God did not say that no matter existed at the creation in Genesis. An unbiased reading of what He does say actually supports a pre-existing universe. You can check that out in this article and also look on this website for much more to be said on the subject of creation.

The fourth day

Notice that there was light from the first day And God said, Let there be light: and there was light (Gen1:3) [KJV], and that is all that He said let there be light. What the scripture does not say is that matter was created on the fourth day, and further, where was the Earth at this time? Notice what God said in verse 6; He only talks about water. In verse 9, land suddenly appears beneath the water even though He never said let there be land . There is activity going on to suggest that it (the mass of land) hung in space however it is hard to believe that the only matter that hung in space up to this point was the earth; and for that matter, where did the space come from? Space is not nothing. It is in verse 14, on the fourth day, that God talks about lights in the firmament to divide night from day. These are not stars but the sun and moon. This is localised activity. A star is a sun or galaxy and it is very likely that God did all of these at the same time many years before. They do not divide night from day. Light would be unnecessary for spirit beings hence it is reasonable to suggest that this was all for man's benefit. But the real show stopper is of course verse 2. How could the Spirit of God move on something if nothing was as yet created but yet it moved because the nothing that was created was 'without form and void'? Nothing cannot have characteristics because it is nothing.

In other words matter that is not burning is not a sun or a star, so the matter could have been there before but just not burning or not seen to be burning.

So then we must accept that at the outset God would have created all matter. The logical sequence of events demands this. It is far more reasonable to believe that the earth existed as a shattered mass surrounded by a cloud of debris, ice and rubble and God's first action was to once again congeal the matter allowing a few rays of light to penetrate the solidified vapours that remained. On the fourth day, when He had previously organised the fluid into water and atmosphere then even more light penetrated as he now set the sun alight and made the solar systems turn about burning suns and galaxies turn around their cores.

verses 3 to 7

Now verses 3 to 7 occur before there was sun but not before there was light. How much light is light? Is light from stars light. Now assuming that the earth was buried under a mass of ice and rubble and that rubble was congealed then there would be star light. God does not need light to see so He did not say 'let me see'. If there was a huge glob of matter hanging in space on one side of the earth then that side would be dark. Then in verse four He named the dark side night and the bright side day. In verse 6 He had this huge glob of extra matter and and the gravitational force of a body that large in one place would have affected the conditions on the earth so He seems to have dispersed it rather than leaving it as a glob. In that form it was thin enough for light to penetrate freely but still there was noxious products in the atmosphere so he collected them into planets and separated the earth from the cloud of debris by a safe distance. The firmament separated the cloud of debris from the earth. So by day 2 the earth had an a clean atmosphere with unpolluted water and it was now left to collect the water into bodies and expose the land. This seems like a reasonable possibility that is biblically sound. So what about verse 16?

Now the Bible says plainly in verse 16 that God created the stars at the same time He crated the sun and moon, or does it? Check your Bible and see that he made is italicized. It was added. What God actually said is that He made ONLY two objects. He then goes on to say that the second object functioned with the stars at night. He never said that they were made at the same time. The stars have to do with rule the night not He made. You can look back and Genesis 1:14-19 above or check your own Bible. Just leave out the 'he made' and you can add 'rule the night' after 'stars also'.

The concept is not foreign

The concept of creating a new heaven and Earth from pre-existing material is not foreign to the Bible. In the book of Revelation the new heaven and Earth appear to be built by burning the materials of the first heaven and Earth and re-using the matter that is left.

The problem with the creation of Adam

So how do we address the claim that God clearly says that He started out by creating the heavens and the earth and man in six days? look at the following scriptures:

The scriptures above are presented in support of this proposition and it seems to bear it out, or does it? Let us review the argument. (1) Every instance of the word creation means bringing into existence from nothing. (2) God said that He created the heavens and the Earth in six days which corresponds to the time that mankind was created. (3) Therefore the earth was created from a nothingness during the six day period when man was created.

So there we have it. Since creation means creation from nothing therefore when God says that He created the Earth and the heavens there must have been nothing there before. Now let us apply that reasoning to the creation of man. (1) Every instance of the word creation means bringing into existence from nothing. (2) God said that He created mankind. (3) Therefore mankind was created from nothing during the six day period when man was created. Rubbish! Let us see what the scriptures say.

Genesis 1:27 [KJV]So God created [H1254] man in his own image, in the image of God created [H1254] he him; male and female created he them.

Usage Notes: English Words used in KJV:

• create 42
• creator 3
• choose 2
• make 2
• cut down 2
• dispatch 1
• done 1
• make fat 1
• [Total Count: 54]

a primitive root; (absolute) to create; (qualified) to cut down (a wood), select, feed (as formative processes) :- choose, create (creator), cut down, dispatch, do, make (fat). Strong's Number: H1254Strong's Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary

Now look at Genesis 1:1[KJV] In the beginning God created [H1254] the heaven and the earth.

The same thing that He did with the earth was done with Adam. In Adam's case we know that dust was there before so why do we insist that nothing was there before to create the Earth from? In Genesis 1:26-27 He created them, one from dust and the other from a rib. The word used for created (Hebrew: bra / bara ) is the same used in Genesis 1:1 where he created the Heavens and the Earth. But man was created by using pre-existing material as stated in Genesis 2:7 therefore why is it that we must believe that creation for the universe was from a vacuum, or more accurately nothing? The heavens and the Earth were created in six days from pre-existing material.

Creation as used in Genesis presumes that matter already exists in at least the case of Adam and there is no scripture to my knowledge that contradicts this meaning being applied to the present planets. Creation simply means bringing something new into existence but it does not speak to what that thing is made from. A new house can be built on the foundation of an old one and also reuse the rubble and usable material but it is still a house that did not exist before. A paperclip can be invented without inventing wire.

Now wait a minute. It plainly says that He created HEAVEN and earth together. Perfectly correct, heaven (singular). In the Bible it speaks of more than one heaven (dealt with in another article), for example God lives in a separate heaven. This only deals with the heaven in the vicinity of earth.