In the previous two articles we have looked at how there was life on earth before Adam and what this was like. We looked at what exactly Genesis 1 says and what it does not say as well as looking at Ezekiel as another chapter in the Bible which depicts clearly that there was life on earth before Adam. Today we are going to look at the flood that caused the earth to become formless and void as it was in Genesis 1:2.
Let’s begin by saying that when God makes something, He makes it good. The picture we see in Genesis 1:2 would not be considered good nor after the usual character of God’s creation. In fact, the words used to describe ‘formless and void’ in Hebrew are “Tohu wa-bohu”, which basically means total devastation and is used in other places of the Bible, always in very negative contexts, giving the idea of God’s anger and judgement. Would these two words then be used if there was nothing for God to be angry about or when nothing else was there?
The picture of Genesis 1:2 therefore represents a judgement of God on a previous society on earth. This society had been completely destroyed and wiped out by a pre-Noahic flood and this is described in other passages in the Bible.
In Jeremiah 4:23-28 it says, “I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heaven were fled. I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord, and by His fierce anger. For thus hath the Lord said, the whole land shall be desolate; yet I will not make a full end. For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black: because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it.”
This sounds very similar to Genesis 1:2 and actually does describe what happened before Genesis 1:2. The earth was formless and void, the heavens were black and there was no man about. Everything had been completely destroyed except for the earth itself.
Another passage which shows that the earth was destroyed by a flood specifically is 2 Peter 3:5-7 “For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the Word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgement and perdition of ungodly men.”
Note that it speaks of a world ‘that then was’ and “the heavens and the earth, which are now”, so speaking of two different worlds. We still recognize the world between Adam and Noah as being the same world we live in today, so therefore this ‘world that then was’ is actually the pre-Adamic world which was completely destroyed by a flood. Noah’s world was only partially destroyed by a flood – Noah was kept alive in the ark, as were many animals, and once the flood subsided the plants grew back of their own accord without having to be re-created. The world that was before Adam was so completely destroyed by the pre-Adamic flood that in Genesis 1 we see God had to re-create everything except for the earth and waters.
There are other passages in the Bible which also help us understand this pre-Adamic world as well as the judgement that came upon it when Lucifer fell. We trust that you have enjoyed this article and that it has given you much to think about.
