Genesis 1:1 says that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. In Hebrew, verse 2 goes on to say the earth was “tohuw va bohuw.”–without form and void. We see this phrase again in Isaiah 45:18, where we read that God created the heaven and earth not in vain–not “tohuw va bohuw. Now if Isaiah says God did not create the earth tohuw va bohuw, but Genesis 1 says the earth was “tohuw va bohuw, whats going on?
Along with many Bible scholars, I believe an event took place between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2, described in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28, where an archangel named Lucifer launched a rebellion against God and was kicked out of heaven. Along with one-third of the angels who followed him in his rebellion, he came to earth, where he would become “the god of this world”. So great was the impact, in a sense, hell hit earth–What was this great catastrophe? (God has not given us all the details) What ever it was it caused the earth to become without form and void, perhaps killing any pre-Adamic creatures on this earth and ushering in a Ice age.
So it is, that even from the very beginning of time, we see a dismal dark mess. Then “the Spirit of God moved.” the word for “moved” means brooded, like a mother hen broods over her little chicks. He brooded upon the face of the waters. The Holy Spirit began a ministry here which we see him doing again and again. It is regenerating! In Exodus 20:11 it reads “for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them …” There is nothing in that verse about creating. It says “made”; God is taking that which is already formed and in six days He is not “creating” but He is remaking or regenerating. He is working with matter which already exists, out of matter which He called into existence billions of years before. He comes onto this scene and He recreates. That is precisely what He does for us. Not only does God re-create the world around us but also creates the world within us.
