Now we have seen from Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14 that satan was present on the earth in the Garden of Eden because God had put him there before his fall when he was Lucifer. The Garden was the mineral Garden of Eden and God had given the earth as Lucifer's dwelling place.
As a result of his fall, satan lost his position and authority over the earth. Since he was in a fallen state and sin was present in him, his next ploy to counter God was to tempt mankind.
We can also understand why the earth was covered in water in Genesis 1:2. The original mineral earth had become tainted by satan's sin and needed cleansing. Satan had lost his position and authority on earth as a result of his sin, so Genesis one starts with this mineral world ready for a new start. In the Bible, we see that God uses water immersion for new starts. At the Flood, God covered the earth in water, baptised, ready for a fresh start.
When believers accept God’s free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ they are encouraged to be baptised as a witness to their new life in Christ. In Acts 2:38 the believers at Pentecost were encouraged to be baptised in water:
Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
In several passages, the New Testament makes it clear that salvation is actually by faith in Christ. Ephesians 2:8,9 say:
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Water baptism for the Christian is a testament to that new birth in Christ, bringing life out of death, just as in the creation story from Genesis 1:2 onwards…
The state of the earth in Genesis 1:2
At the start of Creation week, we find that the mineral earth that had once been the vibrant domain of Lucifer, the chief Cherub, was now lifeless and totally covered in water, apparently "baptised" ready for a fresh start.
The vocabulary and grammar of the first two verses of the Bible require a close look. The Creation account is introduced in these first two verses of the Bible. The word bārāʼ, meaning created, used in Genesis 1:1 is only ever used to describe the work of God, so we know that the creation of verse one was new and perfect:
In the beginning God created (bārāʼ) the heavens and the earth.
But Genesis 1:2 describes the earth in chaos, a very different state where there was only waste and emptiness, and darkness was over the surface of the deep:
The earth was formless and void [tōhū bōhū, or a waste and emptiness], and darkness was over the surface of the deep…
Isaiah 45:14 specifically says that God DID NOT create the earth a waste place:
For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (He is the God who formed the earth and made it, He established it and did not create it a waste place, but formed it to be inhabited), “I am the LORD, and there is none else".
These conditions would not result from God's creative work. Throughout the Bible they are evidence of sin and are linked to judgement.
In the six days of creation recorded in Genesis one, the oceans were partially removed to allow dry land to appear, but the effects of satan’s judgment remain and much of the earth will remain covered by water until the creation of the new heavens and the new earth which will not have any oceans. Revelation 21:1 tells us:
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.
Revelation 21:1 to Revelation 22:5 tells us that the new earth features similar precious stones to the ones the earth was covered with before the fall of satan. It will look much the same as this earth looked when it was originally created.
The "gap" between the first two verses of the Bible
Some scholars see two stages of Creation in which the unfinished work of Genesis 1:2 was later developed into its present state from verse 3 on, but many feel that this is not supported by the syntax or the vocabulary.
Others see a gap between the first two verses, allowing for the fall of satan and entrance of sin into the mineral world that rendered the earth formless and void. In this view, the remainder of Genesis 1 then accounts for the creation of the world as we know it, not the beginning of everything. In the previous article, we have shown that this is the view we hold.
We do not subscribe to the so-called "Gap Theory" that makes space between the first two verses of the Bible for evolution, the fossil record or dinosaurs because nowhere does the Bible mention such a possibility. The Biblical record is that a vibrant mineral world was first created and then is found lifeless and totally covered in water, and all vegetable and animal life was created during Creation week subsequent to this “baptism".
Exodus 20:11, where God introduces the sabbath day, is sometimes quoted as evidence that there was no gap for the fall of satan between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2:
For in six days the LORD made (ʼāšāh - make, fashion, accomplish, not bārāʼ - created from new) the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.
This verse does not say that God created the heavens and the earth from new in Creation week, just that he made changes to it.
