Old Earth MinistriesHomeschool Series

CreationThe Fourth Day

Creation – The Fourth Day

• The 4th day of creation is discussed by God in Genesis Chapter 1, verses 14 thru 19.

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Creation – The Fourth Day

• 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.

Genesis 1:14

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• Long before man invented the calendar, God planned the divisions of time by seasons, days, and years

Creation – The Fourth Day

• 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.

Genesis 1:14

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• Many Christians assume that God made the sun and the moon on Day Four

• However, the sun, moon, and stars existed before this point

• This does not make the Bible wrong…it must simply be interpreted correctly

How did God do it?

This doesn’t make sense.

What does the Bible say?

Creation – The Fourth Day• The creation account is written from

the point of view of an observer standing on the surface of the earth

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• Day Four is the point at which the atmosphere, created on Day Two, is clear enough to see the sun and moon for the first time

• Prior to this point, the sun did light the earth, but with the new atmosphere, the observer is unable to visibly see the sun and moon for millions of years due to the particles in the atmosphere

Creation – The Fourth Day• The plants created on Day Three did not

need direct sunlight to grow. The earliest plants in the fossil record are simple algae’s

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• Further plant creation is ongoing on Day 4 with the principle of “Creation Overlap”

• As the earth’s atmosphere cleared, more delicate plants could be created which could withstand the direct rays of the sun

Creation – The Fourth Day

• And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth; and it was so.

Genesis 1:15

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• In order for advanced life forms to survive, direct sunlight was needed.• The sunlight provides for

increased growth of plants, which are needed for food by the animals to be created later

Creation – The Fourth Day

• “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.

Genesis 1:16

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• As the young atmosphere cleared, the moon became visible from the surface of the earth, as well as the stars

• To the observer on earth, it would appear that God just created these objects, when in fact they already existed

Creation – The Fourth Day

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• Our sun rules the daytime, and is the greatest light in our sky. It is not the greatest star. There are many stars that are brighter than our sun.

• From the surface of the earth, our sun appears to be the greatest. It is clear that the Genesis account is written from the point of view of an observer standing on the surface of the earth

• “And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 18And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good.”

Genesis 1:17-18

Creation – The Fourth Day

• And the evening and the morning were the Fourth Day. Genesis 1:19

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• Day Four details the purpose of the sun and moon, and their first appearance from the surface of the earth

• Direct sunlight is critical for the survival of plants, which animals depend upon for food

• With this sunlight, plants are able to grow rapidly, allowing the animals that God will create later to survive

Creation – The Fourth Day

How Long is the Fourth Day?

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• With Creation Overlap, it is difficult to determine exact lengths for any of the days of creation

• With Day Four, there is no clear starting point

• Length is not as important as the events that occurred in these Days as told by God

• We cannot know why God chose to divide the days of creation the way He did

• Day Five records the creation of the first animal life, which first appears in the fossil record about 600 million years ago – that is probably the best estimate for the end of Day Four

Creation – The Fourth Day

More on Creation Overlap

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• The days of creation categorize the events into logical groups. For example, Day 3 is plants, Day 4 is Light, Day 5 is ocean life, and so on

• Clearly God was still making plants at the same time we see Him making animals on Day 6. We know this is true because grass first appears about 70 million years ago, well after the arrival of the dinosaurs

• Creation Overlap, the process of the creation day events overlapping each other, is critical to a correct understanding of the Bible and science

• Consider Day 3. New plant species appear throughout the fossil record, all the way from 3.8 billion years ago to the present

Creation – The Fourth Day

• The fourth day of creation presents no problems for a person who believes in an old earth

• You can believe that God’s Word is without error, and that the earth is 4.5 billion years old

This concludes this module on the 4th Day of Creation