What a Day
For most of us, the thought of the sun setting tonight or rising tomorrow morning is taken for granted. Our days and nights click off like clockwork without any input from us. When did this cycle begin in history? This question is asked often of me, especially in connection with the days of creation in Genesis 1. When we simply read the account in Genesis 1, the days are days like we understand them. Yet many people want to apply other opinions and worldviews to those days, for instance that one day in Genesis 1 is a 1000 years or that each day was an undetermined amount of time. This topic came up at a recent homeschool convention I attended when I was approached by a man that wanted to place the earth being created somewhere in time before day 1. There was much confusion in our discussion, mainly on my side, as to how we have time before day 1. Needless to say, he left flustered with my seemingly straight forward answer of “No, it was day 1 like the Bible says.” The only way one can see those first six days of history differently is by bringing in outside worldviews to the text.
First, we use context to help us interpret scripture. In the case of the word “day” in Genesis 1, there are identifiers that help us understand that those days are days. The identifier of the number one appears in the text on the first day. Everywhere else in the rest of the Old Testament when a number is attached to a day, it refers to it as we understand a day, as 24 hours. The other identifier attached to day 1 of history is “evening and morning”. Again, everywhere else in all of God’s Word when the words morning or evening are used in conjunction with the word day, it always references a 24-hour day. All of these identifiers are used on each of the first six days of history, so it is simple to say that contextually they are days.
Second, if we refer to other passages in scripture, they support the days of Genesis 1 occurring as normally understood days. Take for example Exodus 20:11; it states that the Lord made everything in “six days.” This passage was written by the Lord’s hand on stone as a portion of the ten commandments. If He stated that he took six days to create everything, why should we argue against Him?
Third, our day/night cycle is a covenantally controlled portion of time. In Jeremiah 33:19-21 the Lord tells Jeremiah to inform the people of a covenant. The covenant states that day and night are set for appointed times by the Lord. If this covenant of the day and night could be broken, then the covenant of Jesus Christ sitting on David’s throne would also be broken. This is not just a little discussion over whether a day is a day to the Lord. If day 1 of creation was not when this covenant was established (and there is no other scripture as to when the covenant was established), then we would be held accountable to a covenant that was never established. That is simply not the way the Lord God that I worship as my Creator and Savior operates. He is One of order and covenants that can be counted on by His authority and faithfulness.
This topic of the days in Genesis 1 is only an issue if and when someone believes “science”, aka evolutionary worldview, demands them to be anything other than what the plain text says they are. If we question those days, then it can be a slippery slope to identify with confidence any other days in scripture. Did it rain 40 days and nights, or 40,000 years during the flood? Jesus was in the tomb for 3 days, or some undetermined amount of time before He arose? This is a vital issue that touches the very heart of Scripture and whether we can trust what it says about history. If we can’t trust its history, then our faith in eternity will also be shaky. This is exactly what Satan wants us to believe – that our Creator has no authority over history or eternity. Don’t be fooled. Trust the Word of God because its history tells an account of life, everlasting.
