Millions of Christians believe that God created the universe in seven, literal 24-hour days. They believe that is what the Bible teaches, but they are mistaken.
Actually the very first verse in the Bible, Genesis 1:1, disallows the notion that God created the earth in seven literal days. That verse plainly says “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” The heavens and the earth are in reference to the visible, physical creation. John 1:1 speaks of another “beginning,” but I’ll save that for another time.
But “in the beginning” is certainly an appropriate expression. Scientists tell us they are fairly certain the universe had a beginning. (Scientists have not always held that view.) It is referred to as the Big Bang – a moment before time began, when all the matter in the universe was compressed down to about the volume of a teaspoon, and then – KABOOM! The universe began!
The Bible explains that God is a Spirit and he is the source of all dynamic energy. Science tells us that matter and energy are related and convertible. I think Einstein figured that out and explained it with the famous equation: E=MC2. So, it’s within the realm of reality that a God with abundant, inexhaustible energy could convert some energy into matter and order matter to operate under fixed laws. But getting back to Genesis.
Genesis 1:2 then picks up the creative process after God had created the heavens and the earth. We are informed that the earth was a formless waste covered with a shoreless sea and enshrouded in darkness. (Apparently, the earth was originally a semi-Jovian planet, enwrapped in toxic gas and vapor).
Scientists estimate the age of the earth to be about 10 billion years. The Bible does not say how old it is, except that God created the earth and then after some indeterminable period of time God then began to directly prepare the earth for human habitation, and that is when the creative week commenced.
Critics of the Bible sometimes make the charge that Genesis has it all wrong. One of the alleged discrepancies is what is said to have occurred on the fourth day of creation. In brief, the account in Genesis states that God made the great heavenly luminaries on that day. But prior to that, on day three, God had made the vegetation of the earth. But how could the vegetation grow if there was no sun? Admittedly, this seems wrong. But, as already pointed out the sun along with all other heavenly bodies were already in existence, as Genesis 1:1 stated: “In the beginning God created the heavens...” A little knowledge of the original Hebrew language can explain this seeming discrepancy. There are two words that are used in this context. “Bara” means “to create” and the Hebrew word “asah” means “to make,” not in the sense of creating, but in the sense of causing something to happen – making something happen. “Bara” is the word used to Genesis 1:1 – “God created.” However, “asah” is used in reference to what God did on the fourth day. In other words, the sun and moon already existed then but God caused them to become more dominant, from the standpoint of an observer on the earth. Evidently, God made the heavenly luminaries to shine by causing a further reduction of the gas and water vapor that was surrounding the earth at that time.
But what about the seven days of creation, were they literal 24-hour days? No, they were not. That is evident even from the account in Genesis. For example, Genesis 2:4 summarizes the entire “week” of creation – or six days to be more exact – by stating the following: “This is a history of the heavens and the earth in the time of their being created, in the day that Jehovah God made earth and heaven.” In this instance rather than saying that creation took place in six days, Genesis 2:4 refers to the day that God created heaven and earth. So, from the standpoint of a timeless being, who, in the Scriptures is well-described as the King of eternity, and it also being said of him, that 1,000 years to us are to God as but one day, however many of our years, or days, it took for God to prepare the earth for Adam and Eve, it was as if a day. (Don’t scoff. Genetics has proven that all humans have a common mother; whom they have dubbed the Mitochondrial Eve.)
But one thing seems fairly certain: Each of the creative days were the same length. Otherwise why would God referred to the creative periods as days?
As for the seventh day, according to the writings of Paul in the fourth chapter of the book of Hebrews, the apostle referred to the fact that it was possible for Christians to enter into God’s rest day. Interestingly, at the conclusion of day five God was of the opinion that his work was “good.” At the conclusion of day six – after mother Eve was created and presented to Adam – God viewed his worked as “very good.” Indeed, we concur. However, no such review has taken place regarding the seventh day. This is because the seventh day – when God announced that his earthly creation was finished and that the Creator had taken a sabbatical – is still ongoing.
Reasonably, God’s rest day will conclude concurrent with the conclusion of Christ’s 1,000-year reign. At that point the earth will have been refashioned after the original state of the Garden of Eden and mankind will have regained the perfection of Adam and Eve before they sinned. God’s purpose for creating the earth will then be fully realized. And Jehovah’s great Sabbath will, itself, conclude.
The recorded history of mankind goes back about 5-6,000 years. Anything beyond that is mere conjecture based upon artists’ conceptions of a few bone fragments and lots of imagination. According to the Bible, Adam and Eve were created about 6,000 years ago. Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that the beginning of the 1,000-year reign of Christ is imminent, which would place the end of the 1,000-year reign at about a 7,000 year mark from the time that God commenced his Sabbath rest. It is reasonable that each creative day with 7,000 years long – not 24 hours.
Robert King is a Jehovah's Witness activist and author. He answers Bible questions and questions regarding the teachings of the Watchtower Society and beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses via weekly podcasts.
His website is The Watchman's Post
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