Was the Earth RECREATED after an initial creation?
Is there a GAP of time between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2?
(Part 3 of 4)

Print Page
Biblical examples of where the word hayah is translated became/become

Proponents of the Young Earth viewpoint often claim that was is the only proper translation of the word hayah and that any other translation is simply not acceptable, and if hayah is ever translated into another word besides was it is done only on a very limited basis [24]. A paper by Jack Sofield, "The Gap Theory of Genesis Chapter One" is a good example of the Young Earth Creationists position: [25].

" Passages such as Genesis 3:22; 19:26; 21:20 and Exodus 7:19; 8:17; 9:10 demonstrate "became" properly used in context…In each case a change of state is observed. Adam becomes as God; Lot’s wife becomes a pillar of salt; Ishmael becomes an archer; the water becomes blood; the dust of the earth becomes lice; the ashes become a boil. “Become” is obviously the correct choice in each of these passages since none of the subjects existed in the stated condition originally. Incidentally, these passages represent the entirety of the use of “became” as a translation of the word in question throughout the entire Pentateuch. "


While it is true that the majority of cases the word hayah is translated was this does not mean that it can never be translated became or become. In the Old Testament scriptures there are approximately 150 examples of where the word hayah has been translated became or become. Most authors of papers dealing with the subject of how often hayah is translated into the words became or become are grossly misinformed about how often this occurs. It occurs more often than believed. An examination of any concordance will reveal that just in the book of Genesis there are 16 instances where the word hayah has been translated into became or become. In Genesis 48:19 the word hayah is even translated into the word become twice in the same sentence. The sixteen occurrences of the word hayah being translated became or become in the book of Genesis are listed below:

"And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became (hayah) a living being." Genesis 2:7
" Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became (hayah) four riverheads." Genesis 2:10

" Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become (hayah) like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever" Genesis 3:22

"and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become (hayah) a flood to destroy all flesh." Genesis 9:15

"since Abraham shall surely become (hayah) a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?" Genesis 18:18

" But his wife looked back behind him, and she became (hayah) a pillar of salt." Genesis 19:26

"But indeed she is truly my sister. She is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became (hayah) my wife." Genesis 20:12

"So God was with the lad; and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness, and became (hayah) an archer. " Genesis 21:20

"I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which You have shown Your servant; for I crossed over this Jordan with my staff, and now I have become (hayah) two companies." Genesis 32:10

" Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent; and he took Rebekah and she became (hayah) his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother's death." Genesis 24:67

"then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to us; and we will dwell with you, and we will become (hayah) one people. Genesis 34:16

"Come therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit; and we shall say, 'Some wild beast has devoured him.' We shall see what will become (hayah) of his dreams!" Genesis 37:20

" Then Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for every man of the Egyptians sold his field, because the famine was severe upon them. So the land became (hayah) Pharaoh's." Genesis 47:20

" And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt to this day, that Pharaoh should have one-fifth, except for the land of the priests only, which did not become (hayah) Pharaoh's. " Genesis 47:26

" But his father refused and said, "I know, my son, I know. He also shall become (hayah) a people, and he also shall be great; but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become (hayah) a multitude of nations." Genesis 48:19

Time or space does not permit the inclusion of all of the other words that have been translated from hayah. In brief they include: will be, art become, let there be, it was so, accomplished, shall be, had, come to pass, as well as the more common—was.

Context and the Meaning of Genesis One

Many competent scholars on both sides of the Genesis 1 controversy admit that hayah can be exegetically translated was or became. The final choice of which is a better translation depends on the context of what was happening at that particular time. The irony is that the word hayah appears in the second verse of the Bible when the context has not yet been determined or is unclear. Notice that in the two quotes below, one from a Young Earth viewpoint and the other from an Old Earth viewpoint, that both admit that context is an important if not the deciding factor.

" However, recognized grammarians, lexicographers, and linguists have almost uniformly rejected the translations 'became' and 'had become'. It is a basic exegetical fallacy to claim that because Strong’s Concordance lists 'became' as one of the meanings of haya, it is legitimate to translate it this way in the particular context of Genesis 1:2. " [26]
" Some scholars propose that Genesis 1:2 can or should be translated "Now the earth became without form, and void . . ." as opposed to the common rendering "The earth was without form, and void . . ." Others dismiss this idea entirely. They assume the original Hebrew word hayah must be translated "was" and then assume the earth was originally created in this disorderly way…However, as can be seen from many Bible helps, both translations of the term are possible. Only the context of the chapter and book can determine which one is correct. Gleason Archer, professor of biblical languages, comments: "It should be noted in this connection that the verb was in Genesis 1:2 may quite possibly be rendered 'became' and be construed to mean: 'And the earth became formless and void.' Only a cosmic catastrophe could account for the introduction of chaotic confusion into the original perfection of God's creation. This interpretation certainly seems to be exegetically tenable . . ." (A Survey of Old Testament Introduction, Moody Press, Chicago, 1974, p. 184). " [27]

Since there seems to be so much confusion regarding the context of this verse it is proper that an examination of the scriptures be made to determine the Biblical and historical context of what occurred in relation to these two verses.

Was There Sin Before Adam?

The Young Earth Creationists believe that there was no sin before Adam. Sin brought death and since Adam was created on the fifth day of the creation week (Genesis 1:26-27, 31) then death could not exist before Adam. If there was no death before Adam then fossils, buried dead animal that were laid down in beds of strata before Adam should not exist. Also if the pre-Adamic world was full of buried fossils then how could God pronounce the earth "good" during the end of each of the successive creation days? In essence God would be pronouncing death as "good."


These two concepts will be examined individually. First the concept of sin will be examined. The concept that there was no sin before Adam's sin is incorrect. There indeed was sin before the sin of our first human parents. See figure 5 [28].


Figure 5: Adam and Eve were driven out of the garden because of sin. Were they the first sinners—or did sin exist before humans?
Sin is the breaking of God's law; it is often termed lawlessness or iniquity. Sometimes sin is equated with breaking of the Ten Commandments. At other times it is the breaking of God's intent or will as defined by his writings or oral commands. Sin involves pride and disobedience.

" Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness." John 3:4
"He who says, "I know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." 1 John 2:4

Sin leads to death. It may be delayed or it may be immediate but sin always leads to death. Without the sacrifice of Jesus Christ we cannot be freed from the penalty of sin.

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23
Satan is a sinner. Satan was a sinner from the beginning. His was originally a created archangel and was originally named Lucifer, which means, "light bringer." Later pride and vanity caused him to sin and his name was changed to Satan which mean "adversary." He opposes truth and light and he is pictured as the adversary of God and his people. In the following verse he suffers from two hideous sins, lying and murder.

"You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it." John 8:44
Satan sinned before Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of "Good and Evil" (later in this article it will be shown that Satan sinned before the seven day creation week). So therefore sin preceded Adam. Humanity although sinful did not originate sin, sin was alive and well before Adam. Although the following verse notes the first recorded lie, which would be a sin, undoubtedly Satan was an experienced sinner by this time. In verse one below, the word cunning (NKJV) or subtle (KJV) is the Hebrew word aruwm (#6175) – examining a lexicon it will be shown that the word denotes: crafty, shrewd, or sly in a bad sense. When Satan approached Eve he was in a competitive or adversarial (Satan = adversary) attitude toward God, he uttered lies and therefore it is obvious that sin did not originate with humans. He told Eve she would not die if she disobeyed God. Satan lied!

" Now the serpent was more cunning (crafty, shrewd, or sly in bad sense) than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?" And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; "but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.' " Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. "For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." " Genesis 3:1-5
Another verse that shows that Satan sinned and brought death is found in Romans. This verse is often used by the Young Earth Creationist to show that death is a result of sin and death originated with Adam since they suppose that he was the first sinner.

" Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned . . ." Romans 5:12
The logic is correct, but what if Adam was not the first sinner? What if Satan was the first sinner, then sin and death would have originated with Satan. Adam simply followed in his spiritual father's footsteps. As an aside if Satan was the originator of sin and he sinned before Adam then we would expect the earth to be full of the fossil of dead animals that died as the result of Satan's sin. In other words the fossil evidence indicates that Satan had sinned long before man since the pre-Genesis 1:3 world is covered with much fossil filled stratum [29].

Humans have no monopoly on sin. Angels can sin and Satan can manipulate fallen angels.

" For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment;" 2 Peter 2:4
" His tail drew a third of the stars (stars are angels, see Revelation 1:20) of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born… 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, and his angels were cast out with him." Revelation 12:4-9

The previous verses show that there was sin before Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Sin actually has a long prehistory. Most people do not realize that Satan is the originator of sin and humans are simply tuned into Satan's wavelength.

" And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others." Ephesians 2:1-3
Satan is an arch-deceiver and misleads and manipulates humanity to do his bidding. Satan is so powerful and humans are so tied into his mind set that the only way humans can be spared his influence is if Satan is removed.

" Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand .He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while…Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, " Revelation 20:1-3, 7-10
In the Old Testament is a ritual that indicates that sin is often the result of Satan's influence [30]. The 16th chapter of Leviticus involves a goat that is killed (Christ) and another goat (Satan) that has the sins of the people placed on it. After symbolically having the people's sins placed on the head of the living goat it is lead away into the wilderness. This prefigures what happens in Revelation 20 when the originator of mankind's sins is lead away by an angel with a great chain.

" Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man. The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness." Leviticus 16:21-22
…and it was very good.

According to the Young Earth Creationists God pronounced His creation "good." Everything He had created was termed "good." How could God have said everything was "good" if the world that existed before Genesis 1:2 was full of buried fossils and dead organisms?

Genesis 1:31 says, 'And God saw every thing that He had made, and behold it was very good.' [The Hebrew is meod tov, which indicates perfection, a complete absence of evil of any kind, as Calvin and many other commentators have pointed out] This is hardly an accurate description, if the being who became Satan had already rebelled! And if there were billions of 'Lucifer-flood' fossils with the marks of disease, violence, death, and decay, corresponding to the perishing of an entire pre-Adamic race and the extinction of a complete world of animals, with Adam and Eve walking around on top of buried fossils, how could God have called all this 'very good'? [31]
The Young Earth Creationists misunderstand what is meant by "good" and how God works and what is acceptable to Him. The original intent of God's statement of whether the earth was good or very good does not depend on whether it is free from dead fossils or the taint of death and sin. The earth in Genesis one is called good because the context is dealing with God's present creative acts. In other words, for something to be called good does not depend on it being free of any impurity or blemish. It would have been easy for God to pronounce the earth with all its fossil strata good since the statement good is in the context of what is being noted—his recreation is good. If the Young Earth Creationist position were correct then any piece of the earth after the sin of man could not ever be called good! In reality there are many example of impure physical objects, whether living or now dead, being called good. First of all consider the two Hebrew words translated good and earth in Genesis one and the first verse of Genesis two (this also applies to the rest of the Old Testament).

towb (#2896) — good, excellent pleasant.

'erets (#776) — earth, whole earth, land, ground.

In the totality of the first two chapters of Genesis the word translated earth is 'erets. Notice the earth ('erets) is called good (towb) in Genesis 1:31 and 2:1.

"Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good (towb). So the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth ('erets), and all the host of them, were finished." Genesis 1:31; 2:1
In all of Genesis chapter one when the terms good and earth are translated they are translated from these two words, without exception!

After the original creation when the earth had been subjected to centuries of death, destruction, wars, and the killing of all kinds of animals, which would include their burial and possible fossilization, the earth (land) was called good. Included in this "good earth" would be the innumerable organisms and fossils buried by the flood of Noah. This is the same situation that would not allow the Young Earth Creationists to call the earth good in the first chapter of Genesis if their had been a previous world with death and destruction. The exact same Hebrew words are used to call the modern but defiled earth (land) good.

" and they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying: "The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good (towb) land ('erets). " Numbers 14:7
" 'I pray, let me cross over and see the good (towb) land ('erets) beyond the Jordan, those pleasant mountains, and Lebanon.'" Deuteronomy 3:25

The earth had preexisted in Genesis 1:1 and it was full of dead and buried fossils from a previous catastrophe that had turned it into a cosmic wasteland. In spite of this when God began to refashion the earth for human habitation it was called good just as the earth at a later time was called good. The fact that the earth is called good in these verses has nothing to do with its past state; it has to do with God's recreation in six literal twenty-four hour days being good.

All humans are sinners, and whether male or female are subject to death unless washed clean by the blood of Christ. Every human carries parasites, diseases, and all kinds of defilements. Humans are imperfect and yet the scripture say that these imperfect humans can have the same type of "goodness" that the earth had in Genesis. There are no perfect men and there are no perfect women, yet the Bible calls some men and women good (towb).

" A good (towb) man obtains favor from the LORD, But a man of wicked intentions He will condemn." Proverbs 12:2
" He who finds a wife finds a good (towb) thing, And obtains favor from the LORD." Proverbs 18:22

There are many other examples where something that is physically impure or not perfect is called good or in some instances even holy. These examples are used to show that God's context for calling something holy or good does not depend on it physical condition but on God's influence or presence. If the term goodness or holiness can only be applied to what is free from sin or death then in reality nothing can be truly termed good and holy, but God the Father, His Son Christ, and the holy angels. As a cursory reading of the scriptures will show many things defiled by death and sin are in certain contexts called good and holy.

Jesus Christ was a perfect sinless man. He was God in the flesh. He was holy and without spot and blemish He is called good. Yet consider that his mother was a sinner as are all humans [32]. In spite of Jesus being born from a sinful background that involved death, yet He is called holy and blameless. This is an example of how something that is presently spotless does not have to originate from a previous spotless condition. Jesus could not be called good if we used the Young Earth Creationist definition of what is good.

" . . . how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" Hebrews 9:14
Jesus Christ also ate animal flesh. He partook of the Passover and this involved the eating of a roasted lamb. He also ate fish after his resurrection. The eating of these dead animals should have defiled his body according to the definition of the Young Earth proponents.

" "Then you shall say to the master of the house, 'The Teacher says to you, "Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?" '" Luke 22:11
" When He (Jesus) had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. But while they still did not believe for joy, and marveled, He said to them, "Have you any food here?" So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb. And He took it and ate in their presence." Luke 24:42

The temple is holy and is described as such in various passages. Below is a sampling of two such passages:

" Then the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the temple, to the Most Holy Place, under the wings of the cherubim." 1 Kings 8:6
" "This is the law of the temple: The whole area surrounding the mountaintop is most holy. Behold, this is the law of the temple. " Ezekiel 43:12

Solomon's temple was built out of white limestone, see figure 6 [33]. King Solomon commissioned King Hiram of Tyre to quarry the stones. King Hiram had 80,000 stonemasons (1 Kings 5:15, 17-18) involved in quarrying the limestone used in the foundation and the walls of the temple. White limestone was used because it is easily worked and when it is finely polished it resembles marble. Limestone is a sedimentary rock that is fossil rich. This means that the temple foundations and walls are built out of rocks, which are mostly fossilized remains of dead carbonate animals [34]. It would be impossible for God to have called the temple holy using the Young Earth Creationist's standard for holiness.



Figure 6: A model of the second temple enlarged by Herod. Like the first temple built by King Solomon they were both built out of white limestone a fossil rich rock.
In order not to belabor the point there are many other examples that could be used to show that the Young Earth definition of goodness is flawed. The main point in this section is to illustrate that the Young Earth Creationist's contention that the earth had to be fossil and death free to be called "good" is incorrect. The earth could have, and it is the contention of this paper that it did have, buried under its surface many hundreds or thousands of feet of fossil rich strata from a previous cosmic catastrophe, and it could still be called good, because God was referring to His recent creative acts. The question now turns to what caused the earth to become a cosmic wasteland?

Angelic History Reveals the Context of Genesis 1:1-2

The history of Satan and his angels has much to do with the creation (in reality recreation) account found in the Bible. As mentioned in the previous sections of this article Satan is a very powerful entity. He does exist and he greatly influences the course of this world. He is called the god of this world and he controls the kingdoms of this earth (Daniel 10:12-13, 20). He was given control of the earth. God's coming Kingdom which will be an earth ruling kingdom is going to wrest control of the earth from Satan and will deliver it up to the saints (Daniel 7:27).

" . . . whose minds the god (Satan) of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them." 2 Corinthians 4:4
"Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out." John 12:31

"I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me." John 14:30

"of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. " John 16:11

" Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, "All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish." Luke 4:5-6

Satan is a created being, he was actually created by the personage that later became Jesus Christ. The book of Colossians reveals that Jesus is the creator of everything. Jesus created all spiritual life forms, all physical life forms, the vast universe, time, gravity, and all the various chemical and physical laws that govern how the universe operates. Before this time period only God the Father and God the Son existed.

" . . . in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him 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. " Colossians 1:14-17
The first chapter of the book of John actually predates Genesis. It shows that in the past before the creation of Satan, the angelic host, and the physical universe only God existed: the Father and the Son. The Son is referred to as the "Word" the logos that spoke things into existence in Colossians and Genesis. As one Greek lexicon [35] defines the word logos: "the Minister of Creation"—the Spokesman. Jesus Christ as the creator of the Old Testament spoke or commanded Satan into existence!

" In the beginning was the Word (logos), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. " John 1:1-3
The 28th chapter of Ezekiel describes the spiritual career of Satan. It illustrates when he was originally created he was perfect in wisdom and beauty. He was one of the cherubs that covered the throne of God with his wings. This is typified by the lid, which covered the Ark of the Covenant (Exodus 25:17-22). This lid often termed the mercy seat, where the High Priest went to obtain mercy in God's presence, had two angels [36] covering it with their outstretched wings. See figure 7 [37].
Originally Satan was one of the cherubs that covered God with his wings. Satan was an observer of the events that took place in the throne room of God. Satan had a top position in the most important place in the Universe the holy mountain that refers to God's headquarters.



Figure 7: The Ark of the Covenant, showing the covering cherubs with their outstretched wings. This symbolized God's throne in heaven. Satan was once present at the throne room of God; he is called "the anointed cherub who covers…"
""Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "You were the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, Beryl, onyx, and jasper, Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes Was prepared for you on the day you were created. "You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You 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 splendor; I cast you to the ground…" Ezekiel 28:12-17

Satan was created, he was perfect, he served at God's governmental seat, and then he sinned—iniquity was found in him. After he sinned he was cast out of the presence of God [38].

" " How you are 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.' Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, To the lowest depths of the Pit." Isaiah 14:12-15
Jesus Christ states that Satan was assigned to the earth and that he had a throne. A throne signifies rulership or a commission and a kingdom to rule over. He then ascended—"above the heights of the clouds", which cover the earth—up to heaven in order to lead a rebellion to take over God's throne. Satan wanted to rule over the stars, which were angels that were loyal to God. As a result of this war in heaven Satan and his demons were cast out of heaven back to the earth from which they had "ascended".

" His tail drew a third 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 found 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, and his angels were cast out with him." Revelation 12:4, 7-8
Jesus Christ was an eyewitness to Satan being cast out of heaven onto the earth. Notice that this is not a prophetic event; it is past tense, it has already occurred.

" And He said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven." Luke 10:18
As the previous section of this paper shows Satan and his angels were given dominion over this present day world (aion-age), or earth for an age, or a specified time period. When God created Adam and Eve and placed them on the earth—Satan, the former Lucifer was masquerading as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:13-15) in rebellion to God, he had a long history as a liar and a murderer. The future world ruling Kingdom of God will not be presided or ruled over by fallen angels or demons. The time of the earth being ruled and controlled by Satan and his demons will be a thing of the past. Humans are going to be given Rulership in this coming world [39].

"For He has not put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to angels . . . " Hebrews 2:5
Because of this attempted rebellion by Satan and one third of the angels, which he controlled, the earth was wrecked. The war in heaven left telltale evidence scattered throughout the earth's surface and the solar system. There is ample evidence of ancient catastrophic events in the solar system. These include but are not limited to the following: the craters on the moon, the rings of Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Jupiter, the asteroid belt which is the complete shattering of another planet, the erratic orbit of Pluto, and Uranus' smaller moon, Miranda, being shattered and then reformed.



Figure 8: Because of the sin and rebellion of Satan and the angels the Bible indicates there was war in heaven. This heavenly battle caused much astronomical and geological chaos to the earth.
The whole solar system has scars of past planetary catastrophes. On the earth large craters caused by comets and planetoids have pockmarked its surface. See figure 8 [40]. Also the earth has thousands of feet of strata rich in fossil deposits, which indicate that the earth has been through at least one other worldwide catastrophe prior the flood of Noah [41].

Part 1: Introduction, Objections to Gap theory
Part 2: Do Hebrew Scholars Support a Gap?
Part 3: Was There Sin Before Adam?
Part 4: Biblical Evidence for a Catastrophe between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2


Works Cited and Research Notes

[24]. Arthur Custance make a very good case for the idea that in reality the word hayah should be translated as became or become in the vast majority of cases. By examining how the word hayah is "paraphrased" in the Septuagint translation it is obvious that in the vast majority of cases the word hayah should be translated in the sense of something "coming to be" or becoming.

When we add 'those instances in which the Hebrew verb appears as an imperative, and those in which it has the meaning of "existing" (ie., living), we shall not be far wrong if we conclude that in the great majority of cases the Septuagint did not look upon the meaning of the Hebrew verb as mere "being" in the copulative sense but as "becoming" or "coming to be".

For more on the subject see: Custance, Arthur C. Without Form and Void a Study of the Meaning of Genesis 1:2. Chapter 4: the Witness of Other Versions. p. 4-5. Doorway Pub. 1989. or online at http://custance.org

[25]. Sofield JC. The gap theory of Genesis chapter one. The Biblical Studies Foundation. p. 7. http://www.bible.org/docs/ot/books/gen/gapthery.htm. 2004.

[26]. Grigg R. From the beginning of creation: does Genesis have a gap? Creation Magazine. 19:2:34-38. March-May 1997.

[27]. Seiglie M. Evolution or creation: does it really matter what you believe? -Earth's age: does Genesis 1 indicate a time Interval? United Church of God. Cincinnati, OH. P. 29. 2004. www.ucg.org.

[28]. The Fall. Gustave Dore (1832-1883).

[29]. It is understood that in this particular case the reasoning is somewhat circular. But it is no more circular than the Young Earth position that the early earth had no fossils and therefore no sin existed before Adam.

[30]. Sin is actually a two-part process. Sin can originate with man apart from any outside influence or it can originate with Satan and then Satan tempts humans to sin. For the purpose of this paper Satan's role in sin is being stressed.

Mark 7:21-23 "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, "thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. "All these evil things come from within and defile a man."

[31] Grigg R. 1997.

[32]. The Catholic Church gets around this problem by appealing to an immaculate conception. Catholics believe that the sinless Christ could only originate from a sinless mother. Young Earth Creationists are using the same logic, when they state that a good earth could not come from a sin filled earth.

McBrien RP. (editor). The Harper Collins Encyclopedia of Catholicism. Harper Collins Publishers. New York, NY. p.655-56. 1999.

The Immaculate Conception is not found explicitly in Scriptures…Given this reasoning the Council of Trent (1545-63) deliberately excluded Mary from its decree on original sin and taught in its decrees on justification that she was free from all sins throughout her entire life…To the Catholic imagination it is fitting that grace be freely give to her from the first moment of her existence because of her role in being the faith filled mother of Jesus.

[33] Model design © TempleModels.com. 9 Tammy Rd, Spring Valley NY 10977. (845) 364-9225.

[34]. Thompson, Ida. National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Fossils. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. New York, NY. p. 95. 1997.

[35]. Thayer, Joseph H. Thayer Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Coded with Strong's Concordance Numbers. Hendrickson Publishers, Inc. Peabody, MA. 1996

[36]. Although it is highly speculative it is possible that Satan (Lucifer) is part of a trinitarian system. In a spirit of speculation consider the following. There is only one angel called an archangel in the scriptures, Michael. The possibility exists that Gabriel is also an archangel since he is in God's presence.

Luke 1:19 And the angel answered and said to him, "I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings.

Indications are that Satan was also originally an archangel since he also was in God's throne room as a covering cherub. If this is true he was originally created a part of a triune group of archangels, Michael-Gabriel-Lucifer, he was one of three. Satan also lead a third of the angels, which he controlled, into rebellions. Satan being one of three would have control over a third of the angels. It is interesting to note that Satan loves to receive worship in systems that consider God a triune one-in-three being (2 Corinthians 11:13-15).

[37]. Ark of the Covenant. Artwork by Chester Comstock. Used with permission. Comstock Sculpture Studio 1201 West Thornton Parkway #313 Thornton C0. 80260. http://artsales.com.

[38]. Although Satan was cast out of heaven—God's presence, there are times when he and other fallen angels are allowed back into heaven.

Job 1:6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan (margin-Adversary) also came among them.

1 Kings 22:19-22 Then Micaiah said, "Therefore hear the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by, on His right hand and on His left. "And the LORD said, 'Who will persuade Ahab to go up, that he may fall at Ramoth Gilead?' So one spoke in this manner, and another spoke in that manner. "Then a spirit came forward and stood before the LORD, and said, 'I will persuade him.' "The LORD said to him, 'In what way?' So he said, 'I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.' And the LORD said, 'You shall persuade him, and also prevail. Go out and do so.'

[39] In the coming Kingdom of God resurrected human will be rulers. Part of their job will be to pass judgment on the fallen angels that Satan led into rebellion.

1 Corinthians 6:2-3 Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life?

Revelation 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

2 Peter 2:4 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment;

[40]. Firefall. Artwork by Joe Tucciarone. Used with permission. 2403 West Friday Circle Cocoa, Florida 32926. http://members.aol.com/INTERSTELL/joe.html

[41] The flood of Noah was an earth wrecking experience (Genesis 6:13) but it was not the only one. The earth was wrecked by Satan's rebellion and has physical and geologic evidence of past catastrophes and extinctions. The earth's stratum actually indicates that there was a pre-Adamic catastrophe that engulfed the earth prior to the Noachian cataclysm. This destruction built upon destruction has jumbled much of the geologic record. It also caused much confusion in properly interpreting what occurred in the past. The first catastrophe is what led to the seven-day recreation account in Genesis One.

Written by: Arnold Mendez
Visit Arnold's site dedicated to Creation and related topics.