Without Form and Void

2/5 Reading Portions: Genesis 38; Mark 8; Job 4; Romans 8

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2/5 Reading Portions: Genesis 38; Mark 8; Job 4; Romans 8

Genesis 1:2

The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

DESPAIR

As Genesis 1:1 is a stand-alone, declarative statement, this next verse is likewise, a declarative statement, telling us that something happened to God’s creation. Sadly, the first verse has given a few Christians some difficulty over the past two hundred years. The difficulty began when men of faith, lost their faith in God’s inerrant Word and started believing unbelieving rascals; albeit, the men of faith had not lost their salvation, but were used of the enemy nonetheless to damage the household of faith. While the first proposition of the verse is translated:

…it is also written:

For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (He is God!), who formed the earth and made it (He established it; He did not create it empty, He formed it to be inhabited!): “I am the LORD, and there is no other. Isaiah 45:18

God did not create it without form and void, therefore, the Word translated “was” from the Hebrew היתה (haiy-TAH), may be correctly translated “became.” Because of this, in the 19th century, the “Gap Theory” came into existence. If Isaiah 45:18 is true, some theologians asserted, then the world was thrown into chaos. But how? they wondered. Well, because Scottish geologist Charles Lyell (1797-1875) wrote a book titled, Principles of Geology (1830-33), propounding the theory of “uniformitarianism,” which suggests that the earth was millions of years old, one of the leading theologians of his day, Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847), of the University of Edinburg, proposed and promoted the “Gap Theory,” suggesting that after God created the heavens and the earth, the earth became without form and void because of Satan’s rebellion, thus accounting for millions of years of dead things fossilized before Adam came along. But, may God be true and every man a liar if we don’t draw all our conclusions from Christ’s gospel, and from His holy Word in particular. It is written:

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— Romans 5:12

And again,

…in Adam all die, 1 Corinthians 15:22

Adam was not standing upon millions of years of dead things. Death and chaos came because of Adam’s sin, recorded in Chapter 3. This second sentence is a statement of sorrow. But be of good cheer faithful saint. The next sentence is a statement of hope, which we will meditate upon tomorrow. Hallelujah! What a Gospel!