Several centuries ago scientists believed in dinosaurs, an ancient earth and in creation week: “Among them were William Buckland and Adam Sedgwick. Buckland held the chair of geology at Oxford in the early nineteenth century, while Sedgwick was his counterpart at Cambridge [University]. Both were leading churchmen, and…They did much to persuade the early nineteenth century church that the earth was extremely old and that such views could be harmonized with the teaching of Genesis” (Alan Hayward, Creation and Evolution, 1985, pp. 72-73).
Two Bible experts in the 1970s published The Reese Chronological Bible, which also supports an ancient earth and a creation week that is actually a re-creation of a devastated earth. Edward Reese was a professor of Bible, history and missions at Crown College in Powell, Tennessee, and spent 20 years putting biblical events in chronological order. Frank Klassen was an architect and engineer who spent 10 years writing The Chronology of the Bible. They both agreed that the account of Genesis had important biblical events occurring between Genesis 1:1-2.
They felt the first verses of the Bible chronologically would be John 1:1-2: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” Before space, matter and energy were created, there existed the Word (who would later become Jesus Christ (John 1:14).
Next in The Reese Chronological Bible comes a scripture speaking of God existing before the creation of the earth, Psalm 90:2: “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.” Then comes Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” describing the creation of the universe as we know it, including the galaxies, stars and planets.
Then follows — not Genesis 1:2, but Isaiah 14:12-17, describing Lucifer’s fall from heaven (See the previous Issue 291 of Bible Insights Weekly for more details) , with a parallel account in Ezekiel 28:13-18. Isaiah 45:18 tells us God “did not create it [the earth] in vain [tohu],” but instead “formed it to be inhabited.” The Hebrew word for “vain” is the same word used in Genesis 1:2. Satan’s rebellion caused the condition of the earth to be described as “without form and void” in Genesis 1:2.
The New International Version (NIV) of the Bible, notes the word “was” in Genesis 1:2 could be, or should be translated “became.” The earth became that way due to Lucifer’s rebellion and subsequent expulsion to the earth. As Jesus Christ remarked, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven” (Luke 10:18). Other scriptures reveal it was not only Satan, but also the fallen angels that were cast down with him (2 Peter 2:4; Revelation 12:3-4).
Gleason Archer, professor of biblical languages, also comments: “…the verb… in Genesis 1:2 may… be rendered ‘became’ and be construed to mean: ‘And the earth became formless and void.’ Only a cosmic catastrophe could account for the introduction of chaotic confusion into the original perfection of God’s creation.” (A Survey of Old Testament Introduction, 1974, p. 184). Dr. Arthur Custance, in his book Without Form and Void: A Study of the Meaning of Genesis 1:2, states, “I am persuaded that there is, on the basis of the evidence, far more reason to translate Genesis 1:2 as ‘But the earth had become a ruin and a desolation, etc.’ than there is for any of the conventional translations in our modern versions” (p. 7).
When the earth was first created, Lucifer was not yet corrupted with iniquity. It seems a considerable time must have passed between the creation of the earth, when Lucifer was in agreement with God, and his later appearance as the evil deceiver to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3. In Job 38:4-7 God asks Job, “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth…when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” The terms “morning stars” and “sons of God” both refer to angels. All the angels—including Lucifer, who later became Satan—were in agreement with God and were ecstatic about what He had just made.
Geologists agree something dramatic occurred between the age of reptiles and the age of mammals. From the Biblical account we can conclude that Satan’s rebellion caused great destruction on the earth — bringing an end to the age of the dinosaurs. As the famous paleontologist G.G. Simpson once remarked: “The most puzzling event in the history of life on the earth is the change from the Mesozoic Age of Reptiles, to the…Age of Mammals. It is as if the curtain were rung down suddenly on a stage where all the leading roles were taken by reptiles, especially dinosaurs ….and rose again immediately to reveal the same setting but an entirely new cast…and the leading parts are all played by mammals ….” (Life Before Man, 1972, p. 42).
The vast universe around us displays evidence of great age. The fact that we see light from extremely distant stars and galaxies, for example, indicates a universe much older than 6,000 years. A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, and we can see celestial objects much farther away than 6,000 light-years—including galaxies that are millions and even billions of light-years away. The Bible actually shows an existing creation—earth and universe—preceding the six-day account of Genesis 1:3-31 and, based on the biblical record of angelic activity before the preparation of the earth for humankind, the earth is much older than 6,000 years.
