| There are many today that do not
view the six days of creation as actual six twenty four hour time
periods. They say that just because Genesis 1:4-5 says, “And God saw
the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the
darkness. And God called the light day, and the darkness He called
night. And the evening and the morning were the first day”, doesn’t
mean that this was a twenty four hour period of time. They point to the
word “day” and say that this word can be used figuratively as well
as literally. Of course this is all true; however, this same word “day"
(the Greek word “Makros”)
is used in many other places in the Bible literally or figuratively,
too. In order to find out how it is used we must determine by the
context that it is written in, and how the word is used in other places
in the Bible.
When we read the account of
creation in the book of Genesis, we can see the purpose the writer
[Moses] had in mind. One, that God was the creator of everything. Two,
that God created it all in a specific time period. Three, that
everything was created by God in its proper and necessary order.
Is there proof in the account
of Genesis that the creation was made in six twenty four hour periods?
Yes, the very fact that we live in a world right now that has a dividing
of each day by light and darkness [Gen.1:4], that the earth has seasonal
changes [Vs.14], and that the positions of the earth, moon, and sun are
set in their places and in their movements to cause days, nights, and
seasons. Once we understand that God is also the creator of time, a six
day creation makes complete sense.
Moses, the one God used to
write Genesis is also the same person that God used to deliver the Ten
Commandments. Let’s take a look at one of those commandments. Exodus
20:8-11 tells us “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it Holy. Six days
shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the
Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter,
thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy stranger that is within thy
gates: 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, and hallowed it." The
word “day” used here is the same Greek word “Makros” in all four
verses. No one would doubt for a second that Moses was speaking
literally about a specific amount of time. There is one thing for sure
that we can see through these verses, Moses knew what kind of days God
was commanding, six literal days of work and one literal day of rest.
The six days of creation are
most generally lost to anyone that claims that the day of rest is no
longer necessary, or commanded, regardless of one's particular beliefs
The six day creation is a real
thing that happened. According to Moses, inspired by God in Gen.1:31,
“And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very
good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.” And in
Exodus 20:1 “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea,
and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day:”
When we compare what Moses,
inspired by God, said in the story of the account of creation In Genesis
1, and the instructions Moses gave to Israel on what days they were to
work and what day they should rest, it becomes quite clear that the days
of creation were a literal twenty four hours of time divided by day
light and night darkness. Moses repeats the instructions God gave the
people in Exodus 23:12 and again in 31:17. The keeping of the Sabbath
was to be a sign between God and His people Israel [Exodus 31:13,17].
They had to keep the exact day as prescribed by God. Not just any day
would do, no, it had to be the seventh day, the day that followed the
first six. Leviticus 23 further commands Israel that they must also keep
certain seasonal “Holy convocations” which were feast days unto the
Lord [Vs.2]. They were to be done on certain days and in certain months.
All this was commanded by God and all based on His six literal days of
creation and seventh day of rest. It again is reiterated in Vs. 3,
saying “Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the
Sabbath of rest:”
Moses did not just sit down and
make up seven twenty four hour time periods. He did not formulate the
seasons of the year, and the days of the month, nor the hours of a day.
It was not his idea, it was God’s. God is the creator of all there is
[John 1:3]. This, of course, would include time that was established
from the very beginning of creation. God created every thing in six days
and rested on the seventh.
One must be very careful not to
add to, or take away from, the Word of God [Rev. 22:18-21] by trying to
change what the Bible really says to better fit their own ideas.
Searching the Bible carefully, comparing Scripture to other Scripture,
reading Scripture in the context it is written in, and accepting what
the Word of God tells us in faith, regardless what men might say, is the
only way to gain Bible truth. We must let the Word of God, the Bible, be
the basis for our understanding, eliminating any speculations, or any
other authority.
Finally, if we cannot trust the
Word of God as being truthful by believing the account of creation in
Genesis, which is in the very first chapter of the very first book of
the Bible, then can we believe the account of Adam and Eve in the garden
of Eden is literal, or that there is a literal heaven, or a literal hell
or a literal Satan or that Jesus literally was raised from the dead?
After all, there are many people today that say that these events were
also not actually literal. Moses had no trouble at all believing God
created the earth in six literal days and rested on the seventh literal
day. Why should we think that these days were anything else? God said
it, I believe it!
By John E. Miller Jr. (Former WCG
member)
Read letters from John
Miller to
WCG HQ:
WCG and Their
Evolutionary Views
WCG and
Their Universalism Views
| "Charles Darwin, himself the father of
evolution in his later days, gradually became aware of the lack of
real evidence for his evolutionary speculation and wrote: `As by
this theory, innumerable transitional forms must have existed. Why
do we not find them embedded in the crust of the earth? Why is not
all nature in confusion instead of being, as we see them,
well defined species?" — H. Enoch, Evolution or Creation,
(1966), p. 139. |
RECOMMENDED BOOK:
The
Evolution Handbook by Vance Ferrell
(Thousands of solid scientific facts,
disproving every basic area of evolutionary theory.
Most complete refutation of evolution
available in a single book.)
Read the
book online.
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