CHAPTER 12
EARTH'S CHANGEOVER: THE TIME BETWEEN OCCUPANTS
We have discussed how the earth was originally created for the angels. Recall that they watched, sang and cheered as earth was created for their occupancy. After the Satanic revolt the angels lost the privilege of living on this paradise planet, and it was shut down and put in a deep freeze at that point. The earth would eventually have a new purpose in God's plan, and a new set of souled creatures called humans would occupy it. But what happened during the time between the two types of occupants?
As a short review of how the earth got to this point, the angels lived on the paradise planet earth as a sort of theme park with the dinosaurs and original plant-life provided for their pleasure. The dinosaurs could not harm the angels since they could not suffer harm or die. For a very long time the angels lived on the earthly paradise in a harmonious society in compliance with God's designs for them. The higher level angels went back and forth to heaven to visit and receive instructions from God. The entire earth was a paradise, and the Garden of Eden was the most desirable location on the earth. Then Satan rebelled, and took 1/3 of the angels with him. The earth was shut down and the angelic conflict raged in the heavens. Satan and his forces lost, and God sentenced them to eternity in the Lake of Fire. Satan appealed that sentence, then the purpose of the original earth changed. It was originally a place for the angels to live and play outside of heaven. But after the fall of Satan it was no longer a place for angelic abode and recreation because God shut down the earth.
In the intervening possibly very long period of time God encased the earth in ice by removing the sun, which destroyed all the previous plant and animal life. This “extinction event” included killing the dinosaurs and all the original vegetation. The dinosaurs were meant for the angels, not for man. Man and dinosaurs were never alive on earth at the same time. A new creation of plants and animals was required for man. Angels did not require meat, but they did eat the plants of the earth during the original earth creation and especially the fruit trees. When man was created they would require sustenance from the earth, so a new creation of plants and animals was required. The remains of the dinosaurs and other life forms from the Age of the Angels fossilized long before the Ice Age began. Fossils may not have been able to form during the deep freeze Ice Age due to the extreme low temperatures. Therefore the earth was shut down for a long time, but it would eventually become a place for human occupancy. The purpose of the earth dramatically changed, from the occupancy of the angels to the occupancy of man, so the earth itself needed significant changes.
During this long period of time certain things were happening. After the sun was turned off all animal and plant life quickly died, likely within 72 hours. So the vegetation and lifeforms which were on the original earth were totally wiped out so that none were continued into the second phase of the earth's history. This was the period of the glaciers we call the Ice Age. Since the sun was extinguished there was no warmth. The earth was encased in ice, with no visible land anywhere. It was an icy, dark and lifeless planet. The angels could no longer use it. That was the point. The ice moved over the earth's surface as glaciers and moved dirt and rocks to places they did not formerly reside. The red dirt of Canada moved down to Georgia. A moraine formed across Pennsylvania. Maps of this glacial movement are available. Overall the issue is that the surface of the earth changed as the land was moved around. Some things were buried which were part of the Age of the Angels. Remnants of previous life forms had fossilized, but some were moved around. Some ended up buried deeply. Some layers of earth became inverted as the glaciers moved land masses around.
The Bible only references this Ice Age period of time as one verse, namely Genesis 1:2. The Bible begins in Genesis 1:1:
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
Then Genesis 1:2 describes what happened a very long time later, after the fall of Satan and his angels and the earth's sun had been extinguished:
"Now the earth was [became, or was made] formless [a wasteland] and empty [no life], darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters."
This issue has been studied and discussed by Bible scholars for centuries, and many conclude that a very long period of time occurs between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2. In fact, it is the only logical and Biblically supported view of the timeline of the earth and universe. One of the best summaries of the issue was from a scholar who studied this issue over a lifetime, Dr. Arthur Custance, who wrote about it in his book Without Form and Void: A Study of the Meaning of Genesis 1:2. He states:
“To me, this issue is important, and after studying the problem for some thirty years and after reading everything I could lay my hands on pro and con and after accumulating in my own library some 300 commentaries on Genesis, the earliest being dated 1670, I am persuaded that there is, on the basis of the evidence, far more reason to translate Genesis 1:2 as ‘But the earth had become a ruin and a desolation, etc.’ than there is for any of the conventional translations in our modern versions” (p.7).
Many other scholars have agreed that the verse indicates the earth became a void and empty of life, and was turned into a wasteland, rather than being created by God that way. As a result it required the renovation of Genesis 1:3-31 to prepare it for man's occupancy.
The Bible reveals that the earth was not created as a wasteland, void and empty. It became such due to the fall of the angels and God extinguishing the sun, resulting in mass death and destruction of all plant and animal life forms. Therefore the earth became a wasteland and “empty”, meaning no life. Ice covered the entire surface of the earth, which is the meaning of the “surface of the deep”. Note it does not say anything about the rest of the universe, but starts with the fact of an existing universe, but an earth which was "void." I realize this has not been taught by most current theologians. But think about this: God would not create a formless earth and then change it over six days. God can say one word and create everything perfect in one moment. This is what He did when He created the original universe for the angels. After the angels were expelled from the earth, it was made a void on purpose to keep the angels from it. It had been a gracious gift to the angels, but that gift was rejected, so it was shut down. To show this issue more clearly, the Bible says Satan enjoyed the Garden of Eden before his fall, and that Garden was only ever on the earth. It was on the original earth created a very long time ago, and it was also on the renovated earth. Ezekiel 28:11-16 says:
Ezekiel 28:12 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘You [Satan] were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 13 You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: 14 You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones. 15 You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you."
But that is not the only verse which proves the point. When we look at the verse from Genesis 1:2 “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep" and contrast it with Jeremiah 4:23:
“I looked at the earth, and it was formless and empty; and at the heavens, and their light was gone.”
Therefore Satan used the Garden of Eden as his pleasure garden before his fall, which we know did not occur when Adam and the woman were there on earth. And Jeremiah says the sun was "gone" or extinguished, meaning it had existed and then was no longer there, and at the same time the earth was a wasteland, directly tying the wasteland of the earth to the loss of the sun. These two Old Testament verses together give us the picture of what Genesis 1:1-2 says about the two periods of the earth, with a long separation in between. The earth was not formless for millions of years before this time when dinosaurs roamed it and angels used it as their central home in the universe, prepared for them by God as a gift of grace. It became formless and empty because God made it so after angels sinned and rebelled against God, and the earth was taken away from the angels and put into a state of suspended animation when its sun was extinguished. Without a sun (note that Genesis 1:3 and 1:14-19 say God later recreated the sun) the earth became an icy, barren, and lifeless sphere without any use to the angels. And it remained that way for a long time while the angelic conflict waged in heaven. This is what Jeremiah confirmed when he quoted God saying: “I looked at the earth, and it was formless and empty; and at the heavens, and their light was gone” (Jeremiah 4:23) which shows that the earth previously had form, and there had previously been a sun which was now gone. It cannot be “gone” unless it previously existed. This shows that there were two conditions in which the earth existed, first for the angels when it had form, and then after the angels were evicted and it became formless and void because the earth was put into an icy dark suspended animation due to the angelic conflict. God shut down Satan’s playground because of his revolution against God, long before man was put on the earth.
Another way to look at this is to ask yourself why God would create a mess. The Bible does not say the universe was a void, it only describes the earth as such. It was only the earth which became a wasteland, not the entire universe. And given the undeniable evidence of the remnants of an earlier Age which resulted in fossils and other physical remnants of prior life forms, it would be nonsense to try to say the earth and universe were created only 6000 years ago. And we know that man has only been on earth for that period of time.
Genesis 5:1 "When God created mankind, he made them in the likeness of God. 2 He created them male and female and blessed them. And he named them “Mankind” when they were created. 3 When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth."
The Bible says literally "When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son..." we must assume it means from Adam's creation in the Garden, not from the time of his exit from the Garden. That would mean Adam and the woman were in the Garden less than 130 years before they sinned and were thrown out. Then the genealogy from Genesis 5 shows the timeline from then to today is about 6000 years.
Therefore it is a critical point in Bible interpretation to understand that Genesis 1:1 describes in one verse the original creation of the universe, then after a very long time Genesis 1:2 says the earth was lifeless and formless, and then God proceeded to renovate the earth for the occupancy of man, and this was only 6000 years ago.
The earth has therefore been the home of two separate creations of souled beings. The angels inhabited the earth for a very long time in harmony with God until Satan and 1/3 of the angels revolted. Then God shut the earth down. After an Ice Age, the earth was renovated for man, and an entirely new set of plants and animals were put in place on the earth. These two separate uses of the earth are consistent with what the Bible says about angels, man and why God used the earth as the home for both of these souled beings at different times.
We will now go back to the locations created by God. The next in sequence of time was the Lake of Fire.