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Genesis 1:1-2

      

      Few topics have been the subject of so much speculation as the topic of creation. The average Christian view is that there were seven days of creation during which God, among other things, created the heavens and the earth. This view has caused terrible headaches to many, since if it was so the earth would have to be no more than a few thousand years old. To bridge this "discrepancy" various assumptions have been made. So, there are those who support that the days of creation in Genesis 1 were much longer than normal twenty four hour days. As we will see later, the Bible does not agree with this theory. Others have gone even further to say that it was all done through......evolution. However, one cannot support this view without a flat denial of the Scripture which declares that God is the creator of everything.


Colossians 1:16-17
 "For by Him [God] ALL things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. ALL THINGS WERE CREATED THROUGH HIM AND FOR HIM. And He is before all things and in Him all things consist"


      This article will try to shed light on some of the most mistreated passages of Genesis, examining them without preconceived ideas.

 

1. Genesis 1:1

      The confusion regarding the first chapter of Genesis is caused, I believe, by the misunderstanding of the first two verses of the Bible. Responsible for a large part of this misunderstanding is tradition, that teaches that the heavens and the earth were created on the first day of creation. Then immediately we are faced with the following problem: since the chronological information given in the Bible indicates that man has existed for approximately 6,000 years and since, according to the traditional view, he was created only five days after the earth's creation this means that the earth cannot be more than 6,000 years old. On the other hand, there are many that feel that this number comes in stark contradiction with external evidence that suggests that the earth and generally the universe has existed for several billion years. Moreover, it contradicts the evidence that comes from the discovery of fossils that belong to dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals which are believed to have lived several million years ago. However, the problem is not a problem of the Bible. For the Bible does not say that God created the heavens and the earth in the first day. Let's see what it says:


Genesis 1:1
 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth"


      This verse disproves any connection of the big-bang theory with the Bible. It was GOD who created the heavens and the earth. When did this happen? The Bible does not say "in the first day". What it says is "IN THE BEGINNING". The problem is created when instead of "in the beginning" we read "in the first day". That this beginning was not the first of the days of creation recorded in Genesis 1, is evident by reading more of what follows:


Genesis 1:1-5
 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. And God saw the light that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And the evening and the morning were the first day."
(NKJV-KJV)


      Before we say anything else, we must explain that the day of Genesis 1:5, as well as the remaining days of creation, was a normal twenty four hour day. Indeed, it is Biblically true that the word "day" has sometimes been used to denote a longer period of time than a normal twenty four hour day. For example, Romans 2:5 speaks about "the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgement of God" while Ephesians 6:13 about the "evil day". As it is evident, the word "day" that occurs in these passages means much more than a normal twenty four hour day. However, when the reference is to a day defined by evening and morning, or when we meet the expression "day and night" what is meant is a normal twenty four hour day. This is obvious by taking a look at some of the corresponding occurrences in the Bible. Thus, the Bible says that the rain that caused the flood of Noah lasted "forty days and forty nights" (Genesis 7:12) i.e. forty normal days. When Moses went up into the mountain to receive the law he stayed there "forty days and forty nights" i.e. forty normal days (see Exodus 24:18 for the first time that he went up and Exodus 34:28 for the second time). Similarly, "Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights" (Jonah 1:17) i.e. three normal days or seventy two hours. Thus, when Jesus said "as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matthew 12:40) he meant what he said i.e. that he would be dead for three days and three nights1. From all the above, it is obvious that when Genesis 1:5 says "And the evening and the morning were the first day" the reference is to a normal twenty four hour day that starts with the morning continues with the evening before it is succeeded by the next morning. This invalidates the suppositions that have been put forward, according to which the days of Genesis 1 were longer than normal days. What the Bible teaches is that God made all His works in six2 literal twenty four hour days.
      Having made this clear let's return to our topic. When were the heavens and earth created? The text does not say in the first day but IN THE BEGINNING. Moreover, it tells us that the earth was (however, see below) without form and void and that the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
      The first of the six days of creation described in Genesis 1 does not start in verse one but in verse three, and it starts with a phrase that characterises the beginning of the remaining five days as well: "And God said......" (Genesis 1:3, 1:6, 1:9, 1:14, 1:20, 1:24)


Genesis 1:3-5
 "And God said, "Let there be light:" and there was light. And God saw the light that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light day and the darkness He called night. And the evening and the morning were the first day"
(NKJV-KJV)


      This day was not the first day of the existence of the heavens and of the earth for God created them "in the beginning". When was this beginning the Bible does not say. If the geologists say that it was billions years ago it may be so. As far as the Bible is concerned there is no problem. What the Bible does say is that this beginning was earlier than the day of Genesis 1:5 and probably, if the existing evidence is right, much earlier.

 

 

2. Genesis 1:2

       Genesis 1:2 is another key verse in understanding what the Word of God says regarding the very important topic of creation. Let's see:

Genesis 1:2
 "And the earth was [Hebrew: hayah] without form and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep"

      There are two key words here: the phrase “without form” and the first “was”. This verse, as it stands, it appears to say that God created the heavens and the earth in the beginning and they were, after their creation, “without form and void”. In other words,  the above verse seems to say that God created the earth without form [Hebrew: tohu]. Is this correct? The answer is NO. And this because Isaiah 45:18 tells us very clearly:

 

Isaiah 45:18
“For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he has established it, he created it not in vain [Hebrew: tohu]..”

 

      The word “in vain” in Isaiah is a translation of the Hebrew word “tohu” i.e. the same Hebrew word that is used in Genesis 1:2. What therefore  Isaiah tell us is that God did not create the earth “tohu”. If therefore it was not created “tohu”, “without form” and void, it is obvious that it BECAME “tohu”. But why then the text does not say so and instead it says “the earth was tohu” leaving unclear whether it became so or was  created so? The answer is in the word “was”. This is a translation of the Hebrew word “hayah”. Here is what “hayah” means: 

   1. to happen, fall out, occur, take place, come about, come to pass

   2. to come about, come to pass

   3. to come into being, become

   4. to arise, appear, come

   5. to become

   6. to become

   7. to become like

   8. to be instituted, be established

   9. to be

  10. to exist, be in existence

  11. to abide, remain, continue (with word of place or time)

  12. to stand, lie, be in, be at, be situated (with word of locality)

  13. to accompany, be with 

(Source. The Brown - Driver - Briggs - Gesenius Hebrew - English Old Testament Lexicon). 

 

      As you can see the verb “hayah” does not mean only “to be”. In fact it also means “to become”, “to come to pass”, “to come to be”. This is the translation that is given in Genesis 2:7 where we are told that "man became (hayah) a living soul", in Genesis 4:3 where we learn that "in the process of time it came to pass (hayah) that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord", in Genesis 6:1 "and it came to pass (hayah), when man began to multiply...", in Genesis 7:10 "and it came to pass (hayah) after seven days, that the waters of the flood were (hayah, came to be, became) upon the earth", in Genesis 19:26 "but his [Lot's] wife looked back from behind him, and she became (hayah) a pillar of salt" etc.

      Going back to Genesis 1:2 and given the fact that Isaiah makes clear that God did not create the earth “tohu” plus the fact that one of the primary meaning of the  verb “hayah” is “to become”, “to come to be”, we can conclude that a more accurate translation of Genesis 1:2 would be:

 

“And the earth BECAME [Hebrew: hayah] without form [Hebrew: tohu] and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep"”

 

      In fact NIV suggests this as alternative reading for Genesis 1:2. So it has a note saying that the first “was” in “And the earth was without form” can also be translated as “became”. i.e.


 Genesis 1:1-2
 "IN THE BEGINNING God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth BECAME [NIV margin] formless and empty"
(NIV)


       Moving further, not only the earth became "tohu" or formless but it also became empty. Evidently, for the earth to become empty this means that it wasn't empty. Instead, it must have been inhabited. Then, for some reason, for which we will refer to, it became formless and empty. That's why God had again to put things in order, which He did in the six days of creation. Today man finds fossils of dinosaurs and dates them back to some million years ago. "Intelligent" men and critics of the Bible say that this disproves the Bible. Unfortunately for them nothing can disprove the Bible. The Bible tells us that in the beginning, probably some billion years ago, God created the heavens and the earth. This earth was not empty as tradition teaches neither was it formless. For God didn't create it like that. Instead, it BECAME formless and empty. God does not tell us what specific animals were in that earth. He didn't consider it necessary. But if you believe that there were dinosaurs, mammoths etc. it may be so. The Bible does not exclude it.

      To summarise: what the Bible excludes is:

i) that the earth was made "in the first day of creation". Instead, what the Bible says is that it was created IN THE BEGINNING and thus the first day of creation was not absolutely first but first only in relation to the remaining five days.

ii) that the earth was created formless and empty. The earth wasn't created formless and empty. Instead, IT BECAME like that.

iii) that something remained alive from the earth of Genesis 1:1. That this cannot be so, is evident by the very definition of "empty". Something is empty when there is nothing there. If there was, it wouldn't be empty. If a bacteria had survived from the earth of Genesis 1:1, it wouldn't be empty.

 

 

3. "The world that then was"

      Further evidence regarding what was said above is also given in other parts of the Scripture. Thus II Peter tells us:


II Peter 3:3-7, 13
 "Knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. For this they willingly forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, BY WHICH [i.e. water] THE WORLD THAT THEN WAS [or as the Greek reads: "the then world"] PERISHED, BEING FLOODED WITH WATER. BUT THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH WHICH ARE NOW by the same word are kept in store, reserved for fire until the day of judgement and perdition of ungodly men...... Nevertheless we, according to His promise, LOOK FOR NEW HEAVENS AND A NEW EARTH in which righteousness dwells."


      In this passage of II Peter, we learn for a "world that then was" and which perished being flooded with water. The reference here is not to the flood of Noah. This flood didn't perish all the world but the world of the ungodly only (II Peter 2:5). Also, since all the animals were preserved by Noah, God didn't have to re-do things after the flood. In contrast, in the case of II Peter 3:6 ALL the THEN world perished. The word "but" in II Peter 3:7 makes a contrast between "the world that then was" and the world that succeeded it and which is the world that is now ("the world that THEN was perished, being flooded by water, BUT the heavens and the earth which are NOW....."). Moreover, II Peter 3:13 tells us that the world that is now will be succeeded by NEW heavens and a NEW earth i.e. by a new world (see also Revelation 21:1).
      From all the above, it is clear that the Bible speaks of three worlds. The first world, "the world that then was", perished being flooded by water. The second world, the world that is now, is "reserved for fire" and it waits for the day of the Lord, "in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up" (II Peter 3:10). The third world is still future and will succeed the world that is now.
      The fact that the there are three worlds: one that then was, one that is now and one that is to come, is also evident from II Corinthians 12:2 where Paul says:


II Corinthians 12:2
 "I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago - whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows - such a one was caught up TO [or as the Greek reads: "as far as"] THE THIRD HEAVEN"


      What does Paul mean by "third heaven"? According to what we have learned, it means the NEW heaven that is still to come. It is this new heaven that John also saw by revelation (Revelation 21) and about of which Peter speaks in II Peter 3:13. Is it therefore right that the Word of God speaks here of a THIRD heaven? Absolutely yes: the first was the one that THEN was, the second is the one that is NOW and the third is the one THAT IS TO COME.
      After making clear all the above, and taking into account what we learned from Genesis 1:1-2, it is obvious that "the world that then was" is the world of Genesis 1:1. God created the heavens and the earth in the beginning (Genesis 1:1). He didn't create the earth formless (Isaiah 45:18). It became formless and empty (Genesis 1:2) which means that there were living beings on that earth that died when that world, "the world that then was", perished. The way that it perished was by being flooded with water (II Peter 3:6). That's why there are findings that suggest the existence at some time in the past, of fishes that are not known today in high mountains like the Alps, the Andes etc. There was sea there sometime when "the world that then was perished being flooded with water".
      Also that's why there are fossils of animals that are called prehistoric and it is supposed that they lived many million years ago: they lived in "the world that then was". In this world lived also the prehistoric, so called "man". This "man" as well as all the living beings that used to be the inhabitants of that first world, perished when that world perished.
      The problem with scientists is that they ignore the dividing line between "the world that then was" and the world that is now. Consequently, when they find fossils of beings that lived in that world and see that they are different from the beings that live in the present world, they try to explain the differences through such assumptions as the theory of evolution. But the truth is that there was a world that God created, which lasted for the period covered by Genesis 1:1. However, that world perished being flooded with water and thus God had again to put things in order in the six days of creation. Hence, He made the plants, the animals and finally man. Many times He chose to make things in a similar fashion as in that world. Thus for example, the elephant took the place of the mammoth. In other cases, He chose to make again things that were also in that first world as turtles probably. This is not strange at all. If you had a home that you liked and which for some reason was ruined, you may very well have chosen to make things in a similar fashion as they used to be.
      That's how clearly the Word of God explains the things. The Word of God does not have any problem with genuine facts and true science. The problem is with false "facts" and false "science". True science gives the facts and stops there. False science goes forth and draws conclusions based on unreliable assumptions. Evolution belongs to the second category, for it is based on entirely unreliable assumptions. It is thus similar with the ancient mythologies that were dreamed up to explain the creation of the world. Today we speak of them as mythologies but in their age they were respected as people today respect evolution. However, evolution is nothing else than another mythology or better "assumptiology" if there is such a word. In the future it will be listed in the mythologies that the mind of men that deny God invented to explain what the Word of God so clearly explains three thousand years now.

 

 

4. What caused the end of "the world that then was"?

       After all the above, the question that the reader may have is what caused the earth to become formless and empty as Genesis 1:2 says? Before we answer this question, it will be helpful to first have a look at what happens with the world that is now. This world, as "the world that then was", when it was created it was very good and perfect. God creates everything perfect. Genesis 1:31 tells us:


Genesis 1:31
 "Then God saw everything that He had made, and INDEED IT WAS VERY GOOD"


      However, this perfect situation didn't last for ever. For Romans 8 tells us:


Romans 8:20-22
 "For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now"
(NKJV-KJV)


      Futility, bondage of corruption, groaning and travailing in pain are not things that one would expect from a situation that God describes in Genesis 1:31 as very good. Something therefore must have happened in the meantime that turned what was very good to something that is under the "bondage of corruption". What was this? The fall of Adam. The fall of Adam not only cost him the loss of the one third of his being5 i.e. the spirit, but it also affected the whole creation of God. Genesis 3:17-19 describes the beginning of this change of the creation from something that was very good to something that was under the bondage of corruption.


Genesis 3:17-19
 "Then to Adam He [God] said, "because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, you shall not eat of it: CURSED is the ground for your sake; in TOIL you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both THORNS and THISTLES it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the SWEAT of your face you shall eat bread till you RETURN TO THE GROUND, for out of it you were taken; For dust you are, and to dust you shall return"


      Furthermore, though God made Adam boss of the world that is now (Genesis 1:26), by his fall he passed on all his rights to the devil who is the one that is now called the ruler, the boss, of this world6 (John 12:31, 14:30, 16:11). That's why all the creation groans and travails in pain and waits for deliverance. What caused this situation? THE FALL of Adam.       Similarly, as the fall of Adam disrupted the world that is now, so another fall that preceded that of Adam disrupted, much more that time, the world of Genesis 1:1, i.e. "the world that then was". The effects of that fall were so devastating that the world couldn't even wait for deliverance. Instead, it needed to be succeeded by a new world, the world that is now, where again everything was initially perfect. The fall that we are speaking about, and which is the only event that the Bible describes as an event that could have such devastating effects, is the fall of Lucifer who used to be one of the archangels of God, commanding a third of the total number of angels.
      Regarding the fall of Lucifer the Bible describes it in three places: in Isaiah 14, in Ezekiel 28 and in Revelation 12. Let's start from Isaiah 14:


Isaiah 14:12
 "How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: "I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation, on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High"


Ezekiel 28 also refers to the same events and tells us:


Ezekiel 28:15-17
 "You [Lucifer] were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, TILL iniquity was found in you. By the abundance of your trading you became filled with violence within and you sinned; Therefore I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God; And I destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the fiery stones. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendour, I cast you to the ground"


      According to Isaiah 14, Lucifer wanted to usurp the throne of God. This was the iniquity that was found in him. However, his expectations weren't realised. The book of Revelation describes the war that followed his attempt, in a historical review given in chapter 12:


Revelation 12:3
 "And another sign appeared in heaven: behold a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail drew a third [that was the proportion of the angels committed to the Lucifer, called dragon here] of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth......And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth [Greek: ge], and his angels were cast out with him."


      The word "earth" here is the Greek word "ge" that in our context means the earth as opposed to the heaven i.e the earth as a planet. It is exactly this word that the Septuagint uses in the other two references of Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 and which the NKJV unfortunately renders as simply "ground". The Hebrew word that is used there, is the word "erets" that means "the earth in the largest sense, both the habitable and the inhabitable parts7" or in our context, the earth as opposed to the heaven. The NIV corrects this mistake by translating the word "erets" in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 as "earth" and thus reading:


Isaiah 14:12
 "How are you fallen from heaven O Lucifer son of the morning! You have been cast down to the earth"
(NKJV-NIV)


Ezekiel 28:17
 "Your heart became proud on account of your beauty and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendour; So I threw you to the earth"
(NIV)


      All the passages agree that after his defeat the devil and his angels were cast out of heaven to the earth. This earth is the earth "that then was" i.e. the earth of Genesis 1:1, since in the earth that is now and as early as Genesis 3:1, the devil is already an enemy. I do not know if it was as a result of this casting that the earth of Genesis 1:1 became formless and empty or if it happened during the fight. The Bible does not say. What I do know is that the fall of the Lucifer is the only event that could have such devastating effects on the creation of Genesis 1:1.       However, though the adversary caused the overthrow of "the world that then was" and, through Adam, the bondage of the world that now is there is one more world, the world that is to come.


Revelation 21:1
 "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first [not absolutely first, but first in relation to the new i.e. former] heaven and the first earth were passed away"
(NKJV-KJV)


II Peter 3:13
 "Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells"


In this earth:


Revelation 21:4
 "there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things [the bondage and the corruption of the world that is now] have passed away"


In this third world the devil will continue to exist, but I bet that no-one would be envious of his position:


Revelation 20:10
 "The devil....was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever"


Amen!!


Tassos Kioulachoglou

 

 

Footnotes

1. Obviously, this disproves the tradition that wants Jesus to die 3 p.m. on Good Friday and arise early Eastern Sunday morning, since a simple counting shows that in no way you can have three days and three nights. However, the problem is not a problem of the Word of God but a problem of tradition. I hope that in a following issue we will have the opportunity to handle such cases that people have decried as "contradictions" and which are contradictions of tradition only and not of the Word of God (press here to return where you stopped).

2. Though the NKJV reads "And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made" (Genesis 2:2), giving the impression that there were seven days of creation, both the Septuagint and the Samaritan Pentateuch, which are supposed to be based on more ancient manuscripts than the ones available today, read: "on the sixth day", which is evidently correct since God didn't do any work on the seventh day. He only rested on that day (press here to return where you stopped).

5. See: The Journal of Biblical Accuracy, Vol.1, Iss.5, 6 (press here to return where you stopped).

6. See The Journal of Biblical Accuracy, Vol.1, Iss.7 (press here to return where you stopped).

7. See W. Wilson: "Old Testament Word Studies", Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1978, p. 140. The Hebrew word that means "ground" is the word "adamah" a derivative of which is the name "Adam" (press here to return where you stopped).

 

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