Genesis 1:9-10 - “ 9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good."

Introduction

As described in Genesis 1:2, the earth was covered in water. The deep in turns was covered in clouds, as described in Job 38:9. On Day 2, in Genesis 1:6-8, Jesus (at His Father's command) let a vault form beteween the deep and the clouds. The sun, moon, and stars were still not visible, and there was no land. But all that was about to change.

And God said, “Let the water

under the sky be gathered to one place,

and let dry ground appear.”

The Conditions of Day 3

Plate tectonics appear to have begun around 2.5 Ga (billion years ago). This would have occurred as earth cooled down, solid crust formed underneath the deep, and pressure underneath the plates (from the still earth's still-molten center) began cracking them, causing the thrusting process we still see today. It would seem then, according Genesis 1:9, that Jesus let this process commence.

Genesis 1:9-10 are not the only scriptures that record this process. There are three other creation accounts in scripture, and each provides insight into what God did, and why.

Psalm 104:5-10

 7 But at your rebuke the waters fled, at the sound of your thunder they took to flight;

 8 they flowed over the mountains, they went down into the valleys, to the place you assigned for them.

 9 You set a boundary they cannot cross; never again will they cover the earth.

 10 He makes springs pour water into the ravines; it flows between the mountains. 

What a dramatic description! The mountains did not just rise slowly out of the seas, but they thrusted out of the waters. It was like thunder. Rebuked indeed! Never again would the waters completely cover the earth. The moon would be keeping them in check...

Proverbs and Job

Proverbs 8:29a

29 when he gave the sea its boundary  so the waters would not overstep his command

Job 38:8-11

 10 when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place,

 11 when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt’? 

And God saw that it was good, but He wasn't done yet...