How old is earth? This is a fundamental question that we ask. And the answer we, as Christians, provide can certainly turn people away from God.
Science, archeology, and geology have all proven that this earth is millions, even billions, of years old, yet many Christians believe and teach it is only thousands of years old. This discrepancy is going to make people reject God’s word because it’s false and most people know that. So if that’s wrong, they wonder what else about God’s word is wrong. It’s a reasonable assessment to make. So, what does the Bible actually teach about the age of earth?
Nowhere does God say that the earth is only thousands of years old. I’m going to show you through God’s word, that it is this earth age that is thousands of years old, not the planet earth itself. The Bible teaches of three separate world ages.
During the first earth age we all resided in our spiritual (angelic) bodies. We were with our Father and we loved him and one another. We do not know how long the first earth age lasted, but given the dinosaur (and other prehistoric animal) fossils and artifacts we find, and via carbon dating, etc. We know that it was billions of years.
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth
When did God create heaven and earth? He tells us only that it was in the beginning. No date is given. If you look up ‘beginning’ in your Strong’s Concordance (H7225) it means the first, in place, time, order, or rank (specifically a firstfruit). God created heaven and earth first.
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.
Here we are told the earth was created without form and void. We need to look in the Strong’s Concordance to define these two terms:
from an unused root meaning to lie waste; a desolation (of surface), i.e. desert; figuratively, a worthless thing; adverbially, in vain:–confusion, empty place, without form, nothing, (thing of) nought, vain, vanity, waste, wilderness.
Void (922) (bohu):
from an unused root (meaning to be empty); a vacuity, i.e. (superficially) an undistinguishable ruin:–emptiness, void.
So, we’re told the world was created an empty, desolate, worthless, chaotic wasteland (tohu va bohu). Really?? Does that sound like something our Father would create? Of course not. God is perfect and his creations reflect that perfection. God created this earth a beautiful perfect place, to be inhabited. Let’s look at other verses in the Bible that talk about the creation of heaven and earth.
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; and there is none else.
This word ‘vain’ is the same Hebrew word, tohu (8414), used for ‘without form’ in Gen 1:2.
So, Genesis says God did create the world tohu and Isaiah says he did not create the world tohu.
Clearly, Isaiah 45:18 and Gen 2:2 contradict each other, so that should immediately tell you something is wrong. God’s word is never wrong. Either you have misunderstood something or there’s a mistranslation. In this case, take a look at Genesis 1:2 again. This time let’s look at the word ‘was.’
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep…
The word ‘was’ in this verse is translated from the Hebrew word hayah (Strong’s 1961).
a primitive root [compare 1933]; to exist, i.e. be or become, come to pass (always emphatic, and not a mere copula or auxiliary).
The correct translation for the word haya in this instance is ‘became’…the earth became without form and void. With the proper translation, Genesis and Isaiah line up, there is no contradiction, and it completely changes our understanding of God’s word.
So God created this world perfect in Gen 1:1 and it became without form and void in Gen 1:2. God doesn’t tell us how many years it was between those two events. But he does tell us why and how the world became without form and void. God destroyed that first earth age-not earth itself, but that dispensation of time. Why?
Satan rebelled against God and deceived one-third of his children, who then sided with Satan (that would be billions of his children). You see, Lucifer (Satan) used to be perfect back in the first earth age, he was created that way. He loved God, and was loved by God. He held a high position, as God appointed him the cherub that covereth. But his pride caused him to want to become God (Ezekiel 28:14-15). He wanted to take God’s place and be worshipped. He still does to this day. So he started a rebellion in Heaven and drew a third of God’s children to follow him.
God was angry and he had every right to be. Billions of his children betrayed him. Can you imagine how much that would have hurt our father? He wants our love, and many of us threw God away for a liar and deceiver who waged war with God. He was certainly angry, yet his love for us is beyond what we can comprehend, so great that he did not want to destroy us.
God gave us all free will, and I believe that the Bible proves that even in the first earth age we had free will. If not, Satan would never have rebelled. God could’ve created a bunch of robotic people and made us love him, but that’s not true love is it? With free will comes the choice to love and follow who we want.
Let me ask you a question? Can you imagine killing even one of your own children? God could have easily done that, but Instead he sentenced Satan to death (he’s not dead yet, but he will be after the millennium) and destroyed that earth age, and brought in this flesh age (second earth age) making it so we all had to be born from above, of the womb, innocent, with no memories of that first earth age, so we can make up our own minds who we love and want to serve: God or Satan.
There is a lot written about Satan’s rebellion and I’ll have a post on that too. In the meantime, make a study of it because you will have a better understanding of what occurred. Keep in mind that this rebellion was during the first earth and heaven age. We were all there in our spiritual bodies.
Are there other Bible versus that speak of different earth ages? Absolutely. Let’s take a look at some of them.
Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
God is telling Jeremiah he knew him before he was even in his mother’s womb.
When was this? It was during the first earth age. He was there and so were you, me, and all of us! We all had our real bodies; our spiritual bodies. We still have them now and as soon as these flesh bodies die, we return to God in those same spiritual bodies we had in the first earth age. That’s what we look forward to! Being with our father in our real bodies that never age and wear down. No pain or discomfort. It’s our true bodies that we’ll be in for eternity.
I beheld the earth and lo it was without form and void, and the heavens, and they had no light.
Jeremiah 4:24
I beheld the mountains and lo, they trembled and all the hills moved lightly.
Jeremiah 4:25
I beheld, and lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled.
Jeremiah 4:26
I beheld, and lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord, and by his fierce anger.
Jeremiah 4:27
For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end.
These verses say a lot. Jeremiah is seeing earth as it was in Gen 1:2, when the earth became without form and void.
We also see that there were animals and cities in the first earth age. We must have built these cities! We all lived happily with our Father and one another in our true, perfect, spiritual bodies. Only the animals were flesh. We see proof of this in the fossils found today, many of them hundreds of millions of years old! But human fossils that we’ve found are only thousands of years old.
The mountains trembled and the hills moved lightly.
The word ‘lightly’ should’ve been translated ‘easily or with ease.’ God shook this earth up and caused great destruction, so that it ended in the earth being covered in water. Many people mistakenly think these verses refer to Noah’s flood, but that doesn’t add up. In Noah’s flood both people and animals remained on the ark. Birds were still alive, remember the raven and the dove? We know plant life remained because the dove returned with an olive branch. Not so with this total destruction of the first earth age: nothing living remained. Every man and all the cities (and whatever else we built) were all gone; all plant life was gone, and not one bird or animal remained.
.…Yet will I not make a full end.
God destroyed that dispensation of time, but he did not, and never will, destroy earth:
For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the Word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water
This is the first earth age, Gen 1:1, in the beginning. God didn’t create the world covered in water (flooded). The world stood out of the water and in the water. It wasn’t a destructive chaotic mess. It was beautiful and perfect, just like God’s word proclaims.
Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished.
The world that then was, the first earth age, was completely and utterly destroyed. This coincides with Gen 1:2 and Jeremiah 23-26, when earth became without form and void. That earth age perished.
But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
This is the second earth age, the current age we live in. This earth age will be destroyed as well, but not until after Satan tries to convince all of us that he is Jesus and to worship him. unfortunately many will be convinced because they have not been taught that Satan comes back before Jesus does, and he will be claiming to be Jesus.
Thankfully, we have a patient and loving Father and there will be the millennium for those who didn’t have a chance to learn the truth. During this thousand years of teaching, Satan will be locked up and will have no influence over anybody. I’m not saying we have a second chance. This is for those who have never been taught the truth. With what’s being taught today there are so many people who don’t even have a first chance to learn the truth. Every one of us will have that chance because our Father is fair and just.
After the millennium Satan will be released for a short time to try and convince those, who now know the truth, to follow him instead of God. Why does God allow Satan this final opportunity? Because everyone has to have the chance to choose either God or Satan. As hard as it is to understand, the Bible tells us that even after that 1,000 year teaching period, some will choose Satan. These people know the truth. We’re in our real spiritual bodies during the millennium. There is no more false teachers, doubts, or confusion. Faith is no longer part of the equation.
It is hard to fathom why anybody would knowingly choose Satan over God, but it is written, so we know that they will, just as they did in the first earth age. They are doing so with full knowledge of exactly what they are doing and It’s their decision to love Satan rather than Father. Can you begin to understand why God allows Satan this last chance to take those who would rather serve him? It’s certainly not for Satan’s benefit. It’s for us, his children. We do not want evil people in the eternity who love and want to worship and serve Satan.
On the last day of the millennium, comes the Great white throne judgment, and after that the third and final earth age.
Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
This is the third and final earth age, and it’s what we all look forward to. The word ‘new’ in this verse should be translated ‘rejuvenated’. The earth is rejuvenated back to its original perfect state. All flesh is gone, so we no longer grow old or suffer in any way. No pain, no tears, no sickness. We are with our Father for eternity, we will be happy.
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
The word ‘first’ is the Greek word protos, and it should have been translated ‘former’ just as it was in revelations 21:4 (Strong’s 4413). The former heaven and earth will be rejuvenated to perfection, just like it was created in Gen 1:1. What a beautiful future our father has in store for us. Here’s a description of what we have to look forward to:
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
Satan and his followers are going to be gone forever, and thank God for that. This final age is available to everyone, but the choice is yours. God will never force you to love him, but he sure loves you and wants your love in return.
I hope that this post has given you the desire to learn more about the three earth and heaven ages. It explains so much about the world we live in now. There are some great lessons that go into far more detail than I am capable of. I encourage you to learn more on this subject, always with prayer for wisdom and understanding.
