This Podcast Discusses Reasons the Word "Day" In Genesis Chapter 1 means a 24-hour day, supporting a literal reading of the Genesis Creation Account. Romans 1:20 tells us Gods invisible attributes are evident in His creation. Genesis tells us how God created!
Follow Finding God In All Things @findinggodinallthingspod on Instagram. You can email us at findinggodinallthingspod@gmail.com. You can listen wherever you get your podcasts, like on Spotify, iHeart Radio and more. This episode was written and produced by Stephanie C. All rights reserved.
This Podcast Discusses Reasons the Word "Day" In Genesis Chapter 1 means a 24-hour day, supporting a literal reading of the Genesis Creation Account. Romans 1:20 tells us Gods invisible attributes are evident in His creation. Genesis tells us how God created!
Follow Finding God In All Things @findinggodinallthingspod on Instagram. You can email us at findinggodinallthingspod@gmail.com. You can listen wherever you get your podcasts, like on Spotify, iHeart Radio and more. This episode was written and produced by Stephanie C. All rights reserved.
A Day Means A Day
Stephanie: [00:00:00] Did You know that God's character can be discovered in everything he has created from physics to economics, to our daily lives. We're here to explore various topics and look at the modern world through the relevant word. You're listening to finding God in all things. Hi, this is your host, Stephanie C. Welcome to finding God in all things.
Science and Christianity absolutely compliment each other. And we're going to see this. Science proves the Bible. And if there's a contradiction. Then we must go to God's word first. . .
Stephanie: We do not run from the truth or allow the fallible interpretations of man to interpret and define the infallible Word of God.
Stephanie: When we face contradictions, I think we should study it, research it, and if we can't come to a conclusion, we need to accept that we don't know everything, our scientists don't know everything, and God is still right.
Stephanie: God is the God of truth, not lies or deception, and His truth isn't malleable, it isn't subjective, and it isn't up for interpretation or debate, even
Stephanie: though reasonable minds can differ, God's Word stands above. Period.
Stephanie: And I will quickly point out here that this podcast was edited over a period. A long period of time. I rerecorded, I added things. I took things out am still need to podcasting. I'm learning how to edit. I'm learning how to use software. So the audio might be all over the place. Some louder sections, some softer sections, some kind of choppy sections.
Stephanie: Hopefully it doesn't ruin your listening experience and I'm working. On getting better and becoming an expert at what I do, but I'm still a beginner. So bear with me. I'm thank you for listening. So moving on.
Stephanie: Second Corinthians ten three, through five in the N a S B declares "for though we walk in the flesh. We do not wage battle, according to the flesh for the weapons of our, warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying arguments and all arrogance raised against the knowledge of God.
Stephanie: And we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ." End quote. Wow. This verse, literally states that the people of God are not fighting physical battles, but philosophical ones, ones regarding the way we think and what we think. Usually when you hear this first about taking thoughts captive, at least usually when I hear pastors talking about it, they're referring to negative thinking or immoral thoughts. But we don't often think about. The thoughts that we need to take captive as being arrogant thoughts that are against the knowledge of God. This, I believe includes some alleged scientific thinking. And just going with the majority thinking of the world, if the world is telling you things that are against the knowledge of God. Or a science is trying to tell you or teach you a truth, that is against the knowledge of God. Then those are thoughts, we need to take captive. Those are thoughts, we're waging a war against. Those are the thoughts that are building up fortresses that we need to destroy through. God's divine power. Humanity. Doesn't always get it right.
And.
Stephanie: In this series on the age of the earth and universe, I will be presenting you with scientific evidence that the earth is young. And the universe is young and equipping you to understand the logical fallacies and impossible leaps of faith, the scientific community asks you to accept, to actually believe in an old earth and an old universe. And by doing so hopefully. We can show and destroy the arrogance, of modern science in some regards. Science gets many things right. But I think some of it's pillars that it presents to humanity as fact, such as the big bang is the scientific pillar. The fossil record and how it's interpreted by science is a scientific pillar. And of course the age of the earth and an old universe, are scientific pillars of modern science. Those things are against the knowledge of God.
Stephanie: Ultimately, if the science points away from God, I will argue it is not true. Science. Colossians two eight declares, "See to it, that there is no one who takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception in accordance with human tradition in accordance with the elementary principles of the world, rather than, in accordance with Christ. This goes back to what we were saying about taking thoughts, captive. Don't, you be taken captive through philosophy of the world. You take those thoughts captive. And so I will be arguing and talking about some science today. As we were talking about the pillars, the big bang theory. The explanations for the fossil record. The concept of deep time that states the earth is 4.5 billion years old, and the [00:06:00] universe is 13.7 billion years old. Biblically these amount to empty deceptions. Deceptive elementary principles of human tradition. And yet we are taught, these theories are the crowning knowledge of human history. When nothing can be further from the truth.
Stephanie: this is going to kick off our discussion and mini series on the Age of the Earth.
Stephanie: We're going to dive into apologetics which is the heart and intent behind this podcast and really look at the science and how it supports the biblical truth of how old is the earth and what evidence is there that can point to that.
Stephanie: How old is the earth? Okay. How old do Christians think it is? I think reasonable minds can differ, some people like to call my perspective young earth creationist, and that's what I am.
Stephanie: I think it's the biblical view, and we'll talk about why. I also think it's the scientific view. And we will get into that. But how old is the Earth? It's around 6, 000 years old. Could go to 10, 000 years old. But somewhere in there. 6 to 10, 000 years old. Why? Why do I believe that? First, the Bible.
Stephanie: The Bible's my source. The infallible Word of God is my foundation. That's where I start. I believe that the entirety of the world and the universe and everything in it was created in six days, six literal days. I believe in Genesis 1 and Creation Week was a week as we understand it today.
Stephanie: And I'm gonna talk about why. Also, when, if you believe like I do, that Adam was created on the sixth day, and by that point, the world and Earth should have only been You know, a couple days old. Then, from there, Adam has children, his children have children, you get the biblical genealogies. And, there have been many, much smarter people than I who have done the intricate math in trying to figure out how many years did these genealogies span and you get anywhere from 6 to 10, 000 years.
Stephanie: So if we count backwards from today, all the way to Adam using the Bible as our foundation, then we get between 6 and 10, 000 years back to when Adam walked the earth. And then if you believe like I do. that Adam was created on the sixth day, then that brings you all the way back to creation week and the very week in which the universe was created.
Stephanie: That's between 6 and 10 thousand years.
Stephanie: But then I look to science and I've researched this and studied this and would like to bring all of this knowledge to you about how the universe points. Towards this being true, the true evidence interpreted through a biblical lens points to a six to 10, 000 year old earth and universe.
Stephanie: And you might think, how is that possible? I cannot wait for you to talk about this because I have some questions and there's a lot of questions, but we're going to get there. And there is a lot of science that supports this. It's really our interpretation of the science where things diverge. Hey, so we're going to address all of these topics over the next few podcasts, but today I'm just going to start with a foundation in Creation Week, Genesis 1.
Stephanie: I'm going to tackle the very first difficult objection and contradiction I think that could come up, and that is Stephanie. Does a day mean a day in Genesis? When I read Genesis, I don't think a day has to mean a day. I think it can mean a thousand years, or it can mean an age, but I think you can fit billions of years into Genesis chapter 1.
Stephanie: And guys, the reason why Christians who believe in an old earth or who believe in evolution and billions of years, they have to put it into Genesis chapter 1. Because Adam comes at the end of Genesis chapter 1, and after Adam, the Bible's pretty clear. It's really hard to argue against the genealogies.
Stephanie: You can't fit a billion or a million or a hundred thousand years into the Bible. After Adam. And so there are Christians who believe in older. They believe that the universe is billions of years old. I know Christians who believe in evolution, and I want to address all of that in this podcast, finding God in all things.
Stephanie: But I'm just going to start with here. So Christians who believe that have to put those billions of years, millions of years, into Genesis chapter 1. It is the only place in the Bible where that amount of time can fit. But it only fits if you have certain assumptions. And one of those assumptions is, well, Stephanie, a day doesn't mean a day.
Stephanie: in Genesis. Well, what do you mean? Okay, in the book of Genesis chapter one, when in creation week, God created the world in six days, it says God created this on the first day and there was evening and morning and there was a first day. God created this in the second day. There was evening, morning, second day.
Stephanie: God created this in the third day, fourth day, fifth day, sixth day, and he rested on the seventh. That's creation week. You don't have Adam until the sixth day. And so, many Christians believe that you can put billions of years in here. Maybe you can put billions of years on the fourth day, because that's where God created the universe.
Stephanie: He created the stars. And there are some who say, well, science tells us [00:12:00] stars and the universe is billions of years old. 13. 7 billion years old. Maybe, when the Bible says And God created the lights in the sky and the fourth day, that meant it was the fourth age of time. Maybe a day means age or a thousand years.
Stephanie: And you can just stretch creation week out over thousands or millions or billions of years and then. We can have our Christianity, and we can have evolution, and it's all compatible and it comes together. No, it doesn't! And I'm going to explain why. One huge problem you have, if you put a thousand, a billion, a million years, I'm just going to stick with a billion years, because that's the commonly accepted age of the Earth, is 4.
Stephanie: 6 billion. billion years old, the age of the universe is 13. 7 billion years old, maybe 14 billion years old. I'll just use those numbers.
Stephanie: If you in fact have that much time that comes with Adam, then you have death before sin. And that is a problem. If a day does not mean a day in creation week. Death before sin.
Stephanie: This is a huge problem. It is so big, in fact, that if you are a Christian and you believe in old earth, and you believe in billions of years, then you have to believe in death before sin. And you might say, well, not necessarily, but if you believe there was any life on earth for millions or billions of years evolving before Adam was placed into the Garden of Eden, , you have death.
Stephanie: Yet death didn't come into the world until Adam sinned.
Stephanie: in Romans five 12, Paul writes, therefore just as through one man sin entered into the world. And death through sin. And so death spread to all men. Because all sinned. End quote. The Bible is full.of the verses and the gospel, in many parts rests on the foundation, that one man. Through his actions. Through his sinful actions. Brought death into the world before sin, there was not death. In Romans eight. The Bible references. The whole of creation, groaning in pain. Because of sin. And the Bible goes on to say in Romans 5 that death reigned from the time of Adam. Which in context with the other versus seems to mean. And it does in fact mean. Death did not exist before Adam. And so because of this theological principle, It's a foundational principle in Christianity that sin brought death.
You cannot have millions and billions of years before Adam. If there's no death. You cannot have evolution before Adam. Because evolution requires death.
Stephanie: So whether we're talking about the death of plants, animals, people, didn't happen until the very first sin was committed.
Stephanie: Before Adam's sin, the world was perfect. God said it was good, the universe was perfect. Death comes with suffering and spilled blood and the loss of breath. That's what came with sin. If you believe the Bible, it clearly states Adam's sin brought death into the world. Sin marred that perfection. .
Stephanie: So if you believe in death before sin, And in an ancient fossil record, we see bite marks on fossil. We see cancer in bones, tumors, broken bones, disease, starvation. Traumatic injuries to skulls and animals through the fossil record. Which alludes to the fact that death happened in traumatic ways. So if you believe that the fossil record can be millions of years old, and that fossil record is showing us how animals did in fact die, which it is then you would have to believe that disease and all of these things are present before Adam sinned.
Stephanie: But sin changed the world, and it changed how the universe was supposed to work. For example, there weren't carnivores before sin because there wasn't death before sin, in Romans 5, 12, Paul writes. Therefore, just as through one man, sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.
Stephanie: Here, The Bible, which is the infallible word of God, is telling us that death entered the world through sin. And if you believe the Bible, then you believe that the very first sin committed was by Adam and Eve, when they ate from the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, that God specifically told them was the one tree that they couldn't eat fruit from, and they did.
Stephanie: They sinned, and they brought death into the world. Romans chapter 8 says, The whole of creation groans in pain because of sin. Which means to me, [00:18:00] that before sin, the whole of creation wasn't groaning. Before sin, we shouldn't be seeing cancer and tumors and traumatic brain injuries and death of animals.
Stephanie: We shouldn't be saying that because that wouldn't have been taking place. Romans 5. 14, Paul states death reigned from the time of Adam, which in context with the other verses seems to mean that death did not exist before Adam. So you cannot have billions or millions of years before Adam if there's no death.
Stephanie: And just to bring in evolution here, because this is what we're, I'm kind of hinting around it but we're going to dive into that, but if you have those billions and millions of years, then I believe that you have those Christians who are believing in evolution. They believe in the billions of years, they believe that life could have been evolving this whole time before Adam was placed in the garden.
Stephanie: But Darwin's theory centers on survival of the fittest. Evolution is centered on the idea that those biological beings with the best genes survive. So animals and humans, or humanoids, with the best genes survive. Their offspring have a better chance of survival. And those that do not have the best genes are not the fittest.
Stephanie: They're not going to survive. They will die. And so evolution necessitates death in those billions and millions and hundreds of thousands of years. You have to have death for things to evolve.
Stephanie: You cannot have death before sin, and you cannot have sin before Adam, if you believe the Word of God. And that means that we do not have sin until at least day six of creation week, and then after that, we have six to ten thousand years old. That means that the fossil record cannot Also, we're going to get into this, but I will give you a little teaser.
Stephanie: That this all points to the fact that the fossil record cannot be older than Adam. Because everything in the fossil record has died.
Stephanie: So we cannot have death before 6 to 10, 000 years. And finally, I do want to get on to our next point. But if we take this concept of death before sin to its logical conclusion. Then sin isn't such a big deal. Neither is death. If sin didn't actually bring death into the world, then it's just a part of God's good creation and what he created.
Stephanie: It was good, right? God said it was good. He created it. Death isn't so bad. And if death isn't so bad, why do I need Christ again? Because Jesus died on the cross to save me from my sins, to save me from eternal death. But if death existed before sin, I don't really need salvation. That's what this all leads up to.
Okay, onward. Evening and morning. Okay, we've talked about very generally why we can't fit billions of years into Creation Week, because then you have death before sin, and that's a serious doctrinal theological problem for the faith.
Stephanie: But let's tackle the very specific arguments of why some Christians might argue that a day means more than a 24 hour day in Genesis week, which I will review here.
Stephanie: Okay, the Bible continuously Throughout Genesis 1 and describing Creation Week says day, evening and morning equals a day. It says, on the first day God created light and there was evening and there was morning, the first day. The second day he created the expanse between the water and the sea.
Stephanie: From water to water, and there is evening and there is morning the second day. There is evening and there is morning the third day. There is evening and there is morning the fourth day. And on to the sixth day. That pattern breaks up on the seventh day
Stephanie: By the seventh day, God had finished the work he'd been doing. So the evening morning pattern stops on the seventh day, but from day one to six, we get evening, morning, a number, and a day. Here, day means day, as we understand it today. I'm arguing 24 hour day. When the Bible says there is evening and morning, we're talking about a 24 hour day.
Stephanie: Give or take a few minutes. The Hebrew word for day is yom. And yom can mean a 24 hour day. It can mean other things, and we'll talk about that next. But, let me get to the age argument. Some Christians might say a day can mean an age. It does in other parts of the Bible. Psalm 90 verse 4 says, For a thousand years in your sight, in God's sight, are like a day that is gone by.
Stephanie: 2 Peter 3, 8, With the Lord a day is like a thousand years. And a day is compared to a thousand years. So why can't that be the case for days? Creation Week, where a day is an age. It could be a thousand years, maybe it's a billion years, maybe it's two billion years. For one, I think these are illustrative.
Stephanie: Metaphorical, allegorical, a day is like a thousand years to the Lord. It's telling us something about who God is and how he experiences time. A day is [00:24:00] like a thousand years. It's a simile, it's descriptive, poetic language, but I would like to point out that usually these same christians Don't do this for when Jesus rose again from the dead in three days.
Stephanie: Did Jesus raise again? And, a day is like a thousand years. So maybe Jesus did. It's only been 2, 021 years since the time of Christ was born, so maybe Jesus is still dead? If a day is like a thousand years to God, and we change the Bible where it says he rose again on the third day, and that just means an age, maybe he didn't raise again.
Stephanie: Maybe it took him a couple thousand years. See how that argument doesn't fit? We don't cram an age or a thousand years anywhere else in the Bible. Christians don't argue anywhere else in the Bible that a day is a thousand years or an age. Except In Genesis chapter 1. And I would have to ask you why.
Stephanie: And I think it's because you're being challenged. And it's really hard to stand up as a Christian and say, I believe in a young earth. I believe in literal creation week six days. God and him resting on the seventh. Creation week was seven days. Six.
Stephanie: It's hard to stand up against the 99. 9 percent of the people you're surrounded with that believe in evolution, and they believe in billions of years, and they think we're fools, that have not been educated that we could possibly hold these beliefs because all of science says that the earth is billions of years old.
Stephanie: We're going to debunk that. In fact, none of science says that the earth is billions of years old or that the universe is billions of years old, and it is exactly the opposite. There's a ton of evidence, a ton, that The earth is six to ten thousand years old. It's not even hard to find, but it has to do with our interpretation and how scientists cherry pick what they want.
Stephanie: We all do it. But anyway, let's not pick and choose which parts of the Bible to defend. You don't have to defend Jesus was raised again in three days. It's a part of our faith. We don't have to prove it, you believe it, or you don't. We don't have to defend that the world was created in the 60s.
Stephanie: But the reason why I'm addressing it is for Christians who struggle with this idea and concept. For believers who believe that Jesus rose again on the third day and He died on the cross for their sins. This is for you.
Stephanie: So let's go back to the Hebrew word, yom. So this Hebrew word that's used in Genesis chapter 1, where it says, And there was evening and there was morning the first day, yom. There was evening and the morning, second day, yom. Evening and morning, and there was morning the third day, yom. So this word, yes, it can mean many different things.
Stephanie: It can mean a period of light. Oh, this just happened sometime during the day. A period of light. It can mean a 24 hour day, which is what it does mean here. It can mean a general and vague time, y'all. Just like English word day. In this day and age, we don't do things like we did before. We don't mean a literal day in that phrase.
Stephanie: We just mean in this day and age. Back in my day, we walked to school uphill both ways in the snow and wrapped our feet in barbed wire protection. Okay, that's a general and vague time. A day can mean a point of time. So the Hebrew word yom can also mean a point of time. One day I was walking along Okay, this is an undefined period of time.
Stephanie: We don't know exactly when that day was. We're not actually talking about a 24 hour day. We're just saying one day, this happened. And the Hebrew word yom can also mean a year. Now, I am not a Hebrew scholar. I got all this information from Strong's Hebrew Lexicon, which you can access online to find out what this word yom means in Hebrew.
Stephanie: And it's such an important word. It appears over 2, 000 times in the Old Testament. But from context, we can be pretty certain which day The Hebrew yom is referring to in Genesis 1 and that is the 24 hours, 24 hour day. I'm going to talk about why. And I'm just giving you the information to where I look this up because you can look this up too and you can see how the word yom is used in Genesis 1 and see how it's used in other parts of the Bible.
Stephanie: So yom means 24 hours. Why do I think that yom, the word yom means 24 hour day, in Genesis chapter 1, when in other parts of the Bible it can mean a period of light, a general and vague time, a point of time, a year or a 24 hour day. I did some research here, and I came across a really great article by the Institute of Creation Research.
Stephanie: They're fantastic for this kind of stuff, and they have an article called The Meaning of Day in Genesis, it's a very, I think it's such a really interesting article, but their scholars were talking about how Yom means 24 hours here, and we know this for many reasons, but one of the reasons is In the Bible, this word yam appears 357 times outside the Book of Genesis.
Stephanie: So if we're not in the book of Genesis, the word [00:30:00] yam appears 357 times, and that every single time the Hebrew word yom is used with a number, it means 24 hours of time. This is the case every single time that the Hebrew word yom is used with a number, it means 24 hours of time. For example, in Genesis chapter 30, 36, the Bible says, Laban took a three day journey.
Stephanie: This doesn't mean three undefined period of time, three vague back in my day. He didn't take a three, a journey that lasted three ages, 3, 000 years. It was three days. 24 hours, evening, morning. And by the way, I'll take this moment to point out that I think back in ancient times the Hebrews, and even today actually, For Jews, the day starts in the evening, and so evening and morning, so nighttime plus daylight, equaled their 24 hour day.
Stephanie: I think for many of us, I think of my day as starting when the sun comes up. So my day I would say, starts morning and evening, and that's the first day for me. But in ancient times It was evening, first and morning and actually still is for some cultures around the world, which is why we get the pattern in Genesis.
Stephanie: There was evening and there was morning the first day because the beginning of the day started in the evening. So anyway Exodus 24 verse 16, for example, says, The cloud covered the mountain for six days. You have a number, yom, we're talking about 24 hour period. The cloud covered the mountain for six literal days.
Stephanie: Not six ages, not an undefined period of time, six what? Six we don't know, six months. Six years, 6, 000 years, 6 billion years. No, it was six 24 hour days. Ezra 3. 6, again, a number and the word yom. It was the first day of the seventh month. The first day of the seventh month, the first age of the seventh month, the first undefined period of time of the seventh month?
Stephanie: No, it was the first 24 hour day of the seventh month. God gave instructions to the Israelites, Leviticus 19, 6, when he tells them how to eat the manna. Eat the manna on the same day, and the next, but not the third. Were the Israelites thinking, oh, we can eat manna for the next month? 2000 years. Oh, we can eat manna for an undefined period of time, but then somewhere in the third age of the world, we cannot eat manna.
Stephanie: No, it was 24 hour days. They knew exactly what God was telling them. We can eat manna for day one and day two, but not the third day. So every single time in Genesis one, chapter one, the word yom appears with a number. There was evening and there was morning, the first day. Genesis chapter 1 verse 10.
Stephanie: And verse 13. There was evening and there was morning, the third day. Yom, and the number, 24 hours. Verse 19, And there was evening, and there was morning, the fourth day. You have yom and a number. That means 24 hours. Same with the rest of the creation days. A number plus the word yom means a 24 hour day. And we don't question this anywhere else in the Bible.
Stephanie: The ancient people told us what this word means.
Stephanie: They gave us context. The Bible tells us what it means. We know what it means. So that's it.
Stephanie: We believe it or we don't. No cherry picking.
Stephanie: Okay, next point, evening and morning. I think there's something here when the Bible talks about evening and morning, first day, evening, morning, second day. I don't think that God would intentionally mislead us by saying there was an evening and a morning at the beginning of each age, at the beginning of each undefined period of time.
Stephanie: That doesn't make sense. I don't think the definitions of evening and morning have changed since the beginning of time. Because God gave us the definitions. Evening, period of dark. Morning, a period of light. The day ends when the night comes. So we have this cycle. And I think it's very interesting to note here, that there was some light source that allowed for this cycle to start from day one.
Stephanie: Because remember, God created light three days before he created the sun. God created light on day one. And he created the sun on day four, I believe. It was day four. So three days before, there was this light night cycle. So it might blow your mind, that the sun may not be our light source, it might not be solely responsible for our day night cycle, because the day night cycle predates the sun.
Stephanie: It might be true that if the sun were to suddenly go out, maybe the world would not be plunged into [00:36:00] darkness. I don't know. I have no earthly explanation for how this would be the case, but I believe the Bible. And I believe that there was light before the sun and stars and moon were created, because the Bible tells me that light was created on day one.
Stephanie: I think this little Genesis tidbit It's always fascinated me. It inspired my love for the study of physics, because I was fascinated how light worked, and the way light works is amazing. It just has some really miraculous, amazing properties and principles to it.
Stephanie: And this little tidbit in physics in Genesis about light is what, Inspired and ignited my lifelong love of being an amateur kind of consumer of quantum physics books and astronomy and all of that fun stuff. And I will cover that in future podcasts. Anyway, I digress. But the point I was trying to make was the day night cycle is so important that it was established from the first day, 24 hour day, of creation.
Stephanie: The first verses of Genesis And God told us about it. It was important enough for God to mention it again and again. We know what a day is. The meanings of these terms have not changed. The use of evening and morning with a number are solid evidence. A day means a 24 hour day.
Stephanie: The phrase evening and morning is used 38 other times. In the Old Testament. And it always refers to a normal day. Evening and morning always refers to a normal day. In the Old Testament whenever it's used. So I think this is strong evidence. It's like God knew that we were going to be arguing and debating over the meaning of day.
Stephanie: 2, 000 years later, which is why he gave us multiple textual clues, this is a 24 hour day. Not only does the phrase evening and morning always mean a 24 hour day, but the word yom with the number means 24 hour day. So God tells us twice, this is 24 hours. So for example, when we read verse 3 of Genesis 1.
Stephanie: And there was evening, and there was morning, the first day. God is saying, and there was a 24 hour day, the first 24 hour day. And again, it says in verse 13, And there was evening, and there was morning, the third day. You can also read that to say, and there was a 24 hour day, the third 24 hour day.
Stephanie: Verse 19, And there was evening and morning the fourth day, and there was a twenty four hour day the fourth twenty four hour day. He's repeatedly telling us, these are normal days. Now, certainly God could have carried forth his creation without evening and morning, without night and day, without light and dark, but he didn't.
Stephanie: He established this cycle from the very, very beginning. And the way humanity understands these terms has not changed in 6, 000 years. God used light to define day. And this wouldn't make sense if y'all meant more than one day, or a billion years. In Genesis 1 3, God says, Let there be light, and there was light.
Stephanie: And God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from darkness. God called the light day, and the darkness he called night. I would also like to point out here that I have yet to hear anyone argue that night is a thousand years or an age when the Bible talks about night. No one seems to want to fit a thousand years into that.
Stephanie: I don't know. I don't take that for what it's worth. But anyway, the point here is you can't fit evolution into the days of creation. And also, I just want to speculate about why God light first when he didn't necessarily need it. But the book of John chapter one tells us he is light. And so maybe that's why the light was first, because, he is first.
Stephanie: And it was the first thing that was created because it shows Light's importance and preeminence and perhaps tells us something about who God is. God is first. Anyway, I'm just speculating here and thinking out loud. Okay, moving on. Another reason why a day means day in Genesis 1. If you are not convinced yet, I've got a few more reasons.
Stephanie: The Sabbath and the seventh day. Okay. We rest for one day because God rested for one day. A full day, morning to evening. The Bible doesn't say, so this gets us to Genesis chapter 2, but it's still a part of Creation Week. By the seventh day, God had finished the work he'd been doing. On the seventh day he rested from all his work, and God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
Stephanie: I don't think anyone's arguing that God rested a thousand years. And that, therefore, our own Sabbathes should last the rest of our life. Have you ever, told your boss I can't work on Sundays because that's my rest day. You get 24 hour day of rest, right? Nobody's arguing they shouldn't work their whole life.
Stephanie: I haven't seen any lawsuits. That a Sabbath is an age, a Sabbath lasts a thousand years, a billion years, a million years. And so it's my religious belief that I should ever work because we are in the time [00:42:00] of the Sabbath and resting. I haven't seen it, hasn't been successful, and yet. The argument that you can't pay, make people work on the actual Sabbath of their faith is it's the protected right in America.
Stephanie: You have the right to rest on the Sabbath if your job can give you reasonable accommodation. But for the most part, a lot of businesses close on Sunday.
Stephanie: There's this idea that no humans, if at all possible, should be forced to work seven days a week. That they are entitled to a rest day. It is written into The laws of humanity and being human. God wrote that law for us. Not everybody honors it, but
Stephanie: God preserved that for us because he rested on the seventh day. Now to some this may seem like a weak argument, but I think God does. everything decently and in order and there are many parallels in the Bible to the actions of God and how we are instructed by him to live our lives. He's the first to give us an example.
Stephanie: for how we should conduct ourselves and I believe . It's a spiritually significant law of life that God has written our work weeks and work week in days and he instituted a rest day that compares with creation week. Our work week follows creation week six days of work.
Stephanie: To some extent. And a seventh day of rest. Our week is seven days. Creation week was seven days. I think that's significant. Why is that?
Stephanie: Where did it come from? It came from Creation Week. This is confirmed in the Ten Commandments. The cycle that God gave us as an example for six days of work and one day of rest is so significant from Creation Week, it became a part of biblical law. So the Ten Commandments, in Exodus chapter 20, but in verses 8 through 11 of Exodus chapter 20, it says, Remember this Sabbath day to keep it holy.
Stephanie: For six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord, your God. On it you shall not do any work. You, or your son, or your daughter, or your male slave, or your female slave, or your cow, or your resident who stays with you. For, and this is verse 11, For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth.
Stephanie: The sea and everything that is in them, and he rested on the seventh day for that reason. The Lord blessed the Sabbath day and he made it holy. How are we supposed to interpret the fourth commandment other than literally. I guess you're welcome to interpret it symbolically and argue a day doesn't mean 24 hours here, but then the commandment becomes completely nonsensical and you can't obey it.
Stephanie: If a day is an undefined period of time, possibly an age, you can't work for six of them and rest for one of them it doesn't really work. We can't really construct our work week around an undefined period of time. We can't construct our lives around a vague and undefined period of time
Stephanie: So we can't follow it if we don't know what the terms mean. You can't follow a commandment if you don't know what the terms mean. And I'm pretty sure no one's arguing that a day is an age in the Ten Commandments either.
Stephanie: And it's interesting to know that, actually it is everything to know, that the day that's being discussed in the Fourth Commandment is equivalent to the day that's being discussed in Creation Week. That is where we get our week from. Creation Week. 24 hour days.
Stephanie: But, also, if we take the argument to its logical conclusion, that a day doesn't mean a day, then this commandment, the fourth commandment, would be a metaphor. Oh, the Sabbath, it doesn't mean we actually have to rest on the Sabbath, it doesn't necessarily mean our work week is six literal days. If that's a metaphor, then are all the rest of the commandments metaphors?
Stephanie: We'd have to throw them all out. Exodus 31 verse 17, It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel, that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.
Stephanie: Some other arguments, which, I don't, they're not as strong, they're just thoughts I had. 'So one thought I was thinking about when I was reading Genesis chapter 1 is God's pronouncement that it was good.
Stephanie: This is something God. Says at the end of his created works. It was good, and the hebrew word means excellent. I won't try and pronounce it. But Haley says this after he saw his work. I don't think this leaves room for God observing his creation for ages a thousand years. A million years. A billion years. And then deciding it was good. It's like an artist. Paints his last stroke and he takes a step back. And he observes. I'm banished and Zay. That looks good. The [00:48:00] artist isn't wait a month or a year to decide what they created was good or not.
Stephanie: Maybe human artists do, but I imagine God would know immediately. And God says this. In Genesis 1, 4, 12, 18 21, 25 31 versus re reread those and just see if you get that sense.
Stephanie: Okay. Another just thought to support a short creation week that I had is, does God need a thousand years to create. No, he doesn't.
Stephanie: Does he need a million years? A billion years? Obviously not. He only needed six days and he probably didn't even, maybe even using the word need isn't appropriate or correct. He took six days. God does everything decently and in order. And God. Could have created everything instantly.
Stephanie: And I believe that he certainly could, but I believe there is a reason. That he created things in six days and that he told us about it. And this is something that tells us about who God's character is Anyway. What I'm getting at here is that God doesn't need a thousand years to create, but they do.
Old earth, creationists and evolutionists do need that time. Not God.
Stephanie: They need it in order to. Figure out how the earth was created without God. You would need the millions and billions and billions of years, but God doesn't need it. And I love that. Idea and that concept. But it's not God's job to prove science. Science isn't our religion. God told us who he was and he proved who he was.
He sent a son, he gave us his word, the prophecies, the old Testament, the new Testament. God has revealed himself to humans. But he doesn't need to., make the science work for us, although it does work for us.
We do not live or die. By science, but we absolutely live and die by God's word. So if there appears to be a contradiction. Between science. And God's word. go towards God's word, go towards life.
Stephanie: I hope you've found A Day means a day, . Interesting. Inspirational and insightful. If you agree or disagree, have comments, questions, or even suggestions for future episodes. Please email me@findinggodandallthingspodatgmail.com or follow. Finding God in all things, pod on Instagram. And we can continue this conversation until next time. Thanks for listening.