God first came forth from the essential fullness of His Being to display His eternal power, wisdom, and Godhead glory.
Ultimately He displayed His holiness, love, and grace, when redemption was accomplished on the cross of Christ.
Order of Creation Given in Psalm 104
Here, God for the first time was beginning to unveil Himself amidst the incalculable stretch of space. What a glory is His! With what splendor He covereth Himself!
The measure of God's power is the infinite glory of His person.
"O God, how wide Thy glory shines,
How high Thy wonders rise!
Known thro' the earth by thousand signs,
By thousands through the skies.
"Those mighty orbs proclaim Thy power,
Their motions speak Thy skill:
And on the wings of every hour,
We read Thy patience still."
(Little Flock Hymnbook #335)
Are we not told of His coming in the clouds?
"Behold, he cometh with clouds" (Rev. 1:7).
This seems to be the last of the seven parts of the physical creation at this period. The earth was a special creation all of its own, prepared to be inhabited.
We are not told that any other heavenly body, star, or planet was created to be inhabited, and we know that there are no men dwelling on any other heavenly body, because Adam was the first man. The creation of earth was given a special place in the book of Job.
It is impossible for us to picture the tremendous display of glory as the myriads of angels viewed the earth coming into being. The light, the heavens, the chambers on the waters, the clouds, the wind, were already there when the angels were created.
What a sight to behold the newly created angels (the sons of God) shouting for joy as they experienced the creation of the special planet upon which God's counsels rest.
Who naturally would think that among all of the myriads of great stars (suns), our infinitesimal planet, earth, should have the honorable place where God's eternal counsels in Christ would be brought to light and secured?
Sometime following the creation of the universe (Gen. 1), Satan, who was the highest in order and most glorious of angels, fell because of pride (Ezek. 28:11-1911Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 12Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. 13Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. 14Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. 15Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. 16By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. 17Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. 18Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffic; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. 19All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more. (Ezekiel 28:11‑19)). This began "the mystery of God" in which He allows evil to continue unpunished for a season until it fully ripens (Rev. 10:77But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets. (Revelation 10:7)).
Earth Without Form Void
All was left a waste, covered with water and darkness. How long this condition existed we are not told, nor are we given details of this tremendous convulsion of the earth and sea, and perhaps succeeding ones.
Marvelous underwater formations, the mountains, valleys, springs, lakes, rivers, meadows, hidden deposits of gems, minerals, etc., appeared at the great unveiling when God caused the waters to recede, and He set their bounds.
The Present Earth
This present earth was formed in six literal days, which included the placings of the sun, moon, and stars.
Whatever creatures and vegetation might have been created before that time succumbed in the cataclysm.
The first man Adam was created on the sixth day in the image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:26-3126And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. 29And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. 30And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. 31And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. (Genesis 1:26‑31)).
Out of Adam's riven side God formed the woman to be Adam's helpmate, giving a preview of God's counsels concerning Christ and the Church (Gen.
2:21-24). This took place before Adam's fall in the garden of Eden, showing that God had a plan before sin entered into the present earth.
There is a purpose with the woman, both in the first and the new creation. Adam, with Eve, was given a dispensation of headship over all creation on earth or sea (Gen. 2:1818And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. (Genesis 2:18)). This typifies the last Adam (Christ) whose glory is above all dispensation.
In the counsels of God, Christ as Man is given headship with His wife over all created things in the universe. The first Adam's fall cost him his dispensation, but the last Adam's (Christ's) dispensation can never end.
God has never left Himself without witness from the beginning of creation, as we see in Adam's act of faith.
"There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture's eye (keenest in nature) hath not seen: The lion's whelps (strongest in nature) have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion (sagacious) passed by it" (Job 28:7,87There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture's eye hath not seen: 8The lion's whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed by it. (Job 28:7‑8)).
This path has always been available to man and will still be so until the Lord comes, the path of faith by the power of the Spirit of God. It was trodden by antediluvian saints, by Noah, and by Abraham, the father of faith.
The period without law (liberty of conscience) and that of the law of Moses prove the complete depravity of Adam's race.
The epoch between the fall of Adam and the incarnation of Christ shows God's ways, not His purposes, except hints in the form of types, pictures, etc. (Psa. 103:77He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel. (Psalm 103:7)).