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NASB | Genesis 1:14 ¶ Then God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years; |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Genesis 1:14 ¶ Then God said, "Let there be light-bearers (sun, moon, stars) in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be useful for signs (tokens) [of God's provident care], and for marking seasons, days, and years; [Gen 8:22] |
Subject: Plants were created, and then stars? |
Bible Note: Hi Parable, It is good to dialogue with you again. I won't debate the scientific argument for an old earth, because, as I said, this is not a debate forum, but a forum for the study of God's Word the Holy Bible. So this is a study of the question: Did God create the heavens and the earth in six days? I have just two points to make my case that he did; one is negative the other positive. The negative is that there is nothing in the text that forces one accept that it took God more than six days to create the heavens and the earth. The positive is the plain reading of Scripture and that the act of creation was not a process requiring eons of time. The basic premise is that the plain reading is to be accepted if there is no Scripture to compel one to understand the reading otherwise. Then one must finally ask, So what? What difference does it make whether God took six days or six billion years to create the universe? So, first, the Bible says, " God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day." (Gen. 1:31) Now no Bible believer that I know of would believe that it was impossible for this to be the sixth day. They would readily confess that God Almighty could create the universe in six days. Our only question is does the Bible in fact teach that God created the heavens and the earth in six days or thousands of years? Now is there anything in the context of this verse (or in the rest of the Bible for that matter) that would compel one to understand that this was not talking about the sixth day but the six millionth year? Is there anything in the context or the rest of the Bible that would compel us to disregard the plain meaning of day? Well, we know that the Bible uses the word day sometimes to mean a regular day and other times to mean an event that took more than a day. For example even in the context of the creation Moses wrote, "This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made earth and heaven. (Gen. 2:4) Here day means the whole creation week. So is each day actually a week? Even if it were that would still fall short of thousands of years. Some naively point to 2 Pet. 3:8, but the verse does not say that for God one day IS a thousand years. It says, "one day is LIKE a thousand years, and a thousand years LIKE one day." In other words for an eternal Being time is not an issue. So this verse does not establish the period of a day during creation week. Now that was my negative biblical support. Positively let me start by saying that it is false that nowhere in the text are we given information that refutes or supports either a six-day creation or a many-years creation. The plain reading of the text supports a six-day creation. If it didn't we would not be having this study. A regular day is also supported by how each day ends, that is, with an evening and a morning. A regular day is supported by the institution of the Sabbath. God worked six and rested on the seventh. If the days weren't regular days we would not live to see a Sabbath rest! This is repeated in the giving of the Law strengthening the meaning of the creation days as being regular days: Ex 20:8-11 "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. "Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. "For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and made it holy. (Continued...) |