Where do you stand? Do you hold to a six-day Creation or the Gap/old earth theory?
As far as my personal views on Creation...whether it was six days (young earth viewpoint) or Gap (old earth viewpoint), I believe what the Scriptures say about it! I think it was both! Let me explain!
I do believe that the six days of Genesis 1 were six literal 24-hour periods of "the evening and the morning!"
But with that said, I also do believe that Genesis 1:1 was a perfect creation of the heaven (singular) and earth…
Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
…and that sometime between verses 1 and 2 some type of judgment happened! I will use the rest of this study to share more verses for your own study. Following is what I see from God's Word about this two-fold creation.
The first verse of the bible states clearly that in the beginning God created the Heaven and the earth. The focus of verse one is the word beginning. The word beginning means "the start." But not just "the start," and that's it; but "the start," with more to come!
That is important because the next verse goes on to state “and the earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep.” The use of the word ‘and’ tells us the verse is the continuing story.
That's important because when studying out the rest of scripture we soon learn that the terms ‘without form and void,’ and the ‘darkness’ are words associated with ‘wrath and judgment.’ The term ‘without form and void’ is only used one other time in the bible; therefore, God wants us to get light by comparing them! [1 Corinthians 2:13]
Jeremiah 4:23
I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.
Here in the passage, God has Israel's prophet describe His wrath upon their land because of their sin against Him. There is our second reference of without form and void as well as darkness, stated as no light!
So just from this, we can confidently assert that something similar is going on in Genesis1:2. And if that is correct, then what happened? And, more importantly when did it happen?
Now back to Genesis 1...
Genesis 1:2
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
First, if one believes that Genesis1:2 refers to the original Creation when God created the earth, then it follows that you would also have to believe that the God of perfection, beauty, and glory would purposely create the earth originally in this messed up condition, when you see that everything else that He made was perfect and reflected His glory and beauty. Not to mention that we already showed that the term without form and void is used in relationship to judgment and wrath!
Secondly, the bible goes on to say how God told Adam and Eve to ‘replenish’ the earth. And the word replenish, just like the term ‘without form and void,’ is also only used twice in scripture, therefore God desires us to compare those two times to gain understanding, just like with the other.
Genesis 1:28
And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Both the standard dictionary definition of the word replenish, as well as the Bible's own definition of it, has to do with doing something again, or in other words, to bring something back to its original form/purpose, etc.
Notice that God uses the exact same word in describing His instructions to Noah after judging and flooding the earth!
Genesis 9:1
And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth).
So just comparing scripture with scripture we can see that what God says to Noah and Adam has to do with bringing some order out of chaos. And I believe that BOTH instances of this chaos was a result of the judgment of God on sin (I'll explain later).
Thirdly, the bible does make a difference between the word created and the word made. In Genesis1:1, God created the heaven [singular] and earth. I believe that this was the original Creation. But, when it comes to the six 24-hour days mentioned later, as well as the heavens (plural), I believe that God re-created them or as scripture puts it, made them.
Genesis 2:4
These are the generations [plural] of the heavens [plural] and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,
Notice here that there are generations of the heavens (as opposed to Genesis1:1's singular) and the earth. And these generation(s) deal with when God both, "created" and "made."
When you study this out, it is evident that created has to do with "bring forth out of nothing," whereas made is to "make from material already there".
So I believe that in Genesis1:1, when God created the heaven [singular] and the earth, that this was the original creation out of nothing, and that God created them perfectly! But I also believe that there is a "gap" between verses 1 and 2, and during this "gap" something happened in this perfect creation that prompted God to judge it with water (as with the flood of Noah) and darkness (something fallen angels are held in, to be judged).
2 Peter 2:4
For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
Jude 6
And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
Therefore, the sequence of events is that God first created the heaven (singular) and the earth; there was some type of judgment; and then, He re-created it, or made it over in the six 24-hour days in the rest of Genesis 1.
Genesis 2:4
These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,
How did it go from heaven to heavens? That's the rest of Genesis 1! He goes on to divide His original heaven (singular), and by dividing the waters of the firmament, He makes heavens (plural), i.e., the first heaven (our atmosphere where birds and planes fly), the second heaven (outer-space where stars/planets are), and the third heaven (where He lives).
2 Corinthians 12:2
I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven.
So in the original creation God only had one heaven (singular), but in the ‘replenishing’—or re-creation—God ‘made’ it into three heavens (plural)!
Hopefully this helps!
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