Is Genesis the beginning of creation? Did God really created the the entire universe in just six days? Is Genesis a trustworthy account? The best way to answer these questions is to go to the text.
What is the beginning of Genesis 1:1? "in a beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." Most translations of Genesis start out with, "In the beginning God created..." The Hebrew is not so specific, "In a beginning God created..." God is not saying this is the beginning of all things, but rather the beginning of the universe. In a quality of a beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. From the beginning of the book of Genesis, in the original language, we see that it is referring not only to the creation of the universe, but also the creation of man and the renovation of the earth.
There are three heavens: the firmament (sky), the starry spaces, and the place were God's throne sits. (Genesis 1:8 "and God called the firmament the heaven..." 2 Corinthians 12:2 shows two heavens. "I intuitively knew a man in Christ from fourteen years ago, whether in the body or whether out of the body, I do not intuitively know. God intuitively knows, this one was seized up to the edge of the third heaven." The word translated "up to" in most translations is a Greek word that means up to but not beyond. Paul did not enter the third heaven, this is the man Paul is referring to here, rather he was taken up to the edge of the third heaven. )
Although God created many planets, earth was specifically created to be inhabited, Isaiah 45:18 "For thus saith the LORD that 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: I am the LORD; and there is none else."
Genesis is not taking us back to the beginning of all creation, rather it is taking us back to a beginning. A point in time that has the quality of a beginning. The beginning that Genesis 1:1 is referring to is the beginning in which the heavens and the earth was created. Prior to this beginning, God had created the spirit beings. We know this because the spirit beings witnessed the creation of the universe, Job 38:7. How do we know that Genesis 1:1 takes us back to the creation of the universe? The Hebrew word for "create" in this passage means to create out of nothing. God created the heavens and the earth in Genesis 1:1 when there was nothing.
The book of Genesis now skips through time to the creation of mankind and the renovation of the earth. The amount of time passed over is unknown, but we do know from other Scripture that is was a time when Lucifer ruled from the earth over the entire universe. (Ezekiel 28:14-19 this is prior to Lucifer's fall.) The earth was created, in Genesis 1:1, to be inhabited, but now in Genesis 1:2 we find the earth without form and void, and darkness upon the face of the earth. Lucifer's fall brought about judgment upon the place of his throne, which is why the earth is found to be under water in Genesis 1:2.
Now God has returned to the earth and He begins to renovate it....
