I have recently changed my mind on the “gap theory” after some further studying on the matter. I believe there is a gap between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2. I believe this based on all the scriptures referring to a flood at the beginning of creation and verses on the fall of Lucifer.
Most “young earth creationists” will immediately object and say that this is to accommodate the secular theory of the universe being billions of years old and the theory of evolution. These things have nothing to do with the Gap Theory and if you think about it logically then you will know that the Gap Theory cannot support the secular evolutionary model. The Gap Theory teaches a literal account of creation in six days approximately 6,000 years ago and a literal global flood about 1,500 years after the creation week. Neither of these are compatible with evolution. I do not know any Gap Theorists that believe in evolution and certainly the most well known Gap Theorists made clear statements that they REJECTED evolution (C. I. Scofield, A. W. Pink, Clarence Larkin, G. H. Pember, Dr. Peter Ruckman, etc). The only difference between them and a typical creationist is that some gap theorists believe that the earth is very old as opposed to just the 6,000 years. However, not all Gap Theorists believe that the earth is very old. Robert Breaker in his video lesson on the Gap Theory states that he believes the gap of time was about 2,000 years (look up the video and watch if you are interested in his reasoning for that). Every Gap Theorist I know personally does not pretend to know or even care how long of a period of time was in the Genesis gap. It is not an issue because they do not believe in evolution or secular cosmology.
Even Ken Ham admits,
“It is only fair to say that gap theorists are opposed to evolution, but do not believe in a recent origin of all things.”
(The Gap Theory (Part A) Problems and Inconsistencies by Ken Ham on August 1, 1980)
Though this is double speak to some degree, because in other articles and books he states that Gap Theorists are trying to accommodate evolution.
Anyway, since neither the Gap Theorists nor the typical “young earth creationists” believe in evolution, we can dispel with that discussion and just get to the important part, which is what saith the scriptures?
Most typical “young earth creationists” assert that Genesis 1:1 is a description of what occurs during the entire chapter, but that cannot be the case. If “in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” was just an introductory statement describing what is about to happen in the chapter, it would be very peculiar for the next sentence to be “And the earth was…”. How could the earth be in existence (vs. 2) if verse 1 is not a record of a creative act of God? If God had not done any creative work yet, how could there be an earth present that is “without form and void” and is covered in water?
Anti-gapers like Ken Ham, Kent Hovind, Jonathan Sarfati, and everyone else that works for the organizations Answers in Genesis, Creation Science Evangelism, Institute for Creation Research, and Creation Ministries International accuse gap theorists of trying to accommodate evolution. However, their creation model starts with the earth somehow being covered in water prior to God doing any creating. This sounds like an accommodation for the primordial soup of the secular scientist’s theory of evolution (though I know that is not what they are doing)
“In the beginning” (vs 1) is not a reference to any point in time as we know it. There were no 24 hour days until the creation week. The first day of the creation week is not until Genesis 1:3 (every day starts with the phrase “and God said”). In the beginning is a reference to eternity past, as in John 1 and Proverbs 8.
John 1:1-2 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.
(Christ is from eternity, not the creation week)
Proverbs 8:22-23 The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.
(“the beginning” can be a reference to “from everlasting”, even before the earth was made).
So the issue of how long ago the creation of the original state of the earth in Genesis 1:1 is a nonissue. There is no way to measure the time in human terms because it was before the creation of time and days. Man cannot fathom “everlasting” or eternity past/future.
We know that the original earth was not created in pieces, starting from something without form, void, and dark. We know this from Isaiah 45:18
“ For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.”
When God originally created the earth, “he formed it to be inhabited”. He did not create it in emptiness. God did not create the plants, animals, and man in stages. The animals did not start off “without form and void”. So it does not make sense to think that the earth originally started off this way. Jeremiah 4:23 tells us that “without form and void” and the absence of light is a description of God’s judgement and destruction, not construction.
“I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.” (see the rest of the passage for the context of God’s judgment)
God is the “father of lights” (James 1:17), the “true Light” (John 1:9), “is light”, and “in him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). Whenever we see God “create darkness” (Isa. 45:7) in the Bible it is always in judgement (Zeph. 1:15). We never see God create anything starting off in ruin.
In my mind the scriptures are clear that God created the heaven and the earth (Gen. 1:1) and that it was judged (vs. 2). I believe this judgement was with a flood, based on the following scriptures that place a flood in the context of creation (Noah’s flood was 1,500 years after the creation week).
Psalms 104:
1 Bless the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty.
2 Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain:
3 Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind:
4 Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire:
5 Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever.
6 Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above the mountains.
7 At thy rebuke they fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away.
8 They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them.
We see here that when God laid the foundations of the earth (Gen. 1:1) that the angels were already created (vs. 4). We also see that God COVERED the earth with the deep. This is in the context of creation, not Noah’s flood. The earth was not created as a ball of water as some “young earth creationists” propose. The land of the earth was there in Genesis 1:1 and God covered it in water. This is what caused it to be “without form and void”. Notice that God was angry in this context (“rebuke”, “voice of thy thunder” vs. 7). Clearly this was a judgement causing the earth to be without form and void as we saw in Jeremiah 4:23.
Psalms 104 is clearly a flood prior to the creation week because it does not mention God creating the grass and trees until after this flood.
Psalms 104:
14 He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man:that he may bring forth food out of the earth;
15 And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man'sheart.
16 The trees of the LORD are full of sap; the cedars of Lebanon, which he hath planted;
The flood in Psalms 104 could hardly be referring to Noah’s flood since it is in the context of when the foundations of the earth were laid. And since God planted trees and grass after this flood.
Job 38:
4 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.
5 Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?
6 Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone there of;
7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
8 Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?
9 When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddling band for it,
10 And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors,
11 And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?
12 Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his place;
In this passage, similar to Psalms 104, we see that the angels (“sons of God” vs. 7) predate the earth because they are singing when God lays the foundations of it (Gen. 1:1). We also see that it was flooded shortly after being created: “Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb”. Again, Noah’s flood was over 1,500 years after creation week. This is a flood in the context of Genesis 1:1. This is also when God covered it in darkness, as in Genesis 1:2. : “When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddling band for it”. Notice that all this comes before the “morning” and “days” (vs. 12).
2 Peter 3:
3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
5 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:
6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
We see here another reference to a flood in the context of the “beginning of the creation”. Noah’s flood was not in the beginning of the creation. This flood destroyed “the heavens” and the earth. Noah’s flood did not affect the heavens according to the Bible. I know of no reference to Noah’s flood destroying the heavens. Noah’s flood was global (covering the planet), but the flood of Genesis 1:2 was universal. For a flood to destroy the heavens the universe itself would have to be filled with water, which would explain why the earth was “standing in the water” (for a circle, like the earth, to be “standing” it would have to be a sphere—something for the flat Earthers to think about). Such a sight would probably look something like this…
We know that the waters were universal because in Genesis 1:6 the waters on earth were touching the waters that are “above the firmament”. God separated them by creating the firmament (outer space). You cannot separate two things that were never together. There is a “great deep” of water separating the third heaven and second heaven and the face of it is frozen like glass according to the Bible (Gen. 1:6-8; Ps. 29:3, 104:3, 148:4; Job 37:18, 38:30-32; Rev. 4:6, 15:2; Jer. 10:13, etc.). Satan, Leviathan, dwells in this body of water. It is his “place” in the second heaven (Job 41:4; Isa. 27:1; Rev. 12:7-9), his “high place” in the “air” (Eph. 2:2, 6:12).
This body of water above the heavens and the water on earth had to be “separated” by the “firmament of heaven” (Genesis 1:6-8, 1:20). Obviously then the waters that were above the firmament (prior to the firmament being created) were covering the earth and universe at the time, else there would be no need to separate them.
These are three clear passages on a pre-Adamic flood. Therefore, we can conclude from the Bible that at least this much of the Gap Theory is true.
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