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...the Bible tells me so:
How long did it take the world, as we know it, to come into existence? Was it days, years, or eons? The evolutionist believes that life took hundreds of millions of years to develop and mutate to its present state. The creationist believes that God created the world and life in six days. The theistic evolutionist, attempting to harmonize evolution and creation, believes that God created the universe and used it to bring into existence and evolve living creatures in a process that took billions of years.
The order of the creation forms part of the beauty of creation story. God made light on the first day. When did He make the light bearers? On the second day God separated the waters above the earth from the waters within the earth. When did He make the creatures to inhabit both? On the third day God made dry land and plants. When did He make animals to inhabit the land? The answers are the fourth day for sun, moon and stars, the fifth day for sea creatures and birds, and the sixth day for land creatures and people.
The question of “How long?” revolves around the meaning of the word “day” in Genesis 1:5 (second use), 8, 13, 19, 23, 31; 2:2 and 3. “Day” is used in 1:5 (first use) and 14 to refer to the twelve-hour period of light that is normally called the daylight hours. “Day” is used in 1:14 (“days”) to refer to the twenty-four hour period which is normally called a day. Then “day” is used in 2:4 to refer to the total period of time it took God to create the heavens and the earth. How much time is meant by the different days of creation, daylight hours, twenty-four hours, or eons?
The “days” of creation were not strictly daylight hours. With each “day” the Bible says, “And there was evening and there was morning, the first day” (1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31; NRSV). If the “days” of creation were long periods of time, then the different evenings and mornings would be quite lengthy. Yet, those time references, “evening” and “morning,” make up a twenty-four hour day.
That the days of creation were twenty-four hour days is not without difficulty in the biblical text. (We will consider geology at another time.) How could those days be like ours, when the sun was not created until the fourth day? On the other hand, how could plants (day three) pollinate without insects (day six), if the days of creation were eons of time? In addition, how could plants survive, if eons of light were followed by eons of darkness?
When we consider what God later told Moses, we learn that the “days” of creation were twenty-four hour long. God instituted the sabbath-day observance of the Israelites and based it on the days of creation. God said, “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it” (Exodus 20:11). Again, God said that the sabbath day “is a sign forever between Me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed” (31:17).
All work must be done in six days of the week and no work on the seventh day. The reason is because “on the seventh day God finished the work that He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all the work that He had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that He had done in creation” (Genesis 2:2-3). The six days of the Israelites’ working were directly parallel to the six days of God’s working. The seventh day of the Israelites’ rest was directly parallel to the seventh day of God’s rest. Since the Israelites’ day was twenty-four hours, God’s creative day was twenty-four hours.
Many times, it is easy for us to limit God’s abilities because we are shortsighted and can only see our inabilities. We doubt what we do not understand. Let us remember, whether it is the six days of creation or anything else, that God “is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20).
As we close this discussion on the creation of the universe, here is a riddle for you:
“Who am I? God made Adam out of dust, but thought it best to make me first; so I was made before the man according to the Lord’s holy plan. My whole body God made complete, without arms or hands or feet. My ways and acts did the Lord control, but in my body He placed no soul. A living being I became, and Adam gave to me a name. Then from his presence I withdrew, for this man Adam I never knew. All my maker’s laws I do obey, and from these laws I never stray. Thousand’s of me go in fear, but seldom on the earth appear. Later, for a purpose the Lord did see, He placed a living soul in me. But that soul of mine the Lord had to claim, and from me took it back again. And when this soul from me had fled, I was the same as when first made; without arms, legs, feet, or soul, I travel on from pole to pole. My labors are from day to night, and to men I once furnished light. Thousands of people, both young and old, did by my death bright lights behold. No right nor wrong can I conceive, the Bible and its teachings I can’t believe. The fear of death does not trouble me, pure happiness I will never see. Up in heaven I can never go, nor in the grave or hell below. So get your Bible and read with care, you’ll find my name recorded there.” (Answer next week.)
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