Buff Scott Jr.
Junior
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2023
- Messages
- 333
- Reaction score
- 107
- Points
- 43
GOD’S TIMETABLE FOR CREATION
“Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array” (Genesis 2:1). Did God create everything in six solar days or over a period of billions of years?
“By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible” (Heb. 11:3). Did God take billions of years to create our solar system? Did He develop the features of His crowning creation, man, over a period of millions of years, as some conjecture?
It may surprise some of you, and even disappoint a few, to learn that “yom,” the Hebrew word for “day,” is defined as a common solar day, beginning with verse five of chapter one in Genesis. It is used in the same sense at least 358 times elsewhere in the Old Testament scriptures. There is no logical reason why the first chapter of Genesis would be the exception. When we contemplate God’s awesome power, there’s hardly any question but that He could have created everything instantaneously. “In the beginning” of time, however, He chose to complete His creation in six solar days. “For in six days the Lord made the heavens [universe and our solar system] and the Earth, the sea, and all that is in them” (Exodus 20:11).
Many of our common versions say He “rested” on the seventh day. If the first six days consisted of billions of years, so did the seventh day. Does this mean God “rested” for billions of years? [The correct translation, of course, is that God “ceased” creating after the sixth day.]
But another problem with the conception that God utilized billions of years to create everything is that He instructed the Jewish people to rest on the seventh day and keep it holy. If each day consisted of millions of years, were His people to rest millions of years on each seventh “day”? “Day” is employed in the same vein in referring to the seventh as it is used in referring to the other six. Thus whatever we attribute to the first six days, 24-hours or millions of years, we must also attribute to the seventh day. And if each of the six days comprised millions of years, the Jewish people, who were told to rest on the seventh, should have rested for millions of years. Sorry, but this logic is unacceptable.
If we must understand the days of creation figuratively, what is wrong with understanding figuratively the days Jesus’ body was in the tomb—three solar days or millions of years? True, “day” is sometimes used symbolically in the scriptures, but not in relation to creation and the time Jesus’ body was in the tomb.
Could the material from which the Earth and universe were made have existed billions of years? I understand verses one through five of the first chapter of Genesis as the first 24-hour day of creation. It was on this first day God created the substance from which He formed the universe, created the light, and separated the light from darkness. “And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day” (v. 5). God took a chaotic mass of material He had made and fashioned our immaculate universe! Oh, the power of our Creator!
Is it true the Hebrew “yom” may also be translated “era” or “epoch,” in addition to “day”? Some Hebrew scholars say yom may be thus translated. There are numerous complexities with this claim, however, when applied to the six days of creation. For if yom is translated “era” or “epoch” and applied to the six days of creation, sea creatures and the birds of the air lived to be millions of years for they were created before land animals and man. Sea creatures and birds were created on the fifth day; land animals and man were created on the sixth day.
Am I saying there was no death of sea, air, and land animals prior to the Fall of Adam? That’s precisely what I’m saying! Adam’s fall resulted in both physical and spiritual death. It appears that death among sea, air, and land creatures was non-existent prior to the Fall. In regards to death before the Fall, we might ponder the words of the great apostle Paul. He wrote, “For since death came through a man [Adam], the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man” (I Cor. 15:21). In the very next passage, Paul announces, “For in Adam all die.”
But isn’t Paul alluding to humankind only in the scriptures quoted? Paul spoke of death without distinguishing between man and animals, although man was the thrust of his point. The Garden of Eden was designed to be a faultless, immaculate Paradise—no pain, no sorrow, no diseases, and no death. It seems to me that if animals experienced cessation of life before the Fall, the Garden was less than a faultless Paradise. Death became a curse because of Adam’s sin. This curse applied to both man and animal, but not before the Fall.
“By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible” (Heb. 11:3). Did God take billions of years to create our solar system? Did He develop the features of His crowning creation, man, over a period of millions of years, as some conjecture?
It may surprise some of you, and even disappoint a few, to learn that “yom,” the Hebrew word for “day,” is defined as a common solar day, beginning with verse five of chapter one in Genesis. It is used in the same sense at least 358 times elsewhere in the Old Testament scriptures. There is no logical reason why the first chapter of Genesis would be the exception. When we contemplate God’s awesome power, there’s hardly any question but that He could have created everything instantaneously. “In the beginning” of time, however, He chose to complete His creation in six solar days. “For in six days the Lord made the heavens [universe and our solar system] and the Earth, the sea, and all that is in them” (Exodus 20:11).
Many of our common versions say He “rested” on the seventh day. If the first six days consisted of billions of years, so did the seventh day. Does this mean God “rested” for billions of years? [The correct translation, of course, is that God “ceased” creating after the sixth day.]
But another problem with the conception that God utilized billions of years to create everything is that He instructed the Jewish people to rest on the seventh day and keep it holy. If each day consisted of millions of years, were His people to rest millions of years on each seventh “day”? “Day” is employed in the same vein in referring to the seventh as it is used in referring to the other six. Thus whatever we attribute to the first six days, 24-hours or millions of years, we must also attribute to the seventh day. And if each of the six days comprised millions of years, the Jewish people, who were told to rest on the seventh, should have rested for millions of years. Sorry, but this logic is unacceptable.
If we must understand the days of creation figuratively, what is wrong with understanding figuratively the days Jesus’ body was in the tomb—three solar days or millions of years? True, “day” is sometimes used symbolically in the scriptures, but not in relation to creation and the time Jesus’ body was in the tomb.
Could the material from which the Earth and universe were made have existed billions of years? I understand verses one through five of the first chapter of Genesis as the first 24-hour day of creation. It was on this first day God created the substance from which He formed the universe, created the light, and separated the light from darkness. “And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day” (v. 5). God took a chaotic mass of material He had made and fashioned our immaculate universe! Oh, the power of our Creator!
Is it true the Hebrew “yom” may also be translated “era” or “epoch,” in addition to “day”? Some Hebrew scholars say yom may be thus translated. There are numerous complexities with this claim, however, when applied to the six days of creation. For if yom is translated “era” or “epoch” and applied to the six days of creation, sea creatures and the birds of the air lived to be millions of years for they were created before land animals and man. Sea creatures and birds were created on the fifth day; land animals and man were created on the sixth day.
Am I saying there was no death of sea, air, and land animals prior to the Fall of Adam? That’s precisely what I’m saying! Adam’s fall resulted in both physical and spiritual death. It appears that death among sea, air, and land creatures was non-existent prior to the Fall. In regards to death before the Fall, we might ponder the words of the great apostle Paul. He wrote, “For since death came through a man [Adam], the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man” (I Cor. 15:21). In the very next passage, Paul announces, “For in Adam all die.”
But isn’t Paul alluding to humankind only in the scriptures quoted? Paul spoke of death without distinguishing between man and animals, although man was the thrust of his point. The Garden of Eden was designed to be a faultless, immaculate Paradise—no pain, no sorrow, no diseases, and no death. It seems to me that if animals experienced cessation of life before the Fall, the Garden was less than a faultless Paradise. Death became a curse because of Adam’s sin. This curse applied to both man and animal, but not before the Fall.
Last edited: