God is omnipotent and infinite. He could have created the universe in any amount of time He wanted – even six nanoseconds. But He says in His Word that He created the universe in six days and there are six reasons to accept these as literal 24-hour days rather than six ages as presupposed by the “day-age” theory.
Day Defined
We know that sometimes the word for day (Hebrew yom) can mean a period of time such as the “day of the Lord.” But God’s Word defines the Creation days throughout Genesis chapter one starting in verse four and then five more times on each successive day. He uses the term “evening and morning” at the end of each day.
Usage with Numbers
Secondly, every time an ordinal number is used with yom, the Bible is referring to a literal 24-hour day. God says, “…the first day, …second day, …the third day, etc.” There are no exceptions to this in the Old Testament.
Hebrew Grammar Construction
Thirdly, the account of creation in chapters one and two of Genesis is a literal narrative form of Hebrew rather than a poetical or figurative form because of the verb-subject construct. The Hebrew literally says “In the beginning created God the heavens and the earth.” It is an account of real historical events.
Work week Pattern
Fourthly, when we consider the passage where God gave the fourth commandment concerning the keeping of the Sabbath, it is obvious here that God intended to set a pattern for man’s work week by creating the universe in six literal 24-hour periods.
Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work…For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it. Exodus 20:9-11
Comparison to other Time words
In addition to the above time statement, the Bible says in Genesis 1:14, when God created the sun and moon that He “let them be for signs and seasons and for days and years.” It wouldn’t make sense when comparing these terms of time (seasons, days and years) for the word He has been using for day (yom) all along to mean a billion years or anything other than a normal day.
Hebrew Scholarship
Finally, it should be noted that no conservative Hebrew scholar believes that the language of this chapter indicates anything other than literal 24-hour days.
For the above reasons, we should take the Creation week as six literal 24-hour days. If I had a pastor or a Bible college professor who believed otherwise, I’d be looking for another church or another Bible college.
Excellent explanation of the six days of creation.
Thanks. I’m working on the Gap Theory blog.