What Happened Between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2?

   What happened between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2?  It never made sense to me that God would make the earth a ruin, and I never heard any explanation that put it together for me.   Actually something cataclysmic happened.  And without reading chapter 2 in the Life-Study of Genesis I wouldn't get it at all.  In this chapter all the pieces are brought together to prove that the earth God created in Genesis 1:1 was beautiful and ready to be inhabited.   I found out that the verses that show this are found in Job and Isaiah:

Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?  Tell me if you have understanding….When the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God [angels] shouted for joy.  Job 38:4, 7

For thus says Jehovah who created the heavens--He is the God who formed the earth and made it.  He established it. He did not create it a waste….  Isaiah 45:18

    So what happened then? Before I go into that I want to underscore here that Witness Lee  said many times that when he was  speaking, he was always standing on the shoulders so to speak of the men and women of God who had gone before him.  In this chapter he relies many times on the light that he received from reading a book by G. H. Pember on this subject.  I found this excerpt from page 19 really helpful in understanding what happened between these two verses:

  In his famous book, Earth's Earliest Ages, G. H. Pember, has made a scholarly and thorough study of this matter….Between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2 there was a period of time which he called the interval. No one can say how long this interval was.  At any rate, it must have been a very long period of time.  After studying this matter thoroughly, Pember Inferred that at a certain time after the original creation, Satan and his angels rebelled (Lee, Witness.  Life-Study of Genesis. Anaheim: California, 1974, Print).

    In his book Pember points out that this rebellion is recorded in Isaiah 14:12-15:  "How you have fallen from heaven, O Daystar, [the Latin Vulgate translates this name Lucifer] son of the dawn! …But you, you said in your heart: I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will exalt my throne, and I will sit upon the mount of assembly in the uttermost parts of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High. But you will be brought down to Sheol, to the uttermost parts of the pit.   

     In this chapter I learned that Lucifer was the archangel,  like all God's angels he had a free will, and   he actually wanted to be higher than God. You can see this in all the five I wills in the above verses.  Pember linked these verses in Isaiah with Ezekiel 28:14-17A.  In this passage it's evident that Lucifer had a very high position in heaven before he rebelled:  You were the anointed cherub who covered the Ark; indeed I set you, so that you were upon the holy mountain of God; you walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created, until unrighteousness was found in you…. So I cast you out as profane from the mountain of God, and I destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.  Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom by reason of your brightness. I cast you to the ground;…

    After his rebellion, God called him Satan which means enemy.  And  because of his rebellion God judged the heavens and the earth.  This Life-Study mentioned  that the verses in Job 9:5-7 show glimpses of this judgment where we are told that God stopped the stars and sun from shining. From my reading I learned that's why Genesis 1:2 says the earth became waste and emptiness--it wasn't created that way. Satan's rebellion with a third of the angels (Revelation 12:4) put the entire universe into chaos.

     Don't you find this incredible and eye-opening?  I sure did.  It put a lot of things in the Bible together for me. Probably what touched me the most is God's creation of man with both His image and dominion was so that God could have a way to both deal with this rebellion and fulfill His eternal purpose.  More on that later!  

You can  also listen to live excerpts from these messages on  Genesis on Life-Study of the Bible with Witness Lee.  

Other Posts on the Life-Study of Genesis:

From the Life-Study of Genesis - What is the Focus of the Bible?
What Happened Between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2?
Why Did God Create Man in Genesis 1:26?
Why Did God Create Man With 3 Parts in Genesis 2:7?
Why Did God Put Man in Front of the Two Trees in Genesis 2?
Seeing God's Purpose of Life & Building in the Book of Genesis
What is the Story Behind the Story of Cain & Abel?
What Did Enosh Learn to Do in Genesis 4:26?
How Did Enoch Escape Death in Genesis 5:24?
Why Did Noah Need to Find Grace in Genesis 6:8?
What Does the Rainbow Symbolize in Genesis 9:13?
How Did God Call Abraham in Genesis 12:1?
How Did God Fulfill the Birth of Isaac in Genesis 12:7?
What Does the Marriage of Isaac & Rebekah Show in Genesis 24?
How Does the Story of Jacob Show God's Selection in Genesis 25?
Why Did Jacob Dream About a Ladder in Genesis 28:12?
Seeing Our Spiritual Journey in the Lives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, & Joseph
Why Did Jacob Call theTwo Altars in Genesis 33 & 35 By Different Names?
How Do the Stories of Jacob & Joseph Mirror God's Purpose in Genesis 1:26?
How Did Joseph's Dreams Really Get Fulfilled in Genesis 41?