Job 38:4-7 “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. (5) Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? (6) To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, (7) when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”
After God had created all the angels, it was at that point that He then created the earth. The above quoted passage of scripture records God’s discourse with Job, in which the Lord reveals that when He created the earth, that all the angels of God shouted for joy. All the angels of God would have included Lucifer and his angels, for they were still a part of God’s kingdom at that time. This passage refers to God’s original creation of the earth and agrees to the account given to us in Genesis, for in that account the scripture tells us that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1). We know that all things that God creates are good, for time and again in the Genesis account of creation we see that when God created something that He looked upon it and saw that it was good, and so when God originally created the heavens and the earth they were perfect and good. It was this earth that became a part of Lucifer’s domain along with all his angels.
Genesis 1:1-10 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (2) … and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. … (9) Then God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear"; and it was so. (10) And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.”
Revelation 2:12-13 “And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write, 'these things says He who has the sharp two-edged sword: (13) “I know your works, and where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. And you hold fast to My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days in which Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.”
In order for us to understand God’s creation of the earth, we need to understand that unlike the heavens which have only one dimension, God created the earth with two dimensions and both dimensions were created at the same time. And so, whereas the heavens only exist in the realm of the spirit, the earth has both a spiritual and a physical realm, and those two dimensions exist parallel to each other. It was the spiritual dimension of the earth that was given to Lucifer and his angels to dwell in, for angels are spirits (Hebrews 1:7). The spiritual realm of the earth, God called Eden, which is why God describes Lucifer as being in Eden the garden of God (Ezekiel 28:13). The physical dimension of the earth however, God covered in water and darkness when He created it, and left it in that state until the proper time came for it to be revealed. The reason God did that was because He created the physical dimension of the earth for men and not for angels, and the time for Adam to be created had not yet come. When the proper time did eventually arrive however, God then proceeded to reveal the physical earth, which is why God says in the above passage “let the dry land appear”. In other words the land was always there, it was just hidden under the water and darkness that had covered it from the beginning of creation.
Job 38:16-18 “Have you entered the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in search of the depths? (17) Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the doors of the shadow of death? (18) Have you comprehended the breadth of the earth? Tell Me, if you know all this.”
When God created the spirit realm of the earth, at the same time He also created the spiritual regions under the earth, which included the realms of Death and Hades. These realms are also referred to in scripture as the Bottomless Pit and Sheol. In the above quoted passage of scripture the Lord speaks to Job about these realms, for example He mentions the gates of death which is the entrance to Hades. As the angel who was given dominion over the earth, Lucifer was also given dominion over the regions under the earth, which is why scripture refers to Satan as having the power of death (Hebrews 2:14). The word translated “power” in that passage can also be translated “dominion”, which is in fact a better translation in this passage; because it conveys to us the truth that Death fell under Satan’s dominion. This is also the reason that Satan held the keys to Death and Hades, before Jesus took them from him when Jesus went to the cross (Revelation 1:18). The apostle Paul reinforces the truth to us that the realm of death fell under Lucifer’s authority, when he explains to us that one of the reasons that Jesus died, rose and lived again was so that He could become Lord of both the living and the dead (Romans 14:9). In other words, before the cross, God was the God of the living but not the God of the dead (Mark 12:27), but after the cross, for the first time, Jesus became Lord of both the living and the dead. All of this points us to the truth that the earth is far older than mankind can begin to imagine.
Michael E.B. Maher
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