CHAPTER 14
LOCATION: THE RENOVATED EARTH & UNIVERSE PREPARED FOR MANKIND
We have seen how the original universe, heaven, and finally earth were created for the angels because souled creatures cannot exist outside of location. Therefore the original universe and heaven were created just prior to the creation of the angels, and then earth was created for them. The angels spent a long time living on the earth as their home, but the angels were evicted some time after the fall of Satan and his fallen angels. So after a long angelic war the earth was shut down and the Lake of Fire was created for the fallen angels since they were no longer welcome in God's original created locations. However, God graciously allowed a delay in the required move of the fallen angels into the Lake of Fire, and provided Satan an opportunity to appeal his sentence.
The earth was originally created for angels to occupy, and then shut down sometime after the fall of Satan. This could have been immediately after the fall of the angels, or possibly after the angelic war, which was waged in the universe, was complete and Satan had lost. It was made into an icy dark lifeless planet with no sun. Therefore, when God determined to create man, God needed to renovate that lifeless earth for man to occupy. Note this was a renovation, not a creation of the earth, since it had existed for a very long time. The earth and universe needed to be renovated for the new occupants, who were different than the previous occupants and therefore needed special provisions including a new set of plants and animals since the previous ones were all destroyed long, long ago. So Genesis 1:1 occurred many millions of years prior to Genesis 1:2. The original universe including earth was created by God for the angels in Genesis 1:1, then a long time later God renovated the universe for human occupancy, which is described in Genesis 1:2-25. And in Genesis 1:26 God created man.
So for possibly a very long time the earth was encased in ice during the era of the glaciers, and the fallen angels lived elsewhere in the universe in less hospitable locations than their former home on earth. Then God began the appeal trial of Satan by putting into motion a plan to create a new souled creature called man, who would require a new location. What better location than the angel's old home? So the renovation of the earth in preparation for man's occupancy began, and it would take six days. A literal six days, 24 hours each.
Therefore, when God was about to create man to resolve the appeal trial of Satan, the universe and earth required renovation to accommodate a souled creature with vastly reduced physical capabilities compared to the angels. It was therefore the physical limitations of man compared to angels which required this significant renovation of the earth. For one thing, man and dinosaurs could not co-exist. They were incompatible creatures. To the angels they were just cute pets who could not harm them, but to man they were far too hazardous. That is merely one of many issues we will explore regarding why the universe required renovation prior to man's occupancy.
The universe of today has changed from when it was created for the angels, although the core earth is the same earth. We know this because the remains of the Age of the Angels are still with us in fossilized forms. But nothing remains alive today of any plant or animal life from the earth's Age of the Angels. This has a very important application, which is that none of the so-called “pre-historic” life forms were the fore-bearers of the current plants and animals. There is no connection or lineage, either direct or indirect. The previous group of plants and animals were completely wiped out, and God created the current group of plants and animals from nothing without any connection to the former. And since the renovation of the earth occurred only 6000 years ago and not millions of years ago, evolution is quite literally an impossibility, a small fact overlooked by those who do not believe the Bible. It also means something equally surprising, namely that the current animals were created on the exact same 24 hour day as the creation of the first man Adam, which was the 6th day of renovation as described in Genesis 1:24-31. Therefore man and the current set of animals are the exact same age to the very day.
Although some incorrectly view the six days of restoration of the earth as either original creation or a metaphorical millions of years consisting of six very long eons of time during which an evolutionary process happened, neither can be correct. Man and the current animals are the exact same age, and the fish and birds are literally only three days older. The plants are four days older than man. And these are all literal 24 hour days. Again, this makes evolution of plants to animals and animals to man an impossibility since the timeline of earth's restoration as provided in the Bible says man and animals are the exact same age when it comes to creation, just 6000 years old. So no matter how a person may try, they cannot say that man evolved from the animals since all plant and animal life which existed during the Age of the Angels was completely extinguished very long ago. And a whole new set of animals were created the day man was created and put on the earth, so there was no evolution from the angel/dinosaur era to the current man/animals era. Once again we see how the Bible rules out evolution, and the six days are not some extended evolutionary tale covering millions of years. That is a fable and not worthy of a scholarly discussion. But if someone wants to believe that man evolved from lower creation, they need to overcome the fact that the earth was encased in ice for a very long time, which killed off all plants and animals.
The theory of evolution of man from pre-historic animals is literally impossible for two reasons: 1) 100% of all life from the Age of the Angels (i.e., dinosaurs, plants, etc.) was extinguished and nothing survived the long Ice Age which ensued, and 2) the Bible says man and animals were created on the same day, so man could not have evolved from animals. Trying to explain the six days of Genesis 1 as millions of years ignores what the Bible says, namely that the current animals were created on the same exact day as man. Evolution has as its central belief that given enough time anything is possible. That is both illogical and absurd even if someone does not believe the Bible. The corollary to this so-called theory is that somehow all the material (matter) now contained in the universe has eternally existed. The Law of Conservation of Matter requires that no matter can ever be created or destroyed, although it can be changed into a different form. So all the matter in the current universe had to have existed ...what ...forever? Is that not an absurdity? But for someone who believes the Bible is from God, to assume God would use evolution, a trial and error approach to get to the goal of creating souled creatures who would resolve the appeal trial of Satan, does not give God much credit. And evolution cannot create souls. Therefore any attempt to reconcile the Bible with evolution must assume that man is no more than another animal without a soul, having no eternal future. And beyond that, believing in evolution requires far more faith than we have as believers in the Bible. That is why evolution is part of a cosmic secular religious system for unbelievers, since a religion is based on faith in something outside of oneself. The Reader could pursue this concept of the secular religion of unbelievers further in my book "Exploring Deep Concepts & Mysteries of the Bible" which is available free online. This is already too much time spent on evolutionists, but it is important to know that God does not use passive creation in the form of evolution to fulfill His will. He is God, and He does not do foolish things, and evolution is foolish, mainly because there is a vast difference between man and animals, namely that man has a soul, and animals do not. Evolution could never account for that fact. If man does not have a soul, there is no eternal future for anyone, life itself is pointless, and one might better use his time to howl at the moon or something equally foolish than to read this book.
Back to the main point, numerous changes were made during the renovation of the universe, which was accomplished just prior to the creation of man, and those are described in Genesis 1:2-31. These changes took six literal 24 hour days to complete. Recall that after the earth had been shut down the sun was extinguished which caused the earth to be encased in ice. No plant or animal creature survived the destruction caused by having the sun shut off and the resulting Ice Age era of time which was the period of the glaciers. The earth in its suspended animation phase became “without form and void” as Genesis 1:2 says. It did not start out that way, since God created it perfect, as He does everything. Rather it became that way after the fall of Satan and his angels. After the subsequent war among the angels, which Satan and his angels lost, the fallen angels were exiled to the far regions of the universe while they awaited their sentence because God shut down the earth. The angelic society had come to an end, and the fallen angels were sentenced to the Lake of Fire, which was supposed to start immediately. But as we have discussed, Satan appealed the sentence and God allowed an appeal trial, which would take place on the same earth, but with a new type of souled creatures serving as witnesses.
The Ice Age continued for some period of time before God proceeded with the appeal trial of Satan. We simply do not know how long God waited before that appeal trial started, but when it did start it required another different set of souled creatures, and a renovation of the universe in preparation for their occupancy. This second set of souled creatures had the exact same soul, but in vastly inferior bodies. Because of the inferior bodies, the earth was changed to accommodate them. As an overview, God restored the original universe by creating a new sun, (or the sun was re-lit) and new stars were provided. God also put in place an entirely new set of plant and animal creation, making the universe ready for the creation of man. Then after these renovations were accomplished, He created man. Humans were created to prove that God was perfectly fair to sentence Satan and his fallen angels to the Lake of Fire. Like any trial, the witnesses needed to be relevant to the case against the angels, and those were the humans who became the witnesses for and against the prosecution (God), and also for and against the defense (Satan and fallen angels). They were relevant because they have the same exact soul, just in an inferior body.
Where many fall into a trap is trying to include the creation of the earth into the six days of Genesis 1:2-31. That is not what the Bible says. The Bible clearly reveals an original creation of the universe and earth in Genesis 1:1 followed by a very long period of time, and then a restoration of the universe and earth during a literal six day period covered in Genesis 1:2-31 which we will cover next. The latter happened about 6000 years ago, which is not all that long compared to the age of the universe. The former (original creations) were a very long time ago. The core earth is indeed very old, and this fact is completely consistent with the Bible. We simply do not know how much time had passed from the creation of the earth to the fall of angels, or from that fall of the angels to the renovation of the universe prior to the creation of man. And recall that time did not exist before the angels were about to be created, so there was nothing to measure during the eternal now in which God lived forever and still lives.
We will now proceed to cover the details of what the Bible says in Genesis and elsewhere about the creation of the original universe, the Ice Age, and the renovation of the earth in preparation for the creation of man.
Genesis Chapter 1:2-31 – The Original Creation and Renovation of the Universe and Earth
The first statement of the original creation of the universe, heaven and earth in the Bible is Genesis 1:1 which says “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth...” This was the original creation of the entire universe, heaven, and earth for the angels. It was not the restoration of the universe and earth for man. This original creation was a very long time ago, but the restoration prior to man’s occupancy of earth occurred somewhere around 6000 years ago.
Therefore the six days of restoration which ended with the creation of man occurred a very long time ago after the original creation of the universe. And that restoration took literally six days. The main confusion surrounding this issue is the lack of understanding of Genesis chapter 1, which first describes the creation of the universe in a single sentence, followed by a very long time during which the angels lived in harmony with God, then 1/3 of them fell, and then the earth was shut down for a long time. That is a lot to pack into one sentence, since this all covered a very long period of time. Then in the next verses the restoration of that universe is described as a period of six days of restoring both the universe and earth. The original earth was for the angels, and the renovated earth was for mankind. The original creation had one set of plants and animals, and the renovation provided a completely different set of plants and animals. So there have been two complete creations of plant and animal species, with no cross-over from one to the next. The first set was for angels, and the renovation plants and animals were provided for man. The original one for angels is where the dinosaurs existed, and we have seen that they never co-existed with man. Their histories were a very long time apart. Human bodies are not as advanced as the angels, so humans could not share the earth with dinosaurs. The dinosaurs had been removed long before the renovation of the earth and arrival of man, and God did not put them back on earth, but rather provided animals better suited to humans. And since the angelic conflict would be resolved by humans mostly confined to earth, other changes needed to be made, and this is described in Genesis 1:3 and on, where God renovated the earth and universe during a literal six days in preparation for man’s occupancy of earth. So let us look at Genesis chapter one verse by verse to see the original creation of the universe, heaven and earth, followed by the renovation of the universe and earth a very long time later.
Genesis 1:1
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
This verse describes God creating time and the original universe. This was done in stages in our minds, but consisted of a near-simultaneous creation of time, the universe, and heaven followed by the angels, and then earth. It helps us to think of time coming first, then immediately afterward the universe and heaven, followed soon afterward by the angels, and then earth. We know earth was last because the angels witnessed it being created for them. Therefore the original universe and heaven of Genesis 1:1 was created for the angels. So how do we know this? We learn more about this separation of original creation from renovation as the passage continues and Genesis 1:2 describes what happened after the fall of Satan and his angels:
2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
The earth was not created as a void. It became a void due to the fall of the angels and God extinguishing the sun as shown by "darkness was over the face of the deep", meaning no sun over the ice covered dark planet. Extinguishing the sun after the fall of the angels resulted in total death and destruction of all plant and animal lifeforms. 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 a void. I realize this has not been taught by most theologians. But think about this: God would not create a formless earth and then change it. God can say one word and create everything perfect in one moment. This is what He did when He created the original universe and heaven for the angels. After the fall of some of the angels, they were all expelled from the earth, and God made earth uninhabitable, described as a "void", to keep the angels from it. It had been a gracious gift to the angels, but God was rejected, therefore it was taken away from them.
To show this issue more clearly, the Bible says Satan enjoyed the Garden of Eden before his fall, long before man was ever created. And that Garden was only ever on the earth. It was on the original earth created for the angels and enjoyed by Satan before his fall, and it was also on the renovated earth and enjoyed by the man and woman before their fall. 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."
We see that Satan had access to the Garden of Eden on earth before his fall, long before man was created. "You were in Eden, the garden of God" shows that Satan was using the earth before his fall, and this could not have been just one day before the six days of Genesis 1:3-28 where the renovation is described.
As a side issue, the Garden of Eden was shut off from the angels after their fall just as it would later be shut off from man after his fall. It was given first to the angels, then it was on the restored earth for man's use and enjoyment. It will also be on the new earth of the eternal future, making it one of the very few creations which will endure throughout the entirety of time.
But the Garden of Eden is not the only issue which proves this point. When we look at Genesis 1:2 “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep" and compare it with Jeremiah 4:23 which says “I looked at the earth, and it was formless and empty; and at the heavens, and their light was gone” the picture becomes more clear. Jeremiah says the light was gone, which shows that the universe previously had light but now it was gone, and this was when the earth became formless and void. There had previously been a sun which was now gone. It could not 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 period of suspended animation without light 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. The earth was not formless when dinosaurs roamed it and angels used it as their central home in the universe, prepared for them by God as a gift. 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 and stars as well were removed. Without a sun the earth became an icy, barren, and lifeless sphere without any use to the angels. And when God renovated the earth for man, Genesis 1:3 and 1:14-19 says God recreated the sun. The earth remained in this icy dark frozen state for a very long time while the angelic conflict waged in heaven.
We can also look at the issue another way from the standpoint of what the earth reveals to us about time. We know that there was an entire set of plant and animal life which lived on this same earth a very long time ago. The remains of it are fossilized and still exist. That cannot be ignored. Whatever the time frame for the pre-man plant and animal life, it was far more than 6000 years. And the genealogy of Genesis chapter 5 is also impossible to ignore since it says man has been on the earth only about 6000 years. Recall we discussed that Adam and Noah were alive at the same time because Adam lived 960 years and Noah was born during the end of Adam's lifetime. Additionally, Noah and Abraham were on earth at the same time due to the longevity of Noah, and Abraham was about 60 years old when Noah died. So Noah and Abraham likely knew each other since they were relatives. We know that Abraham lived in 1920 BC, and that he lived halfway between the exit of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden and the birth of Jesus Christ. And the time frame from the birth of Jesus to today is about as long as from Abraham to Jesus, and also as long as from Abraham to Adam and Eve exiting the Garden. Man's time on earth has therefore been relatively short. So the angels and dinosaurs living on the earth for a very long time before man was created can only be explained by interpreting Genesis 1:1-2 in this way. There is no other way to interpret the Bible and still accept the literal account of Genesis regarding the creation of a man and later a woman. The universe is ancient, but man is recent. And the Bible reveals how all this makes perfect sense.
Now that we can see Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2 in the proper context of the rest of the Bible, we see how Genesis 1:1 describes the original creation of the universe and earth, while Genesis 1:2 describes the start of the restoration of the universe and earth when it says “Now the earth was [became, or was made] formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” The Holy Spirit was the One who brought earth out of its deep freeze, starting the renovation process for man's occupancy. We will see how the entire Trinity participated, and each would play a major role in the renovation. The Holy Spirit came over the earth in preparation for the renovation process, and Genesis 1:2 says "and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters” which describes how the Holy Spirit melted the ice (called "the face of the deep") which encased the earth and caused no land to be visible. The reason no land was visible was that there was more water on the earth at that time than there is now. We will see shortly how on Day 2 of the renovation God removed water from the earth in two ways. First He created an atmosphere which did not previously exist, which removed water since the oxygen was made from the water, with the excess hydrogen being sent into space. Secondly, God stored vast quantities of water above the atmosphere in a water layer which no longer exists, but was placed there in preparation for the future Great Flood. This is how the entire earth could be covered in water so that no land was visible in any place. Otherwise there is not enough water on the earth and in clouds to totally flood all land on earth. This is a preview and we will cover these issues in greater detail during our Day 2 discussion. But we begin to see how Genesis 1:3-31 describes the six days of the renovation of the earth for man, and after that was complete, the creation of man. We will cover these verses day by day.
Day 1:
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
God re-lit the sun as the first step in renovating earth. Without the sun there can be no life on earth. We have seen how Jeremiah 4:23 said “I looked at the earth, and it was formless and empty; and at the heavens, and their light was gone” showing that the sun, which previously existed, was no longer there since it had been extinguished. There were also no stars. The sun needed to be re-lit to allow a new set of plant and animal life and also man to be put on the earth. The ice that had encased the earth and flowed as glaciers was melted by the Holy Spirit, not by the sun, since that would have taken a very long time. So the Holy Spirit melted the ice instantly. After this first step in the renovation process the plants and animals could be put on earth, but this time instead of dinosaurs and related creatures it would be a set of animals more appropriate for man's occupancy. So on the first literal 24 hour day, God re-lit the sun and the Holy Spirit melted the ice in an accelerated process. The sun which had been extinguished to make the earth uninhabitable by the fallen angels was now needed once again to provide warmth for the renovated earth. The previous set of plants and animals could not live with man anyway, so they needed to go. With the sun re-lit and the ice gone, the earth could now be repopulated. But first, excess water had to be removed from the earth since there was no dry land above the waters.
Day 2:
6 And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.
God created an atmosphere for man out of some of the water, breaking it apart into its component parts hydrogen and oxygen. The oxygen was used in forming an atmosphere, while the hydrogen generally went out into space. This verse refers to that newly formed atmosphere as a vault called “sky”, also called a part of the "heavens", and of course the Bible regularly says there are several layers of “heavens” including the atmosphere, near space, far space, and God's throne room. Now that the earth had an atmosphere, there was still too much water on the earth, so more water had to be removed. This verse requires further explanation due to the separation of waters issue. God is omniscient, knowing everything about the future as well as the present and past. God knew He would require a Great Flood in the future, so He stored excess water from the earth above the atmosphere (the "vault"), not just in the form of clouds, but physically above the atmosphere where it would remain frozen. This design which “separated the water under the vault from the water above it” refers to the water on and under the earth being separated from the water above the atmosphere, since excess water had been removed to above the atmosphere so that dry land could appear. Today we have no such water above the atmosphere, but it was placed there in anticipation of the Great Flood. But more specifically it enabled several things. First, it removed water from the earth so that land could appear. While the earth was in a frozen state there was no dry land. Everything, 100% of earth's surface, was covered by frozen water, meaning ice. In order to allow land to appear some of the water needed to be taken out of the way entirely. Taking the excess water off the earth and putting it above the atmosphere allowed the dry land to appear on Day 3. So the water of the earth was separated from the water put above the newly formed atmosphere. As we have noted, this did two things, namely setting the stage for allowing dry land to appear (after additional renovation to be noted in the next verse), and also setting the stage for a future Great Flood when the polar ice would be melted, and the water above the atmosphere would be poured out on the earth below. We know that the waters from above the atmosphere were used in the Great Flood by comparing this verse with Genesis 7:11 which says " In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. 12 And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights." Unless the water was already stored above the atmosphere, rain and groundwater alone could not flood the earth. Rain is a cycle of evaporation and rainfall which does not raise the level of the seas since it is the same water being used over and over, and does not add new water. But new water came from above the atmosphere, having been stored there in anticipation of the Great Flood.
Now with the water levels having been dealt with, dry land can appear after renovation of the surface of the earth.
Day 3:
9 "And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good."
The land under what is now the oceans was hollowed out, and mountains were formed from the excess land as the earth's crust was compressed and pushed up by God, not by eons of earthquakes or any other such nonsense. Did God also push continents apart, or d