A Day is a Day

(with apologies to Harry Belafonte)

I heard a sermon whilst on the road some time back where I was encouraged to believe that the “how” of Creation was not so much important as the “who”.

I was told that the waters of the “how” are muddied by the theory that the six days of Creation are not to be taken as literal days, and that many Christians believe that each of God's days in Creation could actually mean millions (or even billions) of years for us here on earth.  (I have written before about something very young having the “appearance” of being very old [see Who Likes Wine?]).

As Christians we don’t doubt the “who” of Creation because God tells us quite clearly in His own words in Genesis 1:1 that, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”. How did He do it? God’s Word goes on to tell us “how” He did it in Genesis 1:2 to 2:3. End of story?

Apparently not, because there seem to be two basic views about the “days” of Creation, ie:

1. each day was a literal 24-hour period;

2. each day represents an indefinite period of time

The Bible teaches us that each creative day in Genesis 1 was a day as you and I know it, consisting of 24 hours. All six of these days were consecutive days, with no time in between. In order to try and shed some light on this subject we need to ask what does the word “day”, as specified in Genesis, actually mean?

Following is a loose compilation of a couple of articles I came across from the internet on this subject .

In Genesis the Hebrew word “yom” is translated as “day”, and just as our word “day” can have different meanings based on its context, so can the word “yom”.

For example, in the Old Testament “yom” is translated to mean a 24 hour day, 1109 times. It is also meant as a long, long period of time (such as an age) - nine times. However, every time the word “yom” is used with the term “evening” or “morning” in the Bible, it means a regular 24 hour day. Every time it is used with a number, such as “40 yom” (40 days) this is confirmed.

What we see in Genesis Chapter 1 is God going out of His way to emphasise that each day is a normal 24 hour day. For example He says:

Verse 5: “And there was evening, and there was morning – the first day.”

Verse 8: “And there was evening, and there was morning – the second day."

Verse 13: “And there was evening, and there was morning - the third day.”

For each day of Creation the pattern is the same: evening, morning, number, “day”. Just part of that pattern, for example using the words “evening” and “day” together, tell us it was a 24 hour day.

But God tells us in three ways - evening, morning, number - that the word “day” means “an ordinary 24 hour day”. The word “yom” can indeed mean an indefinite period of time. However, in Genesis 1 it is preceded by an ordinal (i.e. first, second, third, etc). In these cases, “yom” means a 24 hour period.

When I say, “I’ll be there in a minute!” you might presume that I mean some indefinite length of time, but if I said, “I’ll be there in exactly 60 seconds”, there would be no misunderstanding as to what I meant. That is what God is doing here! He is making it very clear that He created everything in six ordinary days.

Before “the first day” it says, “...there was evening and morning”. These are designations of time. This terminology was used even before the fourth day, when the sun, moon and stars were made. These were made to mark off time periods that already existed (Gen 1:14). Once the sun was made, it becomes clear that “evening and morning” means “24 hours”.

Exodus 20:11 tells us, “For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth … but he rested on the seventh.” Having been told in Exodus 20:8 to, “Remember the Sabbath day (seventh day) by keeping it holy”, here God is correlating our 24 hour “day” with His creation “day”.

You may ask what about Psalm 90:4?:

“For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by…”, or 2 Peter 3:8?, “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.”

In the latter, Peter is simply stating how God is “above time”. He is not defining what the Hebrew word “yom” means when it is preceded by an ordinal.

The point to Psalm 90:4 and 2 Peter 3:8 is to show that God is not like man in that He is not bound by time, nor is He a prisoner of it. After all, He created time!

2 Peter’s passage is especially intended to help us define what “slow” is. We think that if Jesus tarries for 2,000 years, then He is slow in keeping His promise. But what we consider slow is not how we should define “slow”.

We do not decide what “slow” is. God has determined the Day, and it will come to pass when it is time, NOT when we decide. So to take this passage as confirmation of a long creation day is to clearly not using it for its intended purpose.

15Jun10

(Updated 23Jan11)