In defense of the twenty-four hour day, the New Testament makes it clear that Christ, the Son of God, was the original Creator of the world, that the works He performed during His brief earthly ministry were intended to reveal His true nature and glory, and that these works involved sudden transformations in nature and in human bodies. At Christ’s word, a storm suddenly ceased, a fig tree suddenly withered, a man born blind suddenly had his sight restored, and a dead man suddenly stood at the entrance of his tomb. So why do we even question the fact that our God created the world in six twenty-four hour days?
In Genesis 1:5 we read, “And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night, and the evening and the morning were the first day.” A day, particularly a day delineated by morning and evening and consisting of day-time and night-time, simply is not a period of years, of millions of years. A year itself is already a large number of days, and a period of millions of years certainly cannot properly be described as such a day.
If one reads Genesis 1 as though it spoke of periods of hundreds of millions of years, it does not even make sense. What becomes of a verse like Genesis 1:5 when you do that? What do you get? This: “And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first two hundred million years.” Or again, in Genesis 1:8: “And the evening and the morning were the second two hundred million years.” Or try it with the Fourth Commandment which makes clear reference to the Creation ordinance: “Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God. For in six periods of two hundred million years the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh period of two hundred million years; wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath period of two hundred million years, and hallowed it.” This sounds like sheer nonsense!
A creation week of six indefinite periods of time would hardly serve as a valid and meaningful pattern for man’s cycle of work and rest as explained by God ill the fourth commandment. It is certainly true that God could have created the world in six seconds, but the fourth commandment suggests that He chose to do so in six days to serve as a pattern for man’s work and rest periods.
The literal interpretation of the word “day” is favored by the following considerations:
First, the Hebrew word yom (day) primarily denotes an ordinary day, and should be so understood. Next, if these days were the long periods of Geology, then what would become of all vegetation during the long nights following the third days? Moreover, in Exodus 20:9–11 we read: “Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work. But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: . . . For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day.” Israel is commanded to labor six days, because Jehovah made heaven and earth in six days. This would seem to imply that the word “day” should be taken in the ordinary sense. Finally, the last three days were certainly ordinary days, for they were determined by the earth’s relation to the sun. Furthermore, Adam and Eve must have lived through the entire seventh day before God chose to drive them out of the garden. Surely God would not have cursed the earth during the seventh day which He blessed and sanctified. And if they were ordinary days, why not the others?
In a recent essay entitled “The Creation of Matter, Life, and Man,” by Dr. Addison H. Leitch it is evident that he has sought to set aside the literal-day interpretation on the basis that it would be easy for an Eskimo to argue for a six-month day instead of a twenty-four hour day. However, it would seem that even Eskimos realize from an observation of the stars and phases of sunlight that a day lasts about twenty-four hours; and even if they didn’t know this, it still would not change the normal meaning of “day” throughout the Bible.
The whole creative work of God moved in the direction of man as its culminating point, and it is hard to see, why He should retard the attainment of his end a hundred thousand years or more.
The fact that God’s work of creation was completed in six literal days clearly demonstrates that the work of each day was sudden. In view of the widespread resistance to this concept in some Christian circles today, it is surprising how many strong Biblical arguments are available in its support. If the time-honored, historical-grammatical system of the Bible be accepted, the use of a numerical adjective with the word “day” in Genesis 1 limits it to a normal day.
Note also the emphasis on the immediate effect of God’s creative word in Psalm 33:6, 9: “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth . . . for He spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.” There is certainly no thought here of delay, or process, or a gradual, step-by·step fulfillment. In fact, it is quite impossible to imagine a time interval in the transition from non-existence to existence! “And Cod said, Let there be light—and there was light” (Gen. 1:3). At one moment there was no light; the next moment there was. The idea of sudden appearance saturates the entire creation account.
By the Almighty speech of God all was produced. Moreover, all those creative works of God took place in six ordinary days; not because God needed twenty-four hours in order to create one kind of creature. He did not, no more than He needs millions of years. He is God, the Creator, who spoke, and it was done! It took place in six ordinary days simply because the Bible says so. That is all; that is enough for me; and that is enough for faith. We also must remember that with that creation God also created time, and He created in the entire universe the week, the six plus the one, the labor plus the sabbath. Therefore, all creation is the direct product of His sovereign will.
Comment: Janie De Vries was a junior in the Holland Christian High School last year when she entered a contest on the subject “A defense of the Literal Interpretation of Genesis One.” Jan has since moved to Lansing, Illinois. If any of 0ur women feel inclined to write a well-documented and compact article on the same subject, please submit it to me. Our women also need to speak up on vital issues of the day.
In Genesis 1:5 we read, “And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night, and the evening and the morning were the first day.” A day, particularly a day delineated by morning and evening and consisting of day-time and night-time, simply is not a period of years, of millions of years. A year itself is already a large number of days, and a period of millions of years certainly cannot properly be described as such a day.
If one reads Genesis 1 as though it spoke of periods of hundreds of millions of years, it does not even make sense. What becomes of a verse like Genesis 1:5 when you do that? What do you get? This: “And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first two hundred million years.” Or again, in Genesis 1:8: “And the evening and the morning were the second two hundred million years.” Or try it with the Fourth Commandment which makes clear reference to the Creation ordinance: “Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God. For in six periods of two hundred million years the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh period of two hundred million years; wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath period of two hundred million years, and hallowed it.” This sounds like sheer nonsense!
A creation week of six indefinite periods of time would hardly serve as a valid and meaningful pattern for man’s cycle of work and rest as explained by God ill the fourth commandment. It is certainly true that God could have created the world in six seconds, but the fourth commandment suggests that He chose to do so in six days to serve as a pattern for man’s work and rest periods.
The literal interpretation of the word “day” is favored by the following considerations:
First, the Hebrew word yom (day) primarily denotes an ordinary day, and should be so understood. Next, if these days were the long periods of Geology, then what would become of all vegetation during the long nights following the third days? Moreover, in Exodus 20:9–11 we read: “Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work. But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: . . . For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day.” Israel is commanded to labor six days, because Jehovah made heaven and earth in six days. This would seem to imply that the word “day” should be taken in the ordinary sense. Finally, the last three days were certainly ordinary days, for they were determined by the earth’s relation to the sun. Furthermore, Adam and Eve must have lived through the entire seventh day before God chose to drive them out of the garden. Surely God would not have cursed the earth during the seventh day which He blessed and sanctified. And if they were ordinary days, why not the others?
In a recent essay entitled “The Creation of Matter, Life, and Man,” by Dr. Addison H. Leitch it is evident that he has sought to set aside the literal-day interpretation on the basis that it would be easy for an Eskimo to argue for a six-month day instead of a twenty-four hour day. However, it would seem that even Eskimos realize from an observation of the stars and phases of sunlight that a day lasts about twenty-four hours; and even if they didn’t know this, it still would not change the normal meaning of “day” throughout the Bible.
The whole creative work of God moved in the direction of man as its culminating point, and it is hard to see, why He should retard the attainment of his end a hundred thousand years or more.
The fact that God’s work of creation was completed in six literal days clearly demonstrates that the work of each day was sudden. In view of the widespread resistance to this concept in some Christian circles today, it is surprising how many strong Biblical arguments are available in its support. If the time-honored, historical-grammatical system of the Bible be accepted, the use of a numerical adjective with the word “day” in Genesis 1 limits it to a normal day.
Note also the emphasis on the immediate effect of God’s creative word in Psalm 33:6, 9: “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth . . . for He spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.” There is certainly no thought here of delay, or process, or a gradual, step-by·step fulfillment. In fact, it is quite impossible to imagine a time interval in the transition from non-existence to existence! “And Cod said, Let there be light—and there was light” (Gen. 1:3). At one moment there was no light; the next moment there was. The idea of sudden appearance saturates the entire creation account.
By the Almighty speech of God all was produced. Moreover, all those creative works of God took place in six ordinary days; not because God needed twenty-four hours in order to create one kind of creature. He did not, no more than He needs millions of years. He is God, the Creator, who spoke, and it was done! It took place in six ordinary days simply because the Bible says so. That is all; that is enough for me; and that is enough for faith. We also must remember that with that creation God also created time, and He created in the entire universe the week, the six plus the one, the labor plus the sabbath. Therefore, all creation is the direct product of His sovereign will.
Comment: Janie De Vries was a junior in the Holland Christian High School last year when she entered a contest on the subject “A defense of the Literal Interpretation of Genesis One.” Jan has since moved to Lansing, Illinois. If any of 0ur women feel inclined to write a well-documented and compact article on the same subject, please submit it to me. Our women also need to speak up on vital issues of the day.