Did Yahweh destroy the earth after Satan's rebellion?

[marc4liberty]

I have been listening to the Pragmatic Genesis series. I didn’t take notes so I’m depending on my memory to recall what I heard.

As I recall, Bill said that there is only one creation of earth in the Bible. That puzzled me because I had read other accounts and from the actual Bible that Yahweh destroyed the earth after Satan’s rebellion. The first two verses of Genesis 1 seem to confirm this that the earth was destroyed by water.

“Gen. 1: 1-2 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 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”.

This is not the same as Noah’s flood. Jeremiah 4: 23-27 confirms this (see verse 25). There was no man, bird or fruitful place left on earth. In verse 27, Yahweh says that He will not make a full end. In other words, He was going to re-create the earth and its inhabitants.

Of course, I realize that Noah’s flood was a local flood and did not destroy all life from the earth. Noah and his family were the only Adamite people to survive the flood.

“Jer. 4: 23-27 I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void;
and the heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man,
and all the birds of the heavens were fled. 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. For thus hath the Lord said,
The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end. For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black:
because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it”.

This is further confirmed by 2 Peter in the following verses.

“2 Peter 3: 5-7 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: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, 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”.

Does anyone else see it this way? If not, would you please tell me what errors I made in my interpretations?

[wmfinck]

Jeremiah 4:
The prophet is using poetic language borrowed from Genesis to illustrate the destruction Judah would undergo in the coming Babylonian invasion. It has NOTHING TO DO with anything but the destruction of Jerusalem at the hand of the Chaldaeans (Jeremiah 4:27, 29, 5:1).

The people who use Jeremiah 4:23-27 and try to say it describes a destruction of anything else, are Bible clowns. They are "stealing" a passage from one context, and inventing a tale about it in relation to another context: but the Word of God did not put it there! So they are rewriting the Bible!

2 Peter 3:
Peter was clearly talking about the destruction which came upon the people of Noah's flood. He is not insinuating that any Genesis 1 world before that was destroyed. Rather, Peter only used Genesis 1 language to help describe the pre-flood world that was then destroyed in the flood.

Comparet repeated some of the ideas reflected in your initial post. He was wrong for doing so.

[marc4liberty]

Bill, thanks for your response. I still am not sure if you answered my initial question. Did Yahweh destroy the earth after Satan's rebellion? I know it is not possible to prove a negative, but would you please provide Biblical references either way (that He either did or did not destroy the earth)? Thanks.

[wmfinck]

I talked about this at length in Pragmatic Genesis, Part 2. I do not think that I can add to that.