NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH." 2. Pet. 3:13. These words of Peter reveal the fact that this Earth is to pass through 3 stages. First the Original Earth that "perished" by WATER. Second the Earth that is now, that is to be renovated or cleansed by FIRE. And the New Earth that is to exist forever.
How long a period elapsed between the Creation of the Earth and its becoming "formless and void" we do not know, neither do we know how long it continued in that condition, but when the time came in the purpose of God to restore it to a habitable state, and make it fit for the abode of the human race, He did it in six periods of longer or shorter duration. These "Periods" were six in number, and with the seventh or Sabbatic Period, are called the "Creative Week."
These "Six Periods" do not describe or include the original creation. The word "CREATE" is not mentioned after Gen. 1:1 until verse 21, which describes the work of the Fifth Day. God did not "create light" on the First Day. He simply said--"let there be light," as one would say "turn on the light."
On the Second Day God simply, divided the waters by providing clouds to hold the moisture of the atmosphere.
The work of the Third Day is "twofold," the emergence of the land from the sea, and the reappearance of vegetable life. This was not a new creation but a RESURRECTION. The earth rises up out of the "Waters of Death," and seeds, and the roots of plants and herbs are called upon to germinate and sprout and grow as they did before the catastrophe that submerged the Primeval Earth. If that catastrophe was what we know as the "Glacial Period" the resurrection of plant life no more required a "creative act" than vegetation does in the spring of the year after the winter is over. That this is what really happened is clear from Gen. 1:11-12, where it says, "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is IN ITSELF, UPON (in) THE EARTH." That is, the seed was already in the earth, having been buried by the flood that swept over the Primeval Earth, and, being indestructible, it only needed the proper condition to spring up and cover the earth with verdure. This reveals the fact that the Primeval Earth was clothed with verdure, and covered with plants and trees.
The appearance of the Sun and Moon on the Fourth Day was not a new creation. They had existed in connection with the Primeval Earth and had not been destroyed when it was made waste. The word translated "made" in the 16th verse is not the same word as is translated "created" in verse one, and does not imply a "creative
act." What is meant is that the clouds broke away that up to this time had shrouded the earth and permitted the Sun and Moon to be seen, and that from that time they were appointed to measure the days, and years, and seasons as we have them today. In other words, on the Fourth Day "Time" in contrast with "eternity" began.