"The world that then was"

In the article “Genesis 1:1-2”, we focused on the first two verses of Genesis. As we saw there, God did not create the heavens and the earth on the first day of creation but “in the beginning”, in eternal past. We also saw that this earth became without form and void. It was not created like this but it became like this. There was a world, “a world that then was”, as we will see it is called, which disappeared completely. This article will try to throw more light on the topic, examining other similarly revealing portions of the Word of God.

2 Peter 3:6: “the word that then was”.

Starting this study, let’s go to 2 Peter 3. There we read:

2 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 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 judgment 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 2 Peter 3, 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 destroy all the world but the world of the ungodly only (2 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 2 Peter 3:6, all the then world, “the world that then was”, perished. The word "but" in 2 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, 2 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 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" (2 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: the world that then was, the world that is now and the world that is to come, is also evident from 2 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 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 of which Peter speaks in 2 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 the above, and taking into account what we learned in the Genesis 1:1-2 article, 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 (2 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 to 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 since thousands of years.

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

As we learned from 2 Peter 3:6, “the world that then was”, was perished being flooded with water. The question the reader may have is why? What caused this flood and the associated destruction of that world? This is a question without explicit answer in the Bible, though we could get some clues from what happened to our present world. What I mean is that the present world, as also the world that then was, was, when it was first created, very good and perfect (Genesis 1:31). God creates everything perfect. Yet in Romans 8:20-22 we find it in a really pitiful state:

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"

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 being¹ i.e. the spirit, but it also affected the whole creation of God: it put it under the “bondage of corruption”. 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 now called the ruler, the boss, of this world (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? A fall. The fall of Adam. After this fall, we find God saying to Noah:

Genesis 6:11-13, 17
“The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth….“And behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die.”

The only one that was saved from the flood was Noah and his family, together with all the animals they had in the ark.

Though the Bible does not explicitly tell us why “the world that then was” was flooded with water, the following are I believe undeniable facts:

i) God creates everything perfect. So “the world that then was” was created perfect.

ii) God does not destroy anything that is good and perfect. In fact he is long suffering and long bearing. This means that for the world that then was to be perished completely, it means that it had reached a state where no “repair” was possible.

iii) Why it had reached that state? What caused it? We cannot know for sure. However, as the fall of Adam and his apostasy from God caused the flood and the almost complete destruction of the present world, a fall, an apostasy was also I believe the reason of the destruction of the world that then was too. What fall? I believe the Bible does not say explicitly. However a world that God had created perfect, as He creates everything perfect, would have never had to be destroyed, had it not reached, through a fall, an apostasy from the Lord, a completely unredeemable state. This I believe is not assumption but a fact. What kind of apostasy as well as any other details we cannot really give, unless we start flirting with the borders of guessing, and I would not want to do this.

The world that then was: conclusion.

To conclude this study on the earth and when it was created: from Genesis 1:1-2 we learned that God did not create the heavens and the earth on the first day of creation but “in the beginning”. We also learned that the earth became without form and void i.e. it was not created like this.

Further support to this is given by the passages we saw in this article, especially the ones in 2 Peter 3. As we saw, 2 Peter clearly speaks of 3 worlds: the “world that then was”, “the world that now is” and the world that is to come, “the new heavens and the new earth”. “The world that then was”, is no other than the world of Genesis 1:1-2. This world “perished, being flooded with water”.

What caused the perishing of that world? The Bible does not say it explicitly. However, as our world is in bondage, because of the fall of Adam, and as God flooded the present world, saving only Noah, his family and the animals in the ark, I believe it was a fall, an apostasy from God that brought that world to an unredeemable state and caused its complete perishing.

Tassos Kioulachoglou

1. For more on this see the article: „Body, Soul and Spirit“