Beginnings (Gen 1:1-5)

"1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day."

There is a theory called THE GAP THEORY that believes that there is an expanse of time that passes between verses one and two. I believe this theory, though I am not an avid scholar of it. The opening statement clarifies that God did in fact create the heavens and the earth in it's beginning. Then it continues in verse two by describing the state of the earth, at the time that mankind was created to have dominion over it and care for it, as children of God who had inherited it from him. This makes sense to me considering that the earth is billions of years old, but mankind can only be traced back a very short time in the fossil record as having existed on the earth. The fossil record doesn't lie. That's why it disproves evolution. If creatures evolved from germs in a puddle of goo... there would be tons of bones and creatures that were half one animal and half another.. but none exist.. except a minuscule  mutation or deformity.

The earth is described as empty and dark, flooded and covered with water, without mountains and valleys.. pretty much just a faceless ball of matter covered with a layer of water suspended in space.. There is much speculation about the history of the earth before the creation of mankind and the reforming of the earth for him to inhabit. But it is all mere speculation.. God gives little clue as to what it was like, because it does not matter in the current work that is playing out in this hour. It's just not something we need to know right now.

Perhaps that former creation was caught in the violence that ensued when Satan was cast out of the heavens and chose to invade the earth. Perhaps, God wanted to recreate and restore the beauty of nature that was on the earth, and so he created mankind to care for it. Perhaps that is part of the reason Satan hates mankind so much because Satan wanted to steal the earth to set up his own kingdom.. but God created mankind to dominate it and rule over it. Satan isn't God.. he is an angel, and angels don't have the power to create.. they can't even play a part in creating more angels. Only man was made in the image of God with that gift.. we get to play a part in creation, the birth of children, a role in the creation and journey of a soul. Satan wanted that power, that sense of being like God. But it was given to mankind instead.

Jealousy.. though not sibling rivalry. Satan is a created being, an angel.. but he is not a man. Angels are creatures as we are, loved by God, fashioned by him for service and blessing, but not made in the image of God. So they are not God and they are not Man.. they are a creation of God, a creature all their own.. but greatly loved by God nonetheless.

God elevated mankind a little above the angels as the Plan of Salvation was laid in place should man ever choose to rebel against God as Satan did. That plan involved God sending Jesus in the role of the Son of God, a man, to reclaim the earth. Man was given dominion over it.. but if man rebelled against God, he was to die. The only way to save the earth and mankind, was for God to become a man (the only man without sin), and own the earth and all in it's domain for God. Otherwise things would digress again, the earth would be uninhabited and Satan would lay claim to dwell there again. Ruling what is not his to rule. Causing death and destruction of the world God had created to be full of Goodness. There needed to be a man without sin, who had the right to live and not die, who could restore mankind's right to dominate the earth again.. God shed his glory and came down to be one of us, Jesus laid claim to the earth for God.

So begins the creation and journey of mankind. The earth has been here for billions of eons.. not so with man. The beginning of the earth was long before us.. but our journey is here and now. We were created in the image of God and placed on the earth to REPLENTISH it. Which is another reason the Gap Theory seems so real. To replentish something means to fill it once again. Which means the earth was once full before we were created. Something happened and it died and became empty and formless and shrouded by darkness.

We are part of something so much bigger than we can fathom. It is a matter of do we believe that God is loving and good, and do we believe that we can trust him even when we don't understand the big picture. We must choose. Not choosing is choosing just the same. You either believe and follow God.. or you don't. And no one can manipulate you or force you or convince you in your decision. You choose based on the internal, and then you act out according to that choice. People can say alot of things.. but it is their actions, their character, how they treat people in the end that reveals who they truly are.

You choose, as do I.