Is “The Gap” A Theory?

Bible Study

Is the Gap a Theory?

{Genesis 1:1-2} 1.  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

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.

Introduction: There are two main lines of thinking here in regards to these verses.  The first is that in verse one the heaven and the earth were created but they were not completed yet, that God was not done finishing them, and that according to verse two the “without form and void” is in reference to the earth being not yet completed in the six days of creation, but is only the beginning of the six day creation.  The second line of thinking is that in verse one the heaven and the earth are completed perfectly just as God intended them to be and then a period of time takes place or a “gap”, then in verse two we see the results of a great catastrophe because of something bad that took place in that “gap”.  The bible says in {Proverbs 18:13 } “He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.” so I pray that you will hear out the whole matter before you exit out of this study.  Again the King James Bible is our final authority and I will not go back to the Greek or Hebrew to answer this question, but stick with the good old tested and proved 1611 Authorized Version.  Now just to make it clear I do not in any way shape or form believe in evolution.  The Bible states clearly that God created everything without any evolutional process.  Also I do not believe the earth that we are living on today is millions or even billions of years old.  I believe that the Earth is somewhere around 6,000 years old.  I do not believe in the gap to try and prove the geological columns and such, I believe in the gap because it is biblical.  All the evidence that is found by those that try and say this earth is millions of years old can be explained by the results of Noah’s flood.

1) Compare scripture with scripture: When we study the Bible and look for an interpretation of a passage we are to compare scripture with scripture.  “no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation” {2nd Peter 1:20}, it doesn’t matter what you or I think or believe on a subject or passage, it is God and Him alone that will interpret it {Genesis 40:8} “Do not interpretations belong to God?”.  God interprets passages for us when comparing other similar passages in the Bible. {1st Corinthians 2:13} sais: “Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth: comparing spiritual things with spiritual.”  We know according to {John 6:63} that these “spiritual things” here are God’s words, the Bible.  So to find an interpretation of a verse such as {Genesis 1:2} lets compare other scriptures with it to find the answer of whether or not the earth was just not finished yet or if maybe there could have been a destruction that took place.

2) “Without form and void” {Gen 1:2} always implies that something negative has taken place.  Take a look at {Jeremiah 4:23-31} this is a tribulation and second advent reference, in verse twenty three we have the same exact words as in Genesis 1:2 “without form, and void” and it is not defined as being not yet ready to be inhabited, but is describes it as having already been inhabited but it now lays waste.  Look also in {Psalm 89:39} “Thou hast made void the covenant of thy servant: thou has profaned his crown by casting it to the ground.” This servant once had a covenant but now it has been cancelled, he once had a crown but it has been cast to the ground, again “void” is negative.  Now look at {Nahum 2:10} “She is empty, and void, and waste: and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and much pain is in all loins, and the faces of them all gather blackness.”  So the term “without form and void” in the bible never means not yet completed, but that a tragedy has taken place.

3) “Darkness” {Gen 1:2} is never good in your Bible. Take a concordance and look up the word darkness and run those references in your bible and you will soon realize that there is never one verse that says darkness is good.  There is a darkness that is associated with God as well, but again this does not in any way mean it is good.  The bible says in {1st John 1:5} “This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.”  But darkness is associated with God, lets look at {1st Kings 8:12} “Then spake Solomon, The LORD said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.” Take a look also at these verses {Deuteronomy 4:11-12}, {Psalm 18:8-11}, {Psalm 97:2}.  The reason why there is a darkness associated with God is found in {Exodus 33:20} in which God sais to Moses: “Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.” Ever since Adam and Eve sinned we have had to hide from God, or He has to hide his face from us or we would die to look upon Him since He is perfect and Holy and we are wretched sinners.  Take Adam and Eve for example, they used to walk side by side with God in the garden but after they sinned they had to hide from God because of their sin {Genesis 3:8-10}. So God placed that darkness between us and Him so that we do not die.  {Deuteronomy 4:11-12} ” And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven,with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness. And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice.”  Here when God spoke to Israel God used the darkness to hide him from the eyes of the Israelites so they wouldn’t die by looking upon him. So again darkness in your bible is never good.

4) “The Deep” {Gen 1:2}, this is a huge body of water that is today located at the base of God’s throne in Heaven. (For a full study on this refer back to episode 14 “What is the doctrine of the great deep?”  So then the question arises why is this body of water located down with the earth in {Genesis 1:2} and not in Heaven where it is today?  The answer is found in {2nd Peter 3:1-7}.

5) {2nd Peter 3:1-7} is not Noah’s flood, but is in reference to the deep in Heaven coming down and destroying the heavens and earth. This is not Noah’s flood because first of all the context is “the beginning of the creation” (vs 4) which is referring back to {Genesis 1:1} while Noah’s flood took place 1700 years after “the beginning”.  Also in (vs 5) “the earth standing out of the water and in the water” could not refer to the earth of Noah’s flood because at the time of Noah’s flood only the top of the mountains were covered with water, the earth itself was not “standing in the water” but God “hangeth the earth upon nothing” {Job 26:7}.  Here in 2nd Peter this earth is partly in the water and partly out of the water.  So an illustration of this is when a volleyball that represents the earth is put in a pond and floats, part of the ball is standing in the water while part of the ball is out of the water, this was not so with Noah’s flood.  Also the heavens were not affected in Noah’s flood only the earth {Genesis 7:17-24} but this destruction by water in 2nd Peter destroyed not only the earth but the heavens as well (vs 5} sais “the heavens were of old” then in (vs 7) sais “But the heavens and the earth, which are now“.  The last reason why this cannont be a reference to Noah’s flood is because Noah is not mentioned in the context in {2nd Peter 3:1-7} but everytime God speaks of the flood of Noah’s time He always mentions Noah’s name with it {Genesis 6-11}, {Matthew 24:38-39}, {Luke 17:27}, and even one chapter before in {2nd Peter 2:5} Peter mentions Noah with Noah’s flood, but purposely does not mention Noah in the flood of {2nd Peter 3} and the reason for this is because this is not Noah’s flood!

6) Recap of what we have so far: God created the heaven and the earth perfectly and complete in {Genesis 1:1}, but then something takes place in which God has to destroy the stars and planets in the heavens and destroy the earth with the huge body of water called “the deep”.  That is why in {Genesis 1:2} the negative words “without form and void” and “darkness” and “the deep” are found in regards to the earth. But the question is why would God destroy the heavens and the earth?

7) Satan’s Fall: We know that satan had to fall before Adam and Eve’s fall because Eve was tempted by satan in the garden{Genesis 3}.  But when did satan fall?  Well according to {Isaiah 14:13} lucifer had a throne, and in verses 13-14 we see that he rebels against God and starts out from one key location, he had to “ascend above the heights of the clouds”, “go above the stars of God”, and go to “the sides of the North” (where God dwells). So the location of satan’s throne was on this earth and according to {Isaiah 14:12} there were nations present on the earth.  So satan had a throne on this earth reigning over these nations.  Who or what consists of these nations? These nations cannot consist of men because {1st Corinthians 15:45} sais that Adam is the first man. Turn to {Job 38:4-7} “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? (the beginning) declare, if thou hast understanding…When the morning starst sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” These morning stars which are angels {Revelation 1:20, 9:1} and sons of God which are the fallen angels {Job 1:6}, {Job 2:1}, {Genesis 6:2}, {Genesis 82:6-7}, were the only beings present in the beginning of the creation.  So satan ruled the nations of angels down here on the earth after {Genesis 1:1} on his throne until iniquity was found in him {Ezekiel 28:15} and wanted to put his throne above God’s. So God destroyed the heavens and earth with huge body of water called “the deep” {2nd Peter 3:5-6} and the result is found in {Genesis 1:2}, an earth that has been destroyed.

8 ) Adam and Noah both are given the same comission by God to “replenish the earth”. To re-populate a once populated earth. Look with me in {Genesis 9:1} “And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.” God destroyed everyone on the earth except Noah and his 7 family member, so God told them to replenish (re-populate) the earth.  Now look in {Genesis 1:28} “And God blessed them (Adam and Eve), and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth“.  So Adam and Eve are given the same commission as Noah and his family, to replenish (re-populate) a once populated earth.  Now many try and say that the word “replenish” does not mean to fill again.  They say that in 1611 when the King James translators used the word replenish it meant only to fill.  But both God and the translators knew exactly when to use the word “fill” and “replenish” because just 6 verses back in {Genesis 1:22} they used the word “fill”.  When God uses the word “replenish” in the Bible it never means to fill something that was never filled before, but to refill something that once was filled previously.  Remember the Bible is our final authority, not dictionaries or man.

9) Would God put a Gap or period of time between two verses without telling you? For the first 3 1/2 of the 5 years that I have been saved I did not believe there was a period of time that took place between verses one and two of Genesis chapter one.  I just didn’t believe that God would go from one verse to the next and put years in between them without plainly telling you that He did.  But then I noticed that God puts many “gaps” in the Bible without telling you.  For example look in {Luke 4:18-21} Jesus was given the book of Isaiah and He read from it and quoted a passage to them and told them at that moment was that scripture fulfilled.  But he stopped at “To preach the acceptable year of the Lord” (vs 19), when you look at the passage He was reading it’s {Isaiah 61:1-2} in which you will see Jesus didn’t quote the whole entire verse, the rest of that verse is found in vs 2: “To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God…” When Jesus quoted it in Luke He only read about His first coming in which He fulfilled that prophesy, but He left out “the day of vengeance of our God” which is referring to His second advent that will take place two thousand years later!  So in {Isaiah 61:2} you have a gap of 2,000 years only seperated with a comma.  Also look at another place where God puts a gap of 2,000 years in a verse only seperated by a colon: {Luke 1:32} Here the angel is telling Mary about the Son Jesus Christ that she will have.  “He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest (His first coming that was fulfilled) : and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:” (This is at Jesus Christ’s second advent 2,000 years after His first coming!”  All through the Bible God places gaps of time such as these, that is why we must study the Bible and not only just read through it.  So there is no problem with God putting a gap between verses 1 and 2 in Genesis chapter one, because God has done this in many other places.

10)  What about {Exodus 20:11} “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is…” Some try and say that this disproves a gap.  They say that this verse means everything God ever created was created in 6 days including satan and the angels.  But the “all that in them is” does not apply to lucifer and the angels, it only applies to the planets, fish, beasts, birds, plants, the firmament, and man.  How do you know tihs? Because in some instances in your Bible the word “all” does not mean every single thing.  For example did God lie when He said He would drown “all flesh” in {Genesis 6:12-13}?  God saved Noah and his family, so He did not destroy every single person.  So again you have to compare scripture with scripture like we have, and by doing that we see that this verse can only mean those things that God created from {Genesis 1:3} and on.

11)  If God did not put a gap of time in between {Genesis 1:1 and 1:2} then where would satan have fallen? Many try and say that satan rebelled while he was in the garden with Adam and Eve before he tempted them.  But there are many reasons why this cannot be.  First, as we saw previously in this study when satan (lucifer) fell he rebelled from earth in which nations were present, but there were no nations present while Adam and Eve were in the garden.  Secondly, we know that it was Adam’s sin that was responsible for corrupting the earth that we are on today, not satan’s sin {Genesis 3:17-19}, {Romans 5:12}, {Romans 8:20-22}.  But if you make satan fall on this earth while Adam is present then satan would have been the one to bring sin into the world because {Ezekiel 28:18} tells us that satan “defiled his sanctuaries with the multitude of his iniquities.” satan’s fall has to be between verses one and two in Genesis chapter 1 in which God then sent the great deep to flood out the heavens and the earth {2nd Peter 3:5-6} to cleanse them clean for man to be able to start out on a sinless earth.  Thirdly, another reason why satan couldn’t have fallen while Adam and Eve were on the earth is because in {Genesis 1:28} God gave Adam and Eve dominion “over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”  But again satan had a throne here on the earth and he was the “anointed cherub that covereth” {Ezekiel 28:14}.  Satan was anointed to rule over someone just as all the kings in Israel were anointed to rule, like for example David {1st Samuel 16:12-13}.  Now if satan had a throne and was anointed he then had dominion over someone and if you place his fall somewhere when Adam and Eve were here then God lied to Adam when He said that Adam would have dominion “over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” because satan would have had dominion over something on this earth at the same time Adam had.  So the only place that the fall of satan fits is in between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2.