When the question arises about whether God created the world in six days about 6000 years ago, the context is often overlooked by two types of people.
The first group assume that the Bible dates the beginning of the world to about six thousand years ago which is not quite the case. The second group assume that the Bible claims that the first human civilization began with the creation of Adam and Eve.
Both assumptions, like most guesses, are wrong. But let’s start at the Bible to square off what it says from what it doesn’t. In the first verse of the book of Genesis, we are told about a beginning with no mention of a timeline or history.
Genesis 1:1 says,
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
What is known from this verse is that God pre-existed the beginning, and that this beginning had no determinate point in time. The other thing we learn is the existence of a heaven and an earth, which to the curious, could mean, anywhere from the spiritual abode of God and this habitation of living things where we are to just the sky and the land or water beneath the sky. However comfortable you are with defining heaven and earth is fine.
In the second verse, we find some new information that suggests something else.
Genesis 1:2 says,
“The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”
Notice, the earth that God created was now without form and darkness covered it. What is not explicit about this information is the timeline between the earth’s creation and its new state of formlessness.
Now, if you have followed any of my previous posts, you’d realize that I follow the sola scriptura principle, which is that no scripture can be interpreted privately (according to 1 Peter 1:20-21). In other words, the scriptures can only be interpreted by the scriptures with the help of the Holy Spirit. And as an aside, the Holy Spirit is a Spirit that the Bible identifies as the centre of all executive function regarding creation.
That said, Jeremiah 4::22-28 gives a very important perspective about the earth being “without form, and void” that is noteworthy.
It reads,
“My people are fools; they do not know me. They are senseless children; they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil; they know not how to do good. I looked at the earth, and it was formless and empty; and at the heavens, and their light was gone. I looked at the mountains, and they were quaking; all the hills were swaying. I looked, and there were no people; every bird in the sky had flown away. I looked, and the fruitful land was a desert; all its towns lay in ruins before the Lord, before his fierce anger. This is what the Lord says: The whole land will be ruined, though I will not destroy it completely. Therefore the earth will mourn and the heavens above grow dark, because I have spoken and will not relent, I have decided and will not turn back.”
Here the Prophet, speaking by the Spirit of God, talks about an event in time that suggests a mass extinction of a civilization. Could this have been the Chicxulub impact hypothesis that ushered the last Ice Age? The Bible supports the plausibility. And just so you know, the Chicxulub impact hypothesis suggests that a massive asteroid, about 10–15 km (6–9 miles) in diameter, struck what is now the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico around 66 million years ago. This event triggered the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) mass extinction, which wiped out about 75% of all species, including non-avian dinosaurs.
Now, there are four things to note. First, the Bible captures an event in which one third of all the heavenly beings stage a coup and are specifically cast unto the earth.
Revelations 12:7-9 says,
“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.”
Now, the Bible sometimes refers to angels as stars or sons, and in Revelations 12:3-4, the Bible says, “And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth…” Applying our principle of sola scriptura, we know that stars refer to angels because in Isaiah 14: 12-18, we see the outcome of the failed coup in Heaven:
“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. “Those who see you will gaze at you, And consider you, saying: ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, Who shook kingdoms, Who made the world as a wilderness And destroyed its cities, Who did not open the house of his prisoners?”
The second thing to note is the Bible describes the bodies of angels as composed of the same things that might be found in asteroids. We know this because after the infamous coup, the devil was judged and part of this judgment might be found in Ezekiel 28: 13-19:
“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, I laid you before kings, That they might gaze at you. You defiled your sanctuaries By the multitude of your iniquities, By the iniquity of your trading; Therefore I brought fire from your midst; It devoured you, And I turned you to ashes upon the earth In the sight of all who saw you. All who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you; You have become a horror, And shall be no more forever.”
About 8% of asteroids have the same composition as the fallen angel described here.
Next, the Bible supports the idea that there were many man-like species before the current iteration of Homo sapiens. Going back to the point in time just before the earth became void and without form in Jeremiah 4:22 & 26, we see that there were people, they farmed and lived in cities. Yes!
Jeremiah 4:22 & 26 says,
“For My people are foolish, They have not known Me. They are silly children, And they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, But to do good they have no knowledge…I beheld, and indeed the fruitful land was a wilderness, And all its cities were broken down At the presence of the LORD, By His fierce anger.“
How can we know for certain? Again, the answer is in the textual analysis of the Creation Story. In the Creation Story, which is actually a story of God repairing what was there in the beginning and making a few upgrades, we find that He already had a name for things like ‘light’ and ‘water’. So He didn’t give light a name. He just said, “Let there be light” and “Let the water be divided into two firmaments.” However, the derivatives of light and water from this repair story were, things like ‘day, ‘night,’ ‘sky,’ ‘land’ and ‘sea’ which the account says, God gave specific names.
Here’s the part that is striking, God did not create a being and call him man or human. Rather, He made man and added accomplishments to distinguish this version.
The Bible says,
“Then God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” (Genesis 1:26)
This presupposes that there was a man that existed before the time of the void and darkness. This man, however, was upgraded in God’s image and likeness. And so, the Bible doesn’t make any case against Neanderthals or any human-like species after it.
Lastly, while early humans have been dated to 300,000 years ago and may have perished in a cataclysmic event, the Bible indicates that after God created this version of humanity, He breathed life into him:
Genesis 2:7 says,
“And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.“
I have not written this blog post to overextend my argument. However, it is important not to misrepresent the Bible by filling gaps where it is silent. It is quite clear that God repaired the world in six days—He did not create it in six days, 6,000 years ago.
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