What was happening before Genesis 1:1? Most people assume the answer is “nothing” — that God existed in some empty timeless void and then decided to create. But Scripture tells a far stranger and more dramatic story. Before Adam, before Eden, before the six days of re-creation, there was a world that existed, flourished, rebelled, and was destroyed. And the ruins of that first world are buried in one of the most overlooked verses in all of Scripture: “And the earth was without form, and void” Genesis 1:2.

Last time we examined the nature of God Himself — the eternal self-existent Being who created all things. Now we go back to the very beginning of that creation: what God originally made in the dateless past, and what happened to it.

When we talk about God's original creations, we're looking at everything He brought into existence at the very beginning—the heavens, the earth, and everything in them. Genesis 1:1 gives us the summary: "In the beginning God created the heaven [Hebrew, heavens] and the earth."

This takes us back to the dateless past. It covers only a portion of what we call the creative ages (as we discussed in Lesson One, Point III, 1, (4))—specifically from the first moment of creation until the chaotic period of Genesis 1:2, when the earth and its original inhabitants were destroyed by the first flood.

You'll find many other scriptures that reference this same period Psalms 8:3-8Psalms 19:1-6Proverbs 8:22-31John 1:3, 10Acts 17:24-26Colossians 1:15-18Hebrews 1:1-12Hebrews 11:3Revelation 4:11.

What exactly was God doing throughout the eternal past? Honestly, we don't know—He hasn't chosen to reveal all His activities from infinity Deuteronomy 29:29. What we do know is that He has existed from all eternity, and at some point in that dateless past, He brought the heavens, the earth, and everything originally in them into existence.

The things we see on earth today were created during six days—but that came after the destruction of the first creation of free moral agents who lived here Genesis 1:3-2:25.

Scripture makes it abundantly clear that God has existed forever: "Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God" Psalms 90:2. "Thy throne is established of old: thou art from everlasting" Psalms 93:2Proverbs 8:22-31Micah 5:2Hebrews 9:14John 1:1-3Revelation 1:4-8Revelation 4:8Revelation 22:5, 13.

And Scripture also makes clear that God created the heavens, the earth, and everything in them sometime in that eternal past. "In the beginning"—whenever that was—points to the dateless past because no date is given. Anyone who tries to pin down exactly when that beginning was is adding to the Bible.

So let's leave it as it stands. It could have been millions or billions of years ago, or it could have been a shorter time. If geologists can prove the earth is as old as they claim, why argue with them? Whether they're right or wrong, it doesn't contradict Scripture since the Bible doesn't give us a time element for the original creation.

Here's what we can say with certainty from Scripture: the earth is more than 6,000 years old, and there were inhabitants on this planet before Adam's day. We'll prove this from many clear scriptures in Lessons Seven and Eight. Keep in mind that the heavens and earth were created in the dateless past Genesis 1:1, the earth was cursed and flooded because of sin Genesis 1:2, and all of this happened before the six days of re-creation Genesis 1:3-2:25.

Lucifer was already a fallen creature when he showed up in Adam's Eden. He had already ruled the earth, already rebelled, and already caused the first flood before Adam ever drew breath. Don't miss the next two lessons where we prove these facts!

Another certainty: God made His plan for the heavens, the earth, and everything in them before He began bringing them into existence. And it's equally certain that God brought them into existence—they are not a product of evolution, as some foolish people teach in their opposition to the Bible.

The Bible opens with God as Creator of all things and closes with God reigning over all things after rebellion against His moral government has been put down Genesis 1:11 Corinthians 15:24-28Ephesians 1:10Philippians 2:9-11.