In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth (Ge 1:1). And obviously at that point man was not around because man was not created until Ge 1:26. But notice in v.28 God told man to multiply and replenish the earth. Replenish means to refill or to fill again and implies something was there before. That would mean two things: First, there was an earth before the seven-day creation, and second, it was populated.

God used the same word when He later told Noah to multiply and replenish the earth (Ge 9:1). God obviously used replenish with Noah because, first, the earth existed before Noah’s flood, and second, it had been populated by Adam’s descendants.

Now notice when God referred to animals in Ge 1:22, He used the word fill instead of replenish. He did so because the animals did not exist before. God is very careful about the words He chooses. And the fact that He chose the word replenish with Adam – just like He did with Noah – leads to the obvious question: Who was living on what earth before Adam was created?

In Jb 38:1-8 God is talking about some things that happened before mankind existed: When God originally laid the foundations of the earth the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy. In chapter D1, The Star of Bethlehem, we learned that star is sometimes a way of referring to angels in the Bible. Therefore, according to Jb 38 these sons of God, these stars, these angels, were around in the beginning when the foundations of the earth were laid.

What else happened in the beginning when the foundations of the earth were laid? 1 Jn 3:8 says the devil sinneth from the beginning, and Jn 8:44 says he was a murderer from the beginning. Cain was also a murderer but since he wasn’t there when the foundations of the earth were laid, his brother, Abel, wasn’t the first murder victim. Who did the devil murder in the beginning? The Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world (Re 13:8). See also Re 5:6,12 and Jn 1:1,14,29.

Now, before we go any further, it will speed things up if we establish a few things. First, when the Bible uses the word “tree” it is sometimes referring to living beings that are not trees. Take the time to look up Mk 8:24; Ju 9:8-15; Da 4:20,22; Is 56:3; Je 17:8; Mt 3:10; 7:16-19; Is 65:22; Ps 128:3; Ho 10:1; Jn 15:1-6. Because the last several examples say vines instead of trees, look at these next verses to verify that vines are trees: Nu 6:4; Ezek 15:2,6.

Second, when the Bible refers to “birds” or “fowls” it is sometimes referring to devils. See Mt 13:4,19; Mk 4:4,15; Lk 8:5,12; Re 18:2.

Third, Is 14 and Ezek 28 tell us some things about Lucifer. Is 14 calls him by name, Ezek 28 refers to him figuratively. They can be seen to be the same by comparing Is 14:15 with Ezek 28:8; Is 14:12b with Ezek 28:17; Is 14:16b with Ezek 28:17b; Is 14:13,14 with Ezek 28:2. Satan can appear in many forms: a serpent and a dragon (Re 12:9); an angel (2 Co 11:14); and a cherub (Ezek 28:14,16). We are going to focus on what a cherub looks like. Clue number one: Ezek 10:14 lists four faces. In reverse order they are the faces of an eagle, a lion, a man, a cherub. We know what the faces of eagles, lions, and men look like. But what does the face of a cherub look like? We find the four faces also listed in Ezek 1:10. Matching the above order of faces it says an eagle, a lion, a man, and an ox. The four faces of these creatures that surround God’s throne are also listed in Re 4:7. They are an eagle, a lion, a man, and a calf. Notice the consistency. By comparing line upon line, here a little and there a little, we find that the face of a cherub is as the face of a cow. That is why the devil was cursed “above all cattle” (Ge 3:14). And that is why, when the Israelites worshipped golden calves and offered sacrifices to them (Ex 32:4-6; 1 Ki 12:28; Ps 106:19,20) they were actually sacrificing to devils (Le 17:7; De 32:17; 2 Ch 11:15; 1 Co 10:20).

It is necessary to note some of these things as we look into the Gap because it can get complicated. There is much resistance to the idea that something happened between the first two verses of the Bible for several reasons. First, it takes some serious Bible study to put together the evidence, and Christians would rather watch TV. Second, many Christians today foolishly use “modern” Bible versions which eliminate many pieces of evidence by changing the words God gave us as clues. Third, the evidence that does remain in these modern versions does not have the authority to teach the people who use these versions about this topic because everyone who uses the New American Standard, New International, New King James, etc., knows (correctly) they are not holy; they are not inspired, inerrant, and infallible; they are not the exact words God chose to teach and guide His church. The only book on this planet that is the inspired word of God (and not “just a translation”) is the Authorized 1611 King James Bible. Only Bible believers (defined as those who believe the word of God as defined by God does exist on earth and who know where to get their hands on a copy) trust God’s words and have the faith to put together the evidence (Is 28:9,10) in order to learn. But those Christians who are unbelievers in the existence of the word of God anywhere on earth, lack the faith and confidence to put the pieces of evidence together (Is 28:13; Mt 13:13-15) because they’re not real sure if the words in the Bible are holy or not.

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Now, please bear with me as I make a point by stating the obvious: In the state of Pennsylvania there is a county called Lancaster. Lancaster County is in Pennsylvania. The county is in Pennsylvania but the county is not Pennsylvania. The county is Lancaster, not Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is not the name of the county just because the county is in, or part of, Pennsylvania. Lancaster is a county of Pennsylvania, and it is in Pennsylvania, but that does not mean the county is named Pennsylvania.

In Eden there was a garden (Ge 2:8). This garden was in Eden. It was in the eastern part of Eden. The garden was not named Eden; it was in Eden. It was a garden of Eden (Ge 2:15), and it was in Eden, but that does not mean the garden was named Eden. See also Ge 2:10.

In Ge 13:10 we have a place called “the garden of the Lord” being compared with Egypt. Egypt is often a type of the world in the Bible, much more often, in fact, than birds, trees, and stars are used in their figurative sense. In Is 51:3 we see this “garden of the Lord” mentioned along with “Eden” (not the “garden of Eden”). That means “Eden” is the same as “the garden of the Lord” which is typified by Egypt – the world. In other words, this planet we live on was named Eden and the whole thing was the garden of the Lord. On the planet Eden, God later created a smaller garden that was home to Adam. This small garden was not named Eden because Eden was the name of the entire planet. So the small garden was called, appropriately enough, the garden of Eden.

In Ge 1:1 God created the heaven and the earth. The earth was named Eden and the whole planet was God’s garden. It was referred to as the garden of the Lord and the garden of God. Lucifer was put in the garden of God to keep it and to dress it. But he rebelled and warred against God. In this war the planet Eden was destroyed and became without form and void. God took the destroyed Eden and in six days created the planet anew. But because Eden was now part of the Devil’s kingdom (Mt 4:8,9; 12:25-28; 2 Co 4:4; Jn 12:31; 18:36), God didn’t make the entire planet His garden this time, and it would no longer be referred to as the garden of the Lord. In the eastern part of Eden, God planted a garden and put Adam in it to dress it and to keep it. But Adam also rebelled against God and was kicked out of the garden of Eden.

I’ll now try to piece together what happened from the Scriptures so you can see whether these things be so. (As you study this topic the two illustrations on pages 3 and 4 of this chapter may help you visualize what I’m saying.)

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. The earth was named Eden and was all one garden called the garden of God. All was wonderful and all God’s creatures were happy (Jb 38:7).

Lucifer was perfect (Ezek 28:15) when he was created. And he was wiser than Daniel (Ezek 28:3). But Lucifer used his wisdom to accumulate money and other physical wealth (Ezek 28:4). Physical possessions made him materialistic, he became covetous (Ezek 28:5), and that led him to sin violently against God (Ezek 28:15,16; 1 Jn 3:8; Jn 8:44; Re 13:8).

Lucifer was in Eden, the garden of God. This first Eden did not have a garden in it; the whole planet was a garden. Lucifer lived in and husbanded the garden of God. Adam lived in and husbanded only the garden of Eden. Lucifer, in the garden of God, was beautiful (Ezek 28:12; 31:8,9). Eden, the garden of God, was apparently in contact with the Deep and was therefore well watered (Ezek 31:4-9).

Lucifer decided to exalt himself against God through progress and cities and skyscrapers (Is 14:13,14,21; Nu 24:19; Ezek 31:10). Lucifer (Is 14:12) is also called “the Assyrian” (Is 14:25; Ezek 31:3), and the Assyrian is called “Nimrod” (Mi 5:6), which leads us to more cities and skyscrapers God didn’t want (Ge 10:9,10; 11:3-8). The Assyrian is also called “Pharaoh” (Ezek 31:18b). This is the same Pharaoh who rebelled against God, which resulted in the death of the Passover lamb (Ex 12:5,6), which is a type of Re 13:8. God then warred against Egypt (Ex 14:14,25) and destroyed it with the flood (Am 9:5; Ex 15:8). Ex 14:26 says the Lord brought again the waters of the sea upon them. This, however, was the first and only time Egypt’s Pharaoh was defeated by the flood. So perhaps this word “again” is referring to Lucifer back in the days of the foundation of the earth (Jb 22:16). Zech 14 seems to say the same thing: Right in the middle of talking about future events it mentions the Lord fighting in the past during “the day of battle” (Zech 14:3b). Perhaps these are clues to a past battle between God’s loyal angels and those angels who rebelled against Him. See also Ju 5:20,21; Re 12:7; Ec 1:9,10.

So when Lucifer and his cities in Eden warred against God, the first flood in history occurred when the Deep, which had watered the earth, overflowed the earth and destroyed the Devil’s doings (Ezek 28:8; 31:18b; Is 14:17). This ended the unity and harmony of the Kingdom of God, which had consisted of the heaven and the earth. How long had this harmonious period on Eden, the garden of God, lasted? In other words, how old was this planet by the time the events of the Gap happened? We have no idea because the Bible doesn’t say – probably because time and years didn’t exist back in eternity before God created Time during the seven-day creation week.

This ancient destruction by the Deep would certainly be an unpleasant memory for the devils, but that wouldn’t explain why they still have a very real fear of the Deep (Lk 8:31). Let’s take a long road to the explanation. Remember, the Lord said His good angels in heaven don’t marry (Mt 22:30). Does that mean the bad angels who were thrown out of heaven did marry and have sex with women (Ge 6:2,4)? When Ham had sex with Mrs. Noah in Ge 9:21-24 was this a picture of the devil having sex with Eve (1 Jn 3:12)? (Some people think Ham performed a homosexual act on Noah rather than have sex with Mrs. Noah. But first, nowhere is “uncovering a man’s nakedness” defined as screwing that man. And second, Le 18:8,14; 20:11,20; and Dt 22:30; 27:20 all make it clear that uncovering a man’s nakedness is screwing his wife. Third, Ham screwing Mrs. Noah is consistent with 1 Jn 3:12 and 2 Sa 16:21,22. But how can screwing a man’s wife be uncovering his nakedness? Because, unlike most Christians, God takes the Bible literally, and that includes Ge 2:24b.)

Some devils are still allowed to run to and fro today, but others are locked up (2 Pe 2:4; Jude 6). Why? Did the devils, who are spirit beings, go after human flesh just like human flesh went after spirit beings (Ge 19:1,5)? Is there something so wicked about spirits and mortals having sex with each other that Lot was willing to resort to shocking measures in an effort to prevent it (Ge 19:7,8)? Is that the reason the sex sins in Jude 7 are mentioned right after the bad angels of Jude 6? And if 2 Pe 2:5 is a reminder of the sex sins of Ge 6:4, and if 2 Pe 2:6 is a reminder of the sex sins of Jude 7, doesn’t that mean we can’t rule out sex as the reason for 2 Pe 2:4? So it looks like the bad angels who went after strange flesh were locked in hell, and the bad angels who did not go after strange flesh but kept their first estate are still out and about. Even though they are still out and about, they know the time is coming when they will be thrown into the lake of fire (see Lk 8:31 again). This prison for devils is typified by the belly of a fish, the belly of hell, the deep, the floods, the waters, the depth, being behind bars, etc. (Jona 2:1-6). Hence the devils’ fear of being sent to “the deep” before the time (Mt 8:29; Lk 8:31). Notice that this “deep” the devils did not want to be cast into is not a local lake (Mk 5:10). The devils wanted to go into the local “lake” or “sea” (Mk 5:13; Lk 8:33). The Deep they fear is a much larger lake than the one the swine drowned in; it is the lake of fire into which they will be cast when “the time” is right – at Judgment at the end of the seventh day.

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After the first battle ended with the first flood, the earth was destroyed, had no form, and was void (Je 4:20,23; Ge 1:2). Then the Deep, which had previously been in contact with the earth in order to keep it watered, expanded like a huge bubble up and away from the earth, but a small portion of the Deep was left on earth as oceans to water the earth via the hydrological cycle. The invisible substance God used to inflate the Deep was the firmament (Ge 1:6-8).

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We know there are now three heavens (2 Co 12:2-4). The first heaven is the atmosphere (Je 8:7). The second heaven is outer space (Ge 1:6-17). The Deep sits on top of the first two heavens and below the third as we saw in D3, Where is Heaven? Because Ge 1:1 says heaven (apparently singular), and because the word Heaven in Ge 1:8 is capitalized even though it’s not the first use of the word, we might infer the Heaven of Ge 1:8, which is between the oceans and the Deep (Ge 1:6,7), includes both the first (atmosphere) and the second (outer space) heavens. In possible support of this inference are verses like Dt 10:14; 1 Ki 8:27; 2 Ch 2:6; 6:18. Not only do they show that a seemingly singular heaven can contain two heavens, but they consistently seem to differentiate between the singular heaven and the plural heaven. That seems to fit with the third heaven being the one in Ge 1:1 and the other two, created later, being the Heaven in Ge 1:8.

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However, the use of heavens in Je 4:23 may mean I’ve got it backwards. It may be that in the beginning God created the third heaven for His throne, and also created the first heaven so the plants in Eden, the garden of God, would have air to breathe. In that case the heaven in Ge 1:1 would have the dual meaning of Dt 10:14, and the capitalized Heaven of Ge 1:8 would have the singular meaning. In either case, we can see that the heaven of Ge 1:1 cannot be assumed to be an error in the King James Bible in order to justify changing it to match the heavens of Ge 2:1 as is done by modern Bible versions, because when you add the Heaven created in Ge 1:8 to the heaven created in Ge 1:1 you get the plural heavens of Ge 2:1.

Je 4:23-28 is interesting because v.23, being almost identical to Ge 1:2, pulls us back to the first generation of the planet Eden. Also v.25 (like Jb 38:4,7) establishes the timeframe as a period when angels existed but man had not yet been created. The birds in this verse are devils, and are also called “trees of Eden” in Ezek 31:16-18. How do we know these birds in Je 4:25 are devils who have “fled” the destructive wrath of God? Because they are “birds of the heavens.” The birds you and I know today can’t leave the atmosphere of the first heaven (Je 8:7; Ho 2:18). But devil birds can even go up to the third heaven (Jb 1:6; 2:1).

Je 4:26 refers to the garden of God being made desolate. As we saw, its former glory was alluded to in Ge 13:10 and Is 51:3. The old cities of Eden were also destroyed.

In Je 4:27 God says this destruction is not the end of the earth because He has plans to recreate it in six days.

Je 4:28 is about mourning for a lost son. King David’s son, Absalom, is a type of Lucifer. When Absalom rebelled against David and was killed and cast into a great pit (2 Sa 18:17), David mourned greatly (2 Sa 18:33; 19:1-4). And here in this passage, God the Father, grieving over the rebellion of His beloved son, Lucifer, the destruction of Eden, and the division in the Kingdom of God, decides to enshroud the Kingdom of Heaven in darkness, in black, as a sign of His mourning (Ezek 31:15). The Deep was moved up to become the outer boundary of Satan’s new Kingdom of Heaven, thus shutting out the light of the Kingdom of God and, like a tomb, sealing darkness and death under God’s feet. This means the darkness on the face of the Deep (Ge 1:2) is on the inner face. And that’s why God created the sun and the stars as artificial, temporary lighting. Ominously and prophetically our universe is lit by firelight from raging infernos.

God then took the destroyed earth, the old garden of God, and recreated it in six days. He planted a garden in the eastward part of the earth, and created man. At this point history began to repeat itself (just like Ec 1:9,10 says it does) because Lucifer and Adam have similar histories.

Lucifer was wise (Ezek 28:3,4) and that got him into trouble (Ezek 28:15,16). Adam wanted knowledge (Ge 3:6) and it got him into trouble (Ge 3:11). After the Devil sinned he wanted to build cities and reach up into heaven (Is 14:13,14,21), and so did man (Ge 11:4,5). The Devil was filled with violence (Ezek 28:16), and so were Adam’s offspring (Ge 4:8; 6:11,13). God flooded the first Eden with the Deep (Ezek 28:8; 31:15,18b) just like He did the second Eden (Ge 7:11). Lucifer’s sin against God resulted in the curse of death (lake of fire) being placed on all damned angels. Adam’s sin against God resulted in the curse of death (mortality) being placed on all mankind. When Lucifer was booted from the real estate of the garden of God, over which he had dominion, he was disinherited and damned. When Adam was booted from the real estate of the garden of Eden, over which he had dominion, he was disinherited and damned. (When God’s people were booted from the real estate of the nation of Israel, over which they had dominion, they were disinherited and damned. Read and heed Ro 11:20,21.) Nowhere does the Bible actually say Adam went to hell, but the patterns don’t look good for him and he is conspicuously absent from the hall of fame in He 11.

Let’s pause here to note a difference between the first flood that destroyed the earth of Ge 1:1, and the second flood that covered the earth of Ge 2:1. The first flood destroyed the earth so much it became without form and void and had to be created anew by God in six days. The second flood did not destroy the earth: Noah was able to step off the ark and begin living. The objective of the first flood was to destroy the earth; the objective of the second flood was to destroy all flesh (Ge 6:17; 7:4,20-24). There is an important difference between destroying the earth, which leaves it uninhabitable and needing to be recreated, and destroying all flesh, which leaves the earth habitable. Therefore, pay attention to God’s rainbow covenant with Noah (Ge 9:11) in which He promises to never again use a flood to destroy all flesh (which did happen during Noah’s flood), and then notice God promises to never again use a flood to destroy the earth (which did not happen during Noah’s flood). When God tells Noah He will never again use a flood to destroy the earth He is letting us know it happened during the Gap. That’s right. And He is letting us know we can go ahead and build a case out of the verses covered earlier even if they do seem vague, veiled, and figurative. Notice how careful the Word of God is with the words He chooses to put in His Book, the word of God: He did not say in Ge 9:11 He will not again destroy the earth; He said next time He won’t use a flood to do it. He says next time it will be done with fire (2 Pe 3:7,10,12). And the fire of 2 Pe 3 is the answer to the confusion of Ge 6:13 when God is thinking about the destruction of all flesh and of the earth. God is thinking ahead to 2 Pe 3 and the final step in the 7000-year battle to destroy all flesh – fire. That’s why in Ge 6:13 He doesn’t mention anything about a flood; He’s thinking fire. Every other time He mentions destruction He is careful to mention a flood right along with it (Ge 6:17; 7:4,20-24; 9:11,15). Noah’s flood and the first flood during the Gap were just interim measures. The destruction God foresaw in Ge 6:13, however, is the Final Solution (He 2:14; 1 Jn 3:8b; Ro 6:6,7; 7:2; 8:3; Re 20:10,14). It is the flood of fire, the lake of fire.

Now let’s pick up where we left off with history repeating itself, and compare Adam and Noah. Everyone on earth was descended from Adam. Everyone on earth is descended from Noah. Adam got in trouble by taking the fruit of a vine tree. Noah got in trouble by taking the fruit of a vine tree (Ge 9:21). Both Adam and Noah took over the earth after floods destroyed wicked civilizations. Both Adam and Noah were told to replenish the earth. Both may have had their nakedness uncovered (Ge 9:22; 1 Jn 3:12). Both had sons who were cursed (Ge 4:11; 9:25). The similarities end in He 11; only Noah is in the hall of fame, and it is unlikely the omission of Adam is an oversight.

Some people reject all of this information on the Gap because Ge 1:2 begins with “And…” They think that means Ge 1:1 flows directly into 1:2 without anything happening in between. Three things can be said in reply: First, that argument fails to deal with all the Scriptures presented concerning events “in the beginning.” When people cannot handle Scripture they run from, not to, the Bible with mindless mouthings like, “Yeah, but what about yakety-yak?” Second, “And” most certainly does not imply nothing happened between two verses! Third, anyone who has carefully studied the events surrounding the death, burial, and resurrection, for example, knows many events happened between three consecutive verses – all starting with “And…” (Mk 15:47 happened on Wednesday. Mk 16:1 happened on Friday. Mk 16:2 happened on Sunday. This topic is covered in chapter D33).

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Another thing about the Gap: The Genesis account separates the original creation of the heaven and the earth from the later six days when the earth was created anew. Ge 1:1 and 1:2 are by themselves and then come the six days. In support of this notice that each of the six days of creation, without exception, begins with, “And God said, Let…” And each day, without exception, ends with, “And the evening and the morning were the __ day.”

The first day is bracketed by verses 3 and 5; the second day by verses 6 and 8; the third by 9 and 13; the fourth by 14 and 19; the fifth by 20 and 23; and the sixth by 24 and 31. Note that neither the heaven nor the earth (Ge 1:1) was created on any of the six days. They were created before the six days; they were created back in the beginning. If anyone challenges the Gap, just ask him to show you on which day the earth was created. That will provide an opportunity to point out that the Bible plainly states the earth was created in the beginning. And the Bible plainly shows that, rather than create land on day three, God merely uncovers the already-existing-but-flooded land. There is no quote such as, “And God said, Let there be land” or “Let there be an earth.”

The earth was created back in eternity before time, before day one, in verse one. It was then flooded and destroyed prior to verse two. Then the Kingdom of God was separated from the new Kingdom of darkness, the Kingdom of Heaven, which included the destroyed Eden (called Atlantis in pagan mythology), and time arrived. God created light on day one so there could be “days” since days are made up of both darkness and light. Then on day two He created the firmament (also called Heaven) to push the Deep up off the earth to the outer boundary of the Kingdom of darkness. And on day three He segregated the oceans and the dry land. It’s all spelled out. In other words, Ge 1:1 is the creation of the unified Kingdom of God. And the six days describe the creation of the newly independent Kingdom of Heaven. The Gap is between those two; it is when Lucifer’s rebellion began and when the Kingdom of God was divided.

Some people use Ge 1:5; 2:2,3; Ex 20:11; and He 4:4 to “prove” there was no Gap. Notice those verses all have to do with the Creation Week. The problem seems to be a lack of understanding of Time because the only way people could use those verses to disprove the Gap is to think, “Hmm, if there was a Gap, the first day in the Creation Week wouldn’t have been the first day because there would have been other days back during or before the Gap, which means the second, third, etc. days – and, indeed the entire week – wouldn’t have been the first – they would have been just other days and weeks out of many that preceded them.”

That problem goes away when you realize Time did not exist during the Gap because the Gap happened during eternity. God created time during the Creation Week, and He created clocks with which to measure time (Ge 1:14-16). Those who get dogmatic and say the Creation Week disproves the Gap do not understand that God may be differentiating between time and eternity, which are as different as, well, night and day. Again, days did not exist back in eternity during the Gap. Days were a by-product of the darkness created in Ge 1:2. Review vv.2-5.

Naysayers may also be trying to suggest that, because artificial light and day and night were created in Ge 1:3-5, there could not have been a Gap prior to that because everything would have been dark – and why would God and Lucifer and Gabriel want to fumble around in the dark! Light as we know it is an artificial entity mortals need in order to see. Spirit beings do not need anything in order to see because God is their light (Re 21:23-25). Therefore God and His children needed no flashlights back during the Gap.

The Bible does not come right out and state some of the things we covered in this chapter. The Biblical road to the Gap is a long, involved, and, in places, broken trail. I do not understand all of it fully. I may be wrong about some of it. But not all of it. I’ve learned too much about the Lord Jesus Christ and His word not to understand some things about Him and the way He works.

This topic is a “gee whiz” topic, a fun topic. And I enjoy it. It helps us get some mental exercise because it goes to a lot of places in the Bible that are silently swept under the rug by modern Christianity. This topic is also a good illustration of how shamefully lazy, ignorant, unskilled, uninterested, and unadventurous we are when studying the mind of God and the subjects He put in His Book.