In the first chapter of the book of Genesis, two histories are given concerning the heavens and the earth. The first history was the creation of the universe, followed by an earth that is in ruin due to judgment. The second history is the renovation of the earth for biological life and the creation of humans.
These are the histories of the heavens and the earth when He created them, in the day the Lord God made the earth and the heavens – Genesis 2:4.
Some of our English translations make the histories singular; however, there is no issue with what we know of the original Hebrew, which is plural. Likely this translation error was influenced by theology rather than using proper hermeneutics, for there are some that claim God created the universe and all that is in it in six days, contrary to what is recorded in Genesis chapter 1, where the six days are describing the renovation of the earth for biological life.
Genesis chapter 1 is not the history of the first time God created something and the rule of Lucifer, it is the story of the renovation of the earth and the creation of humans. Therefore, the creation of the universe was summarized in verse one where God created the heavens and the earth out of nothing after creating the spirit beings, who saw God create it ( Job 38:7 ). Then in verse two we see the earth is in ruin; however, it was not originally in this state and it had to be in an orderly state before it could come to be found a wasteland covered in water ( Isaiah 45:18 ). This is the first history, for to tell of the history of the renovation of the earth and the creation of humans it is necessary to understand how the earth came about and why it was being renovated. From verse three through the rest of the chapter, we are given the history of the renovation of the earth, which details the creation of humans and the garden God planted on Eden (earth) for humans to reside in.
Staying true to Scripture is important. Especially when disputing false “scientific” claims that contradict reality, such as evolution. “Scientific” claims in this area are hypotheses. According to Scripture, the earth is older than humans. This can be verified scientifically through proper dating of the rocks and fossils. New findings in science have begun to disprove millions of years old, but there is truth in the fact that the earth was created before humans, and this was not by only days. In other areas of Scripture, we find the earth was occupied prior to humans by Lucifer, who ruled over the entire universe ( Ezekiel 28:13-14 ). There would be no biological evidence of this, because he is a spirit being. And we are not given a time period for his kingdom, as time did not yet exist. However, we have plenty of evidence of the garden of precious stones that he resided in for they are scattered all over the globe by the flood that resulted from his sin ( Ezekiel 28:13 ).
Therefore, in Genesis chapter one we have two histories being told, and Genesis 2:4 verifies this. In the first record, the creation of the universe and the ruining of the earth by the first inhabitant are summarized. In the second history, we are informed of how God created humans and the biological life that now inhabits Eden. Within this history we find the making, not creating, of the atmosphere of the earth (Genesis 1:8), which divided the second heaven into two heavens, along with the making of the sun and moon, for seasons, days, and years ( Genesis 1:14 ; Genesis 1:16 – the moon rules the night with the stars, which already existed). We are also informed of the first creation of biological life (Genesis 1:21), the making of the animals from the earth ( Genesis 1:25 ), and the creation of humans ( Genesis 1:27 ), who were created in the likeness and image of God. When Adam was created, he had a garment of light (image) and was a rational being (likeness), a being made of both soul (emotion) and spirit (logics), with a house formed from the earth (body). Along with the chronologies that follow in Genesis, and true scientific research (research not influenced by hypotheses), we can also determine that this happened around six thousand years ago. These are the true histories of the creation of the universe and humans found in Scripture.
