"...PROVE ALL THINGS; HOLD FAST TO
THAT WHICH IS GOOD..." 1TH 5:21
'CP' denotes 'Compare Passage'
THE SIX DAYS OF CREATION
There is much confusion in the professing Church concerning the work of creation - how it came into being and how long it took; whether the six days were six literal twenty-four hour days , or indefinite periods of time. Professing Christians are looking to teachings outside the Biblical record for answers, yet the Biblical record is the only authoritative account of creation because it was given by inspiration of the Creator God himself and is final (CP 2Ti 3:16-17; Psa 19:89-91; 2Pe 1:16-21). All Scripture in 2Ti 3:16 refers to the whole body of truth - Old Testament and New Testament together - the Bible. (See also author's comments on 2Ti 3:16 and 2Pe 1:16-19 in his book A Question and Answer Study of the New Testament.
The Bible is God's complete revelation of Himself and infallible witness to all He has said and done. Psa 119:89 testifies to the infallibility of God's word; that it is unchanging, eternal. It means exactly what it says and says exactly what it means (CP Isa 40:8; 55:10-11; Mt 24:35; 1Pe 1:23-25). V 90-91 in Psa 119 testify to the fact that everything exists as a result of God speaking it into existence : Heaven and earth, the sun, moon and stars, the seasons, day and night, cold and heat, seed-time and harvests, etc. God spoke everything that is into being over six thousand years ago, and they still continue to this day, and will continue, upheld and sustained by God's word, throughout eternity (CP also Ecc 1:4-7). God refers to His activity in creation as acts of Covenant (CP Jer 33:19-21). Here we see God's unchangeable nature in His relationship with all His creation portrayed as an immutable bond under His sovereign administration. In 2Pe 1:16-21 Peter also testifies to the infallibility of God's word. He compares his experience as an eyewitness to Jesus' transfiguration to the abiding, prophetic word of Scripture. He teaches that not even supernatural experiences such as the Transfiguration, which he had personally witnessed, holds greater authority for Christians than the established word of God in Scripture.
Scripture does not seek to prove the existence of God. It simply states the fact, and describes those who deny His existence as "fools" (CP Psa 14:1; 15:1 with 19:1-14). Psa 19 combines the two aspects of God's perfect revelation of Himself for all who are on earth to see - in His creation in V 1-6, and in His inspired word in V 7-14. The Heavens, and Firmament in V 1 refers to the vast expanse of sky, the stretched out heavens. The immensity of which certifies God's handiwork and declares His existence. Scriptures throughout also simply state the fact that God created everything that exists (CP Gen 1:1). All of God's creation is incorporated into this summary statement which includes the six days of creation. Created is the Hebrew word Bara, which is used exclusively of an activity only God can do. The method of creation God used was the power of His word. He spoke things that did not previously exist, into existence (CP 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 26; Psa 33:6, 9; 148:5-6; Isa 48:13; Jer 10:12-13; 51:16; Ro 4:17; 2Cor 4:6; He 1:1-3; 11:3; 2Pe 3:5).
Every work of creation in the Biblical record is ascribed to the personal acts, words and deeds of a living God who is revealed in Scripture as God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Christians' acceptance of the Biblical record is a demonstration of their implicit faith (CP He 11:3 with Gen 1:1 - 2:4; Ex 20:11; 31:17; De 10:14; 1Chr 29:11; Neh 9:6; Job 10:8-9 , 11:12; 26:7-13; Ch 38-41; Psa 8:3-9; 19:1-6; 24:1-2; 33:6-9; 89:11-12; 90:2; 95:3-6; 100:3; 102:25; 104:1-31: 118:24; 119:90-01; 145:10; 148:1-13; 149:2; Pr 8:22-30: 30:4; Ecc 11:5; Isa 40:12, 22, 26, 28; 42:5; 44:24; 45:7, 12, 18; Jer 10:12-13, 16; 51:15-16; Amos 4:13; 5:8; 9:5-6; Zech 12:1; Mal 2:10; Jn 1:1-3, 10; Ac 14:15; 17:24; Ro 1:20, 25; 11:36; 2Cor 4:6; Eph 3:9; Col 1:16-17; He 1:1-3, 10-12; Rev 3:14; 4:11; 10:6; 14:7). See also author's studies The Doctrine of the Trinity, and God's Perfect Self-Revelation, in his book Advanced Studies in the Christian Faith (Volume 2).
To reject the Biblical account of creation is to reject the clear teaching of Scripture and to repudiate its inspiration and authority. Yet many professing Christians have done just that, but still believe scripture for their salvation, which is a contradiction in terms. Theirs is a very selective belief system. Many of them hold to the theory of evolution which is diametrically opposed to the Biblical record that God is the sole source and origin of all that exists. The Biblical record of creation thoroughly debunks the theory of evolution. It should be noted here also that some Christians believe there is an immense time gap between Gen 1:1 and 1:2, and that may very well be the case, but it is not material to this study and so will not be considered in any of its aspects. This study is only concerned with the Biblical account of the six days of creation as recorded in Gen 1:1-31 and declared a fait accompli in 2:1-4 (CP Gen 1:1 - 2:4 also Ex 20:11 and 31:17).
(CP Gen 1:1-5). God's first act of creation was to call light into being and then to separate the light from the darkness. He called the light day and the darkness night. Thus the first day of the six days of creation was completed. It began at dusk, or sunset - evening - and continued through the night until the next evening. In God's order of time night precedes day (CP also Gen 1:8, 13, 19, 23, 31 and Lev 23:32). The activity of God in Gen 1:1-5 is not to be confused with the establishment of the sun, moon and stars on day 4 in V 14 (CP 1:14). In the New Testament Paul uses God's separation of light from darkness in creation as a comparison with sinners being converted to Christ (CP 2Cor 4:6). It should be noted here that many Bible scholars wonder about the six days of creation, as to whether they were six literal twenty-four hour days or indefinite periods of time. We will look at the proof of them being literal twenty-four hour days a little later in this study. On day 1 of creation God created the light.
Now let us look at the Biblical record of the second day of the six days of creation (CP Gen 1:6-8). The Firmament in V 6, which God calls Heaven in V 8, also incorporates the clouds in the sky above the earth in which the rain that God separated from the water on earth is stored (CP also V 7, 14-15, 17, 20; Psa 148:4-6; Pr 8:28). Firmament is also referred to in Job 37:18 as strong, and as a molten looking glass and in Psa 104:2 and Isa 40:22 as a curtain (CP Job 37:18; Psa 104:2 and Isa 40:22). It is the same firmament and heavens which witnesses to God's glory and His handiwork in Psa 19:1 (CP Psa 19:1). This completes day 2 of creation - God separated the waters and created the sky.
(CP Gen 1:9-13). This is the Biblical record of day 3 of creation (CP also Psa 24:1-2; 33:7; 95:5; 104:5-6). God gathered the waters together and called them seas (CP Gen 1:10 with Job 26:10; 38:8-11; Psa 33:7; 104:6-9; Pr 8:29; Jer 5:22; Amos 5:8; 9:6). God then caused the dry land to appear and called it earth (CP Gen 1:9-10 with Job 38:4-6; Psa 104:5 with 2Pe 3:5). God then spoke the vegetation into being to grow on the earth (CP Gen 1:11-12 with Job 38:25-27; Psa 104:14-17, 24). The vegetation includes trees yielding fruit that reproduced itself from its own seeds - after his kind - and herbs bearing seeds from which only herbs were also reproduced - after his own kind. Further debunking the theory of evolution.
Let us look now at day 4 of the six days of creation when God brought into being the sun, moon and stars and set them in the heavens, creating the solar system (CP Gen 1:14-19). The greater light that rules the day is the sun, the lesser light that rules the night is the moon and the stars (CP also Psa 136:1, 7-9). The sun and the moon also govern time - seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years. They were the means for establishing the calendar and clock. They govern tides, causing them to ebb and flow, to come in and go out, to rise and fall. Last but not least, they govern the seasons - summer, autumn, winter, spring. These things did not just evolve. They were created by God and work precisely to His pattern and strictly to the limits He has set for them (CP Psa 74:16-17; 104:7-9, 19-23; Jer 5:22; Ac 17:24-26). God intended that the sun, moon and stars serve as signs to point to Him as Creator, as well as the sun and moon mark the advancing days, seasons and years.
Now, concerning the stars God set in the sky - humans are not capable of counting them all or knowing their names. Astronomers estimate there are billions of them, but God knows exactly how many there are to the very last one and every one of their names (CP Psa 147:4; Isa 40:26). Only five stars though are named in scripture - Orion, Arcturus, Pleiades and Mazzaroth in the Old Testament (CP Job 9:7-9, 38:31-32; Amos 5:8), and Wormwood in the New Testament (CP Rev 8:10-11). The eternal duration of the sun, moon and stars guarantee that there will also be human life on earth throughout eternity (CP Gen 8:21-22; 9:8-17; Psa 89:34-37; Jer 31:31-36; 33:19-26).
While God made the sun, moon and stars and set them in the heavens for signs, the signs are not the so-called "signs of the Zodiac", or "Starsigns", or "Horoscopes" etc, which are all part and parcel of the practice of Astrology which purports to be a study of the supposed influence of the stars on human affairs, and in which sadly, many professing Christians are deeply involved. Astrology twists God's intended purposes for the sun, moon and stars by falsely promoting them as guiding the lives of humans. Students of Astrology depend on their daily horoscopes and signs of the Zodiac to foretell their future, according to the "starsign" under which they were born. These practices are strictly forbidden in Scripture and Christians involved in them must cease their involvement or they will forfeit their place in God's Eternal Kingdom (CP Lev 19:26; De 18:10; 2Ki 21:1-2, 6; Isa 47:1, 13-15; Jer 10:1-13).
(CP Gen 1:20-23). Here we have the Biblical record of day 5 of the six days of creation. On this day God created fish and stocked the waters on earth with them - from great whales to little "tiddlers" (CP V 20 with Psa 104:24-26). God also created bird life - every winged creature that flies. This includes bats and flying insects etc (CP Gen 1:21 with De 14:19-20). There is no allusion here whatever to any productive power of the waters, or to the winged creatures being produced by the waters. "Be fruitful and multiply" in Gen 1:22, is God's benediction on every living thing that inhabits the waters and flies in the air. By His blessing they flourish and fill both the waters and air with life (CP V 22 with Gen 8:15-22).
Now, last but by no means least, we come to day 6 of the six days of creation, when God created man and animals both (CP Gen 1:24-31). The Biblical record here in effect is a summary of the events of day 6. It is not a record of the exact order in which they occurred. According to Gen 2:7-25 man - Adam - was made first, then the animals, then woman - Eve (CP Gen 2:7-25). Adam means ruddy, which denotes his origin as being made from the dust of the Adamah, or red soil (CP 1Cor 15:47). The teaching of evolution makes the Biblical record of days 5 and 6 of the six days of creation a lie, but the truth is that God made every living creature Himself on days 5 and 6 as Scriptures clearly show, which proves the fallacious teaching of evolution from a Christian perspective.
Evolution is based on a theory promoted by heathen and pagan philosophers in preference to God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, Scripture and Christians, that the origination of living things evolved from earlier forms, not by a Sovereign, living Creator. It nullifies the Biblical record of creation by a living God and substitutes instead a blind force. It degrades man from being created by God in the image of God, to having apes for ancestors (CP Gen 1:26-27; 5:1-2). It makes Christ, the second and last Adam, nothing more than a monkey (CP 1Cor 15:45, 47). Evolution does away with the fall of man, and therefore the atonement. According to evolution, if there was no fall, there is no sin to make atonement for. The argument of evolution is how can someone who has evolved steadily from a molecule to an intelligent being go backward and have a fall (CP Gen 3:1-24; Ro 5:12-21). Regeneration is not a consideration of evolution. It is accomplished by outside power - the Holy Spirit - the direct opposite of resident power, the only power accepted by evolution. (See also author's study Regeneration and Sanctification Defined in his book Advanced Studies in the Christian Faith (Volume 2)).
Evolution does away with Bible miracles and the supernatural in all its forms. The only form of power it advances is the inherent force of molecules (CP He 2:1-4). Evolution does away with the virgin birth, making it impossible and unnecessary. This makes Christ a product of evolution in the same sense as it does all other men (CP Isa 7:14; 9:6-7; Mt 1:18-25). Isaiah, in Isa 7:14, prophesied the virgin birth nearly two thousand, seven hundred years before the theory of evolution was even proposed, let alone it being espoused. The virgin birth is one of the central doctrines of the Christian faith (see also author's comments on Mt 1:18-21 in his book A
Question and Answer Study of the New Testament).
Evolution also denies the bodily resurrection of Christ as it contradicts the process of evolution of resident forces making progress. The resurrection of Christ is not just one of the held beliefs of the Christian faith; it is the primary and essential truth of the whole Gospel of Salvation. Without that truth the Gospel of Salvation has no purpose. It is the foundational principle of the New Birth; the very essence of Christian belief and a condition of salvation (CP Ro 10:8-10). The resurrection of Christ transforms His death on the cross into the Gospel of Life (CP Ro 4:24-25; 1Cor 15:3-4; Eph 1:19-23; 1Pe 1:3-5). See also author's study The Resurrection in his book Foundational Truths of the Christian Faith. Evolution denies the second coming of Christ and the final restoration and preservation of all things by the personal acts of God (CP Ro 8:18-25; 2Pe 3:1-7). See also author's comments on Ro 8:19-21, 2Pe 3:1-7 and 3:8-9 in his book A Question and Answer Study of the New Testament. Evolution repudiates the inspiration and authority of Scripture, making it a lie, not only regarding creation but every other doctrine as well (CP 2Ti 3:16). See also author's comments on 2Ti 3:16-17 in his book A Question and Answer Study of the New Testament. The so-called process of evolution is a bankrupt, speculative philosophy - not a scientific fact, and professing Christians who try to harmonise evolution and Christianity rule God out in spite of themselves. They are enemies of both Christ and His Church.
Christians must believe that the Bible is the Word of God, not that it merely contains the Word (CP 2Ti 3:16-17; He 4:12; 2Pe 1:16-21); they must believe that God is the Creator of all that exists (CP Gen 1:1; 2:7, 19; Psa 8:1-9; 102:25; Jn 1:3-4; Eph 3:9; Col 1:15-18; He 1:1-3; Rev 4:11). The Bible teaches that God created man in His own image and likeness fully mature and intelligent, in one day Evolution teaches that man evolved from a molecule to an ape and then to man (CP Gen 1:26-28; 2:7, 19; 9:6; Ac 17:26; Jas 3:9). God also created angels and spirit beings fully mature and intelligent (CP Psa 104:4; Eze 28:11-15; Col 1:15-17; Rev 4:5-11). Evolution has never been able to explain how the sexes began. The Bible teaches that God made both man and woman on the same day - man first, then woman from man (CP Gen 1:26-31; 2:7, 21-25 with Mt 19:4). Christians must believe that Jesus is the Son of God in a sense no other man is - the Only Begotten of the Father - not that He is a son of God in the sense all men are (CP Isa 7:14; 9:6-7; Mt 1:18-25; 3:16-17; Php 2:5-11; 1Ti 3:16; He 1:1-3, 8; Rev 1:8-11). See also author's comments on Mt 1:18-21 and all related cross reference Scripture comments and studies noted therein.
Any denial of the inspiration and authority of Scripture is an outright denial of God and his plan for man, and it will damn the soul of those in the Church also through ignorance of the Bible think that they can
believe in the Bible and evolution at the same time. They are deluding themselves thinking that they are saved. Ignorance is no plea in God's economy (CP Ro 16:18; 1Cor 14:20; Eph 4:11-14 with 2Ti 2:15). One cannot know the statements of both the Bible and evolutionists and believe both. Nor can one be neutral - there is no neutrality in Christianity (CP Mt 12:30). There is no explanation for creation for Christians other than the Biblical record. To look to other sources is to deny the inerrancy and authority of Scripture and reject the witness and testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself (CP De 4:2; 12:32; Jn 17:17; Rev 22:18-19).
Now to examine the Scriptural proofs that the six days of creation were literal twenty-four hour days and not indefinite periods of time as some claim (CP Gen 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31 and 2:1-4 with Ex 20:8-11). Our first proof that the six days of creation were literal twenty-four hour days and not indefinite periods of time comes from the fact that God named the light day and the darkness night, ending each day with evening and each night with morning. Evening means dusk or sunset, morning means dawn or daybreak. This time designation along with the numbering of the days in Gen 1 and the inclusion of the Sabbath as a day of rest for God in Ch 2 and a Holy day set aside to God as the seventh day in Ex 20, makes them literal twenty-four hour days - six days of creation and the day of rest - the seventh day, all commencing in the evening and continuing through the time space until the next evening (CP also Mt 12:40-41).
The word day in Scripture is always used in a literal twenty-four hour sense unless qualified as the Day of the Lord or the Day of God or suchlike, referring to extended periods of time in Scripture when specific events will take place which have been predestined by God, such as the Great Tribulation, the Second Coming of Christ, His millennial Reign and the Great White Throne Judgment etc (CP 1Th 5:1-11; 2Pe 3:1-12). See also author's comments on 1Th 5:1-22 and 2Pe 3:10 and 2Pe 3:12 in his book A Question and Answer Study of the New Testament, and his studies Armageddon, Judgement of the Nations, Christ's Millennial Reign and the Eternal Kingdom, Old Testament Prophecies Awaiting Fulfilment at Christ's Second Coming, New Testament Prophecies Awaiting Fulfilment and Prophecies Predicting the Fact, Time, Manner and Purposes of Christ's Second Advent in his book Advanced Studies in the Christian Faith (Volume 2), and A Chronology of Events Predestined for the Last Days of History in his book Advanced Studies in the Christian Faith (Volume 3).
This study is now complete. There is no suggestion that it teaches all there is to know about creation - its purpose is to challenge contemporary Christians to study and accept the Biblical record as the only authoritative and final account of creation which completely and utterly debunks evolution that many Christians in the professing Church believe. To summarise the study, it answers three important questions: who created the material universe, how long it took, and why it was created.
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