The First Day or Epoch

The Genesis account tells nothing about the formation of the Earth itself. It says, "In the beginning the Earth was--without form and void"--shapeless, empty. There were neither mountains nor valleys, trees nor shrubs, rivers nor oceans, but the Earth was. How long before that it had been created, is not stated. The account of the Days of Creation given in Genesis relates not to the construction of our globe, but to the ordering of it for human habitation.

There are various theories regarding its formation. We follow the one most closely harmonizing with the Bible. It is called the Vailian theory. It assumes that Saturn's rings and Jupiter's belts illustrate Earth's development as a planet.

The Earth was once molten, as indicated by the igneous rocks of the Azoic period: so called by scientists, but not discussed in the Bible. When the Earth was molten, its water and minerals were thrown off a great distance in gaseous form. As these cooled and took shape, they constituted great rings at a distance from the Earth.

Gradually the motion of the rings became different from that of the Earth in proportion to the distance from the center of gravity. These rings of water and mineral gradually approaching the Earth would be kept off by centrifugal force, particularly strong at the equator. The "brooding" of Holy Energy developed a light, probably resembling the Aurora Borealis--not sunlight. The Sun did not appear until the Fourth Day.

"Let there be light! and there was light." Thus, briefly, is summed up the result of the 7,000 years, styled the First Day. Not that God's Word would not have been sufficient for any miracle, but because He prefers to work out His glorious designs along natural lines.--Genesis 1:3.

There are scientists who claim that the Earth still has one ring about it, an electrical ring which, falling, will in a few years destroy fermentation, microbes and parasites, and greatly assist plant and animal life.