The Days of Creation

DAY ONE OF CREATION

Gen. 1:1-5, “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. 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.”

Fact: This is not the sunlight “upon the earth” of DAY FOUR.

DAY ONE OF CREATION

The sunlight “upon the earth” of DAY FOUR

Verses 14-19, “And God SAID, Let there be lights in the firmament (Day 2, jhb) of the heaven to divide the day from the night…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...”

The earth [Gen. 1:1 (Day 1)] was created before the sun and stars [Gen. 1:16 (Day 4)].

DAY TWO OF CREATION

Gen. 1:6-8, “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.”

Cf. Job 37:18; Psa. 136:5; Jer. 10:12; 51:15

*Firmament: “The expanse of the heavens; sky.”[New Illustrated Webster’s Dictionary (p. 366)].

DAY TWO OF CREATION

Note: God created the separation between the clouds, which are in the higher regions of the firmament, from the seas which are below it (i.e. He created the atmosphere). Cf. I Cor. 10:1-2

*There are 3 heavens: The atmosphere [Gen. 1:6-8 (the first heaven); Day 2]; The outer atmosphere [Gen. 1:14-19 (the second heaven); Day 4] and the third heaven [II Cor. 12:2 (the throne of God), Isa. 66:1; Mt. 5:34; 23:22; Acts 7:49].

DAY THREE OF CREATION

Gen. 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.”

DAY THREE OF CREATION

Fact: Plants must have sunlight in order to produce their food through the process of photosynthesis.

In Gen. 1:16-17 we read that the Sun was not created until Day 4, “to give light upon the earth.” If each day took millions of years, how did those plants (Day 3) survive?

Fact: If insects and birds (Days 5 & 6) were created eons of time after plants (Day 3), pollination would have been impossible.

DAY FOUR OF CREATION

Gen. 1:14-19, “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.”

Cf. Psa. 74:16; 104:19; 136:5-9

DAY FOUR OF CREATION

Since these days were divided, into “evening” and “morning” is it reasonable to assume that the sun came up but did not go down for a few million years?

How would that affect plant life?

Firmament: “The expanse of the heavens; sky.” [New Illustrated Webster’s Dictionary (p. 366)].

DAY FIVE OF CREATION

Gen. 1:20-23, “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.”

Fact: The Bible teaches that birds [1:20 (Day 5)] were created before insects [1:24 (Day 6)].

DAY FIVE OF CREATION

Fact: Many birds survive primarily upon insects.

If these days took eons of time, how did those insect-eating birds survive for millions of years?

Fact: The Bible teaches that land plants [1:11 (Day 3)] preceded marine life [1:20 (Day 5)].

The theory of evolution demands that marine life appeared before dry land plants. Once again, this is a major problem with “evolution.”

DAY SIX OF CREATION

Gen. 1:24-31, “And God SAID, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind...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 ... 27 So God created MAN in his own image, in the image of God created he him; MALE and FEMALE created he them…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.”

DAY SIX OF CREATION

Fact: Adam lived through Day 6 & Day 7.

Question: How old would Adam have been if the days were millions of years long?

(Cf. Methuselah, Gen. 5:27)

Cp. w. Gen. 5:5, “And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.”

MAN’S CREATION – DAY 6

“In the beginning”(Genesis 1)

Cf. Mt. 19:4, 8, “…Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them MALE and FEMALE … 8 He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.”

Cf. Mk. 10:6, “from the beginning of the creation God made them MALE and FEMALE.”

MAN’S CREATION – DAY 6

Fact: Man was not made at the end of creation, they were made at (from) the beginning.

Fact: Jesus spoke of “the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from THE FOUNDATION of the world” (Lk. 11:50-51). Then, he named “Abel” as the first “unto the blood of Zacharias.”

It is easy to understand how the events of the sixth day of a 144-hour week might be viewed as “the beginning;” but if 15-20 million years elapsed (after the “big bang”) before man was created, would he have existed at “the beginning”?

THE SEVENTH DAY OF REST

Gen. 2:1-3, “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.”

Was the “Sabbath Day” a 24 Hour Day or “eons of time”?

THE SEVENTH DAY OF REST

Cf. Ex. 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.”

Cf. Ex. 31:17, “It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.”

What is the best way to relate to the comparison?

EACH DAY (“YOM”)

Gen. 1:5“the evening & the morning were the FIRST DAY”

Gen. 1:8“the evening & the morning were the SECOND DAY”

Gen. 1:13“the evening & the morning were the THIRD DAY”

Gen. 1:19“the evening & the morning were the FOURTH DAY”

Gen. 1:23“the evening & the morning were the FIFTH DAY”

Gen. 1:31“the evening & the morning were the SIXTH DAY”

EACH DAY (“YOM”)

Fact: “Yom” is used in different ways in the O.T. – But when used with “evening” and “morning” it always means 24 hours!

Fact: Other words could have been used for “long ages”:

1) “Yamim” pl. of Yom (i.e. “days of evening and morning.”) 2) “Olam” which means “a time hidden, indefinite, or unlimited”

(B. Davidson, Analytical Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon 601).

THE BIG BANG OF CREATION

DAY 1, “God SAID / and there was light.”

DAY 2, “God SAID / and it was so.”

DAY 3, “God SAID / and it was so.”

DAY 4, “God SAID / and it was so.”

DAY 5, “God SAID / and it was good.”

DAY 6, “God SAID / And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.” Cf. Psa. 33:9

THE BIG BANG OF CREATION

Psa. 148:4-5, “PRAISE HIM, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens. 5 Let them PRAISE the name of the LORD: for HE COMMANDED, and they were CREATED.”

Isa. 48:3, “I HAVE DECLARED the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I shewed them; I did them SUDDENLY, and they came to pass.”

A MATTER OF CREDIBILITY

“Upholding All Things by The Word of His Power”

Heb.11:3, “Through faith (Rom. 10:17) we understand that the worlds were FRAMED by THE WORD OF GOD, so that things which are SEEN were not MADE of things which do APPEAR.” Cf. v. 6

Fact: The words “framed” and “made” are perfect tense verbs, indicating a past act with existing results. On the other hand, the words “seen” and “appear” are present tense and mean just exactly as translated.

Fact: God spoke His word and the heavens and the earth were formed, framed, and fashioned.

A MATTER OF CREDIBILITY

Cf. Jn. 1:1-3, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…3 All things were MADE BY HIM; and WITHOUT HIM was not ANY THING MADE that was MADE.”

Cf. Rom. 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.” Cf. Eph. 3:20

Does that sound like evolution (theistic or otherwise)?

THE POWER OF HIS WORD

Psa. 33:6-9, “By THE WORD OF THE LORD were the heavens MADE; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth...9 For he spake, and it was DONE; he commanded, and it STOOD FAST.”

Cf. II Pet. 3:5-7, “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.”

I Thess. 4:16, “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first.”

I Cor. 15:51-52, “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall ALL BE CHANGED, 52 In A MOMENT, in THE TWINKLING OF AN EYE, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall BE CHANGED.”

I Cor. 15:51-52, “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall ALL BE CHANGED, 52 In A MOMENT, in THE TWINKLING OF AN EYE, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall BE CHANGED.”