul! Unfortunately, mankind were born with original sin since the time of Adam. Our trinity is more unholy than holy and requires re-creation; being born again.
     Mind, body, and soul are the pride, flesh, and lust with which we are born. They require replacing with humility, love, and reverence. That exchange is how regeneration (rebirth) makes new creatures from old ones.
     I marvel at God's Word! It is not by chance that El and Elohim are used; the singular and plural for God. Those two words describe our monotheistic God with three aspects. I don't use the term "persons" intentionally because God is not three persons; he is one Existence - what I AM means! The single "person" of God is called Jesus. That is the Name which we are to not use in vain!
     Why do we exist?  We exist because God Exists. He wanted us, and we need Him!