Any discussion of Kolob must begin with Facsimile 2 in the Book of Abraham. This facsimile is an Egyptian hypocephalus, which means under the head.¹ In Facsimile 2, the hypocephalus identifies Kolob as the first spirit world created by God the Father during the spirit creation in his generation.² Joseph Smith provided an inspired explanation for many of the ideographic signs (symbols)³ in this hypocephalus.⁴ These inspired explanations of gospel truth came by revelation. Joseph Smith did not simply translate the Egyptian symbols, characters, and hieroglyphics directly from the facsimile. Therefore, scholars and Egyptologists should not expect Joseph's inspired explanation to be a direct or literal translation of the characters.

In the center of Facsimile 2, Figure 1 shows a two-headed deity. Joseph's inspired explanation states that this symbolic image represents "Kolob, signifying the first creation, nearest to the celestial, or the residence of God."⁵ Facsimile 2 and the contents in Abraham chapter 3 indicate that Abraham was very knowledgeable about Kolob⁶ and all the other stars and planets that became part of God's creations.⁷

Joseph Smith's explanation of Kolob as the first creation means that Kolob was the first world of spirit organized by God the Father during the spirit creation,⁸ not the first world of the physical creation. This is necessarily true for each of the following seven reasons:

1. Facsimile 2 is an integral part of Abraham, chapter 3, which primarily describes premortality before the physical creation.⁹ For example, chapter 3 discusses the eternal and uncreated intelligence that existed before the spirit creation in verses 16 and 18,¹⁰ the birth of God's spirit children, called intelligences as part of the spirit creation in verse 22,¹¹ the grand council in heaven on Kolob in verses 24 and 25,¹² as well as Lucifer's rebellion¹³ and the war in heaven in verse 28.¹⁴ To interpret the first creation in Facsimile 2 as a first physical creation would be completely out of context and inconsistent with the entire content of Abraham chapter 3. The Book of Abraham doesn't describe the physical creation of this earth until Abraham, chapter 4.¹⁵
2. Facsimile 2 identifies Kolob as the first in government.¹⁶ In Abraham 3:2-3, Kolob is called a great governing star.¹⁷ These words must describe Kolob's premortal status after its spirit creation and before its physical creation when Kolob was a source of governing light¹⁸ (or law).¹⁹ During the physical creation, Kolob became the spirit world within this earth.²⁰ Since that time, Kolob has not been a source of light and government to the universe because the earth and everything on it fell to the status of a telestial world with the fall of Adam in the Garden of Eden.²¹ In fact, according to Moses 7:36, this earth is the most wicked telestial world among all the physical worlds that are the workmanship of God's hands.²² However, in the resurrection, Kolob will rise from the worst of the worst fallen physical worlds in this generation to become the best of the best in celestial glory and governing status.²³ The same is true of Jesus Christ, who descended below all things on this earth to rise above all things and to regain his former glory.²⁴
3. Kolob and Christ follow identical paths because Kolob is a type for Jesus Christ.²⁵ Just as Christ was the first spirit child born to God during the spirit creation,²⁶ Kolob was the first world of spirit that God created during the spirit creation as stated in Facsimile 2.
4. Abraham 3:4 states that "Kolob was after the manner of the Lord, according to its times and seasons in the revolutions" where one day with God was as 1000 years on earth.²⁷ This necessarily refers to the reckoning of the Lord's time in premortality before the earth's physical creation.²⁸ Kolob operated according to celestial time in the premortal existence,²⁹ which also means that God created Kolob as a celestial spirit world during the spirit creation.³⁰ Facsimile 2, Figure 1, confirms that among all such celestial spirit worlds, Kolob was the first creation whose time in premortality was reckoned by celestial time after the manner of the Lord.³¹
5. In Facsimile 2, Figure 1, Joseph Smith identified Kolob as "the first creation.... [and] the last pertaining to the measurement of time."³² This prophetic explanation directly connects the celestial time of Kolob³³ as the first world of the spirit creation, with the telestial time³⁴ of this earth³⁵ as the last world of the physical creation.³⁶ When Adam fell, the earth and its inward spirit (Kolob)³⁷ both fell from the presence of God.³⁸ At that point, the earth's reckoning of time changed from Kolob's celestial time to the Earth's fallen telestial time.³⁹
6. Kolob is first in the government of all other worlds of the same order.⁴⁰ The same order necessarily refers to the order of spirit worlds of this universe that God the Father created in his generation.⁴¹ Thus, all the spirit worlds created by God in his generation receive their light from and through Kolob,⁴² which some scholars equate to gravity.⁴³ Kolob had to be the first world of the spirit creation in this generation so that it could then be the source of governing light for all other subsequent worlds of spirit in the same order or generation.⁴⁴
7. God created Kolob as a world of spirit nearest to the celestial, or residence of God in heaven⁴⁵ because Kolob was the most inherently intelligent⁴⁶ of all the spirit worlds organized by God the Father.⁴⁷ The Order of Creation dictates that Kolob had to be the first world that God created during the spirit creation because it possessed the most intelligence from among the mineral kingdom at the time of the spirit creation.⁴⁸ After God first created Kolob as the most intelligent of all spirit worlds, he created other spirit worlds of lesser intelligence at increasing distances from his heavenly throne⁴⁹ according to the lesser measure of their intelligence and capacity for enlargement.⁵⁰ The lowest intelligence‒meaning intelligence with the lowest capacity to assimilate light and truth in this generation‒was organized by God to become the spirit world furthest away from the throne of God. However, that last world of the spirit creation possessed and still possesses a measure of intelligence and life.⁵¹ That least of all worlds was then clothed upon with physical element by Jehovah as the first world of the physical creation according to the Order of Creation.⁵²