If this being attempted to put his throne above the stars, then must he
have had a throne somewhere else. If he aimed to ascend into heaven
and be like the Most High, he must have had some dwelling place which
God had assigned to him. There is no positive Scripture concerning
this place. Yet by inferential evidence the knowledge can be gained
that our earth in its original condition was the domain of this great
creature of God.
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." We do not
know when this was. In certain Bible editions the date 4004 B. C. is
placed in the margin over against Gen. i:1. But that is incorrect. It
would make the earth not quite 6000 years old. Science has
demonstrated the fact that our globe is of a very great age. No human
being can tell the exact time when God created the heavens and the
earth. It may have been 2 million or 20 million or 200 million years
ago. We know, however, that the human race became a recent tenant on
this earth. The human race is not older than about 6000 years.
In that distant past before man was created the earth was in a
different form. At that time there was a gigantic animal creation and
an equally gigantic vegetation in existence. It has been brought to
light through the fossil beds; but in none of these fossils is found a
trace of a human being. This great original creation was plunged at
one time into an awful catastrophe. Death and destruction came upon
it, every living thing was extinguished, while water covered everything
and all was enveloped in darkness.
This is exactly the condition of the earth as described in the second
verse of the Bible. "And the earth was without form and void; and
darkness was upon the face of the deep." If we turn to Isaiah xlv:18
we find a significant statement: "For thus saith the Lord who 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." The word vain (tohu) is the same word used in Gen. i:2 and
translated "without form." From this we learn that God did not
originally create the earth as without form and void, enshrouded in
darkness. It became this through a judgment which fell upon it.
Between the first and second verses of the first chapter of Genesis is
therefore a long, immeasurable period of time. Now, if this original
earth was ruined and passed through a judgment, why did this ruin and
judgment take place? This question must remain unanswered unless we
bring that first judgment in connection with the revolt and fall of
Satan, who had his dwelling place on this earth. This explains not
only the ruined condition of the earth in Gen. i:2, but throws a great
deal of light on Satan's successful attempt to get back his lost
dominion through man and his tenacious hold on the earth, as the prince
of the world and god of this age.[1]