THE "DAYS" OF GENESIS 1
Introduction:
1. There has been much speculation as to the age of the earth
upon which we live.
2. The Bible does not give us the date of creation.
3. Some have erroneously concluded that the days of Genesis 1
were composed of lengthy periods of years, perhaps millions of
years for each day.
4. There is presently a controversy amongst brethren as to the
length of each day of the first six days of Genesis One.
5. Often this is done in an effort to explain the seemingly age
of the earth, as evolutionists would argue. Evolutionists
contend that billions of years were required to develop the
earth as we now see it.
6. In this lesson, I wish to answer, "Were the 'days' of Genesis
One long periods of times (perhaps billions of years) or, were
they days of twenty-four hours each, as we now count time.
BODY:
I. THE WORD "DAY":
1. The word "day" is sometimes used to mean a "period of time":
(1) Gen. 2:4 - "In the day that the Lord made the earth and
the heavens."
(2) Ps. 95:8 -- "The day of temptation in the wilderness."
(3) Sometimes we speak of the "day of prosperity."
2. Thus, sometimes the word day simply means a certain period,
without defining any length or time element.
II. THE HEBREW WORD "YOM":
1. The Hebrew word for "day" is Yom."
2. In the King James the word is translated more than 1100
times as "day," 67 times as "time," 30 times as "today," 18
times as "forever," 10 times as "continually," 6 times as
"age," 4 times as "life," and 2 times as "perpetually."
3. These figures taken from "Why We believe the Bible," by
George Dehoff.
4. Obviously, from the word itself, we cannot determine how
Moses used the word in Genesis One. So, let us consider other
considerations as to the length of the days of Gen. 1.
III. HALF DARKNESS, HALF LIGHT:
1. These days were half darkness and half light.
2. What other kind of days have been so identified?
3. Some object that the sun and moon were not made until the
fourth day. But, light was brought into existence on the
first day and may exist independently of the sun.
IV. WHEN A DEFINITE NUMBER PRECEDES THE WORD "YOM":
1. When a definite number precedes the word "Yom" or "day" in
the scriptures a solar day is always meant; NEVER a "long
period of time."
2. Gen. 8:3 -- There were 150 days of the flood.
3. Num. 13:25 -- The spies were gone out 40 days.
4. Jonah 1:17 -- Jonah was in the belly of the fish 3 days.
5. Acts 1:3 -- Christ was seen after His resurrection for 40
days.
6. Ex. 20:11 -- the Lord made heaven and earth in 6 days.
7. This should settle the issue as to the length of the days in
Genesis One.
V. GRASS, TREES, HERBS:
1. On the third day the Lord put forth the grass, herbs
yielding seed, and fruit-trees bearing fruit.
2. If these "days" were "long periods of millions of years,"
how would these things live in darkness for half of that
period?
3. The vegetable kingdom demands light to live. It cannot exist
in darkness for long, extended periods.
VI. EXODUS 20:8-11:
1. Jehovah settles the matter for us.
2. God gave the Jews the seventh day to keep as a sabbath.
3. The original sabbath on which God rested was typical of
this, hence both were twenty-four hour days.
4. Some object: "God is still resting in His sabbath," but,
Jesus said, "My Father worketh hitherto and I work." (John
5:17).
5. That God "rested" does not imply that He was tired, but that
He finished the work of Genesis One.
6. Gen. 2:1-2 -- Hence, He "rested" from it, or He completed
His work.
7. Gen. 2:3 -- "And God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed
it; because that in it he rested from all his work which God
had created and made."
9. Heb. 4:4 -- "And God rested on the seventh day from all his
works."
VII. EVENING AND MORNING:
1. The day of Genesis One had "evening and morning." The Jews
counted time in this manner with days beginning in the
evening, thus, "evening and morning."
VIII. MAN CREATED:
1. Man (and woman) was created on the sixth day. Gen. 1:26.
2. God then rested on the seventh day.
3. If each day was a period of millions of years, Adam and Eve
would have been millions of years old, because he lived
through the seventh day. Yet, in Gen. 5:5, it states that
Adam was 930 years of age when he died.
IX. WHY "LONG PERIODS OF TIME"?
1. Why is it necessary to have "long periods of time" for
Jehovah to have done that which Moses said He did in six
days?
2. Jehovah's power to create precludes the need for "Long
periods of time."
3. Heb. 11:3 -- God spoke this world into existence. "Long
periods of time" were unnecessary.
4. When Jehovah created Adam, was he full grown? Or was he a
babe? If you had been there, what would you have seen? A man
or a babe?
5. If God created man full-grown (and He did), could He not
have created this earth full-grown? Some argue that the coal
beds and the oil supplies must have taken billions of years
to form? Why so? Does not the Lord have the power to create
them in the full-grown stage? To ask the question is to
answer it.
6. That which was created had to agree with everything which
would follow. The earth had the appearance of having been
here for many years, just as Adam had the appearance of a
full-grown man.
Conclusion:
1. I think it safe to conclude that the "days" of Genesis One
were the same time frame as our "days," "Twenty-four hour
segments."
2. This fits with the rest of God's Word.
3. It is by faith that I believe that "In the beginning God
created the heavens and the earth."
4. It is the same God that I must answer to when this life is
over. You, too, will stand there.
5. Thus, we must prepare now for that meeting.
(Credit for much of this given to "Why We
Believe the Bible, by George W. DeHoff)
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