Chapter 16: Theologians Who Believed The Gap Principle

CHAPTER SIXTEEN THEOLOGIANS WHO BELIEVED THE GAP PRINCIPLE

Donald Grey Barnhouse, Th.D., (1895 - 1960) was an American Christian preacher, pastor, theologian, radio pioneer, and writer. Here is his exposition on Genesis, Chapter One.

Dr. Barnhouse was one of the pioneers of radio preaching in the 1920s, launching his own network program, The Bible Study Hour. In 1949 he began his famous study of Romans which continued for nearly 12 years until his death. This radio program continues to air as Dr. Barnhouse & the Bible.

He wrote many articles and authored more than a dozen books. He was founder and editor-in-chief of Eternity Magazine. He displayed remarkable insight in his evaluation of the meaning of events for church and nation. The Invisible War, Pgs. 9,10, Excerpts: "A GREAT GULF FIXED: We are reminded of this as we read the first two verses in the Bible. Probably one of the commonest errors in Biblical interpretation is the thought that the first verse of Genesis and the second verse are closely connected in time. This error leads many readers to believe that God had originally created the earth in chaotic form. Their minds are driven to the rim of the first verse, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth," and they too readily suppose it possible to go right on into the next verse, "And the earth was without form and void, and darkness covered the face of the deep."

Yet there is no doubt that between the two there is a great gulf fixed. I say "no doubt," for the matter is amply demonstrated by the Scriptures themselves. Following the close of the passage, the punctuation after the first verse of the Bible is a mighty period, or, even better, what the English grammarians call a "full stop." In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Period. There is the divine prelude to the symphony of the Scriptures. That verse takes us back, back, back into the edges of a past eternity in which God, the Father, Son and Spirit, lived in that entirely sufficient majesty of being which encompasses Deity.

If this had been recorded in the book of Psalms, there might well have been written here the word Selah — pause. Stop and consider. You are on the edge of an abyss. Something happened to the heavens and the earth which God had created. Millions of years may have run their course during that first creation, and other millions may have elapsed in the interval between the two verses. We do not know. But there was an interval, and we can be absolutely certain that it was a great one.:"

Pgs. 15-19, Excerpts: "On the one side of the abyss stands the phrase, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." We come to the other side and read the second verse as it is found in the King James Version: "And earth was without form and void, and darkness covered the face of the deep." The revisers in both the English and American revisions, not satisfied with the terms "without form and void," have given us the better translation, "waste and void," though the RSV has gone back to the King James rendering. Still another translator interprets the Hebrew as "a wreck and a ruin." ...There is a common expression which translates our idea of topsy-turvy: it is tohu-bohu — an expression transliterated from the Hebrew of this second verse of Genesis. These are the words which various translators have rendered "without form," "void,""waste," "desolate," "empty," "wreck," "ruin."

"Just here the importance of the comparative method of Bible study is seen. In Isaiah 45:18, we read that God did not create the world as it is found in the second verse of Genesis: "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 tohu..." Here is the same Hebrew word as in the second verse of the Bible. It is a formal statement: God did not create the earth as it is portrayed in the description that has commonly been called chaos. ...It is noteworthy that the Revised Standard Version has adopted this reading. "He did not create it a chaos." This categorical statement is sufficient to prove beyond any shadow of doubt that the first and second verses are separated by an interval. We might read the two verses from Genesis and the one from Isaiah as follows: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth — though God most certainly did not create it that way — became a wreck and a ruin, and darkness covered the face of the deep." That we have every right to translate the verb by the continuing form "became" is amply demonstrated by the fact that this precise form is thus translated in other parts of the Old Testament, as for example, "Lot's wife looked back and she became a pillar of salt" (Genesis 19:26). ..."

"One objection has been imagined which we will do well to meet and set aside at once. It is argued that the passage in the Ten Commandments concerning the seventh day contradicts what we have been saying. We read the following: "For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day" (Exodus 20:11). The answer is that there is a vast difference between the original creation of the heavens and the earth, and the subsequent formation, fashioning and restoration of that same earth which had been turned into chaos. The careful reader of the first chapter of Genesis will note that the word create is found in the first verse and appears no more in the account until the introduction of life, in the fifth and sixth days of the restoration. God was not seeking mere literary effect when He used the several verbs in Isaiah, "Thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he bath established it, he created it not a chaos, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord; and there is none else" (Isaiah 45:18). To create, as the great linguist Rabbi Naskman put it, is "to produce out of nothing." It is to call into being some material thing without the aid of any existing material. It is the materialization of a thought of God. The discoveries of the atomic age, centering in the recently acquired knowledge that mass and energy are the same thing in different form, give powerful significance to the Bible teaching that the material universe is the tangible expression of the Word of God going forth in the command of His desire. "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made: and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth...he spake and it was ..." (Psalms 33:6; Psalms 33:9). The other verbs which are used to describe the work of the six days, such as made, divide, and set, are used elsewhere of work done with existing materials, as when a woman prepares a meal or a man builds a boat. The original creation was before the forming and fashioning."

"That something tremendous and terrible happened to the first, perfect creation is certain. We know that later the earth, which had become waste and empty was re-formed and refashioned in the six days and peopled by the newly created beings, Adam and his wife; and that this renewed and restored earth, of which it is stated six times that God saw that it was good (Genesis 1:4; Genesis 1:10; Genesis 1:12; Genesis 1:18; Genesis 1:21; Genesis 1:25) and once that it was very good (Genesis 1:31), was later cursed on account of man's sin.

We have every right to argue from analogy that the original creation, long before Adam's remade world was cursed because of earlier sin, fell into chaos because of the righteous judgment of God upon some outbreak of rebellion. We believe that there is sufficient light in the Word of God to give us more than a few details. Somewhere back before the chaos of the second verse of Genesis there was a great tragedy and a terrible catastrophe. ..."

"Genesis 1:2 refers to the indefinite interval of time which separates the primordial creation from the organization of the terrestrial globe as the author is about to describe it."

...

"We know that our God spoke the original word of creation, and materialized the original thought of the divine idea which became the heavens and the earth. We know that it was the hand of a holy God which struck the earth into ruin because of a great outbreak of rebellion, and we know that it was the hand of our Lord which moved; all in His own time, to bring the earth out of that chaos...We know, also, that the other verbs in the account of earth's history — God made, God formed, God fashioned, God said — are all within the power of the omnipotent God who said,

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways . For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:9.)."

Pg. 21, Excerpts: "Lucifer: In the normal course of reading the book of Genesis, we would come, in the third chapter, to the introduction of a new character, a malignant being who is immediately revealed as the bitter enemy of both God and the newly formed and created man. Who is this being and from whence did he come? Are we to believe in the eternal duality of good and evil? We shall see the revelation of the origin of evil in such a way that this duality is proved to be false. But if, as some would have it, the Lord created the heavens and the earth in the six days and saw that all was good, whence did this enemy creep in? There is no place in such a theory for the origin of evil and the beginning of rebellion against the Creator. When we see, however, that "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth," and that "He created them not a chaos," but that they became that way as a result of judgment we have the truth, and are both instructed and satisfied."

Pg. 22, Excerpts: In our first chapter, we have seen that there is a great interval between the first and second verses of Genesis. In the beginning there was a perfect creation. How long this creation lasted, we do not know. But we do know that in charge of much of it, if not all, God placed a mighty and magnificent being to rule and govern in His name. We shall show that God created this being with more power and beauty than He ever gave to any other. This spirit being was named Lucifer the "Son of the morning..."

There came a time when this being, filled with pride because of his own power and attainments, entertained the thought in his heart that he could govern independently of God. He therefore proclaimed that he would set up an independent rule, whereupon a multitude of the angelic beings of heaven decided to follow his rule and join him in his rebellion against God. These form the company of the fallen angels and probably the demons. As a result of this proud revolt against the will of God, the Lord God Almighty blasted the material universe in a curse of temporary judgment and the earth became without form and void, a wreck and a ruin, a chaos, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. Much later, on the occasion of the creation of Adam, God moved to re-form, to refashion, this earth. The drama we have just outlined took place in that interval between the first two verses of Genesis, but it is necessary to go to other portions of the revelation of God in order to find the details of the origin of this great rebellion. In the twenty-eighth chapter of Ezekiel, there is a revelation of truth which can, and indeed must, be fitted into the great interval between the opening verses of Genesis. The first part of the chapter is a lamentation against one who is called the prince of Tyre. We have reason for doubting that this portion of the chapter is addressed by the Holy Spirit to the reigning prince of Tyre, a contemporary of the prophet. He is one of many men throughout ancient and modern history who have been lifted up with such pride that they imagined themselves to partake of deity. In the eleventh verse, however, there is a transition of thought. We read:

"Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus ..." So far as we know from secular history there was no king of Tyre, only the prince spoken of in the first part of the chapter. Who is this king of Tyre? Everything that is spoken to the prince could be said without difficulty of an earthly ruler. But in the judgment that is addressed to the one who is styled king of Tyre, it is immediately apparent that a being above and beyond the sphere of human life is in view. Nor should this astonish us. The Lord, on several occasions, addressed Satan indirectly, and we hope to establish that the power behind the earthly ruler of Tyre is Lucifer who became Satan.

... The first statement in this judgment is a recognition of the high position which Satan had occupied in the government of God before his fall.

"Thus saith the Lord God; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty..." (Ezekiel 28:12).

There is evidence to the effect that God created the beings of the spirit world in ranks and orders. Like an army which has privates, non-commissioned officers, field officers, staff officers and a commander-in-chief, the spirit beings seem to be in similar ranks; the angels, the archangels, principalities, powers, the seraphs, the cherubs. Of all these orders of creation, Lucifer was the climax in gifts, power and beauty. So great was his rank and power that even after his fall, Michael, the archangel, one of God's greatest messengers, "dared not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee" (Jude 1:9)"

...

Pgs. 22-24, Excerpts: The next phrase of Scripture concerning the nature of this being : "Thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God..." We know, of course, from the third of Genesis, that Lucifer, in his fallen state, was In the Eden of Adam and Eve, but he was not there in his un-fallen state. The Eden pictured by Ezekiel is not the Eden in which Adam walked, for that Eden was described as a garden of trees and vegetable growth. This Eden in Ezekiel is a place of rare mineral beauty. The statement is this: "Every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold..."

Pgs. 68-69, Excerpts: That these pages (of Genesis) are divinely inspired is a fact which is woven into every part of the writing. One commentator, who has devoted much thought and care to the narrative of the six days, writes of this first chapter: "The orderly manner in which God proceeded, the ease with which He accomplished His work, the excellency of that which was produced, and the simplicity of the narrative, at once impress the reader. Out of the chaos was brought the ‘cosmos,' which signifies order, arrangement, beauty; out of the waters emerged the earth; a scene of desolation, darkness and death was transformed into one of light, life and fertility, so that at the end all was pronounced ‘very good'...

Genesis One is to be regarded not as a poem, still less as an allegory, but as a literal, historical statement of divine revelation ... Marvelously concise is what is to be found here. A single verse suffices to speak of the original creation of the heaven and the earth. Another verse is all that is needed to describe the awful chaos into which the ruined earth was plunged. And less than thirty verses more tell of the six days' work, during which the Lord ‘made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is.' Not all the combined skill of the greatest literary artists, historians, poets, or philosophers this world has ever produced, could design a composition which would begin to equal the first of Genesis." --The Invisible War, by Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse, Zondervan.

Dr. Mark G. Cambron, B.A., M.A., Th.B., Th.M., Th.D., D.D., L.L.D., Litt.D., is one of the foremost theologians of our times. Born in Fayetteville, Tennessee on July 31, 1911. He was born-again in 1919. It was during a Billy Sunday campaign in Chattanooga that he trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Savior.

He was educated in the schools of Chattanooga, attended the University of Chattanooga, Tennessee Temple College and is a graduate of Northwestern Bible School and Northwestern Evangelical Seminary. He was an assistant in the 1940's to W. B. Riley at First Baptist Church of Minneapolis, Minnesota and Northwestern Bible School / Evangelical Seminary. He Pastor in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and in Tennessee. He served for many years at Tennessee Temple College (1948-59) with Dr. Lee Roberson and served as Dean of the College. From 1962 -1977, Dr. Cambron served as Co-Founder, Vice President, President and President/Emeritus of Florida Bible College. Since 1961, Dr. Cambron has been Founder and President of Seaside Mission and is heard weekly and in some areas, daily over the Messiah Broadcast. He serve as it's President for forty years.

Dr. Mark Cambron was a faithful minister of the gospel. For over fifty years he preached, "Come Lord Jesus." On May 24, 2000, The Lord Jesus said, "Mark, Come home, great is your reward."

"Synopsis of The Old Testament, I, GENESIS, Mark G. Cambron, The writer of Genesis is Moses. In fact, Moses wrote 18% of the Bible. He wrote the first five Books called the Pentateuch. Genesis is the Book of Beginnings. The events of Genesis occurred long before Moses ever lived; therefore, we know he was not an eyewitness of these events, but as he talked with God face to face (Exodus 33:11), Moses wrote as he was moved by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21).

Creation (1:1-2:3) A. The Original Creation (1:1)
B. The Fallen Creation (1:2)
C. The Renewed Creation (1:3-2:3)"

Dr. Louis Sperry Chafer, While pastor of C. I. Scofield's former church in Dallas, Texas, Chafer co-founded in 1924 what became known in 1936 as the Dallas Theological Seminary. He served as its president and professor of Systematic Theology until his death in 1952. He was one of the first to say, "Again, repentence, which is included in believing, serves as a synonym for the word belief."

Systematic Theology, by Dr. Louis Sperry Chafer, Volume II, Chapter 5

"SATAN'S CREATION, ORIGINAL ESTATE, AND FALL. These three features of the history of this great angel are so interesting that they can hardly be treated separately. The central passage bearing specifically on these aspects of Satan's career is— Ezekiel 28:11—19. A considerable portion of this immediate context is taken up verse by verse, but in preparation for that undertaking it may be observed that revelation concerning Satan begins with the period between the creation of the heavens and the earth in that perfect form in which they first appeared (Genesis 1:1) and the desolating judgments which ended that period, when the earth became waste and empty. (Genesis 1:2; Isaiah 24:1; Jeremiah 4:23—26)."

Dr. Bruce D. Cummons, Pastor, Dr. Bruce D Cummons (1924-2004) was the founder of Massillon Baptist Temple, Massillon Christian School, and Massillon Baptist College. He graduated from the Bible Baptist Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas with a Bachelor of Divinity degree and an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree. Dr. Cummons began the Massillon Baptist Temple on November 19, 1950, and served as pastor until November 19, 1995, when he retired after forty-five years of ministry.

From: Whole Bible Study Course - Volume 1, Lesson 1, Genesis, Pg. 2, by Dr. Bruce D. Cummons.

"OUTLINE

I. CREATION A. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." (Genesis 1:1)

1. We accept the position that many Bible students take, that some judgment came upon the earth in connection with the fall of Satan between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2. ...b. In other words, Genesis 1:1 gives the creation of heaven and earth. Genesis 1:2 tells of the chaotic judgment that fell upon this creation. Genesis 1:3-27 tells of the six days God used to restore and bring about the present creation as we know it today."

Dr. W. A. Criswell, Ph.D., (1909-2002) B.A. from Baylor University, Th.M., Ph.D. from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He served for fifty years as senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas. Dr. Criswell published fifty-four books and was awarded eight honorary doctorates. The Criswell College, First Baptist Academy, and KCBI Radio were started under his leadership.

He is known as the patriarch of the "conservative resurgence," returning the SBC to its Bible-believing roots. He was twice elected president of the SBC. As founder and chancellor of the Criswell College, Dr. Criswell gave his later years to preparing young preachers to preach the Word of God. He emphasized that a sermon should take God's truth and "make it flame, make it live!"

"PART ONE THE CREATION AND THE FALL

We are going to stand, as it were, on a great and lofty eminence and look over the entire story of human history, from its beginning in the unknown distant ages of the ageless past, unto the vast, incomparable consummation of the ages which are yet to come.

Before time was, God the Spirit—God the Almighty Jehovah God—created his infinite, heavenly hosts. He created them in angelic orders. Some of them he called angels, some of them he called seraphim, some of them called cherubim, and some of them he called arch-angels. These celestial, spiritual, heavenly beings constituted the first great creation of Almighty God in the timeless ages of eternity past. In that host of God's created, angelic beings, living in the heaven of heavens where God lives, there was the glorious covering cherub, the ruling archangel whom God named Lucifer ‘The Son of the Morning." The second creation which God Jehovah made was this: he created the physical universe. Whenever ministers try to spiritualize religion so as to take the material and the physical out of it, they are getting more religious than God. God likes materiality. He created it. God likes corporality. He created it. God likes these planets and rocks and seas and stars. He likes people. He likes food. He created them. He likes living. He created it. The second great creation of God was this material universe in which we live. The Book opens with Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning" --the beginning of God's material creativity, producing this world that we see—"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." When that beginning was, no one can know. Mind cannot extend itself to enter into it. In the beginning of the beginnings God cast these vast universes out into space and placed them under his unchanging, almighty laws. Everything which God made was beautiful and perfect, filled with light and glory and gladness. His creation of the celestial world was beautiful and perfect. His creation of the material world was beautiful and perfect. Every orb was set in its place according to the celestial ableness of Almighty God. Everything was beautiful.

Then sometime in that beginning, in the ages of the ages past, sometime before time was, there came into the heart of Lucifer, the "Son of the Morning," that marvelous covering cherub in the celestial world, what the Bible calls "sin." We read about him in the prophet Ezekiel. He is described like this:

"Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, the topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship...prepared in thee was perfect and beautiful. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I [says the Lord God] have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee...therefore I will cast thee out as profane...Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground...Thou has defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities... therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, mid I will bring thee to ashes" (Ezekiel 28:12—18).

Another passage describing Lucifer, the Son of the Morning, is in Isaiah.

"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou Out clown to the ground ...For thou hast said in thine hurt, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit upon the mount of Ike congregation...I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most high taking God's place. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell" (Isaiah 14:12-15).

Somewhere in the infinite, timeless ages sin born in this covering cherub, this archangel of the Lord God

Almighty, under whose care God had placed the heavenly hosts. When Lucifer fell and when sin was found in him, one-third of the angels of heaven fell also. (Revelation 12:4). And in the fall of Lucifer and his angels, God's created, material world fell apart. Sin always destroys. Sin plows under. Sin wrecks. Sin grinds. Somewhere in the timeless ages of the past, after God had created the heavenly hosts, after God had created the heavens and the earth and after sin was found in Lucifer, God's great universe fell to pieces. The planets, the sun, and the stars became chaotic masses of fire, mist, and water, wracked by searing blasts of wind. God's beautiful world fell into emptiness, into void, into formlessness, into ugliness and darkness.

Then God did a miraculous and marvelous thing. In six days—each day with a morning and an evening— recreated this planet and this universe, the the sun and its planets, and our earth. In six days God recreated it, bringing it out of its formless, empty void, its darkness, and out of its mists and watery grave.

(Many fine Christians, many devout scholars of God's Holy Word, would question a Second Creation, a "gap" between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2—or other attempt to explain the marvelous thing that Jehovah God did before the stirring events in the first chapter of Genesis. If, out of a scrupulous insistence upon correctness of doctrine, you disagree with me at this point, read "Creation" for my "re-Creation" in these pages—and we will settle it in heaven!) The first day God said, "Let the light penetrate the darkness." And God's heavenly, celestial light poured into this earth when it was without form and void, when darkness was upon the face of the deep. As the Spirit of God brooded upon the face of the waters, Suddenly the formless mass was filled with light.

Preacher, how do you know all of those things? From the Bible. It says here in Genesis 1:2 : "And the earth became tohu wa bohu," translated here "without form and void" that is, empty and uninhabitable. I turn to the prophet Isaiah "For thus saith the Lord that bara [create it out of nothing] the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not tohu [formless]" (Isaiah 45:18).

God never made this universe formless, void, empty dark. God made it beautiful and perfect. His material creation was as perfect as was his celestial universe. But sin destroyed it and plunged God's creation into chaos and formless darkness. Isaiah the prophet says that God did not create it in ugliness. Rather, Satan made it so. Sin did it. Iniquity did it. Transgression did it. Now, after Satan's fall, God is recreating his universe. On the first day he pierced it with the glory of God said [by fiat], "Let there be light." On the second day he created the firmament. He separated the waters above from the waters beneath. On the third day he created the seas. He put the waters together and dry land appeared. On the fourth day God made the marvel of the sunset. Why a sunset? A sunset is the most extraneous, useless piece of work imaginable. But God loves things that are beautiful and colorful. So on the fourth day God cleared out the dark mist and took away the darkening clouds and made beautiful sunrise and sunset to open and the day. The moon and the stars then embellish the night. The sun, moon, and stars had been created in the beginning. This is the re-creation of God, when God takes away the chaotic darkness into which this earth was plunged and makes the phenomena which we call sunrise and sunset with visible moon and stars shine and glow. Then on the fifth day he created animal life. All of the species of animals which we see living in the earth, God created in a day. Not in a million, thousand, trillion years, but "by fiat" God created them in a single day by his spoken word. And finally, on the sixth day he created the man and his wife.

"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 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" (Genesis 1:26—28). The Scarlet Thread Through The Bible, W.A. Criswell, Ph.D., D.D., Broadman Press, Nashville, Tennessee.

Arthur C. Custance, Ph.D. Arthur C. Custance was born and educated in England and moved to Canada in 1928. In his second year at the University of Toronto he was converted to faith in Christ. The experience so changed his thinking that he switched courses, obtaining an honors M.A. in Hebrew and Greek. In his 13 years of formal education, he explored many facets of knowledge and was particularly interested in anthropology and origins. He completed his Ph.D. at the University of Ottawa in 1959 while serving as head of the Human Engineering Laboratories of the Defense Research Board in Ottawa (Canada) and was engaged in research work for 15 years. During that time he also wrote and published The Doorway Papers, and in retirement in 1970, he wrote 6 major books. His writings are characterized by a rare combination of scholarly thoroughness and biblical orthodoxy.

"Furthermore, in the Massoretic Text in which the Jewish scholars tried to incorporate enough "indicators" to guide the reader as to correct punctuation there is one small mark which is technically known as Rebhia which is classified as a "disjunctive accent" intended to notify the reader that he should pause before proceeding to the next verse. In short, this mark indicates a "break" in the text. Such a mark appears at the end of Genesis 1:1. This mark has been noted by several scholars... It is one indication among others, that the initial waw which introduces Genesis 1:2 should be rendered "but" rather than "and", a disjunctive rather than a conjunctive. Without Form and Void.

APPENDIX XX, p.98, The Meaning of Exodus 20:11, Without Form and Void.

It is very frequently argued that the wording of Exodus 20:11, "For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested on the seventh day....", excludes the possibility of a gap between Genesis 1:1; Genesis 1:2 because the whole process of creation was completed within these six days.

Those who argue thus assume that the days are literal days - and in this, I think they are quite correct. But it is of tremendous importance in studying the Word of God to observe the precision with which words are used, especially where some important doctrine or institution is involved. What we are told here is that God in six days "made" (asah) the heavens and the earth. It does not say that He created (bara) them in six days.

I have seen it argued that these verbs are interchangeable because they are used sometimes in successive verses with what appears to be identical meaning. For example, in Genesis 1:26 it is written, "And God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness....", and in verse 27, "So God created man in His image, in the image of God created He him". Superficially, the two verbs do appear to be equated here. But as Origen and other early commentators noted, by carefully observing what is said and what is NOT said in these two verses, there is an important lesson to be learned, and the lesson hinges upon the difference in meaning between these two governing verbs, asah and bara.

It is often found that light is shed upon the fun- damental meaning of a word by noting the way in which it is first used in Scripture. The verb asah appears significantly in this respect in Genesis 1:16 : "And God made two great lights...." It seems unlikely that the sun and the moon were not created until the fourth day since green things would hardly be brought into being before the sun was created. The reference in Genesis 1:16 seems more likely to refer not to a creation but rather to the appointment of the sun and moon as rulers of the Day and Night: they were appointed as markers of time ("signs" - Genesis 1:14), precisely as Psalms 104:19 indicates; "He appointed the moon for seasons" If we allow that the basic meaning of the Hebrew verb asah is not creation but rather the giving of a new role to something already in existence, then we have plenty of illustrations throughout Scripture of the use of this verb in this sense. In the New Testament we are told that Jesus was made a High Priest after the order of Melchizedec (Hebrews 6:20). This illustrates the sense in which "made" means "appointed". In 1 Kiomgs 12:51 we have a quite exact parallel where we are told that Jeroboam appointed (asah) priests of the lowest of the people. In Amos 3:6 the question is asked, "Is there evil in any city and God hath not appointed (asah) it?" In the Old Testament where the word asah forms part of a personal name, it is most appropriately rendered by the English "appointed". Thus we have in 2 Samuel 2:18 the name Ahasel, meaning "God has appointed". In 2 Kings 12:14 we have the name Asahiah which means "Jah has appointed". In 1 Chronicles 4:35 we have Asihel, which means "appointed of God".

Isaiah 45:18 is very carefully worded, like all Scripture. It will bear careful examination accordingly. "Thus saith the Lord, that created the heavens. . . ." Here we appear to have the original creative act of Genesis 1:1. "God Himself that fashioned (yatsar) the earth, and appointed it ('asah). He "established it" (16/17.12 kun, i.e., "set it in order," since it had become a confusion), but "He created it not a confusion. He formed it (, yatzar, "fashioned") it to be inhabited. I am the Lord, and there is none else."

Now yatzar really means to give shape to something shapeless, just as God took the dust of the ground and "fashioned" the Man (Genesis 2:7, Hebrew). It seems to imply the same kind of action here; but perhaps it is even more nearly like the action of the potter of whom Jeremiah wrote elsewhere, for this potter was fashioning a vessel, and it was marred in his hands so that he had to remodel it again (Jeremiah 18:1-23). In this incident the word potter is a translation of the present active participle of the verb yatzar."

"The context of Isaiah 45:18 is worth noticing also. In the previous verses the prophet is arguing that although for the time being Israel is in a state of confusion because of their own failure to serve the Lord with a true witness and because of the impending Assyrian conquest -- yet God would still finally bring the nation back to health and fruitfulness. Perhaps he is pointing out that it is not the first time such a state of judgment and confusion has preceded a time of great enlightenment and deliverance. He remarks therefore on how the condition of the earth had at one time been ruinous, because it was under great judgment for reasons not stated; yet he affirms the Lord's original intention that it should be habitable, a thing of beauty and life and vitality. The same Lord who is the Lord would yet restore Israel as He restored a ruined earth.

"In Isaiah 45:19, the phrase in vain occurs once more, the original Hebrew being again the same as in verse 18. Manifestly the appropriate translation here would be, "I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye Me to no purpose." If this alternative were to be applied to Genesis 1:2, the need for some break in the context is even more imperative, for surely God did not create the heavens and the earth to no purpose! Yet unless the hiatus is introduced between Genesis 1:1; Genesis 2:1-25, this is exactly what is implied. And therefore, with no claim to infallibility and certainly in no spirit of unbending dogmatism, we submit that a more exact translation of these verses would be something like this: IN A FORMER STATE GOD PERFECTED THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH. BUT THE EARTH HAD BECOME A RUIN AND A DESOLATION, AND THE DARK- NESS OF JUDGMENT WAS UPON THE FACE OF IT." -- Time and Eternity - Arthur C. Custance, Ph.D.

M.R. DeHaan, M.D., (1891 - 1965, was the son of a cobbler who had emigrated from the Netherlands. He graduated from Hope College in Holland, Michigan, and the University of Illinois College of Medicine. When Dr. DeHaan got the call to preach the Gospel, he gave up his medical practice and completed training at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan.

He pastored two churches in Grand Rapids, and then began large Bible classes; and in 1938, as an outgrowth of one of these classes in Detroit, the Lord led in the expansion of this teaching by means of radio. The Radio Bible Class grew rapidly and was soon on two national networks, later on 600 selected stations around the world. During those years he spoke at many Bible conferences and wrote 25 books and numerous booklets, as well asediting and publising a monthly devotional guide, "Our Daily Bread." Dr. DeHaan died on December 13, 1965, having sustained serious injuries in an automobile collision in July.

God's New Creatures, M.R. DeHaan, M.D., Grand Rapids, MI, Pgs 1-5. A PEREECT CREATION. Now this original creation of God described in the first verse of the Bible was a PERFECT creation. Everything that God made was VERY GOOD. The very structure of the verse has the stamp of perfection written in it. Someone has pointed out that in the original Hebrew the first verse of Genesis contains just SEVEN words, composed of TWENTY-EIGHT letters. Now seven is the number of Divine perfection and FOUR is,. the number of the Earth just as one is the number of Divine Sovereignty and three is the number of Divine Completeness. Now the first verse of seven words and twenty-eight letters speaks of God's perfect work (seven) with the earth (four) and together make twenty-eight (seven times four). This one verse then describes the perfect creation of God as it came from His hand, probably millions, if not billions of years ago. A GREAT CATASTROPHE. But something terrible happened between the first and the second verse of Genesis 1:1-31. For in Genesis 1:2, we read, "And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep."

It has been pointed out that the words "was without form" should be translated "BECAME without form and void." It was not thus in the beginning. God never made anything waste or void. That is ever the result of sin. We read in Isaiah 45:18

"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." This refers to the original creation as recorded in the first verse of Genesis 1:1-31. But the second verse records the earth as it was AFTER something had happened to plunge the earth in darkness and make it waste and void. Now there is only one thing that could bring the earth under the curse and that one thing is sin. So somewhere between the first two verses of Genesis, Sin entered with its' resultant curse and the description of verse two. This sin could have had but one source. God could not sin. Man was not yet created and the only other creatures existent before the present creation were the angels. And it was the rebellion of these angels under the leadership of Lucifer, the Shining one, an archangel of great power and beauty, that a rebellion took place against God and Lucifer fell, his angels became demons and the earth was placed under the curse. We have the record of this fall graphically given in Isaiah 14:12.

"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: (14) I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. (15) Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit...That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners? Isaiah 14:12-17

There is every evidence of a pre-historic creation on this earth. Geologic examinations of the earth's surface reveals that in the dim distant past there flourished on this earth a vegetation of unusual luxuriance, and prehistoric animals of gigantic size and distinctly separate and distinct in character from anything we know now. We find fossils of these pre- historic animals which lived millions of years ago. In our coal deposits we find the evidence of immense tropical growth. Oil is known to be the result of decomposed animal and vegetable oil dating back millions of years so that the slogan of one oil company "mellowed ninety-nine million years" may not be far amiss. All scientific evidence points to this pre-historic period, with its primitive animal life vegetation and spirit civilization. Not many years ago these findings were rejected by orthodox theologians until it was pointed out that the first and second verses of Genesis 1:1-31 do not describe the same period. In Genesis 1:1 we have the creation as it came from the hand of God. Perfect and, abounding in a beautiful and gorgeous as well as gigantic creation of animals and vegetation. On this pre-historic earth Satan was placed and his abode was "EDEN" according to Ezekiel 28:13,

"Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering. . . in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee." That is the record God gives of Satan. God placed him in Eden, the pre-historic Eden which geology has now uncovered: Then he sinned and fell. He was banished from the earth and cast out of heaven and consigned to the atmosphere between heaven and earth and thus has become the "prince of the power of the air." He has access to heaven under limitations and also to the earth but his abode is the "Atmosphere above the earth." THE EARTH CURSED. As a result of his fall after his dominion on the prehistoric earth (we do not know how long he dwelt here) God cast him out and cursed the earth and we find it as it became in verse 2 of Genesis 1:1-31, "Without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep."

How long the earth lay thus without form and void and under darkness we do not know. It may well be countless millions of years while the coal and oil deposits slowly formed. A study of the earth's crust reveals the various strata which tell of a great cataclysmic convolution of the earth in the dateless past. So you see again, that the Bible record and the findings of true science always agree. Study that second verse of Genesis 1:1-31 carefully and you will detect in this brief statement, a picture of an awful curse. It was without form, that is it had no purpose. It was void which means waste and useless. It was in darkness. That means that God had withdrawn Himself, for God is light and where darkness is, it indicates the absence of God. It was covered by Water even as science tells us the earth was at one time. THE GREAT ICE AGE. Here in this verse too is the reference to the great ice age of which science tells. Science informs us that once the whole earth was covered with a great glacier or sheet of ice, which moved steadily down, gouging out the oceans and valleys and piling up the great mountains. Well, the Bible throws light on this assertion. In Genesis 1:1 there is no mention of seas. But in Genesis 1:2 it tells us that the earth was covered with water: This water was frozen water and, therefore, ice. Since there was no light and the sun had not yet again been set for a light of the day there was no heat. Hence the waters in Genesis 1:2 MUST have been frozen and the Bible again shows that what science now claims was already revealed in the opening statement of Genesis. Under this darkness and this curse the earth lay for an undetermined period of time. And then God began a NEW CREATION. THE RECREATION. After this period of darkness and icy death God begins to work. Notice it was not the earth that began to awaken and by residential forces come to life. It did not begin to evolve, out of its frozen state but it began with God, for we read, "And the Spirit of God moved (brooded) upon the face of the waters." The Spirit of God who is LIGHT and WARMTH began to brood upon the icy wastes. The word "moved" means "to brood," like a bird upon its eggs. It means to impart warmth. The ice began to melt. How long this brooding period lasted is again immaterial but after a longer or shorter period God spoke the word and the darkness disappeared and LIGHT CAME. God was again in His creation. The one great requisite for life, LIGHT, was again present. This was the first day of the NEW creation. Then follow the other six days in their logical order as God rehabilitates the earth and makes it ready for the occupation of another order of beings to be created in the very image of God. ...."

Alfred Edersheim. (1825-1889) was born in Vienna to Jewish parents. He was well educated in the Talmudic traditions of his parent's faith. After conversion to Christianity he became a minister and then eventually a Church of England Vicar. This position as both a Jewish and Christian scholar made him an authority on Biblical subjects. He also had an extensive knowledge of the Judean/Roman culture of the first century. He wrote extensively and authored many books, two of his most popular are: The Temple: It's Ministry And Services, Bible History: Old Testament. He was also well studied and fluent in Hebrew. In his book Bible History: Old Testament, which is a 7 volume set he states the following in Volume 1:

" Then, in the second verse, we find earth described as it was at the close of the last great revolution, preceding the present state of things: "And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep." An almost indefinite space of time, and many changes, may therefore have intervened between the creation of heaven and earth, as mentioned in ver. 1, and the chaotic state of our earth, as described in ver. 2. As for the exact date of the first creation, it may be safely affirmed that we have not yet the knowledge sufficient to arrive at any really trustworthy conclusion. "

Dr. Harry Allen Ironside, (1876-1951) was an American Bible teacher, pastor, and author. Authored more than 60 volumes as well as many pamphlets and articles on Bible subjects. For 18 of his 50 years of ministry, he was pastor of the Moody Memorial Church in Chicago. He is buried in Purewa Cemetery, Auckland, New Zealand.

"Genesis, The Book of Beginnings. The seed plot of the Bible. Every doctrine afterward unfolded found in germ in this Book. Tells of Generation, Degeneration, and Regeneration. Note: Creation is distinguished from making. Creation is threefold. God created— matter v. i, life (soul) v. 20, 21, man (spirit) v. 27. No way to pass from one to the other.

1:1 The original creation—which was perfect but fell into chaos. -Dr. Ironside's Bible, Plymouthbrethren.org Isaiah 45:18 The earth not created a waste—bohu—void—in vain—See Genesis 1:1-2." --Notes On Isaiah.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

"Genesis 1:1-2. THE CREATION OF HEAVEN AND EARTH
Genesis 1:1. In the beginning -- a period of remote and unknown antiquity, hid in the depths of eternal ages; and so the phrase is used in Proverbs 8:22-23.

God -- the name of the Supreme Being, signifying in Hebrew, "Strong," "Mighty." It is expressive of omnipotent power; and by its use here in the plural form, is obscurely taught at the opening of the Bible, a doctrine clearly revealed in other parts of it, namely, that though God is one, there is a plurality of persons in the Godhead -- Father, Son, and Spirit, who were engaged in the creative work (Proverbs 8:27; John 1:3; John 1:10; Ephesians 3:9; Hebrews 1:2; Job 26:13). created -- not formed from any pre-existing materials, but made out of nothing. the heaven and the earth -- the universe. This first verse is a general introduction to the inspired volume, declaring the great and important truth that all things had a beginning; that nothing throughout the wide extent of nature existed from eternity, originated by chance, or from the skill of any inferior agent; but that the whole universe was produced by the creative power of God (Acts 17:24 Romans 11:36). After this preface, the narrative is confined to the earth.

Genesis 2:2. the earth was without form and void -- or in "confusion and emptiness," as the words are rendered in Isaiah 34:11. This globe, at some undescribed period, having been convulsed and broken up, was a dark and watery waste for ages perhaps, till out of this chaotic state, the present fabric of the world was made to arise. the Spirit of God moved -- literally, continued brooding over it, as a fowl does, when hatching eggs. The immediate agency of the Spirit, by working on the dead and discordant elements, combined, arranged, and ripened them into a state adapted for being the scene of a new creation. The account of this new creation properly begins at the end of this second verse; and the details of the process are described in the natural way an onlooker would have done, who beheld the changes that successively took place."

Dr. Henry Lindstrom, Bibleline Ministries, Former Pastor of Calvary Community Church, Tampa, Florida, for 40 years, graduated to Glory in 2009. He has a 5-Year degree from the University of Florida, Gainesville, in the Electrical Engineering program. Dr. Lindstrom then entered Biblical Studies at Florida Bible College in Miami.

Dr. Lindstrom founded Bible Study clubs in many high schools in Hillsborough county, directed the Tampa Youth Ranch Bible Studies attended by hundreds of high school students. Dr. Lindstrom was heard for 20 years on the Time/Warner Access channel in Hillsborough County and heard on Christian radio for 20 years in the Tampa Bay area. He served as a Bible instructor with the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago. Calvary Community Church was an extension location offering Bible courses for credit with the Moody Bible Institute. He was on the Moody Bible Institute faculty for eleven years.

"As to the creation of the earth God does not set a date. God says, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth (Genesis 1:1)." This could have been billions of years ago, sometime in the dateless past. In fact, nothing in the Biblical record contradicts known fact. On the contrary, the Bible record gives us an amazing account of how the earth came into being and it's future destiny.

First of all, the earth was created in the dateless, countless past, then later judged and became void and without form. The seven days in Genesis chapter one were really a recreation of the earth and God making it inhabitable again. In type this is a beautiful picture of the new birth, a new creation where once was all chaos and ruin.

It is clear from Scripture that the earth was not void when originally created as seen by Isaiah 45:18. Notice, "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, (translated "void" in Genesis 1:2), he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else."

Contrary to popular thought, Satan lived on the earth and not in heaven. Lucifer (Satan's name before the fall) was ruling over the original earth. All of God's angels were living on the original earth. In Isaiah chapter 14 we have the five "I wills" of Satan. This passage reveals that when Satan fell he was ruler here on the earth. Satan said, "I will ascend into heaven." He was obviously not in heaven. Satan said, "I will exalt my throne above the stars of God." He was a ruler and was below the stars on the earth. Satan said, "I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the side of the North." The Bible hints that heaven is in the North and Satan wanted to go there. Satan said, "I will ascend above the heights of the clouds." Satan was below the clouds on the earth. Also, 2 Corinthians 4:4 identifies Satan as the "God of this world."

God judged the earth (Genesis 1:2) when Lucifer took one-third of God's angels in a rebellion against God. The earth was flooded and submerged with water and was in darkness. Scientists tell us that if our sun's light were cut off from the earth for as little as 72 hours that our earth would quickly become frozen. Perhaps this would explain the ice ages. Perhaps this might explain the mammoths found quick frozen in Siberian earth with undigested vegetation still in their stomachs. Petroleum is the fossilized remains of animal life. Coal is the fossilized remains of plant life. Was this from the original earth? Perhaps many fossils are from the animal life from the original earth created prior to Adam & Eve." Bibleline.org Archive, The Earth - How Old?

Dr. Robert D. Luginbill, Professor, Department of Classical and Modern Languages, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40292 "I. Linguistic Evidence for the Genesis Gap: A second problem with taking Genesis 1:1 as a summary of what follows rather than an event in its own right is to be found in the grammatical connection between verses one and two. Following the description of God's ex nihilo creation of heaven and earth in verse one, we have, in the Hebrew, a disjunctive construction at the beginning of verse two. The combination of the connective waw and a nominal form (as opposed to a finite verb) indicates strong contrast in the Hebrew. That is to say, what we have beginning verse two is a "but", not an "and". Grammatically speaking then, we are on much firmer ground in translating "but the earth ...", rather than "and the earth ..." (KJV). This rendering to which the actual language of the verse points so insistently (despite all speculation to the contrary) has produced mere head-scratching for those who hold to the summary interpretation. But for those who are willing to follow where the Word of God actually leads, it is an unmistakable sign post, one which points inescapably to a definite gap between the Bible's two initial verses, a hiatus in the action which demands attention and invites investigation. Clearly, something dramatic must have transpired to account for this stark contrast between verses one and two. The Genesis Gap, therefore, is unmistakably present in the original Hebrew, representing a clear interruption in the narrative between God's original, perfect creation of the world, and His subsequent re-creation of a world ruined by Satan's revolt:" --The Satanic Rebellion: Background to the Tribulation, Part 2, The Genesis Gap (Available on-line at www.ichthys.com) by Dr. Robert D. Luginbill

J. Vernon McGee, A.B.,B.D., Th.M., Th.D., Dr. McGee has served many years as pastor, teacher, lecturer and author. Was a visiting Bible lecturer at Dallas Theological Seminary, Head of English Bible Department of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles. He served for many years at the Church of The Open Door.

"My friend, it is very interesting that God has put down these great principles in the first two verses of Genesis. How important it is for us to see that. 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 [Genesis 1:2].

...I believe that a great catastrophe took place between verses 1 and 2. As far as I can see, there is an abundance of evidence for it. To begin with, look out upon this vast creation—something has happened to it! Man's trip to the moon reveals nothing in the world but a wasteland up there. How did it get that way? May I say that there came a catastrophe in God's universe. This is specifically mentioned in regard to the earth because this is to be the place where man lives, and so the earth is described as being "without form and void."

"Darkness was upon the face of the deep" indicates the absence of God, of course.

"Without form, and void" is a very interesting expression. "Without form" is the Hebrew word tohu, meaning a ruin, vacancy; "void" is the Hebrew word bohu, meaning emptiness. Notice this statement in the prophecy of Isaiah: 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: I am the LORD; and there is none else [Isaiah 45:18].

Here God says that He did not create the earth "in vain," and the Hebrew word is tohu, which is the same word we found in Genesis 1:2. God did not create the earth without form and void. God created this universe a cosmos, not a chaos. This is the thing which Isaiah is attempting to make clear. He created it not tohu va bohu, but the earth became tohu va bohu. God formed the earth to be inhabited, and it was God who came to this wreck and made it a habitable place for mankind." Genesis, Volume I, J. Vernon McGee, Thru The Bible Books, Pasadena, CA, Pgs. 63,64.

Dr. G. Campbell Morgan. Morgan worked with Moody and Sankey in their evangelistic tour of Great Britain in 1883. His reputation as preacher and Bible expositor soon encompassed England and spread to the United States. In 1896, D.L. Moody invited him to give a lecture to the students at the Moody Bible Institute. This was the first of his 54 crossings of the Atlantic to minister the Word. After the death of Moody in 1899, Morgan assumed the position of director of the Northfield Bible Conference. The many thousands of converts from the ministry of Moody needed a teacher of the Bible to strengthen and deepen their faith. G. Campbell Morgan became that teacher.

(1904-1917) Pastorate at Westminster Chapel, London, In 1840, the area where Westminster Chapel now stands was relatively undeveloped. It was an unhealthy poverty stricken slum - perhaps the worst in England. Since that time the area has improved considerably and historic attractions such as Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey bring millions of tourists to the area each year.

"Genesis 1:1-31 : The opening sentence of the Book of Genesis is an interpretation of the fact "that what is seen hath not been made out of things which do appear" (Hebrews 11:3), and accounts for the things which are seen."... "This sentence is followed immediately by a declaration, without detail, of a cataclysm which overtook the earth. It then proceeds to show how God created, restored the earth to fruitfulness and order. God is here revealed in the threefold fact of His existence. The chaotic earth is seen in the embrace of the Spirit, who is described as brooding over it." ..."The purpose of this restoring process is seen in the creation of an entirely new being, Man." -- An Exposition of The Whole Bible, Fleming H. Revell.

Arthur W. Pink, was born in Nottingham, England, and died in Sternway, Scotland, in 1951. His wide-spread ministry included pastorates in Australia and the United States. He originated "Studies in the Scriptures," a monthly magazine concerned solely with the exposition of Scripture. He was the author of many excellent books. One of these being "Gleaning in Genesis." This work was copyrighted in 1922 by the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago.

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth," and we cannot but believe that these creations were worthy of Himself, that they reflected the perfections of their Maker, that they were exceedingly fair in their pristine beauty. Certainly, the earth, on the morning of its creation, must have been vastly different from its chaotic state as described in Genesis 1:2. "And the earth was without form and void" must refer to a condition of the earth much later than what is before us in the preceding verse. It is now over a hundred years ago since Dr. Chalmers called attention to the fact that the word "was" in Genesis 1:2 should be translated "became," and that between the first two verses of Genesis 1:1-31 some terrible catastrophe must have intervened. That this catastrophe may have been connected with the apostasy of Satan, seems more than likely; that some catastrophe did occur is certain from Isaiah 45:18, which expressly declares that the earth was not created in the condition in which Genesis 1:2 views it.

What is found in the remainder of Genesis 1:1-31 refers not to the primitive creation but to the restoration of that which had fallen into ruins. Genesis 1:1 speaks of the original creation; Genesis 1:2 describes the then condition of the earth six days before Adam was called into existence. To what remote point in time Genesis 1:1 conducts us, or as to how long an interval passed before the earth "became" a ruin, we have no means of knowing; but if the surmises of geologists could be conclusively established there would be no conflict at all between the findings of science and the teaching of Scripture. The unknown interval between the first two verses of Genesis 1:1-31, is wide enough to embrace all the prehistoric ages which may have elapsed; but all that took place from Genesis 1:3 onwards transpired less than six thousand years ago. -- Gleanings In Genesis, Arthur W. Pink, Moody Press, Pgs. 10,11.

Dr. David F. Reagan, (former pastor, now deceased) of Trinity Baptist Temple, Knoxville, TN, now known as Antioch Baptist Church. He received a Bachelor's Degree, a Master's Degree and, a Doctor of Theology Degree from Trinity Baptist College & Seminary. Is the author of many books, this one recommended by the Dean Burgon Society, The King James Version of 1611 the Myth of Early Revisions.

‘The purpose of this writing is to ask those of you who hold the Bible in high regard to give one more look at the gap between Genesis 1:1; Genesis 1:2. However, let me mention some things that I am not trying to do."

"I am not using this teaching in order to accommodate modern science. I believe that all true science can be accounted for with the six-day creation approximately 6,000 years ago. I believe the Bible teaches that only God's heavenly abode and the earth survived the original destruction and re-creation. It also describes an earth that was so destroyed that probably nothing remains of the original surface."

"This writing will claim that Genesis 1:1 records the original creation of the earth and that Genesis 1:2 describes the results of the destruction of this earth. In this approach, the six-day creation is actually a second creation of the earth—although it is the beginning of the universe as we know it."

"Here are some reasons we should study and seek to understand this doctrine.

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16). That, in a sense, says it all. If God talked about it, it is important. If He wrote it, it has profit for us." In Isaiah 14:12-15, where Satan's original rebellion against God is recorded, the devil desired to exalt his throne above the stars of God (v.13). In order to exalt his throne, he had to have a throne. A throne indicates a place of rule and dominion as well as a kingdom to rule over. Yet, this kingdom which was ruled by Satan before the fall was below the stars of God and below the heights of the clouds. What is left? The earth is left. Satan had a throne on the earth before he rebelled against God. This would explain how he got his claim to earth. The earth before Genesis 1:2 was Lucifer's original domain. It was his original commission from God.

Satan's Character From the Beginning "The devil was "a murderer from the beginning" (John 8:44) and he "sinneth from the beginning" (1 John 3:8). To what beginning does this refer? It must refer to the beginning of the six-day creation. Nothing else makes sense."

"However, if there is no gap and the devil was created on the first day of the six days of creation, he must have been created as a sinner and a murderer—since he was these things from the beginning. But this is impossible for two reasons.

First, this interpretation would make God the author of sin.

Second, the Bible clearly states that the devil was perfect from his creation and that iniquity was not found in him until a later date (see Ezekiel 28:15).

He was perfect at the time of his own creation, but was a murderer and sinner at the time of the beginning or creation as we experience it. Therefore, the devil had to fall in sin somewhere between the time of his creation and the beginning of the world as found in the first chapter of Genesis. Only the gap provides a time for this. There is no other option."

Comments excerpted from Dr. Reagan's article, "Gap Theory of Genesis Creation, A Study of Genesis 1:1-2, Learn The Bible.org Erich Sauer, Director of the Bible School, Wiedenest, Rhineland, Germany

"Before the foundation of the earth-world God had created the angels and the stars. Therefore He says to insignificant man: "Where wast thou when I founded the earth? . . . Who has laid its corner stone, when the morning stars shouted for joy all together and all God's sons exulted?"(Job 38:4; Job 38:7; comp. 1: 6; 2:1)."

"ii. The Fall of Satan. There must therefore have arrived in the prehistoric eternity a moment when this world-prince of God renounced his allegiance to the Most High, and thereby changed from a "Lucifer," a "Lightbearer" of the Divine glory, into an "Adversary" of God and a "slanderer" of His saints. iii. The First Sin and the Condition of the World. But with the fall of Satan there must have been associated the ruin of the region over which he ruled, as is evidenced by the organic connection between spirit and nature, and by the later and resembling fall of man, though this last to a smaller extent (Genesis 3:18). World and earth catastrophes occurred as counter workings of the righteousness of God against this cosmic revolt. The creation was subjected to vanity (Romans 8:20-21).

All details are hidden from our knowledge. Only this is certain, that death and destruction in the world of plants and animals raged on the earth for unthinkable periods long before the race of man. This is proved very clearly by the geological strata and the stages of the development of the prehistoric animal world. The strata of the earth beneath us are simply "a huge cemetery that is enclosed in its stony held." Indeed many rapacious beasts of the prehistoric time were terrible monsters with the most voracious and deadly power of destruction. In this manner also the Tubingen paleontologist Freiherr von Heune connects the fact of death in the pre-Adamic creation with the fall of Satan as the God appointed "prince of this world."-- Dawn of Redemption by Erich Sauer, A Survey of the History of Salvation in the Old Testament.

Dr. C.I. Scofield, author of the notes of the monumental work, the Scofield Study Bible, and many other books.

"Comments on Genesis 1:2 by Dr. C.I. Scofield, author of the notes of the monumental work, the Scofield Study Bible say, "Jeremiah 4:23-26, Isaiah 24:1; Isaiah 45:18, clearly indicate that the earth had undergone a cataclysmic change as the result of divine judgment. The face of the earth bears everywhere the marks of such a catastrophe. There are not wanting intimations which connect it with a previous testing and fall of angels. See Ezekiel 28:12-15 and Isaiah 14:9-14, which certainly go beyond the kings of the Tyre and Babylon." (Scofield Study Bible, page 3, footnote 3).

Dr. Richard A. Seymour, D.D. "Dick" was saved in June, 1953. Six months later he entered Bible college to begin his lifetime study of God's Word firsthand. Over the years Dick has served on the Board of Trustees of two Bible colleges. He has also been a full-time professor of Bible and Theology, and served at various times as Registrar, Dean of Men, Academic Dean, Dean of the College, and President.

He founded Soul Winning Seminars, publishing the "Soul Winner's Digest." He began hitting the road (and airways) every weekend and in the summers crossing the country conducting seminars and proclaiming God's precious Word in churches and conferences. He served two pastorates, returning to the Bible college ministry in 1988 where he taught and served in various administrative capacities until July, 1996. What is now Clarity Ministries International was previously known simply as Clarity. "We write, publish, and distribute literature and tapes, sharing the Gospel of Christ. We conduct single meetings, camps and conferences, seminars, classes, training sessions, all to one end: to get every person back into the Word of God where all the answers to all of our most basic and deepest questions are found."

"...In view of the above (Isaiah 14:12-14) it is not difficult to see the necessity of God bringing judgment upon that which he, Lucifer, had been over, and very obviously his responsibilities were over the original earth of Genesis 1:1. Thus we have the chaos of verse 2. -- SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY by Dr. Richard Seymour, D.D. Section on ANGELOLOGY...

...SECTION ON THEOLOGY PROPER, Pg. 38.

5. The Execution of the Decrees: a. Creation:

Hebrew word "bara" or "baw-raw" means - "to make something out of nothing". (Genesis 1:1; Genesis 1:21; Genesis 1:26-27)

(2) Hebrew word "asah" or "aw-saw" means, " to make something out of materials already in existence." (Genesis 1:7; Genesis 1:16; Genesis 1:25-26; Genesis 1:31)"

Dr. A. Ray Stanford, the man who taught me all I know about soul-winning.

"Genesis 1:1 says "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." THERE IS A TIME LAPSE, A GAP, between the events in Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2. There could be millions of years between the two verses. No one knows for how many years the earth was laid waste.

Genesis 1:2, in the King James Version, reads, "And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep..."

"The word "was" should properly be translated "became,..."

"We do know from Isaiah 45:18 that God did not create the earth in a state of waste to begin with. "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...."

We know that after the fall of Satan God judged the earth, and at that time the earth became ruined. God made it desolate after previous life." In the time of Genesis 1:1, and before the time of Genesis 1:2, any of the true historical ages and the true ancient fossils would fit. The Bible does NOT say that the earth is only 6,000 years old. The Bible does not date the original creation spoken of in Genesis 1:1." -- The Handbook of Personal Evangelism, by Dr. A. Ray Stanford. (Now available at no charge for download to your Bible Explorer program from www.wordsearchbible.com).

Louis T. Talbot, D.D., (1889-1976) Pastor, Church of the Open Door, President, Bible Institute of Los Angeles, Chancellor of Biola College and Talbot Theological Seminary.

"The Original Creation. Genesis 1:1-2 gives us the only account of the creation found in the Word of God. "In the beginning. . ." When was the beginning? How far back into the past does that statement take us? Please note that there is no reference here in this opening verse of Genesis to the six days' work. That comes later, as we shall see. Many people imagine the Bible teaches that the earth was created in six solar days, but nowhere does the Bible say so.

Some time ago I was called to see a college girl regarding spiritual things. She told me she could not believe the Bible for various reasons, one of which was that she could not believe the world was created in six days. ‘When I told her that the Bible made no such statement, she had difficulty in believing me. The Bible does say that in six days the Lord "made" heaven and earth, but there is a difference between the words made and created. "To create" is to bring into existence out of nothing. "To make" is to take pre-existing matter and change its form. The latter is what the Lord did in six days.

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." Let me ask again: How far back does that take us? A British association for scientific research says the earth is one-hundred million years old. There is nothing in the Scripture to gainsay that contention. "In the beginning" will go back as far as any scientist desires to take us.

Chaos. How beautiful this earth must have been "in the beginning"! Before sin entered to mar and destroy, how beautiful it must have been! But proceeding further, we read:" And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep" (Genesis 1:2). The word "was" is translated in other parts of Scripture "became," and may read: "The earth became without form, and void." This is the thought implied, as we learn from Isaiah 45:18 : "For thus said 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 (or void), he formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord, and there is none else."

God created the earth not in vain, or void. If He created it not in vain, or waste, or void, then the original creation must have became so by some catastrophe. What was that catastrophe? The Scripture is not silent regarding it. In Ezekiel 28:12-19 we have a description of Lucifer, who, through his fall, became Satan. Among other things said about him is this: "Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God: thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou west created, till iniquity was found in thee . . . Thou hast sinned . . . Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee." (See Ezekiel 21:1-32; Ezekiel 12:1-28; Ezekiel 13:1-23; Ezekiel 14:1-23; Ezekiel 15:1-8; Ezekiel 16:1-63; Ezekiel 17:1-24; Ezekiel 18:1-32; Ezekiel 19:1-14.) The description here is entirely different from that of the Eden in which Adam and Eve were placed. This is evidently a description of the original creation—and Lucifer was in at Eden before his fall.

Isaiah 14:12-17 tells of Lucifer's fall. It tells us how he said in his heart: "I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the Mount of the congregation in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most high" (verses 13, 14). Most likely Lucifer was at the head of the original creation when he made this utterance. Because of this sin he fell; and to his fall the Lord Jesus referred when He said in Luke 10:18 : "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven." God cast him out. He became Satan. And just as this earth was affected later when Adam fell, so also the earth became waste and void at the fall of Lucifer. As already inferred, we have reason to believe from Ezekiel 28:1-26 and Isaiah 14:1-32, that God had made Lucifer the head of the original creation; and that his fall and degradation brought about the catastrophe that caused the original creation to become waste and void.

Renovation. How long the earth remained in this chaotic state, we do not know—many years perhaps—possibly millions of years. But the chaotic earth was not forsaken by God; for we read that "the Spirit of God moved (or brooded) upon the face of the waters" (Genesis 1:2). From verse 4 to the close of chapter one we have the account of the renovation, in which God made the earth—reformed it, refashioned it, and placed man upon it. The order of this re- formation is plainly stated: (1) light; (2) firmament; (3) earth and seas; (4) sun, moon, and stars; (5) aquatic creatures and fowl; (6) cattle, creeping things, beasts, and man. This is the only, scriptural interpretation of these opening chapters of the Word of God; and it is not contrary to the laws of science. God is the God of science and law and order. And His Word will bear the lens of science and research!

Very clearly the Scriptures teach that God renovated a chaotic earth; and having brought order out of chaos, : created a new being—man—and gave him dominion over the renovated earth. It was this authority given unto man that evidently stirred Satan's jealousy; for it was man who supplanted him in the dominion he had held over the earth before his fall." -- God's Plan of the Ages, by Louis T. Talbot, D.D., Pgs. 11-15

Dr. Warren W. Wiersbe. He has been a noted Bible expositor for many years. He has pastored three churches; including the great Calvary Baptist Church in Covington, KY, and the famous Moody Bible Church in Chicago, IL. He has served as General Director and Bible Teacher of "Back to the Bible," headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska. He is Writer-in- Residence" at Cornerstone College in Grand Rapids, MI, and Distinguished Professor of Preaching in Grand Rapids Baptist Seminary. He is the respected author of many, many books, too numerous to mention. Here are his comments concerning the gap of time principle between Genesis 1:1-2 :

"It is held by many students that the original creation of the universe (Genesis 1:1) was followed by the fall of Satan (Isaiah 14:12 ff) and the ruin of God's handiwork. It is possible that there is a "gap" between 1:1 and 1:2; so that we may read Vs. 2, "And the earth became without form and void…" Isaiah 45:18 states that God did not create the earth "in vain" (Hebrew "without form") so that the chaotic condition of the earth must have been caused by judgment. Ezekiel 28:11-19 suggests that Lucifer, the highest of God's created beings in this original creation, wanted to take the place of God; and this brought about the judgment. We find Satan already at work in Genesis 3:1-24, so that his fall had to take place earlier. This means that the creative activities of Genesis 1:1-31 are really a restoration of the ruined universe." (Whole Bible Study Course, Originated by D.B. Eastep, Outline and Comments by Warren W. Wiersbe, Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church, Covington, KY.)

We ask that those reading this book compare the qualifications of these men to the biblical qualifications of Ken Ham, founder of Answers In Genesis, and other young earth advocates.