God created all things in the beginning. There are many theories on when the beginning was. Some believe the beginning took place many billions of years ago. Others believe the beginning was only several thousand years ago. Some believe the six days of Creation were not literal days, while others believe they were 24 hour days. Some believe the first four days were ‘eternal days’. There is another belief, known as the gap theory, that states there was a gap between verse 1 and 2 of Genesis, giving ample time for all of the ‘geologic ages’. What do the scriptures have to say on this topic? Let’s look and see…
Genesis 1:1-2 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 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.
Some see a gap between the first and second verse. The gap is used for a couple of things. One use of the gap is to give room for geologic ages. The problem is the Earth’s current geologic condition could not have happened between verse one and two. The current geologic condition of the Earth is the result of the flood of Noah. Another belief about a gap is that Satan had a kingdom and this is when Satan fell. The scriptures do not tell us when Satan fell specifically, but we do know from scripture that Satan had already fallen when he spoke with Eve in the Garden of Eden. We are not told how long Adam and Eve were in the garden before they fell. Any theories we come up with are inconclusive because the scriptures simply do not give us the information. If there was a gap between verses one and two it was a very short gap because the events in Genesis 1:3-5 are the first day. Scripture does not support the gap theory, not is it necessary to explain a time period for the fall of Satan. The scriptures tell us that God created everything in the first six days.
Exodus 20:11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
The first day
Genesis 1:3-5 3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
Hebrew words
3117 yowm, yom {yome} Meaning: 1) day, time, year 1a) day (as opposed to night) 1b) day (24 hour period) 1b1) as defined by evening and morning in Genesis 1 1b2) as a division of time 1b2a) a working day, a day’s journey 1c) days, lifetime (pl.) 1d) time, period (general) 1e) year 1f) temporal references 1f1) today 1f2) yesterday 1f3) tomorrow
The Hebrew word for day is yowm. Yowm literally means a 24 hour period. Looking at the context itself we see the description of a 24 hour period from the phrase: “And the evening and the morning were the first day.” This phrasing is continued through each of the first 6 days, showing they were literal 24 hour days.
The phrase “And the evening and the morning” describes a very specific period of time. There is no room for this to mean more than 24 hours. The phrase “the first day” is very specific as to which day it was. There can only be one “first day”.
The second day
Genesis 1:6-8 6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
Again the phrase “And the evening and the morning were the second day” is descriptive of an actual 24 hour period.
The firmament is an ‘expanse’; a large area. The description is that there is water above and water below the large area. The expanse is then called ‘heaven’. There are three ‘heavens’ in scripture. This heaven is referring to the atmosphere, showing that there was water above the atmosphere. This is where the idea of a ‘water canopy’ around the Earth before the flood of Noah comes from.
The third day
Genesis 1:9-13 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto 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 called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. 11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.
We have another phrase that describes a specific day. One problem with the idea of the first four days being ‘eternal days’ is that plants were made on day three and the sun wasn’t made until day four. If days three and four were long periods of time, the plants could not have survived. It is true there was ‘light’ made on the first day, but that’s not the same thing as ‘the sun’. The sun does more than just give light. It also gives heat and chlorophyll. Plants need both, heat and chlorophyll, to survive.
The fourth day
Genesis 1:14-19 14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: 15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. 16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. 17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. 19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
The phrase “divide the day from the night” in Hebrew literally means “between the day and between the night”. This context is speaking of a literal 24 hour day.
The fifth day
Genesis 1:20-23 20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. 21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. 23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
Same phrase… showing a literal 24 hour day.
The sixth day
Genesis 1:24-31 24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. 25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 26 And 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. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28 And 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. 29 And 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. 30 And 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. 31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Again, same phrase- showing a literal 24 hour day.
The seventh day
Genesis 2:1-4 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. 4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,
“The seventh day”. Each of these days show a literal 24 hour day. Even more specific, each day is described as “the _ day”. There can be only one first day, second day, third day, fourth day, fifth day, sixth day, and seventh day.
The scriptures describe the first 7 days as literally 24 hours each. The words and phrases used can only mean a 24 hour day. The scriptures do not give leeway for anything else. The scriptures do not give room for long periods of time or ‘ages’. These long periods of time are needed by those that believe in evolution. There are no scientific facts that prove the earth is older than what the Bible says. Long periods of time are seen through ‘interpretation’ of the facts. There are other ways to scientifically interpret the facts. Creation is a past event. It is ‘historical science’. No one can go back in time and test, observe, or demonstrate Creation. All we have are the facts, and those facts must be interpreted in the present.
Problems and arguments
There are some problems with the first six days being more than 24 hour days. Plants were made on the third day. The sun wasn’t made until the fourth day.
Any geologic features the Earth had acquired before the flood of Noah were destroyed in the flood of Noah.
Some use 2 Peter 3:8 to say that a day with God is like a thousand years. The point they want to make is that the first seven days could have been longer than a literal 24 hour day because to God it is all the same. Let’s look at the verse in context.
2 Peter 3:4-8 4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. 5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: 6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: 7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. 8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
Verse 8 is referring to God’s patience of waiting until the Day of Judgment. We see this in verse seven. One logical problem in using this verse in reference to the days of creation is that plants were made on the fourth day, and the sun wasn’t made until the fifth day. The plants could not have gone 1000 years without the sun. Light was made on the first day, but that’s not the same thing as the sun. Even if the first seven days were 1000 years long each (which the scriptures do not support), the Earth would still be less than 14,000 years old. This verse does not help anyone that wants to believe the Earth is older than that.
I find it much easier (and logically sound) to believe what the Bible says about Creation. The scriptures say that the heavens, the earth, and everything in them were created in six literal days.
Exodus 20:11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Exodus 31:17 It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.
The scriptures are clear that God created the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all that are in them in six literal days.
Adam and Eve were created at the beginning of creation.
Mark 10:6 But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.
Following the dates given in the Bible we see that the earth is around 6000 years old. From creation to the flood was about 2000 years. From the flood to the birth of Jesus was about 2000 years. From the time of Jesus and the birth of the Church is about 2000 years. (These dates are loosely given as examples. We can count the dates given in scripture, but we cannot get an exact figure. I suggest counting the dates given in scripture as an exercise in Biblical chronology.) Even if we are off of our count by hundreds of years, there is not room for the earth to be more than several thousand years old.
Mainstream science would have us believe that the universe is billions of years old. This idea doesn’t line up with scripture. Also, this idea is not supported by scientific facts. The concept of the earth being billions of years old isn’t found in fact- it is found in the interpretation of fact. I would rather take the word of the Almighty Creator of the universe than the word of fallible man, many whom have an agenda to not believe in God. Placing billions of years in the Bible would compromise the inerrancy of the Bible. There is no reason to believe the Bible contains errors. In fact, scientists find evidence every day that supports the six days of creation and the inerrancy of the Bible.
We have no excuse for not believing in Creation.
Romans 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
Even our conscience bears witness to us.
Romans 2:15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)
Placing billions of years before the Creation of Adam would be placing death before Adam. Death is the result of sin. Death came into the world because of the fall of Adam and Eve. Because of sin, God was manifest in flesh to provide atonement for sin. Jesus died on the cross and provides salvation through his gospel- his death, burial, and resurrection. In order to apply his gospel to our lives, we must repent, be baptized in Jesus name, and be filled with the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
God created all things for a purpose, and that purpose is so that He can share it with us. He loves us so much that He made a way of salvation, and it is a free gift. All we have to do is believe it and obey it. God created the universe just like the Bible says. The Word of God is true. Believe it. Obey it.