Age of the Earth

For those that say the earth was created approximately 6000 years ago because of the following scriptures, Genesis 1:1-2 and Genesis 2:1-4. Lets explore what they actually say.

Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."

Genesis 1:1 is only statement that God created the heaven and the earth, but it does not say when that beginning was.

Now in Genesis 1:2 we are told:

Genesis 1:2 "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."

It sounds like He is in the process of creating the Earth from scratch, but one finds that this is a mistranslation of Hebrews:

"was" = hâyâh A primitive root; to exist, that is, be or become, come to pass.
"without form" = tôhu From an unused root meaning to lie waste; a desolation (of surface), that is, desert; figuratively a worthless thing; adverbially in vain: - confusion, empty place, without form, nothing, (thing of) nought, vain, vanity, waste, wilderness.
"void" = bôhû From an unused root (meaning to be empty); a vacuity, that is, (superficially) an undistinguishable ruin: - emptiness, void.
"darkness" = chôshek the dark; hence (literally) darkness; figuratively misery, destruction, death, ignorance, sorrow, wickedness: - dark (-ness), night, obscurity.

So a proper translation might be

"And the earth become a desolation, and undistinguishable ruin; and destruction was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."

Here are a couple more somewhat literal translation of it:

"the earth hath existed waste and void, and darkness [is] on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God fluttering on the face of the waters" (Genesis 1:2, Young's Literal Translation)

"But the earth became waste and void, and with darkness on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon on the face of the waters" (Genesis 1:2, clarified literal translation)

In Isaiah 45:18 we are told that the earth was NOT created in vain. The word vain is the same Hebrew word tôhu translated as 'without form' in Genesis 1:2. So according to the Bible, something happened after the heaven and the earth were created in Genesis 1:1 causing a restoration/recreation of the Earth in Genesis 1:2. Psalms 104 also hints at the Earth being renewed:

Psalms 104:30 "Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest H2318 the face of the earth."

H2318 = A primitive root; to be new; causatively to rebuild:

But what about Genesis 2:

Genesis 2:1-4 "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them... These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens"

"finished" = kâlâh A primitive root; to end, whether intransitively (to cease, be finished, perish) or transitively (to complete, prepare, consume): - accomplish, cease, consume (away), determine, destroy (utterly), be (when . . . were) done, (be an) end (of), expire, (cause to) fail, faint, finish, fulfil, X fully, X have, leave (off), long, bring to pass, wholly reap, make clean riddance, spend, quite take away, waste.
"host" = tsâbâ' tsebâ'âh From H6633; a mass of persons (or figurative things), especially regularly organized for war (an army); by implication a campaign, literally or figuratively (specifically hardship, worship): - appointed time, (+) army, (+) battle, company, host, service, soldiers, waiting upon, war (-fare).
"created" = bârâ' A primitive root; (absolutely) to create; (qualified) to cut down (a wood), select, feed (as formative processes): - choose, create (creator), cut down, dispatch, do, make (fat).

So a proper translation might be:

"Thus the heavens and the earth were make clean riddance, of all the army of them... These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were dispatched, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens"

The Bible makes it clear the angels were created before the earth was created.

Job 38:4–7 "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding…. Or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?"

The Earth was inhabited by the Angels before the creation of man. In Ezekiel 28, we see that Lucifer had a throne on the earth. He was a ruler over the entire earth. God intended him to rule the earth by administering the government of God over the earth. And the government of God was administered on earth until the rebellion of the sinning angels. How long these angels inhabited the earth before the creation of man is not revealed, it might have been millions of years. It was Satan's rebellion that caused the world to become "desolate".

When speaking of the“king of Tyre” in Ezekiel 28, the prophet Ezekiel is clearly describing Satan as the ruler of that ancient land:

Ezekiel 28:11-19 "Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more."

Satan is called “the ruler of this world” three times in Scripture (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11). But that was not enough for Satan, he wanted to ascend into heavens, to be above the stars [or angels] of God, which means his abode was below the heavens. This further explains Jude and Revelation 12.

Isaiah 14:13-14 "For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High."

Jude 1:6 "angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode"

Revelation 12:4 "And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth:"

The earth is referred to as being old in 2 Peter.

2 Peter 3:5-8 "For this they willingly are 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: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day."

The re-creation of the earth in Genesis 1:3-2:3 took six literal days, but the reality is that the Bible supports the idea of a "re-creation" and that is apparently what happened.

It is also clear that whatever life-forms did exist before the re-creation were not all re-created. This would explain the dinosaurs and various other animals existing prior to the re-creation.

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