Musar על פסחים 107:8

Rabbi Akiba said, "Seven things were created before the Universe and they are these : Torah, Repentance, Paradise, Gehennah, the Throne of Glory, the Temple, and the name of the Messiah" (Pesahim 54a). And why these seven? Know this, that the principal reason for the creation of the world is man, for there is no need for the lower world except for man, and he rules over all the lower world : over the cattle, the beasts, the fowl, the fish and the swarming things. And inasmuch as the principal reason for creation is man it was necessary first to create the Torah, which is the very existence of the world. As it is written, "If My covenant be not with day and night, if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth" (Jer. 33:25).