The Age of the Earth

How old is the Earth?

According to many scientists the Earth is millions or even billions of years old. But, many Bible teachers declare that the Earth is only some 6000 years old. That is quite a discrepancy. Scientists base their belief on what they find in fossils but what do the Bible teachers base their belief on? Well, one would hope the Bible. But, does the Bible address the age of the Earth?

Let's start from the beginning. In Genesis 1:1 (KJV) it says "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." But we are never told exactly when the beginning was. For those that teach the Earth is only about 6000 years old they base it on the idea that right after God created the Earth He took only five more days and then created man, Adam, on the sixth day (Genesis 1:26-31). Based on the genealogies given in the Bible one can pretty well ascertain that man has been on the Earth for about 6000 years providing Adam was the first person and that the genealogies are complete.

However, the evidence of fossils found on and in the Earth suggests a much older Earth than that! For example, take the dinosaurs. They obviously existed due to the numerous bones found all over the planet. Their existence is irrefutable. So, when did they exist and for how long? According to many Bible teachers the dinosaurs would have had to live at the same time as man did and only lived for a few thousand years at most. The age of these bones and many fossils strongly suggest a time much loner ago. As any intelligent person can see, this presents a real problem for the belief of the 6000 year old Earth.

Now, let's look at Genesis 1 verse 2. It says "And the Earth was without form and void: and darkness was upon the face of the deep." It sounds like right after God created the heaven and the Earth, in verse 1, that the Earth was a lifeless, unformed, glob. But let's look a little closer. The word 'was' in verse 2 is properly translated according to the Strong’s concordance of the Hebrew as 'became'. This changes the whole thing to, "And the Earth BECAME without form and void." It became tohu va-vohu. Now, to determine if God created the Earth void and without form we need other scripture to help us out. We find it in Isaiah 45:18 which gives us all we need to know how God created the Earth. It says, "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 aligns perfectly with Genesis 1:1 where God created the Earth, it was perfect, and made to be inhabited. It was not created in vain, which means tohu, the same word used in Genesis 1:2. At some later time it became void (tohu). As a second witness we have 2 Peter 3:5-7, which declares the world that then was had been destroyed from the katabole, the overthrow. Note, do not mistake this with the flood of Noah. That is a completely different event and Noah's flood did not cause the earth to become void and without form.

Finally, the word Earth used in Genesis 1:1 in the Hebrew is kosmos, which means the world as created, ordered, and arranged. This word can be rendered "ornament" and thus the opposite of chaos which God never created. The Earth was created beautiful and perfect. Now, one can ask the question when did it become without form and void and why?

There is nothing in scripture that tells us just when the Earth became void and without form but we do know why. It was due to the overthrow, the katabole, as previously mentioned in 2 Peter 3:5-7. Also in Ezekiel 28:13-15 we read about how satan was made perfect in his ways from when he was created until iniquity was found in him. This is referring to satan’s fall which is why the Earth that then was was destroyed and why we are going through this second Earth age.

It is very unfortunate that all too often pastors teach that the Earth is only some 6000 years old when anyone with an open mind to God’s word and a lick of sense can see that the Earth must be much older than that. The fossil evidence alone makes a strong case for Earth's much older age. It is usually from plain ignorance that many teach of a 6000 year old Earth. God's word does not disagree with the obvious evidence of a much older Earth. As we've discovered, the Bible teaches that in the beginning, whenever that was, God created a perfect, inhabitable Earth. That was the first Earth age. Then at some time much later, the Earth became uninhabitable, tohu va-vohu, at the overthrow, the katabole, satan's rebellion, and all living things were destroyed. This is why we have the mass extinction of the dinosaurs. This is how we have fossils that are found to be far older than 6000 years. They existed in the first Earth age before the katabole. So the period from the time God created the Earth, Genesis 1:1, and the time he rendered it void and without form, Genesis 1:2, is a length of time that is not known for sure but the evidence clearly supports many millions of years and perhaps even longer.