The Recreated Earth
Bob Yandian
I. Jurassic Earth
The Bible is generally silent on the time period when dinosaurs roamed the earth, however, there are several scriptures that may give us some insight. The flood of Noah’s day was actually the second flood that has come upon the earth. Both floods were sent as judgment from God.
“Jurassic” is a scientific term for the time period in which dinosaurs existed on the earth.
II. God’s Word Stands Alone
The Word of God does not need to be proven true. It stands alone. The Bible is not a scientific book; it is a book of redemption. It is a book about the work of Jesus Christ. Science is not necessary to prove the Word of God is true. Christians sometimes question, “Can science be trusted? What about the theory of evolution?” The Word of God clearly shows the theory of evolution to be false. Science may contradict the Word of God at certain times and other times it may support the Word of God. But the standard of truth is the Word of God.
III. In the Beginning
The Word of God provides much detail about the time period in which we live, yet it is very sketchy about the time period when the earth was in chaos. During the time of the Tribulation, the earth will be in chaos once again. But the same God who brought restoration and peace into the earth in the past, will return to the earth and will again bring peace.
Genesis 1
vs. 1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
vs. 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.”
vs. 3 “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.”
Even though these three verses are what people often refer to as “the beginning”, a long period of time occurred between verse one and verse three.
From the time period known as “the beginning”, God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit always existed. There has never been a time when they did not exist. The “beginning” referred to in verse one, is the time in which God created the heavens and the earth. The “heavens” refers to the heavens surrounding the earth, including all of the galaxies, and the Milky Way, which is the particular solar system the earth belongs to. The earth was created at the same time the heavens were created.
If we were to outline Genesis 1, verse 1 describes the original creation. Verse 2 describes the earth in chaos; “without form, and void.” Verse 3 begins an entire section that continues until Genesis 2:3, describing the restoration of the earth. The Bible does not provide us with a detailed explanation of what happened between verse 1 and verse 2, but there is a theory called the “gap theory.” This theory purports there is a gap in time between verses 1 and 2 of Genesis, chapter one and that these verses are describing two different time periods.
IV. Earth in the Creation
God created the earth in beauty. He never creates anything “without form and void.” Yet, in verse 2 the earth is described as being “without form, and void.” There is no light upon the earth in verse two. The earth is under a tremendous curse. But in verse 3, God brings restoration to the earth, literally known as the six days of creation.
The earth was not created in six days. The earth was created instantaneously in a split second of time. During the six days of restoration, God took the earth, restored it, and made it beautiful again. God made it habitable for mankind. The history of man goes back some six thousand years. This is approximately the time when Adam was placed upon the earth. The earth itself is much older than six thousand years. When “the beginning” actually occurred, we do not know. It could have been millions of years ago. It could have been billions of years ago. Even science does not know exactly how old the earth is, but they do know it is very old. The history of mankind is short in comparison to the age of the earth. One thing is certain, the earth existed long before the creation of Adam and Eve.
V. When God Created
A. The Earth
Genesis 1:1 again says, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” The word “created” appears many times in chapters 1 and 2 of Genesis. The word “created” in verse one is the Hebrew word “bara” and means “to create something out of nothing.” God created the universe out of nothing. Hebrews 11 tells us that the things we see around us were not created out of things which do appear. God literally created the entire universe and He created it out of things which do not appear.
The first law you learn in physics is man can neither create nor destroy anything. Man can only use what is already in existence. Not only did God create everything out of nothing, He also holds everything together.
Colossians 1
vs. 16 “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible whether they are thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:”
vs. 17 “And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.”
vs. 18 “And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.”
The universe and everything around it runs by divine law. Although science has “laws”, science cannot guarantee that tomorrow we will still have gravity. Science cannot guarantee that tomorrow water will still run downhill. It is only because scientists have observed these things that science can estimate how the universe will function tomorrow, but God is the One who created and enforces the laws of nature. God created the entire universe and holds it together. All things consist by Him and all things work because of Him. Therefore, when God decides to change the entire planet, He can do it and He will do it one day.
We are rapidly approaching a day where there will be twenty-four hours of darkness. In the same way, God stopped the earth from rotating in Joshua’s day so he could finish and win the battle, darkness will cover the earth for twenty-four hours. No natural light will be able to penetrate the darkness. During that twenty-four hours, unbelievers will be given one last opportunity to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior before He returns as lightning from the east to the west (Matthew 24). The only light that will penetrate the supernatural darkness will be the supernatural light and on that day, every eye will see Him and every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord.
B. Man
One day we will have a new earth, as described in Revelation, chapters 21 and 22, and it will run on an entirely different scientific principle.
There is another Hebrew word used in Genesis, chapter 1 for the word “create” and it is the Hebrew word “asah” and means “to create or make something out of something.” In other words, “asah” means to take existing materials and make something from them. When God made the animals, the fish, the birds, the word “asah” is used.
The part of man that was created out of nothing (bara) was his spirit. Man’s body was made (asah) from materials that already existed. God molded and shaped man’s body from existing materials and then breathed into man’s nostrils the breath of life.
Verse 2 begins with “And” but the Hebrew actually says, “But.” Verse 2 actually says, “But the earth became without form, and void, and darkness was upon the surface of the waters.” The earth was not made empty and it was not made void. It was originally created in beauty. In verse 2, not only is the earth in darkness and without form, and void, the whole earth was also covered with water. There was no light and the whole earth was wrapped in coldness and darkness. Because of the darkness and coldness, the water was actually in the form of ice.
VI. The Holy Spirit and Creation
It is not until we come to verse 3 that the Holy Spirit began to move upon the surface of the waters and caused warmth to come making the earth what we know it to be today.
The phrase “without form” in verse 2 is the Hebrew word “tohu.” It is correctly translated and means “without form, dark, void, empty, lifeless.” When God originally created the earth, it was living and filled with life but something dramatic happened to turn this earth into darkness, without form.
The word “moved” in verse 2 means “to brood”. This word is much like a mother hen brooding over her eggs. The Holy Spirit literally began to brood across the face of the water. Heat began to spread and out of the chaos came the first form of life, brought by the Holy Spirit.
VII. How the Earth was Originally Created
After the Holy Spirit brooded over the earth, the six days of restoration began. During this time, the earth was restored back to the beauty, brilliance, and magnitude it once had.
Isaiah 45
vs. 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.”
The word “Lord” in this verse is “Jehovah.” Jehovah is Jesus Christ. The one who actually created the universe was the Lord Jesus Christ. Colossians 1:16-18 tells us the same thing.
The word for “created” is the word “bara.” It means to create something out of nothing.
The word “vain” is the word “tohu.” God did not create the earth “without form and void.” He created it in beauty.
VIII. The Fall of Lucifer
Isaiah 45:18 tells us that God did not create the earth “without form and void.” But something happened between verses one and two of Genesis chapter one, to cause the earth to move into the area of chaos.
The Word of God gives a description of what happened to cause the chaos. Isaiah 12:12-15 gives a description of what the earth was like when it was originally created.
Isaiah 14
vs. 12 “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations!”
vs. 13 “For you have said in your heart: 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north;”
vs. 14 “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.'”
vs. 15 “Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit.”
This portion of scripture gives us a description of the fall of Lucifer. Ezekiel, chapter 28 also gives detail about the time period when Lucifer fell.
When Lucifer was created he was God’s crowning creation, just under the Lord Jesus Christ. Ezekiel 28 says that Lucifer was “the anointed cherub that covereth”. Cherubs are the highest ranking angels of all angels. The Bible says that the Lord Jesus Christ dwells between the cherubim. Cherubs were etched on the veil that separated the holy place from the Holy of Holies. Cherubs were also etched into the coverings on the inside of the tabernacle. When the priests entered the Holy of Holies, two cherubs made of beaten gold stood on top of the Ark of the Covenant with their wing tips touching. Cherubs have always been the highest ranking angels most closely located near the holiness of God.
Not only was Lucifer a cherub, he was the highest ranking cherub of all. Positionally, he was just below the Godhead. Lucifer was a magnificent creation. He was designed to lead praise and worship. He was not designed to lead praise and worship in heaven; he was designed to lead praise and worship on earth. The earth was his domain. Lucifer could fellowship with God and the angels in heaven, but his domain was on earth. God has always intended that His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
IX. Earth, The Mirror Image of Heaven
God made earth to be a mirror image of heaven. “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven, that ye may know the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins.”
Man is increasingly reaching farther into the universe looking for life on other planets. Man may find many beautiful planets in the universe, but he will never find life on any other planet except where God lives in heaven. God wanted the earth to be a reflection of heaven.
Why did God send Lucifer to lead praise and worship on earth? God always intended heaven and earth to be an antiphonal of one another. His desire was to have the sound of praise and worship going throughout the universe; praise and worship in heaven, praise and worship on earth. John described the worship of heaven in Revelation, chapter four.
X. Lucifer’s Location at the Time of the Fall
Isaiah 14:12 describes where Lucifer was when he fell. Verse 12 says, “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!” Falling immediately implies a downward direction. Verse 12 continues, “How are thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!” One translation says, “How are you cut down to earth.”
Verse 13 says, “For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven.” Ascending automatically indicates an upward direction. In other words, wherever Lucifer’s throne was located, it was below heaven.
Verses 13 and 14 continue, “I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north…” This is a reference to heaven. “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds…” Wherever Lucifer was located, there were clouds. “I will be like the most High.”
These verses are describing that Lucifer’s domain was on earth. God has always taken His finest creation and placed it on the earth, whether it was Lucifer in that day, or man today, who was made in the image of God. God placed man in the earth to have dominion in the earth. He placed man on earth to rule and reign. When Lucifer became Satan and spoiled the earth, God literally began all over again. In other words, man has been placed on earth and given the domain Lucifer once possessed.
XI. Lucifer Fell Before the Time of Adam and Eve
When God planted the Garden of Eden, created Adam and Eve, and then placed them in the garden, Lucifer had already become Satan. Lucifer fell from heaven to the earth and was still on earth in the midst of the chaos found in Genesis 1, verse two. How long the earth was in chaos is not known, but we do know that Lucifer was originally placed on earth to rule and reign.
Ezekiel 28
vs. 13 “You were in Eden, the garden of God…”
vs. 14 “You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones.”
vs.15 “You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you.”
vs. 16 “By the abundance of your trading you became filled with violence within, and you sinned; therefore I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God; and I destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the fiery stones.”
vs. 17 “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, that they might gaze at you.”
Lucifer’s sin began because he was lifted up in pride over his possessions, his power, his authority, and his beauty. He decided to try to overthrow God.
XII. Lucifer, the Fallen Angels, and the Impending Chaos
When Lucifer arrived in heaven to overthrow God, one-third of the angels went with him. On that day, God gave the angels a one-time choice: They could either stay with God or go with Lucifer. But if they chose to go with Lucifer, they would never have another opportunity to return to God. One-third of the angels made the decision to go with Satan, they were cast out of heaven, and thrown to the earth. The moment Satan and the angels were thrown to the earth, the earth literally erupted into chaos.
Isaiah 14:16 and 17 describes the result of what occurred.
Isaiah 14
vs. 16 “They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;”
vs. 17 “That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened no the house of his prisoners?”
Lucifer literally took the entire earth captive, destroyed the existing cities, and made everyone a prisoner.
Verse 12 says that Lucifer “didst weaken the nations!” There were inhabitants on the earth when Lucifer was on earth. Science has found the remains of bones of creatures that once existed on earth, yet the Bible seems to be so silent on the subject. One thing the Bible does tell us is there were nations on the earth and great chaos entered those nations. We do not know what type of inhabitants lived in those cities and nations. Science has created pictures of what people may have looked like back then, but when they try to link them to man as he exists today, something is missing.
Satan shook his fist in God’s face and said, “I’m greater and more powerful than You.” Even after being cast from heaven, he thought himself to be better than God. God became so angry with Satan, He caused the planet to erupt into chaos. How many years the earth remained in this state, we do not know. God wrapped the planet in water and removed the light. When the light was removed, the water that enveloped the earth very likely froze.
XIII. “Let There Be Light.”
Science talks about the ice ages. I am not sure how many years it lasted, but the entire earth was carved into what exists today: Mountains, valleys, streams, and canyons. For thousands and thousands of years, the earth was in darkness and packed in ice. The earth was dead. Nothing happened on earth until the Holy Spirit came and began to brood over the earth like a chicken broods over her eggs. As the Holy Spirit began to brood, the first thing God said was, “Let there be light”, and warmth came into the earth, the ice began to melt, and God began to restore the earth.
In six days God restored the earth to its original beauty. At the end of the sixth day, He gave Satan the ultimate insult. God created man and gave him the place of dominion that Satan once possessed. God took man an inferior creature, and gave him authority in the earth. Man was not made in the image of angels and was not made to have the strength of angels. Man was made below the level of angels, yet crowned with glory and honor. God took an inferior creature called man and gave him the same position and power as God. For six thousand years, God has used an inferior creature to remind Satan of his place.
Ephesians 3
vs. 10 “To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God.”
Ephesians 3:10 tells us that God continues to show forth His wisdom to the principalities and powers through the Church. God uses the Church in the midst of Satan’s world to show him that God was right from the very beginning by judging him and sentencing him to a future in the lake of fire for eternity.
XIV. The Weakening of the Nations
When Isaiah 14:12 says, “…which didst weaken the nations”, the word for “nations” is the Hebrew word “gog”, which means “heathen.” The entire earth turned to heathenism. The entire earth was taken in by what Satan had done. I believe this was the time period in which dinosaurs existed. Vengeance and evil also existed and the earth was in total chaos. Because of the fall of Satan, everything was disproportionate, the earth and all of its inhabitants became one big satanic party. God became so angry, He judged the entire earth, wrapped it in water and darkness and it remained that way for centuries and centuries. God took that cursing, stomped it into the ground and pressed it under for millions of years. And what was cursing was turned into blessing. What was once cursing is where we get the fossil fuels, petroleum, oil, and gas we use in our day. If God could turn that chaos into blessing, just think what He can do for our lives!
XV. Replenishing the Earth
When we look at the stars at night, those stars are so far away that the light we see may take millions of years to get to earth. The earth must be more than 6,000 years old because of the distance of the light that we are seeing today. The stars that we are able to observe today may have burned out 500 years ago or 5,000 years ago, but we would never know it until perhaps millions of years have passed when that light would finally quit coming to earth.
When God spoke to Adam in the garden, He said, “I want you to be fruitful, multiply, and replenish the earth” (Genesis 1:28). The fact that God used the word “replenish” indicates that something existed before Adam. God told Noah the same thing in Genesis 9:1 when He said, “Be fruitful, multiply, and replenish the earth” after the flood was gone and the waters had receded. The earth had been populated before the flood in Noah’s day. The same must have been true before Adam. The specifics of what happened before Adam have been hidden under God’s secrecy. As geologists dig deep into the earth, we know that the earth is very old and that something cataclysmic occurred on the planet. We will not understand or know the scope of it until we stand before God.
XVI. Both the Earth and the Church Wait
Romans 8
vs. 22 “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.”
vs. 23 “And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.”
The “firstfruits” is the new birth. Nature and Christians have some things in common. Both groan. Both are under tremendous pressure. Both are waiting for the return of Jesus Christ. But while the Church is waiting for the Rapture, nature is waiting for the Second Coming. The Church is waiting for Jesus to deliver us from our natural body where we will no longer face pressures, trials, problems, and afflictions. Nature is waiting for the Second Coming of Jesus when the curse will be removed from the earth.
No more will there be earthquakes, pestilence, and violence because Satan will be removed from the planet and the earth will return to the beauty that it had at the beginning when God first created it.
Even though the earth we live on today has been restored, it still has a curse that will remain until the second advent of the Lord.
XVII. When Believers Turn from the Word
Whenever God’s people turn from the Word of God, the earth suffers because of it. Man is the one who has been placed on earth by God to protect it and subdue it.
Man was originally created in beauty. He was created in God’s image, but Satan came and caused the curse to come. Man fell. Because of Adam, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Man was wrapped in spiritual darkness. No life was in him, and no light was upon his life until he heard the Word of God and the Holy Spirit began to brood over him. God said, “Let there be light” and light penetrated him. God began to restore man back to his original beauty. God began to restore man back to what he was originally intended to be in the garden, but man still has a temporary curse on him. This curse will last until the rapture of the Church when man receives his resurrection body.
At one time Satan dominated and ruled. He is still god of this earth but he is limited in what he can do because of the work of Jesus Christ. We can now declare with boldness, “Greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world!”
