Did God create the heavens without light and the earth formless and void?

Did God create the earth without form and void?

Genesis 01:01: 'In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.'

'In the beginning'(Prov:8:23, Jn:1:1, Acts:15:18, Eph:3:9, Col:1:18, Heb:1:10, 11:3, I Jn:1:1, Rev:1:6, 3:14) refers to the dateless past. Here the Bible introduces us to a new time frame, from eternity. Verse 1 is not a summary of Genesis chapter 1, as some people think. (But Gen:2:4 is!) We will see as we proceed.

02: 'And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.'

If we read the first two verses just like that, we think that God created the earth without form and void and there was darkness, etc. Now for a brief moment, to understand better, look at the latter half of Gen:2:7 : '.......;and man became a living soul.' The hebrew word 'hayah' is translated 'became'.
In verse 2('And the earth was without form,..' ), this same hebrew word 'hayah' is translated as 'was'! So Gen:1:2 should read: 'And the earth became without form and void;...........' This is just one of the proofs that there is a defnite time gap between verse 1 and verse 2 of Genesis chapter 1. So the earth was not created all wet and without form and void. It became like that! Why? We'll see as we move on.
Now don't you feel like asking:
Verse 1 says that God created the heavens and the earth, then what are verses 3 onwards talking about? Don't those verses say that God divided the waters with a firmament and called it Heaven? Didn't He gather the waters together in one place and call the dry land Earth?
God already created the heavens and the earth in verse 1, perfectly! The hebrew for 'create' is 'bara', which means 'to bring into being' (Heb:11:3). In Gen:1:1, the universe is brought into existence. In Gen:1:21, sea creatures and birds are created. And in Gen:1:27, man is created. In all other places, 'made' ('asah' in hebrew) is used (Gen:1:7, 1:16, etc.), not 'created' proving the 6 days' work to be mainly reconstructive! That's why in the 6 days' work, God always says,"Let there be.......", expressing permission and purpose in connecton with already existing things!

Some don't believe the difference between 'created' and 'made'. It is so sad that some of these people believe the Bible and are good christians, but have hardened their hearts.

Some quote Exodus:20:11> "For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea....." and say that the 'gap theory' is inconsistent. To such hasty people, all I ask them to do is to read the same verse again, carefully: Exo:20:11> "For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea........."
Here the word 'made' (Hebrew=asah) is used. 'Created' (hebrew='bara') is not used, again proving the 6 days work to be mainly reconstructive.

Look at II Peter:3:5>"For this they willingly ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:"
Here also we see that the earth was first out of the water, not created all wet and in chaos, but later became submerged. We'll see why later.

My friends, can such a marvellous, wonderful God, create a formless, void and empty earth and the heavens without light? Think again!

The light, firmament, waters, earth, darkness and all other things mentioned, were already in existence, but had been thrown into chaos. But why? How?
Look at Jer:4:23>26 which says: 'I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the montains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord, and by his fierce anger.' This passage also describes the scene of Gen:1:2, for what other time in history was the earth in such a state?


To be continued........