Before Time existed, God created Water & the Earth. Then He created Light. Earth’s gases started to form through ionization by this Original Light that God had dawned on the earth. Time started ticking—first the noon; then, the evening; and finally, the morning to complete Day 1. On Day 2, God made spherical space appear inside the water which surrounded the earth, thereby separating the water underneath the space from the water atop the space.
Then, He stretched out the spaces, creating under vacuum, the seemingly infinite expanse that is space. And the water atop this expansive space still exists today beyond space, according to the Genesis account. On Day 3, God created land out of the water still surrounding the earth through an unimaginably huge volcanic explosion. Tsunamis ensued and cooled and weathered the land. Rivers, streams and lakes were formed. Earth’s gases were completed and earth’s atmosphere sealed off and protected by the Spirit of God. And God created vegetation throughout the land.
On Day 4, with just one command, God set off the Big Bang through the Original Light of Day 1 through Day 3, and the universe was born, aided by the vacuum. In conclusion, those things that God created, whose constituent genetic codes were already inherent in their source, simply got activated by God’s commands and materialized as God commanded for them to materialize.
And those other things that God created, whose constituent genetic codes were already in their sources but are coming into existence for the very first time, or require God’s special consideration, God’s commands for them were usually followed up with action from God for them to materialize as God commanded for them to.  And in the case of human beings, God said, “Let us make man …” and not ”Let there be …”, indicating that humans were made with the uttermost consideration of all by the God of the universe. What an honor!
NOTE: Genesis 1:1 – “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”— is a thesis statement about God’s entire creation activities of the earth and the universe. The verse is not an itemization statement about the heavens being created before Genesis 1:2 because the heavens were not created until Day 2 when God created space. And on Day 4, God populated space and the universe was born. In much the same way, Genesis 2:1—“Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.”—is a summary statement about the same events.
In essence, The Earth and water were created in advance of Day 1. On Day 1, God shined His light—the True Light—on the earth, and this light lit the earth through Day 3. Then on Day 4, the sun, the moon, the stars and the rest of the universe were born through the so-called Big Bang, with the Spirit of God controlling the whole event and protecting the earth at the same time.