(Genesis) Genesis 1:2 — J. Vernon McGee

The Earth Without Form and Void

I want us now to continue to move on down in this section, and we come here to something that we believe should be considered, 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.

The Catastrophe Between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2

Now, we have here something that in recent years there have been those that have attempted to discredit it. They say that you do not have a catastrophe mentioned here, but I believe that a great catastrophe took place between verses 1 and 2, and I think there's an abundance of evidence for it to begin with, to look out in this vast creation, something has happened to it.

Man's trip to the moon reveals that that's nothing in the world but a wasteland up there. How did it get like that? May I say that there came a catastrophe in God's universe. Now we have the earth mentioned because this is going to be the place where man lives, and it's the earth that became without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and that's the absence of God, of course, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Isaiah 45:18 and the Purpose of Creation

Now you have a statement that is made in Isaiah 45, 18. Isaiah says that God did not create this earth, tohu vabohu. That's the Hebrew there, and that means that God did not create it without form and void.

That's not the way God created. God created this universe, a cosmos, not a chaos, and that is the thing that Isaiah, of course, is attempting to make clear. Let me turn and read 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, there's none else. Now that is important to see. He created it, not tohu vabohu, but the earth became tohu vabohu. He formed it to be inhabited.

God's Recreation of a Habitable Earth

And it is God that came into this wreck and attempted to, not only attempted, he did it. He made it a habitable place for man. Now all of this study of space reveals that you and I live in a universe that as far as human beings is concerned, this seems to be the only habitable place.

And what we have here is the fact that the earth became without form and void, and darkness is upon the face of the deep. And I think this earth was just like the moon, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

The Fall of Lucifer and the Pre-Adamic Creature

Now the entire universe came in under this great catastrophe. Well, what was the catastrophe? We could only suggest, and I'm not going into detail, share it all. We probably will when we come to other passages of Scripture, but apparently there is some pre-Adamic creature that was on this earth, and apparently all of this is connected with the fall of Lucifer, son of the morning, who became Satan, the devil, as we know him today.

I think all of that's involved here, but God has not given us details. In fact, the matter is, He's given us very few details here. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved.

The Holy Spirit's Ministry of Recreation

And the word for moved is brooded, brooded, like a mother hen over the little chickens, brooded upon the face of the waters. And the Holy Spirit begins a ministry here that we see Him doing again and again, recreation.

He comes into this scene, and He recreates, and that's what He does for us. You remember the Lord Jesus said, ye must be born again, and not only that, you must be born of the Spirit, and that which is born of the water and of the Spirit.

Now, water is the Word of God, the Word of God. Now, if you want to make baptism the symbol, fine, that's all right, but the water means the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit is the author of it. This is very, very important for us to see, friends.