The Pre-Adamic Age is the First Age of the Seven Ages in God’s Plan for All. It began at the creation of the heavens and the earth, and ended at the start of the six-day creation week in which Adam and Eve were created. The Pre-Adamic Age was the age when angels were the key focus of God’s dealings.
The First Age is an important age in God’s Plan for All. It helps us to appreciate and understand the following five important facts, which we cover in this chapter:
- Our earth is much older than six thousand years.
- When God created the heavens and the earth in the beginning, He created the earth in such a beautiful and perfect condition that the angels responded with joyful singing and shouting.
- There was a massive cataclysmic global judgement from God against the world of Lucifer (who became Satan) and his angels when they sinned by rebelling against God during the Pre-Adamic Age. Since then, God has chained Satan and his fallen angels in spiritual darkness and confined them to earth and its heaven (earth’s atmosphere), awaiting their final judgement in the Lake of Fire.
- Earth’s geology has been greatly impacted and shaped by this massive Pre-Adamic cataclysmic global judgement from God.
- There will be another massive cataclysmic global judgement from God against this present sinful world, at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
Let us now begin our study of this important First Age.
Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
The heavens mean the whole complete universe consisting of billions of galaxies with billions of stars and planets. Our minds cannot even begin to grasp the wonders and limitless power of God, which the universe displays.
In this very first verse of the Bible, Genesis 1:1, God singles out the earth as the most important planet in the entire universe. This is because God has a tremendous purpose to use the earth as the centre of the universe. It is on earth that God will establish His Eternal Kingdom of the New Heaven and the New Earth, after He has first refined and cleansed the earth by His physical and spiritual fire during the Great White Throne Judgement Age.
So, how did God create the universe and the earth in the beginning? The Bible says that God simply commanded and they were created.
Psalm 148:2-5
2 Praise Him, all His angels; Praise Him, all His hosts! 3 Praise Him, sun and moon; Praise Him, all you stars of light! 4 Praise Him, you heavens of heavens, And you waters above the heavens! 5 Let them praise the name of the LORD, for He commanded and they were created.
The creation of the entire universe, including the earth, must be understood as an instantaneous creation at the command of God. When God created the universe in the beginning, He also designed and created the Law of Gravity. God introduced the Law of Gravity for the stability and continual existence of the universe. All bodies in the universe are held together and maintain their orbits because of gravitation. Smaller bodies are held in their orbits by bigger bodies. Moons orbit planets, planets orbit stars, stars orbit galactic centres, and galaxies orbit other galaxies in clusters.
The important point to understand is that it is impossible for the moon to exist without the earth, and it is impossible for the earth to exist without the sun, and for the sun to exist without our galaxy, the Milky Way, and for the Milky Way to exist without other galaxies. So, the whole universe must have been created instantaneously for it to exist, and this is exactly what God did in the beginning, as Psalm 148:5 above confirms, ‘He commanded and they were created’. Also, Scripture (Isaiah 45:12) says that God stretched out the universe, when He first created it, which agrees with the scientific observation that the universe is expanding.
The Beginning of the First Age marked the Beginning of Time
Time began when God created the earth, the sun and the moon with the rest of the universe, in the beginning. This was when the First Age of the Seven Ages in God’s Plan for All began. How long ago was it when God commanded and instantaneously created the earth with the rest of the universe? The Bible does not say. However, star distances and many other modern scientific methods all show us that it was many millions of years ago when ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth’. It cannot have been around six thousand years ago, as believed by Young Earth Creationists. Even Young Earth Creationists themselves admit that star distances are a problem when defending their belief in a young earth. Most probably, scientists have overestimated the age of our earth as being about 4.5 billion years old, but we can be absolutely sure that the earth is much older than six thousand years.
Young Earth Creationists claim to interpret the Genesis account of creation literally to justify their belief in a young earth. They say that anything other than about six-ten thousand years is playing around with the literal translation of the creation account. In actuality, it is the Young Earth Creationists themselves who play around with the literal meaning of the Genesis account of creation. Let us now see what the Bible says and what Young Earth Creationism (YEC) says.
The Bible says that God created the earth in the beginning; YEC says that God created the earth in the first day.
The Bible says that God created the sun and the moon in the beginning; YEC says that God created the sun and the moon in the fourth day.
The Bible says that God created the heavens and the earth in the beginning; YEC says that God created the heavens and the earth in six days.
Young Earth Creationism misunderstands the Genesis account of God’s creation when it misinterprets the very first verse of the Bible (Genesis 1:1) as being a summary statement of the six-day creation account, which is described in Genesis 1:3-31. This misunderstanding of the very first verse of the Bible has led Young Earth Creationism to believe that God created the earth on the first day without the sun, and that it wasn’t until the fourth day that God created the sun, the moon and the stars. This is not only biblically untrue but also scientifically nonsensical. It is impossible for a 24-hour day comprising of both light and darkness, day and night with morning and evening to occur, without both the earth and the sun existing together. This is elementary physics and common sense. The Bible is extremely logical and it does not contradict true science, after all God Himself is the greatest scientist. God does not want us to believe in something that is illogical and scientifically stupid.
We shall show you later why Young Earth Creationism confuses the beginning of the heavens and the earth many millions of years ago, as stated in Genesis 1:1, with the beginning of the Adamic Age, approximately six-ten thousand years ago, as described in Genesis 1:3-31.
Let us now go on to understand the literal interpretation of the Genesis creation account as the Bible actually teaches.
What was the state of the earth when God created it, along with the rest of the universe, in the beginning? Let us see what the Bible says.
Job 38:4-7 (NIV)
4 “Where were you when I laid the earth‘s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. 5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? 6 On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone 7 while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?
Job Chapters 38 and 39 show God humbling Job, who thought that he had a great fount of knowledge. In the verses above, God challenges Job about his knowledge of the creation of the earth. God did this to make Job acknowledge God’s greatness and to show Job that he knew absolutely nothing about how and when God had created the earth.
Notice in Job 38:7 above that all the angels sang and shouted for joy when God laid the foundations of the earth. In this verse, the ‘Morning stars’ also refers to angels.
The scripture above (Job 38:4-7) reveals two important truths:
- God created angels before He created the earth and the universe.
- When God created the earth in the beginning, He created it in such a beautiful and perfect condition that the angels responded with joyful singing and shouting.
However, shockingly, in the second verse of the Bible, Genesis 1:2, we read that the earth had changed from its beautiful and perfect state, when it was first created in the beginning, to a totally different ruined state. It had become formless, empty, in darkness and submerged under water.
Genesis 1:2 (NIV)
Now the earth was (hayah, meaning became) formless, and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
Since God did not create the earth in a formless, empty, dark and flooded state in the beginning, then it must have become that way at a later date. This is exactly what happened to the earth, because an accurate translation of the Hebrew word hayah, in Genesis 1:2 above, is became as given in Strong’s H1961, and as also confirmed by the NIV in their footnote.
Young Earth Creationism argues that Genesis 1:2 is the description of a stage in the construction of the earth. It is a misunderstanding and misinterpretation of this verse to believe that God firstly had to create the earth in a formless, empty, dark state and totally submerged under water in order to proceed and complete the rest of His beautiful creation on earth.
The truth of the Bible is that Genesis 1:2 is the description of the earth resulting from God’s massive cataclysmic global judgement because of the sins of angels. It is not speaking about a stage in the construction of the earth, as mistakenly believed by Young Earth Creationists. Let us now have a closer look at Genesis 1:2 to understand that it is indeed a description of God’s global judgement.
God’s global judgement of rebellious angels in the Pre-Adamic Age
Genesis 1:2 (NIV)
Now the earth was (hayah, meaning became) formless (tohuw), and empty (bohuw), darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
The Bible is abundantly clear that the inspired Hebrew words tohuw and bohuw in Genesis 1:2 above, when used together, are the descriptive words for God’s global judgement.
The Hebrew word tohuw occurs 20 times in the Old Testament with meanings of chaotic, nothing, confusion, waste, wilderness, emptiness, formless and vain. The best meaning of tohuw in Genesis 1:2 is chaotic. Something that is in a confused, wasted, empty, flooded and dark state is obviously in a chaotic state.
The Hebrew word bohuw occurs 3 times in the Old Testament with meanings of void and waste. We believe that God inspired the use of the Hebrew word bohuw in Genesis 1:2 to reinforce the meaning of tohuw, which we have just shown means chaotic.
The Bible specifically confirms in Isaiah 45:18 below that the earth was not created in the chaotic state that we see in Genesis 1:2.
Isaiah 45:18
For thus says the LORD, Who created the heavens, Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it, Who has established it, Who did not create it in vain (tohuw, meaning chaotic), Who formed it to be inhabited: ‘I am the LORD, and there is no other’.
So, an accurate translation of Genesis 1:2 is:
Genesis 1:2
The earth became chaotic and wasted and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
Please understand that God did not create the earth in the beginning (Genesis 1:1) in a chaotic, wasted, dark state submerged under water. The earth became like that because a massive cataclysmic change took place on earth between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2.
Let us believe what the Bible says that God did not create the earth in vain in an uninhabitable, chaotic (tohuw) state. As we have shown from Scripture, the earth was created in such a beautiful state that the angels sang and shouted for joy. Most certainly, the angels would not have sung and shouted for joy over the creation of a chaotic, wasted, flooded and dark earth.
It is abundantly clear from Scripture that there was a gap of time between the creation of the beautiful earth of Genesis 1:1 and the totally ruined chaotic earth of Genesis 1:2. This gap of time is the Pre-Adamic Age, which lasted for many millions of years. So, the key question is: ‘Why did the earth become chaotic and ruined as described in Genesis 1:2?’ Let us now go on to understand that Genesis 1:2 is the description of the earth resulting from God’s global judgement because of the sins of angels.
The sins of angels
2 Peter 2:4-6 is an account of three important historical judgements from God, which helps us to understand the consequences of sin.
2 Peter 2:4-6
4 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell (tartarus) and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment;
5 and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly;
6 and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly.
Sin has consequences and it brings judgement from God in the form of death and destruction. Please take note of the correct chronological order in which these judgements are listed in the scripture above. The judgement against the angels who sinned happened first, followed much later by the judgement against Noah’s world, which in turn was followed much later by the judgement against Sodom and Gomorrah.
In verse 4 above, it says that God cast the sinful angels down to tartarus, mistranslated as hell. In fact, Tartarus was the chaotic, dark and ruined earth of Genesis 1:2. So, when Satan and his angels sinned during the Pre-Adamic Age, by rising up in rebellion from their allocated domain of the earth (Jude 6), God judged them by violently casting them back down to earth. This resulted in a massive cataclysmic change in the earth, from the perfect and beautiful earth of Genesis 1:1 to the dark, chaotic and ruined earth of Genesis 1:2. It was this dark, chaotic and ruined earth of Genesis 1:2 that became Tartarus for Satan and his angels; and it is here on earth with its heaven (earth’s atmosphere) that Satan and his fallen angels remain confined in a prison of spiritual darkness, awaiting their final judgement in the future age-to-come Lake of Fire during the Great White Throne Judgement Age.
We will now examine relevant scriptures in some detail to see how sin first entered the Pre-Adamic world through Satan and his fallen angels.
Isaiah 14:12-15
12 How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer (heylel), son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! 13 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; 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ 15 Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol (meaning the Pit), To the lowest depths of the Pit.
This scripture confirms Jesus’s statement in Luke 10:18, And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven”.
When did Jesus Christ see Satan fall like lighting from heaven? It can only have been during the Pre-Adamic Age, and not during the Adamic Age. This is because Satan was already a sinful fallen angel confined to earth at the start of the Adamic Age. There is absolutely nothing in the Bible to suggest that Satan was cast down to earth from heaven after God had created Adam and Eve, during the Adamic Age.
Isaiah Chapter 14 refers to both the king of Babylon and Lucifer. However, it is important to note that Isaiah 14:12-15 above is specifically speaking about Lucifer, who became Satan. This scripture is not referring to the king of Babylon. It is referring to a fallen angelic being and not a man, as no man is capable of ascending above the heights of the clouds. Notice that Lucifer coveted the throne of God and he wanted to become like the Most High. However, God judged him for his sin of rebellion by casting him down to the lowest depths of the pit of this earth. As a result, the earth became chaotic, empty, dark and submerged under water because of God’s tohuw and bohuw judgement of the sinful rebellious angels, as previously described.
Please note that the Hebrew word heylel is translated as Lucifer in the NKJV verse Isaiah 14:12 above. Lucifer is a Latin word meaning ‘Light Bearer’, which first appeared in the Latin Vulgate circa 400 AD. This Latin word Lucifer has been retained by both the KJV and the NKJV, thus the Christian world has been familiar with the name Lucifer for over a thousand years. Modern versions of the Bible translate heylel to mean Morning Star, Bright Star, Shining One and Day Star, all of which are similar to the Latin word Lucifer, meaning Light Bearer. Therefore, Lucifer is as good a name to use as any of the other names given in other translations.
Let us now read a parallel scripture about the fall of Lucifer given in Ezekiel 28.
Ezekiel 28:12-15
12 Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “You were the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 13 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.” 14 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. 15 You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you.
Ezekiel Chapter 28 begins by describing the king of Tyre whose heart was lifted up and who thought that he was a god. The power and deceiver behind the king of Tyre was Satan himself. The scripture Ezekiel 28:12-15 above takes us on from speaking about the king of Tyre to speaking about Lucifer who became Satan, as these verses can only fit the description of a fallen angelic being, and not a man. Lucifer was created perfect in his ways. He was the seal of perfection, full of wisdom, the anointed cherub and perfect in beauty before iniquity was found in him when he rebelled against God. In contrast, the king of Tyre was born imperfect with a fallen, sinful Adamic nature, and he was not the anointed cherub. Therefore, these verses can only refer to Satan, who was the real influencing power behind the king of Tyre.
It was Lucifer and not the king of Tyre whom God had placed in Eden, the Garden of God. This Garden of Eden was not the same Garden of Eden of the Adamic Age, where Satan was present as a sinful fallen angel who lied to and deceived Eve.
It is important to understand that the Bible speaks of at least three Gardens of Eden in three different ages. There was the first Garden of Eden in the Pre-Adamic Age, as given in Ezekiel 28:13 above. There was the second Garden of Eden during the Adamic Age, as given in Genesis 2:15. There will be yet another, the third Garden of Eden, in the coming Millennial Age of Jesus Christ, as given in Ezekiel 36:35.
A garden has both plant and animal life, thus God created the Pre-Adamic world with plants and animals. The enormous deposits and reservoirs under the earth’s surface of the fossil fuels: coal, oil and gas, and the abundant existence of fossils, throughout the world today, bear witness to the fact that the Pre-Adamic earth was absolutely teeming with luxuriant plant and animal life. The beautiful Pre-Adamic Garden of Eden earth was destroyed after ‘war broke out in heaven’ between the holy angels led by Michael and the fallen angels led by Satan.
Revelation 12:7-9
7 And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, 8 but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. 9 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.
The war that broke out in heaven against the Devil and his angels was led by Michael, who was none other than God’s only begotten Son, the Pre-Incarnate Jesus Christ Himself. Please refer to Chapter 3, under the sub-section ‘Michael, the Archangel’ where we prove from Scripture that the name ‘Michael, the Archangel’ is simply another name for the Pre-Incarnate Jesus Christ. Please note that the war, between the Holy angels led by Michael (the Son of God) and the sinful rebellious angels led by Satan, started in heaven but was finished on earth when God cast Satan and his angels out of heaven back down to earth. As a result, the whole beautiful Pre-Adamic Garden of Eden earth suffered cataclysmic violence of unimaginable proportions: death, destruction, flooding, and darkness.
Jude 6
And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day.
Angels ‘did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode’. This was during the Pre-Adamic age when iniquity (sin) was found in Lucifer’s heart. The holy angel Lucifer became the sinful angel Satan, who along with a following of his angels, left planet earth (their proper domain) and ascended above the clouds in rebellion to try to usurp God’s throne in heaven. God cast them back down to earth and they are now kept in chains of spiritual darkness, restricted in movement to this earth and its heaven (earth’s atmosphere), and reserved for their final judgement that will take place in the Lake of Fire during the age-to-come Great White Throne Judgement Age, as discussed in Chapter 13.
Job 1:6 which says, “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them” does not mean that Satan can leave earth and its atmosphere to have access to God’s throne in heaven. The Bible does not contradict itself. Revelation 12:8 quoted above clearly says that no place was found in heaven (God’s dwelling place) any longer for Satan and his angels. We showed in Chapter 3 that Father God does everything through His Son. So, it was on earth that Satan presented himself before the Lord, God the Son, the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ who represented His Father God in heaven.
Let us now summarise the events that led to the fall of Lucifer and his angels. Lucifer was the anointed cherub who governed the beautiful luxuriant Garden of Eden earth in the Pre-Adamic world. He was adorned with precious stones and gifted with musical instruments to worship God. He had freedom of movement as a trusted holy angel of God to move back and forth from earth to heaven (God’s dwelling place). Lucifer became tempted and sinned when iniquity was found in his heart. He became jealous of God and decided to lead a rebellion to try to usurp God from His throne in heaven. Lucifer, a holy angel and bearer of light, became Satan, a sinful angel of darkness, because of his sin of rebellion. Satan and his angels (a third of the angels) ascended from the earth to rebel against God in heaven. War broke out in heaven and Michael (pre-incarnate Christ) and his angels defeated Satan and his angels, who were violently cast back down to earth (Revelation 12:9) with cataclysmic global consequences for the earth. Satan and his angels are now confined to earth and its atmosphere, chained in spiritual darkness, until their final judgement in the Lake of Fire during the Great White Throne Judgement Age.
We can now confidently conclude that when the Bible says in Genesis 1:2, ‘The earth became chaotic and wasted and darkness was on the face of the deep...’ that the Bible is speaking about God’s global cataclysmic tohuw and bohuw judgement when He cast Satan and his fallen angels back down to earth because of their sin of rebellion. This all happened sometime, millions of years ago, in the Pre-Adamic Age. The beautiful Pre-Adamic Garden of Eden earth of Genesis 1:1, which God created in the beginning, was transformed into a totally ruined chaotic earth shrouded in darkness and covered by deep frozen flood waters (ice) by the time we come to Genesis 1:2.
There is yet one more reason why we can be absolutely sure that Genesis 1:2 is indeed speaking about the state of the earth that resulted from God’s judgement and not the description of a stage in the construction of the earth, as mistakenly believed by Young Earth Creationism. The Hebrew words tohuw and bohuw occur together in the same verse only twice in the whole of the Bible. The first time is in Genesis 1:2 and the second time is in Jeremiah 4:23, which also describes God’s global judgement. However, the Jeremiah 4:23 global judgement from God is yet to be carried out against this present sinful world at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
Jeremiah 4:23 (NIV)
I looked at the earth, and it was formless (tohuw), and empty (bohuw); and at the heavens, and their light was gone.
Notice that Jeremiah saw the whole earth in a state of tohuw and bohuw, which means a chaotic, wasted and ruined state. Let us now read the next five verses, Jeremiah 4:24-28, in order to clearly understand what the future tohuw and bohuw judgement will involve.
Jeremiah 4:24-28
24 I beheld the mountains, and indeed they trembled, And all the hills moved back and forth. 25 I beheld, and indeed there was no man, And all the birds of the heavens had fled. 26 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. 27 For thus says the LORD “The whole land shall be desolate; Yet I will not make a full end. 28 For this shall the earth mourn, And the heavens above be black, Because I have spoken. I have purposed and will not relent, Nor will I turn back from it”.
These verses, undoubtedly, speak about God’s tohuw and bohuw judgement against this present world, at the return of Jesus Christ. Notice that this judgement takes place ‘at the presence of the LORD, by His fierce anger.’ It refers to the time of God’s wrath during the period of the Great Tribulation, which will be the most horrific unprecedented time that the world will have ever experienced or would ever experience again, as confirmed by Jesus Himself in Matthew 24:21. We have covered the subject of the Great Tribulation in detail in Chapter 10, The Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
Unlike the previous tohuw and bohuw judgement in the Pre-Adamic Age when all living plants and animals were totally destroyed, God will not totally destroy all life on earth (‘not make a full end’) in the future tohuw and bohuw judgement. There will be a proportion of earth’s population who will survive it to enter Christ’s Millennial Kingdom on earth, over whom Christ with His resurrected Bride, the 144,000 First fruits, will rule and reign.
As mentioned previously, it is significant that the Hebrew words tohuw and bohuw occur together in the same verse only twice in the Bible, the first time in Genesis 1:2 and the second time in Jeremiah 4:23. We have highlighted and described in detail the future judgement against this present sinful world of man, referred to in Jeremiah 4:23, to further prove the point that Genesis 1:2 also speaks about God’s global judgement. Genesis 1:2 is most definitely not the description of a stage in the construction of the earth, as mistakenly believed by Young Earth Creationism.
There should now be no doubt in the minds of our readers that Genesis 1:2 is a description of the state of the earth resulting from the horrific cataclysmic global judgement, which God carried out in the Pre-Adamic Age because of the sins of angels, and there is indeed an age-gap of many millions of years between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2. This age-gap is the Pre-Adamic Age.
Please understand that the Pre-Adamic Age consisted of two long periods of time, which together would have been many millions of years. During the first long period of time, the earth was a beautiful Garden of Eden as first created in the beginning when the angels rejoiced over it. During the second long period of time, the earth was in a totally chaotic, ruined, darkened, flooded and frozen state, after it had been destroyed in God’s judgement of Satan and his angels, until it was renewed by God at the beginning of the Adamic Age.
We have shown from Scripture that the Pre-Adamic earth was destroyed because of the sins of angels. However, God understood right from the beginning, before He created the universe and the earth, that this would happen because God is all knowing and He knows the end from the beginning. Although God destroyed the Pre-Adamic earth, it was always in His Plan to renew the earth and start the Second Age, the Adamic Age. This was when God created man in own His image, the pinnacle of God’s creation. God created the first man, Adam, at the beginning of the Second Age when God renewed the earth and its atmosphere in the six-day creation week.
Young Earth Creationists confuse the beginning of the Pre-Adamic Age, which happened many millions of years ago with the beginning of the Adamic Age, which happened only approximately six-ten thousand years ago.
Let us be clear in our minds that:
Genesis 1:1 refers to the beginning of time, many millions of years ago, when God first created the heavens and the earth. This also marked the beginning of the First Age, the Pre-Adamic Age, in God’s Plan of the Ages.
Genesis 1:3-5 refers to the first 24-hour day in the beginning of the Adamic Age, the Second Age, long after God had destroyed the Pre-Adamic world through His global tohuw and bohuw judgement because of the sins of angels. The Adamic Age started about six-ten thousand years ago.
The Beginning of the Adamic Age
As we have shown, the original beautiful Garden of Eden earth of Genesis 1:1 became the ruined, chaotic, dark, flooded and frozen earth of Genesis 1:2 when Satan and his fallen angels were cast back down to earth, following their rebellion at some point in the Pre-Adamic Age. In Genesis 1:3-5, we find that God reintroduced the light of the sun to shine onto the earth’s surface at the dawn of the Second Age, the Adamic Age.
Genesis 1:3-5
3 Then God said, “Let there be light“; and there was light. 4 And God saw the light that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.
It is clear and logically follows that when God said, ‘Let there be light’ in verse 3 above, it was the light of the sun, which God had previously withheld from reaching the earth’s surface when it became shrouded in darkness in God’s global tohuw and bohuw judgement. We know for certain that the sun had already been created in the beginning (Genesis 1:1), along with the rest of the heavens, and this was many millions of years before God reintroduced the light (of the sun) as described in the verses above.
Please understand that there could not have been the first 24 hour day of evening and morning without the light of the sun, and it is impossible for the earth to hang and rotate by itself in the universe without the gravitational pull of the sun. Since Young Earth Creationism (YEC) believes that it was not until the fourth day that God created the sun, it becomes a huge problem for YEC to explain how there could have been the first 24 hours of day and night without the sun. In order to get over this dilemma, YEC teaches that it was the light of the Holy Spirit which shone on the earth for the first three 24 hour days of the six-day creation week. Of course, anything is possible with God, but we find the YEC explanation not only unscriptural, but also totally illogical. It further invites derision and unbelief in the Word of God from educational establishments and scientists.
The rest of the Genesis account of creation, Genesis 1:3-31, makes complete sense, once we understand that God had darkened the sun and withdrawn its light from the earth in His Pre-Adamic tohuw and bohuw judgement against Satan and his angels. When God began the Second Age, the Adamic Age, He reintroduced the light of the sun to the earth and renewed the earth’s surface and its atmosphere. Then, God recreated plant and animal life and finally, He created mankind for the very first time, as described in the six-day creation account of Genesis 1:3-31, which happened approximately six-ten thousand years ago.
God’s creation in the first six 24-hour days of the Adamic Age
Let us clearly understand that there is absolutely no contradiction whatsoever between Genesis 1:1, where it is says that God created the heavens and the earth in the beginning, and Genesis 1:14-19 where it says that God made the sun, the moon and the stars on the fourth day. Once we see and understand that the whole of the six-day creation account is written from man’s earthly perspective rather than from a cosmic perspective, then the scriptures become clear and everything make sense.
Day One (Genesis 1:3-5)
God reintroduces the light of the sun to reach and shine directly onto the surface of the frozen deep flood waters that completely covered the ruined earth. The effect of this direct and scorching heat, without any protective cloud layer on this first day, and the sudden change in temperature resulted in a massive global ice melt.
The massive ice sheet covering the surface of the whole earth must have been so thick that the Spirit of God first needed to shake, break and soften the ice in preparation for the melting process. We believe that this is exactly what God did. This is because Genesis 1:2 translated in versions of the Bible to mean, “And the Spirit of God was hovering or moving (rachaph) over the face of the waters” is more accurately translated to mean “And the Spirit of God was shaking (rachaph) the surface of the waters”, as Strong’s H7363 confirms that the Hebrew word rachaph can also mean shaking. God’s Spirit first actively shook, broke up and softened the deep ice sheet covering the whole earth, prior to Day One, in preparation for the great ice melt that took place once the intense sunlight with its heat was reintroduced onto the earth’s surface on Day One.
Day Two (Genesis 1:6-8)
God forms the firmament by lifting the ‘waters from the waters’. The firmament refers to the space or expanse within the earth’s atmosphere between the earth’s surface and the cloud strata. God formed the firmament using the process of evaporation when the intense heat of the sunlight caused vast volumes of water vapour to rise up from the surface of the melt-waters to form dense dark clouds in the sky.
Day Three (Genesis 1:9-13)
God forms the dry land by causing the melt-waters to recede from areas of the flooded earth. He also causes plant life on land to start germinating in this warm, humid, cloud-darkened, cocooned environment.
Day Four (Genesis 1:14-19)
Genesis 1:14-19
14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament (the space between the earth’s surface and the clouds) of the heavens (the earth’s atmosphere) to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; 15 and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. 16 Then God made (asah) two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. 17 God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
At the beginning of Day Four, God said, ‘Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven’. Therefore, we can certainly conclude that by the end of Day Three the firmament of the heaven (the space between the earth’s surface and the clouds) had become darkened by the dense clouds of water vapour formed on Day Two. These clouds would have blocked out light – sunlight, moonlight and starlight – from reaching the firmament and thus the earth’s surface. So, on Day Four God thinned and dispersed these dense dark clouds so that the sunlight, moonlight and starlight could shine through the firmament down onto the earth’s surface.
Therefore, from an earthly perspective, the sun, the moon and the stars were made (asah) on Day Four ‘for signs and seasons, and for days and years‘ for the benefit of man, who was yet to be created on Day Six. Notice that verse 17 above, does not say that God created (bara) these lights on Day Four, but that He set these lights in the firmament, meaning that He made them appear, be visible, in the firmament from man’s earthly perspective. We know from the very first verse of the Bible, Genesis 1:1, that these lights (planets, stars) had already been created (bara) in the beginning, and not on Day Four.
Day Five (Genesis 1:20-23)
God creates sea life and bird life.
Day Six (Genesis 1:24-31)
God creates animal life on land. Then, God creates man in His own image, the pinnacle of His creation.
The important difference between Bara and Asah
Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created (bara) the heavens and the earth.
The inspired Hebrew word for create in Genesis 1:1 is bara, when God created the heavens and the earth in the beginning. However, the inspired Hebrew word for make in Genesis 1:16 is asah, when God made the sun, the moon and the stars to be set in the firmament on Day Four of the six-day creation week.
These two accounts are not contradictory as they refer to two different situations. The first account of creation (bara) in Genesis 1:1 relates to the beginning of time, many millions of years ago at the start of the Pre-Adamic Age, when God instantaneously created the heavens and the earth at His command. The second account in Genesis 1:16 of making (asah) the sun, the moon and the stars relates to their appearance in the firmament, meaning the sky, from an earthly perspective on Day Four of the six-day creation week, approximately six-ten thousand years ago at the start of the Adamic Age.
Texts – Misinterpreted and Misunderstood by Young Earth Creationism
There are three so-called ‘proof texts’ used by Young Earth Creationism in defence of its belief in a Young Earth. These are Exodus 20:11, Romans 5:12 and Genesis 1:31. So, let us examine each in turn.
Text 1
Exodus 20:11
For in six days the LORD made (asah) the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
Let us see how and why Young Earth Creationists misapply this scripture in support of their unbiblical belief in a Young Earth.
The Bible is consistent. In this verse, we see that the inspired Hebrew word asah, and not bara, is used to refer to the making of the heavens and the earth in six days.
The Bible makes a clear distinction between the creation of the heavens and the earth in the beginning, by using the Hebrew word bara, and the renewal of the heavens (earth’s heaven/its atmosphere) and the earth in six days, by using the Hebrew word asah. These Hebrew words bara and asah are not used interchangeably with respect to the heavens and the earth, despite what Young Earth Creationists say. We shall now prove this point by using relevant scriptures.
There are five places in the Bible where bara denotes the instantaneous creation of the heavens and the earth in the beginning, which are Genesis 1:1, Genesis 2:3-4, Psalm 148:5, Isaiah 42:5 and Isaiah 45:18. We have already looked at three of these references, Genesis 1:1, Psalm 148:5, and Isaiah 45:18. Let us now consider the remaining two references Isaiah 42:5 and Genesis 2:3-4.
Isaiah 42:5 says, “Thus says God the LORD, Who created (bara) the heavens and stretched them out”. This clearly refers to the instantaneous creation of the heavens (the universe) in the beginning, agreeing with Genesis 1:1.
We will now take a detailed look at Genesis 2:3-4, where the context clearly shows that bara is specifically used to denote the instantaneous creation of the heavens and the earth in the beginning.
Genesis 2:3-4 (KJV)
3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created (bara) and made (asah). 4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created (bara), in the day that the LORD God made (asah) the earth and the heavens.
These two verses clearly demonstrate the distinction in the use of the inspired Hebrew words bara and asah, and show that they are not interchangeable when relating to the heavens and the earth. Please note, in verse 3 above, that God rested from all His work, which He had created and made. The Holy Spirit would not have used bara and asah in the same sentence, one following the other, if they had both meant the same thing and were interchangeable. It is clear that there is a distinction between these two words.
This distinction is reinforced in verse 4 above, when relating these two words to the heavens and the earth. Please note that the generations of the heavens and the earth include both their creation and their making (renewal). The fact that the word ‘generations’ is plural further confirms that God is speaking about two separate situations in the history of the heavens and the earth. This verse demonstrates that the instantaneous creation (bara) of the heavens and the earth in the beginning was followed, in a later generation, by the making (asah) of the heavens and the earth in six days, which is referred to in this verse as ‘the day’. This scripture agrees with both Genesis 1:1 and Exodus 20:11.
Let us now make further comments on the Hebrew word asah.
The Hebrew word asah occurs 2633 times in the Old Testament. Out of these, asah is used approximately twenty times to refer to the making of the heavens and the earth, when God renewed them in the six-day creation week. We have already considered three of these twenty occurrences in Genesis 1:16, Exodus 20:11 and Genesis 2:3-4.
We will consider one more example, Nehemiah 9:6, which is a key text used by Young Earth Creationism to wrongly say that bara and asah are interchangeable, when the Bible speaks about either the creation or the making of the heavens and the earth.
Nehemiah 9:6
You alone are the LORD; You have made (asah) heaven, The heaven of heavens, with all their host, The earth and everything on it, The seas and all that is in them, And You preserve them all. The host of heaven worships You.
In this scripture, Nehemiah is praising God for what he sees from man’s earthly perspective, for the generation of the heavens and the earth that God made (asah) in six days when He renewed the face of the earth, thus agreeing with Genesis 2:3-4, previously commented on.
Nehemiah 9:6 only refers to the making (asah) of the heavens and the earth in the six-day creation week, but it has nothing to say about the creation (bara) of the heavens and the earth in the beginning. So, Young Earth Creationists are wrong in saying that Nehemiah 9:6 proves that the Hebrew words bara and asah are interchangeable.
We have shown from Scripture that God makes a clear distinction between the Hebrew words bara and asah when referring to the heavens and the earth. This is to uphold the truth of the Pre-Adamic Age, and God’s global tohuw and bohuw judgement against Satan and his fallen angels.
Text 2
Romans 5:12
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.
This is the second ‘proof text’ used by Young Earth Creationism in support of its unbiblical belief in a Young Earth, when it argues that sin and death first entered the world through man, and not through angels.
Who sinned first, angels or man?
The fact that angels sinned before man cannot be disputed, because Satan was already present as a sinner in the Garden of Eden before Adam and Eve sinned. Young Earth Creationists deny this obvious and basic truth that sin first entered the world through angels. This obvious truth is confirmed by the historical sequence of the three judgements listed in 2 Peter 2:4-6, as commented previously, where, the Bible places the sins of angels before the sins of man.
Romans 5:12 above specifically speaks about the sin of one man affecting the whole of the human race. Yes, sin entered the human world through one man, Adam, thus God judged man’s sin by bringing death (the wages of sin is death) and death spread to all men because of Adam’s sin. However, please note that Romans 5:12 only speaks about the sin and death which entered the Adamic world through the sin of Adam, but this scripture does not address the sin which entered the Pre-Adamic world through the sin of angels. The fact that sin brings God’s judgement of death to men only and not to angels, who are immortal spirits that cannot die, further confirms that Romans 5:12 specifically refers to sin entering the human world through one man.
Young Earth Creationists misunderstand Romans 5:12 to teach that man sinned before angels sinned. Don’t forget that Satan was already a sinful fallen angel in the Garden of Eden when he tempted Adam and Eve to sin, thus, it is totally unscriptural and nonsensical to say that Adam sinned before Satan.
Text 3
Genesis 1:31
Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
This is the third so-called ‘proof text’ used by Young Earth Creationism in support of its unbiblical belief in a Young Earth.
It was very good
Young Earth Creationism argues that God could not have pronounced that everything was very good in the Garden of Eden if there had been evidence of death and destruction, in the form of millions of animal fossils underneath the earth’s surface, from a previous Pre-Adamic world. This is an erroneous argument, which is easily refuted by considering Jeremiah 31:40.
Jeremiah 31:40
And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields as far as the Brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be holy to the LORD. It shall not be plucked up or thrown down anymore forever.
Jeremiah Chapter 31 is a prophecy about the coming Millennial Kingdom of God to earth following God’s future global judgement against this sinful world at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. This judgement will cause massive worldwide death and destruction, and in Israel there will be huge numbers of dead bodies, including those of the armies of Gog and Magog who will fight in the final great battle of Armageddon. Please note in Jeremiah 31:40 above that the whole valley and all the fields of dead bodies in and around Jerusalem will be holy to the Lord. Obviously, holy means that it is very good in the Lord’s eyes.
Would Young Earth Creationists argue with God that He does not have the right to make the valley and fields of dead bodies holy? In fact, God will turn all of the desolate, wasted and ruined places, including the valley and fields of dead bodies, into a very good Garden of Eden during His Millennial Kingdom.
Ezekiel 36:35
So they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden; and the wasted, desolate, and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.’
As we have seen, Young Earth Creationists have no ‘proof texts’ to support their false theory of a young earth. They have misunderstood and misinterpreted all three of their so-called proof texts; Exodus 20:11, Romans 5:12 and Genesis 1:31, to uphold their unbiblical belief in a young earth of approximately six thousand years.
Let us now go on to see that earth’s geology abundantly supports God’s Pre-Adamic global tohuw and bohuw judgement, which Young Earth Creationism rejects.
Earth’s geology overwhelmingly supports God’s global judgement against Lucifer’s World
The Bible speaks of two global judgements in the history of the earth, which resulted in catastrophic mass extinctions of life on earth, firstly in Lucifer’s World during the Pre-Adamic Age, and then in Noah’s World during the Adamic Age.
There is overwhelming support for God’s global tohuw and bohuw judgement against Lucifer’s world in the Pre-Adamic Age. Scientists have long been puzzled about how the continents moved apart to their present day positions. We believe that God’s tohuw and bohuw judgement in the Pre-Adamic Age was so massively cataclysmic that the earth’s crust broke up into plates and caused the large-scale movement of these tectonic plates resulting in the continents moving apart, as well as causing earthquakes, volcanoes, oceanic trenches, mountain range formation, and many other geological features.
There were such upheavals that even the seabeds were raised to form sedimentary mountains like the Himalayas. We believe that other impressive geological features such as the huge and deep Grand Canyon were birthed at this time. In addition, earth’s strata folded trapping the dense Pre-Adamic forests resulting in vast deposits and reservoirs of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas. Earth’s rocks contain millions of fossils of sea and land animals. These include some amazingly huge animal fossils, like woolly mammoths and dinosaurs, which must have roamed the Pre-Adamic world in the Pre-Adamic atmosphere.
Many scientists believe that these animals suffered a sudden and abrupt extinction, many millions of years ago. It is highly significant that no human fossils have been found alongside dinosaurs, woolly mammoths and other ancient animal fossils. This does not surprise us, as God did not create man in the Pre-Adamic Age.
It is clear from Genesis 1:2 that God’s global judgement against Lucifer’s world resulted in a global Ice Age, which is supported by earth’s geology. ‘Snowball Earth’ is a scientific hypothesis that the earth’s surface became entirely frozen over at least once in its history. It is worth noting that the geological community generally accepts this hypothesis because it best explains glacial geological features surprisingly found in the tropics.
During the 1970’s, in the Namibian desert, geologist Joseph Kirschvink found sedimentary deposits containing drop stones, which are of glacial origin. This scientific evidence, showing that even the tropics were once completely under water and frozen, supports the biblical account of God’s judgement against Lucifer’s world resulting in a global Ice Age.
Although Noah’s world suffered God’s judgement of a global flood, very little geological evidence of it survives today. This is because Noah’s world did not suffer a global tohuw and bohuw judgement, as experienced by Lucifer’s world. In God’s judgement of Noah’s world, the powers of the heavens were not shaken, and there were no cataclysmic upheavals of the earth’s surface such that mountains were formed. Also, there was no withdrawal or darkening of the sun to cause global freezing of the flood waters.
In order for fossils to form, living organisms need to be buried quickly between two layers of rocks and/or quickly frozen before the natural process of decay can take place. Geologists have failed to discover fossils in any vast number, which they consider to be only a few thousand years old. The fact that no human fossils have been found in any number anywhere on earth proves that Noah’s world did not suffer a global tohuw and bohuw judgement.
It is therefore clear that it was not God’s judgement against Noah’s world, but God’s judgement against Lucifer’s world in the Pre-Adamic Age that caused massive cataclysmic upheavals of the earth’s surface greatly impacting earth’s geology to bear witness for us all to see today.
Young Earth Creationism uses Noah’s Flood as a catchall solution to explain earth’s geology. In order to fit with Noah’s Flood, Young Earth Creationism must massage, manipulate and assume scientific data to explain away many of earth’s geological features such as the massive sedimentary mountain ranges, fossil fuels, dinosaurs, the Ice Age and millions of animal fossils like woolly mammoths found in ice. Also, it has no valid explanation for the lack of human fossils in the geological record.
High hills and mountains already existed before Noah’s Flood, as the Bible clearly tells us. Noah must have used tons of pitch to cover and seal the incredibly huge Ark and, as pitch is derived from coal and oil, this proves that fossil fuels preceded Noah’s Flood. Young Earth Creationists try to explain the Ice Age unconvincingly as a post Noah’s Flood event, yet the Bible clearly speaks about an Ice Age in the second verse of the Bible.
Apostle Peter speaks about both global floods, Lucifer’s flood and Noah’s flood.
2 Peter 2:5
and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly.
This scripture clearly refers to Noah’s flood. Now, let us carefully examine the second scripture spoken by Apostle Peter about the other past judgement of God, which also resulted in global flooding.
2 Peter 3:5-6
5 For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, 6 by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water.
Please note that this scripture says ‘the world that then existed perished’. This scripture refers to Lucifer’s flood in the Pre-Adamic Age, and not to Noah’s flood in the Adamic Age.
The main difference between God’s judgements of Lucifer’s world and Noah’s world is that Lucifer’s world was completely destroyed. All life on earth in Lucifer’s world totally perished. This was not the case resulting from God’s judgement of Noah’s world. God did not completely destroy all of Noah’s world. All life on earth did not totally perish, as in the case of Lucifer’s world. Of course, in both of these judgements from God, Satan and his fallen angels could not perish because God created them as immortal spirit beings.
Finally, let us now consider some relevant scientific theories, which complete our study of the Pre-Adamic Age.
The ‘Big Bang’ theory
The Big Bang theory, which teaches that the universe began with an explosion of a primeval atom, is unbiblical and nonsensical. How could the vast universe, with billions of galaxies and stars and our beautiful planet earth with its amazingly complex and intricate design and life, have come from an explosion of one tiny atom? Where would this primeval atom have originated in the first place? The truth of the Bible that God created the universe with the earth instantaneously in the beginning, many millions of years ago (Genesis 1:1, Psalm 148:2-5) and then stretched out (expanded) the universe (Isaiah 45:12), makes a lot more sense than the Big Bang theory.
The theory of Evolution
God is the Creator of all things. He commands and things happen. There is not a hint anywhere in the Bible that God used evolution to create life. As we reject Young Earth Creationism, we also reject the theory of Evolution.
Conclusion
We appreciate that Young Earth Creationists are passionate in their beliefs that the Bible is the infallible Word of God, God is the Creator and Evolution is a false theory. However, the sad irony is that YEC itself, with its false interpretation of the creation account in Genesis and belief in a young earth, supplies evolutionists and atheists with all the ammunition they need to ridicule the Bible as contradictory, illogical and scientifically nonsensical.
Young Earth Creationism has yet to discover the biblically correct ‘Answers in Genesis’, answers that are not only very logical, but also scientifically and geologically defensible, answers that not only protect, but also enhance the credibility of the Bible as the true Word of God.
The correct biblical understanding of the Genesis account of creation and acknowledgement of the Pre-Adamic World is the best and the only way to fight the false theories of The Big Bang and Evolution taught in our schools and universities today.