This is given in ten simple words, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" (Gen. 1:11In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. (Genesis 1:1)). How simple, how dignified, how profound! There is nothing approaching this in all the writings of the
ancients. How evident is the hallmark of inspiration!
But geologists call for millions of years for the formation of the rocks. Supposing they are right in this, there is no difficulty. Scripture allows all the time that is necessary for the mighty changes that have taken place in the crust of the earth.
At the top of some editions of the Bible there is marked the date 4004 B.C., that is nearly 6,000 years ago. But that calculation is put there by the hand of fallible man. It probably is fairly correct in dating the creation of Adam. Indeed Archbishop Ussher's date must have had Adam's creation in mind, for who can tell when the original creation was?
Have we any light from Scripture as to this? We have. Gen. 1:2 Says, "The earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep." Was this the condition of the earth in its natural state? It surely was not. Have we any ground for making this assertion? We have, for it says in Isa. 45:1818For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord; and there is none else. (Isaiah 45:18), " For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God Himself that formed the earth and made it: He hath established it, He created it not in vain, He formed it to be inhabited."
In order that this verse may be abundantly plain, we put two Scriptures side by side, as rendered
To view these Scriptures side by side is very illuminating. The former Scripture says the earth was found in a WASTE and void condition. The latter Scripture as emphatically states that in its original condition the earth was NOT IN A WASTE condition. The Hebrew word, tohu, is translated "without form" in Gen. 1:22And 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. (Genesis 1:2). The same word, tohu, is translated "in vain" in Isa. 45:1818For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord; and there is none else. (Isaiah 45:18) in our Authorized Version. In other words, Gen. 1:22And 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. (Genesis 1:2) states that the earth was found in a state of chaos and ruin, whilst Isa. 45:1818For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord; and there is none else. (Isaiah 45:18) states that the original creation was not so.
The first verse of the Bible records the original creation of the heaven and the earth; whilst the second verse states that the earth was in a state of chaos and darkness. Comparing these Scriptures one with the other, earnest Bible students have plainly seen that there was an original fair creation, and that some unrecorded catastrophe must have occurred, which reduced this earth to a state of ruin and chaos. The time that elapsed between verses 1 and 2 of Genesis is sufficient to allow for any demands that may be deemed necessary for geological changes in the structure of the earth's surface. But what that time was we cannot conjecture. Scripture is silent as to this and also as to the cause of this tremendous catastrophe to our planet. When Scripture is silent, it is impertinent for us to speculate. We must respect the silences of Scripture, as well as its revelations.
This view, that some mighty catastrophe had taken place, has been held for many years by many able expositors of the word. So far back as St. Augustine this view was held, so it is no new idea.
And further, there is confirmation of this view inasmuch as from Gen. 1:22And 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. (Genesis 1:2) to 2: 3, two different verbs are employed throughout-to create, and to make -indeed this is specially emphasized in the closing verse of the narrative, where we read, "And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made" (Gen. 2:33And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. (Genesis 2:3)). The margin of our Oxford Bible says " created to make." That is illuminating. For instance a cabinet maker makes a table. But the tree from which the wood was taken needed a Creator. The tree has life, and the power of reproduction. That is where creation of organic matter comes in. The cabinet maker's table has no such power. That is the difference between creation and making. Creation is the production of something out of nothing, as seen in the case of animal and vegetable life with powers of reproduction. Making is the production of something out of already existing matter.
Now the general word for creation occurs in Genesis 1:11In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. (Genesis 1:1). During the six days of reconstruction God took in hand the wrecked world, and brought cosmos out of chaos. Hence the word made occurs in the narrative in Gen. 1 and 2 no less than ten times, whereas the word "create," occurs but five times in the same chapters.
That a great catastrophe wrecked this world of ours is confirmed by geology. The story of the rocks, the immense convulsions, table lands and mountains thrown down, and valleys and plains elevated-all tell a tale. Paleontology confirms this too. There are fossil remains of gigantic carnivorous animals, of which the world, as we know it to-day, contains no living specimens. There were dinosaurs, ichthyosaurs, pterodactyles, etc., etc., extinct animals of immense size, which have passed away, leaving no descendants. An idea of their size is given when the skeleton fossil of a dinosaur's thigh bone was found to measure six feet; the wing of a pterodactyle measured eighteen feet from tip to tip. No fossil of human remains is found in this period.
It is clear that a mighty catastrophe occurred, which resulted in the earth being covered with waters, and swathed in darkness.