The Earth: Without Form, and Void - Jeremiah 4:23

The Earth:  Without Form, and Void – Jeremiah 4:23

(Jeremiah 4:23 KJV)  I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.

Jeremiah receives a vision concerning the wrath of God that occurs just prior to the Millennial reign of Jesus Christ as King of the earth at the end of the 70^th week of Daniel. 

The description given by Jeremiah describes an extremely harsh judgment concerning the earth and all life on the planet.  The book of the Revelation gives a more comprehensive detailed analysis of this judgment but the scenario presented by Jeremiah in the verses following number 23 describes the earth almost as a complete wasteland following a ruthless and exacting punishment by the wrath of God

  

I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger. For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end.  (Jeremiah 4:24-27 KJV)

The vision of the earth seen by Jeremiah would compare to a nuclear devastated post-apocalyptic scene that could be viewed in a movie of today.  The features of the planet were slightly moving and swaying.  There were no people, birds, or animals to be seen.  Everything was a desolate annihilated wasteland with all cities and towns laying in a heap of ruins.  Fortunately, at the end of verse 27, God states “yet will I not make a full end”.

The language used by Jeremiah in verse 23 almost parallels the language used in Genesis 1:2 – “the earth was without form and void”.  I have recently read two books concerning the so-called “gap theory”.  This doctrine essentially states that God’s creation or reassessment of the earth we presently reside in begins in Genesis 1:3 with the first two verses describing the earth and the universe as having been created at some unknown time in perhaps ages past which then endured an earlier judgment of God before it was reconstituted to our current earthly habitat.  (However, with another judgement of water with the flood of Noah’s day).

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.  (Genesis 1:1-2 KJV)

In his book, The Gap is Not a Theory, by Jack Langford, he makes a convincing argument for the “gap” and states several times that the “gap” is not a theory but a fact.  I have been aware of the gap concept for many years but never did much research on the principle.  During most of my adult life I have always considered the theory of evolution as the most unnatural faith based religion ever conceived by human beings.  I always considered geological uniformitarianism as a product of the flood of Noah without much concern for the so-called age of the earth and universe.  However, I must say the gap concept does answer many questions concerning the age of the earth, dinosaurs, sea shells and round boulders on the top of mountains, ice ages with frozen mammoths, including the fall of Satan and some of the angels.

The wrath of God at the end of the present age is definitely a judgment.  When Jeremiah uses the same words tohoo and bohoo as appears in Genesis 1:2 he appears to be giving credence to the state of the earth and universe in Genesis as a judgment of God as well.  At the end of the 70^th week of Daniel, God will once again recreate or refashion the earth once again.  The wrath of God will be some serious devastation.

The Seventh Day Adventist group use this Jeremiah verse to support their doctrine there will be no humanity on the earth during the Millennium.  Of course, they have to overlook or dismiss the several scripture passages describing human events occurring on the planet during the Millennium such as:  Zechariah 14:16-17; Isaiah 2:2-4; Revelation 5:10; Amos 9:11-15; Zechariah 14:8-11; Micah 4:1-4; and Isaiah 11:6-12; as well as many others.