The Three Heaven and Earth Ages

[Axe]

MJ,

ב וְהָאָרֶץ, הָיְתָה תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ, וְחֹשֶׁךְ, עַל-פְּנֵי תְהוֹם; וְרוּחַ אֱלֹהִים, מְרַחֶפֶתעַל-פְּנֵי הַמָּיִם
Now the earth was unformed and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters.

וְהָאָ֗רֶץ ve·ha·'a·retz 776 the earth
הָיְתָ֥ה ha·ye·tah 1961 was
תֹ֙הוּ֙ to·hu 8414 was formless
וָבֹ֔הוּ va·vo·hu, 922 and void
וְחֹ֖שֶׁךְ ve·cho·shech 2822 and darkness
עַל־ al- 5921 was over
פְּנֵ֣י pe·nei 6440 the surface
תְהֹ֑ום te·ho·vm; 8415 of the deep
וְר֣וּחַ ve·ru·ach 7307 and the Spirit
אֱלֹהִ֔ים e·lo·him, 430 of God
מְרַחֶ֖פֶת me·ra·che·fet 7363 was moving
עַל־ al- 5921 over
פְּנֵ֥י pe·nei 6440 the surface
הַמָּֽיִם׃ ham·ma·yim. 4325 of the waters

I would like to thank you again for this discussion.

If what you're presenting is correct, then the scripture is clearly wrong when it says in

Romans 5:12, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin...”

If Adam and Eve were walking on the remains of billions of years of dead animals and pre-Adamic men, then sin did not enter the world through Adam but was already present in the world.

This is simply not in agreement with God’s word.

Secondly whenever a numerical is used with the word day (Hebrew yom) it always, always, always (in Scripture) means a 24 hour period of time or part of that period.

Over and over again in Genesis 1 we read “evening and morning were the first (or second , or third etc.) day. Not only do we have the numerical “...first (or second etc. but we also have the bookends “...evening and morning...” Clearly a 24 hour period of time is specified. The church has believed this for thousands of years and for thousands of years before that the Jews believed this as the interpretation of Genesis 1.

Finally the most definitive Scripture is Revelation 21:1 which says,“Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away...” This is speaking about the time after the millennial reign of Christ on earth when God destroys everything and creates a new heaven and earth (see II Peter 3:7-13).

So if the current earth is the “...first earth...” spoken about in II Peter 3 and Revelation 21 then there was no earth prior to this earth and there were no pre-Adamic people. First means first, not second or third.

The Scofield Bible, which it sounds like is where your interpretation came from, maintains that the condition of the earth in verse 2 is the result of judgement, and therefore interprets the word haya as "become".

The problem is the Hebrew construction in verse 2 is disjunctive, describing the result of the "creation" described in verse 1. Consequently the phrase "without for and void" is often misunderstood.These words are found in only a few other places, and as I have said before, context is everything when interpreting scripture.

Is 34:11; 45:18
Jer. 4:23

They do not describe chaos, but emptiness. Better "unformed" and "unfilled".

Be Blessed,
Tom