"Ageless" Earth - Was Earth Originally A Watery Mess?

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 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.

Genesis 1:1–2 kjv

Have you ever considered the feasibility of the gap theory? It proposes that there was a major time lapse between the first two verses of the Bible. In Genesis 1:1 the Scriptures posit that the creation of the heavens (direct translation from the Hebrew language) and the earth took place at the beginning of time. However, there is good reason to question that God created the earth the way it was described in the next verse.

In Genesis 1:2 the Hebrew word hayah was translated into the English word was, which also means “became” or “came to pass.” In other words, God started time with the creation of the heavens and the earth, but something happened. The earth became without form, empty and dark. What happened? Since our basic assumptions concerning this issue come from the Bible, then let’s stick with it to find our answers.

This is the fourth installment of our blog series, "Ageless" Earth. You can read the other installments by clicking on the following links;

1. "Ageless" Earth - Part One
2. "Ageless" Earth - How The Earth Was Once Destroyed
3. "Ageless" Earth - Ice Ages

From Faith Science;

God could not have created the earth formless and void.

For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord; and there is none else.

Isaiah 45:18 kjv

I know God’s ways are past finding out, but would he create the heavens and earth in complete darkness first before declaring light? Would you go to work in darkness and after completing some of your most important tasks then turn on the light? In fact, now that I think of it, I have an idea. If we use that reasoning, I guess that’s why the earth was a dark, watery mess at first. Maybe God only noticed what he did when he turned on the light in Genesis 1:3.

Of course, that doesn’t make sense. Take a look at what Isaiah 45:18 says. When God created the heavens and the earth, he made it inhabitable, and nothing was wrong with it. Now look at how this same verse is stated in the New Living Translation.

For the Lord is God, and he created the heavens and earth and put everything in place. He made the world to be lived in, not to be a place of empty chaos. “I am the Lord,” he says, “and there is no other.

Isaiah 45:18 nlt

There is no chaos in God, so even if some Bible scholars believe it to be part of the creative process, I don’t. He remains a God of order. The Bible clearly states in Genesis 1:2 that the earth was formless and empty, which means it was a place of empty chaos, directly contradicting Isaiah 45:18. On that account, there is some room for reasoning here.

Since the character of God is consistent throughout the Scriptures with order and purpose, I would have to assume that Isaiah 45:18 is correct. Hence, something must have happened after God created the earth in Genesis 1:1 for it to become formless and void.

As I stated at the beginning of this chapter, that scenario is exactly what the Bible states in its original language. The earth wasn’t created formless and void; it became formless and void.