The Christ in Prophecy Journal

Truth of the Creation: Days

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Could the days of Creation be anything but a literal, 24-hour time period?

Lamb & Lion Ministries conducts a number of Bible conferences in the Dallas, Texas area each year. Our June 2010 conference theme was Defending the Faith.

Dr. Jobe MartinOne of our guest speakers was Dr. Jobe Martin, former dentist, professor and Evolutionist turned Creationist. Having clearly seen God’s eternal power and divine nature from what has been made (Rom. 1:20), Dr. Martin came to faith in Jesus Christ and a trust in the biblical account of the six days of Creation. He and his wife Jenna Dee have since formed Biblical Discipleship Ministries based in Rockwall, Texas to teach on campuses, classrooms and churches that we can trust the Bible’s account of the Creation and Jesus as Savior.

Dr. Martin’s topic at our conference was “The Truth of the Creation” (watch). He did a remarkable job showing how the Creation account is the only origins account that stands the empirical tests of time.

The Bible Defines “Days”

Evolution requires millions and millions of years. Could those years in Genesis represent a billion years each? This is called the Day Age Theory.

Well, each one of those days is half light and half dark. And so, if you say a day equals a billion years, you’ve got 500 million years of darkness followed by 500 million years of unrelenting light.

Each day has a number: day 1, day 2, day 3. Everywhere else in the Bible you have the Hebrew word “yom” with a number. It means a normal day. Adam lived 930 years and then he died. That is no problem before the Flood. Well, wait a minute, if a day is equal to a billion years and Adam lived 930 years, how old was Adam? Was he like 1,600,000,930 years old? No, of course not!

Genesis 1:14 is God’s commentary on what He means by the word “day” in Genesis chapter 1. He put it right in Genesis chapter 1. Look at what He says, “Let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and for years.” Well, if a Genesis 1 day is equal to a billion years, how long is a season? A season is 90 days long. Is a season 90 billion years long? How long is a year? If a day equals a billion years, how long is a year? God is saying, “Hey look, I am going to tell you right here in Genesis chapter 1 what I mean by the word day.” I am going to contrast it to seasons and years, and nobody gets confused on what that means unless you come to the Bible with a preconceived idea of billions of years and have to find a way to cram it into the Bible. Those people are trusting the words that man makes truth instead of God’s truth.

The Lord Jesus also clarifies “days” right in the 10 Commandments in Exodus 20:9, “Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work.” He is talking to people. We know how long those days are. We work normal days. Sometimes it feels like a billion years, but they are normal days. God then says verse 11, “For in six days…” God said, “Hey, the same kind of days you worked, I worked, and within a six day week that is made up of the same kind of days you work, I worked and made everything that I made. I made the heavens, the earth, the seas, and everything that is in them.” So, within a six day week made up of the same kind of days we work, God said, “I made everything that I made.”

The Creation days are normal days. The Bible is true. The Creation is true. We can trust it, just like God says.

Day = Thousand Years?

Couldn’t a day be a thousand years? I hear that all the time. They’ll point to 2 Peter 3 which reads, “Beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years…” They never finish the verse. The rest of the verse says, “…and a thousand years is as a day.” So, they just negated their own argument there.

What is God doing? He is telling us His heart. He says, “He is not slack concerning His promise as some men count slackness; but is long suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” As God waits for us to come to repentance a day is like a thousand years.

Also, the context is three judgments: the Second Coming Judgment (this is 2 Peter 3), Flood Judgment, and Fire Judgment. Then God inserts that little paragraph. “Look, as I wait for you to come to repentance, a day is like a thousand years.” I think that is all He is saying. God is above time and doesn’t need time, but He wants us to know His heart. His heart is He doesn’t want any of us to perish.

God Doesn’t Need Time

If we are going to believe Genesis, then we have to believe that God doesn’t need time. He creates fully mature systems. For example, in Day 6, is Adam a little baby? No, he is a full grown man. Let’s say Michael the Archangel is walking around in the Garden on Day 6. (I am making this up.) But, he walks up to Adam and he says, “Hello, my name is Michael.” Adam replies, “My name is Adam.” And Michael says, “Adam, how old are you?” Adam answers, “I am 10 minutes old. God just made me 10 minutes ago.”

God then puts Adam to sleep and takes out a rib. By the way, the Progressive Creationists are saying, “No, no, no, that doesn’t mean He took out a rib. That just means that Eve was sourced in Adam.” No, why did God have to close up the flesh? In Genesis 2:21, God took a rib out. He made Eve. Let’s pretend Adam wakes up and says, “Whoa-man!” which is woman. He says, “Eve, you are beautiful. Eve, how old are you?” She answers, “God just made me 15 seconds ago, Adam, fully grown and fully mature.”

Eve states, “I am hungry, Adam.” Adam reaches up and picks a ripe peach. “Man, Adam, what a farmer. How long does it take to grow a peach tree like that?” He replies, “Three days.” Some will argue, “No, you can’t grow a tree with fruit that quickly.” But, if we are going to believe the biblical account, we have to believe we have a God that doesn’t need time.

Jesus has proven that God doesn’t need time by His miracles. He did His first miracle in John 2 when He turned water into wine. How many water pots? Six. In John 2:6, “And there were set there six water pots of stone…” There could have been 10 or even 100, but there were 6. “…After the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece.” That is 20 or 30 gallons. Verse 10 records, “And he…,” the headwaiter there, said, “…every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine… at the beginning of the feast, …and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse…” was brought out. Why did they do that? I guess you can’t taste it as good I guess. “But thou has kept the good wine until now.” How did He make good wine that tasted like aged wine. How old is it? Two minutes. How many water pots? Six. How many days in the Creation week? Six. What did Jesus do? He created fully mature systems just like fully mature tasting wine. Is that an accident? No!

Peter sees this guy coming to get Jesus and grabs a sword aiming to chop the fellow’s head off. I think the fellow ducked. What did Peter get? He got his ear. Jesus picks it up and puts it back on the guy. There are no scabs, no stitches, no healing and no time.

Or, look at when Jesus was going to feed the 5,000. They are not out there baking bread. He is pulling out fully baked loaves of bread and dried fish. He is feeding them all.

Our God doesn’t need time. If we are going to believe the Creation account, we have to believe we have a God who is above time. He created time. He doesn’t need time. You see we can trust Him, and His name is the Lord Jesus Christ.

But those days in Genesis, they could be a billion years each, couldn’t they? Well, again then, Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for 3 billion years! Okay, same words, same words. Esther fasted for 3 billion years! It that was the case, she was really skinny when she was finished. No, it is the same words. There is only one place in the Bible that people take those words and say it means a long period of time — Genesis. They do that because they come there with a preconceived idea. They say, “Evolution is true, billions of years are true, and I am going to listen to the words of man instead of the Word of God.” And then we Christians try to cram it all into the Bible.

Geneological Record

Some claim there are in the genealogies huge gaps. But, what does it tell us in Jude 14? Adam had seven generations to Enoch, and then we come down to Lamech and Adam overlaps Lamech. I think Adam knew Lamech as his great-great-great-granddaddy. Probably he said, “Hey, Lamech, get in my lap, I want to tell you something. I never should have eaten of that fruit.” And then Lamech is Shem’s granddaddy, so Shem comes through the Flood out the other end. Shem overlaps Abraham by about 50 years at least. There are no huge gaps in the genealogical tables, but even if there were it wouldn’t help with Evolution because these are the tables of the generations of people, and Evolution says people were the last things to evolve. So, even if you think there were billions of years, it doesn’t help you if you are trying to cram Evolution into the Bible.

Time to Decide

What do you believe? Was it man first, as Mark 10:6 proclaims? “But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.” Male and female what? Was it male and female bacteria from the beginning? Well no, we know it wasn’t. Why? Because the context is divorce. You have never met heartbroken divorced bacteria, okay. It is people who get divorced. God says He made people from the beginning. Evolution claims, “Oh, no, no, people came at the very last second of 15 billion years of geologic ages.” So, what do you believe deep down in your heart?

God said, “Everything he had made and behold it was very good, and in the evening and the morning were the six day.” Everything was very good. Eve and Adam, they are in the Garden, and Eve says to Adam, “This is a perfect place.” Adam agrees, “Yes, Eve, it is very good, just like God said.” But, what if they are sitting there on a pile of dead fossils? That would mean pain, death, killing, disease, struggle and suffering existed at the same time. No, there is no way that God would pronounce those terrible things “very good.”

Resource

Defending the Faith June 2010 Conference
Defending the Faith June 2010 Conference DVD Album
Get back to the Word and the absolute essentials of the Christian faith by learning how to defend what you believe in this 6-part conference album!

  1. “The Truth of the Christian Worldview” – Brannon Howse
  2. “The Truth of the Bible” – Mike Gendron
  3. “The Truth of Creation” – Dr. Jobe Martin
  4. “The Truth of the Divinity of Jesus” – Eric Barger
  5. “The Truth of the Resurrection” – Dr. Ron Rhodes
  6. “The Truth of the Virgin Birth” – Dr. David Reagan
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Dr. Nathan E. Jones

As the Internet Evangelist at Lamb & Lion Ministries, Nathan reaches out to the over 4.5 billion people accessible over the Internet with the Good News of Jesus Christ. He also co-hosts the ministry's television program Christ in Prophecy and podcast The Truth Will Set You Free.

3 CommentsLeave a Comment

  • There are some who believe there is a gap between Genesis 1, verse one and verse two. Some teach that the words 'the earth was void' actually reads in the original text as 'the earth became void', arguing that God would never create anything in an imperfect condition. Some teach that the time between verse one and verse two could have been millions of years and the earth became void after the fall of 1/3 of the angels. They teach that verse one is the millions of years ago that God created the heavens and earth and verse two, millions of years later, is when he created light and sun and moon and living creatures on the earth. Thoughts?

  • I had a discussion (debate) recently with some folks who believe in the Gap Theory and "Pre-Adamite Rebellion". Feel free to read through the discussion here and join in if you like. I post under the name "In Christ Alone".

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