How Old is the Earth?

Created  in Beauty, Not Chaos

Putting these facts together, we can  understand that God would surely have created the heavens and the earth with  great order and beauty, yet that through some sinful circumstance they became  desolate and devastated—ruined and uninhabitable—in need of renewal (cf. Psalm  104:30) before the creation of mankind! Indeed, Genesis 1:1–2 can accurately be  translated: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. But the  earth had become a desolation and a chaotic ruin, and darkness was on the face  of the deep.”

So, does the Bible describe any sin or  rebellion against God, before Adam’s  creation, that could have brought such chaos and ruin? Yes, it does! Scripture  tells us what Satan had done before he met  Eve in the Garden of Eden, seeking to lure her into sinning against God  (Genesis 3:1–5). God’s word makes it plain that angels were present before the  earth existed, and they shouted for joy when they saw its foundation laid (Job  38:6–7)! Lucifer—who became Satan the devil—existed at this time. Scripture  describes this corrupted, sinful creature leading a prideful angelic rebellion  (Ezekiel 28:12–16; Isaiah 14:12–14)—a rebellion that Scripture indicates  included a third of the angels (Revelation 12:4). Isaiah 14:14 describes this  prideful being’s desire to “ascend above the clouds” to take God’s very throne  for himself—which implies that his assigned responsibilities were below the  clouds, and therefore on the earth! Lucifer had the free will either to obey or  to disobey God, and by refusing to carry  out God’s will he became Satan—an adversary to God.

As sin always does, Satan’s rebellion  brought destruction and ruin—in this case devastating the earth that had been  his charge to prepare for God’s purposes. It is this chaotic and ruinous  devastation, tohu and bohu, that we see reflected in the words  of Genesis 1:2, and it is the miraculous six-day restoration of this planet—to  a state of beauty and wonder fit for God’s creation of mankind—that we see in  the rest of Genesis chapter 1!

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