Introduction
The five books of Moses were collectively called the Pentateuch, a word of Greek origin meaning ‘the five-fold book.’ The Jews called them the Torah, i.e., ‘the law.’ It’s probable that the division of the Torah into five books proceeded from the Greek translators of the Old Testament. The names by which these several books are generally known are Greek. Genesis through to Deuteronomy is known as the Torah which means Law. In Greek, the word Pentateuch is ‘Pente’ which means five and ‘uch’ which means Law.
The first book of the Pentateuch is called by the Jews ‘Bereshith’, i.e., ‘in the beginning’, because this is the first word of the book. It is generally known among Christians by the name of Genesis, i.e., ‘creation’ or ‘generation,’ being the name given to it in the LXX. as designating its character because it gives an account of the origin of all things. It contains, according to the usual computation, the history of about two thousand three hundred and sixty-nine years. Genesis is divided into two principal parts.
1. Genesis 1-11 gives a general history of mankind down to the time of the Dispersion.
2. The second part presents the early history of Israel down to the death and burial of Joseph
In Genesis 12-50 we find five principal persons brought in succession in this book, and around these persons, the history of the successive periods is grouped.
Five main characters
Adam Genesis 1:1-5:32
Noah Genesis 6:1-10:32
Abraham Genesis 11:1-25:18
Isaac Genesis 25:19-35:29
Jacob Genesis 36:1-50:26
Prophecies concerning Christ
Genesis 3:15 / Genesis 12:3 / Genesis 18:18 / Genesis 22:18 / Genesis 26:4 / Genesis 28:14 / Genesis 49:10
The Author
The author of Genesis was Moses and under divine guidance he may indeed have been led to make use of materials already existing in primitive documents, or even of traditions in a trustworthy form that had come down to his time, purifying them from all that was unworthy, but the hand of Moses is clearly seen throughout in its structure.
Exodus 17:14 (Write on a scroll)
Exodus 24:4-8 (He wrote it down, book of the covenant)
Numbers 33:1-2 (He recorded their journey)
Deuteronomy 31:9 / Deuteronomy 31:22 (He wrote it down)
The New Testament confirms that Moses was the author
Matthew 12:5 / Luke 16:16 / John 7:19 / Luke 2:42 / John 7:23 / Luke 23.
Outside the Bible
There is proof outside the Bible as well. There are two historians, Philo and Josephus who both testify that Moses wrote the book. Just as a side note these two historians were not Christians.
Why Moses wrote the books
John 20:30-31 (Believe) and 2 Peter 3:1 (Reminders). God told Moses what to write and the Patriarchs kept copies and Moses edited them. What was written for the law was written for those under the law. Romans 3:19 but it wasn’t just for them under the law but for us as well. Romans 15:4.
The Date
The date of the Book of Genesis is uncertain, Archbishop James Usher dates it around 1581-1656 B.C. and he believes that the earth was around 4004 years old. Egyptian records have been found to go back to 3000 B.C., but most Christians believe the Earth is approximately just over 6000 years old.
The Book Itself
Genesis is the foundation of the rest of the Bible, it’s about beginnings, creation and dealings with people.
These are all accounts
Genesis 5:1 / Genesis 6:9 / Genesis 10:1 / Genesis 11:10 / Genesis 11:27 / Genesis 25:12 / Genesis 25:19 / Genesis 36:1 / Genesis 37:2
In Genesis, we learn about sin, life, justification by faith, and our need for salvation. The future is bound up in the past and there are three messages in the Book of Genesis.
1. Relationship between man and God through worship, communion and turning to God.
2. Relationships between human beings through society.
3. The value of faithful obedience and is conditional for salvation. Acceptance.
Paradise lost and regained
Genesis 1:4 Light and Darkness / Revelation 21:25 No Night
Genesis 1:10 Water and Land / Revelation 21:1 No Sea
Genesis 1:14-15 Sun and Moon / Revelation 21:23 No Moon or Sun
Genesis 2:8-9 Garden / Revelation 21:2 City is prepared
Genesis 2:10 River flowing out from Garden / Revelation 22:1 River Flowing from God’s throne
Genesis 1:2 / Revelation 21:22
Genesis 1:2-3 / Revelation 6
What was lost in Genesis was found in Christ Jesus and then in Heaven.
Ten Natural Divisions
Genesis 2:4 Heaven and Earth Genesis 5:1 Adam
Genesis 6:9 Noah Genesis 10:1 Sons of Noah
Genesis 11:10 Shem Genesis 11:27 Terah
Genesis 25:12 Ishmael Genesis 25:19 Isaac
Genesis 36:1 / Genesis 36:9 Esau Genesis 37:2 Jacob
Evolution
Ask the Evolutionist if he believes in miracles, his answer will certainly be No! Ask him how he would define a miracle. In other words, what is a miracle? He will be compelled to say that he believes it is ‘something that is impossible’.
You may then tell him that he cannot believe in Evolution, because it is based on at least two events which are impossible. These are:
1. Spontaneous Generation.
2. Transmutation.
Spontaneous Generation
Spontaneous Generation simply means that life came into existence where before there had been no life! And it takes more FAITH to believe this than to believe that an intelligent Creator, whom we call God, created life.
The question, which you should ask is, which came first, the hen or the egg? This is a question dating back to Plutocrat, the Roman writer who was born in 46 A.D. This question reminds us that everything we see is an ‘effect’. And an effect must have a cause.
Nothing comes from anything
The Greeks said, ‘something IS, therefore something WAS’. We cannot go back, saying, ‘Hen from Egg, Egg from Hen, Hen from Egg.’ We must eventually say that one or the other, either the hen or the egg, was created because life is dependent on antecedent life. The word ‘Antecedent’ ‘anti seed ent’ means ‘going before’.
Ask the person who believes in Evolution, where did the first living things come from? If they came from nothing, please explain how it happened!’
Evolutionists have tried to answer this question in many ways. They often spoke of the ‘nebular theory’, which boils down to this: Let us suppose that FORCE and MATTER have always existed! Notice the ‘suppose’!
‘This FORCE, which came from nobody knows WHERE, exerted itself on this MATTER, which came into existence nobody knows HOW and the universe was created.
You will notice that they never offer to tell you where the Force and the Matter came from. In fact, an item in the Daily Telegraph some years ago is headed ‘Evolutionary Theories hopelessly outdated’.
Professor Edgar H. Andrews, Professor of Materials at London University and Head of the Department of Science at Queen Mary College, gave this evidence before an Industrial Tribunal.
He stated that the theories of people like Sir Fred Hoyle, were ‘almost completely discredited’, and he stated that the education syllabus, which required teachers to teach Hoyle’s theory of ‘continuous creation’ was ‘an attempt to avoid accepting that there was ever a start in the universe, that it never had a beginning, and that matter was continuously being destroyed and re-created.’
The fossils reveal evidence of Apes and of Men but despite all the fantastic and fanciful claims ‘no ape-men’. And those who know Evolution know this is true. If I had the time I could write about the ‘Piltdown man’, ‘Nebraska man’, ‘Java man’, ‘Neanderthal man’, all of whom have, at one time or another, been put forward as ‘links’ between Man and the Apes. We do not hear a great deal about this today.
And the reason?
Professor Patrick Geddes of Edinburgh University and Professor J. A. Thomson of Aberdeen University said when questioned concerning Man’s origin: ‘We do not know whence he emerged nor do we know how man arose, for it must be admitted that the factors of the evolution of Man partake largely of the nature of ‘MAYBE’S’, which have no permanent position in science.’
Professor John Tyndall, the physicist, who became a professor at the Royal Institute and who was contemporary with Darwin and Huxley, said: ‘Those who hold the doctrine of Evolution are by no means ignorant of the uncertainty of their data’.
Lord Kelvin, perhaps Scotland’s greatest scientist stated: ‘I am ready to accept as an article of faith in science valid for all time and all space, that Life is produced by Life and ONLY by Life’.
Herbert Spencer, who was nicknamed ‘Darwin’s Bulldog’ because he defended Darwin from his critics, said referring to the Theory of Evolution: ‘This is a hypothesis, I readily admit. That it may never be anything more seems probable. That, even in its more defensive shape, there are serious difficulties in its way, I cheerfully acknowledge.’
Why, then, do some scientists, accept what is an unproven theory?
Professor D. M. S. Watson said: ‘Evolution itself is accepted by zoologists, NOT because it has been observed to occur or can be proved by logical, coherent evidence. But because the ONLY alternative, Special Creation, is clearly incredible.’
This was a man who did not believe in God.
Professor L.T. More said: ‘The more one studies Palaeontology (fossils) the more certain one becomes that Evolution is based on faith alone. The only alternative is the doctrine of Special Creation, which may be true but is irrational’.
Let us give the last word to Charles Darwin himself. In his ‘Life and Letters’, vol. 3, page 25, he wrote: ‘We cannot prove that one species has changed’. ‘There are 2 or 3 million species on Earth, but it must be said today, despite all the efforts of trained observers, not one change of species with another is on record.’
In other words, Evolution is still a theory, nothing more.
D.N.A.
Another important fact is that each living cell is extremely complex, containing within itself the coded information, which identifies the cell, in the form of D.N.A. D.N.A, deoxyribonucleic acid, pronounced, ‘dee oxy rybo nucleic acid.’
It was stated that each cell contains enough information to fill a 1000 volume set of Encyclopaedias. ‘Reader’s Digest’ October 1962. This is how complex a living cell is. And it is also why it is impossible for scientists to produce life in a laboratory. Kornberg tried to do this. In 1957 he analysed a cell chemically and discovered that it had SIX bits of known D.N.A, sugar, phosphates and four bases, amino acids, etc. but he could not produce a living cell. The chances of finding the right chemical combination which might produce life have blood supply have been calculated as 1 x 10,243 Billion!
The French Mathematician, Du Nouy, reckoned that it would take this to produce JUST ONE molecule of protein.
Another popular topic among Evolutionists is the supposed existence of vestigial organs. These are organs of the human body, which, they claim, have become unnecessary because we have outgrown them, and which are now useless because we have ‘evolved’.
Wedersheim originally listed 180 of these ‘now useless’ parts of the human body, and the list included tonsils, and the appendix, to name two with which everyone must be familiar! But Sir Arthur Keith, President of the Royal College of Surgeons, pointed out that it was dangerous to brand, as useless an organ rich in blood supply and which continues to grow to the 20th year of a person’s life, and sometimes to the 50th year.
As for the tonsils, there was a time when doctors removed children’s tonsils ‘at the drop of a hat’, so to speak! But they are now back in fashion” We now know that they are important because they produce antibodies, and, to quote Sir Arthur Keith again, says today: ‘No-one would describe them as vestigial’
In fact, of the list of the 180 human organs originally supposed to be useless, only SIX remain, and the doctors are very unsure about these because they include the pituitary and adrenal glands. Another ‘proof of evolution’ demolished!
The fossil records
If Evolution has actually taken place, the one thing that would prove it conclusively would be for the scientists to produce the fossils, which show the successive links. Notice ‘links’, plural. Talk about the ‘Missing Link’ is laughable because it is NOT A LINK, which is missing but an entire chain. All the intermediate forms are missing.
George Simpson, an American Evolutionist, stated that: ‘if there was an effective breeding population of 100 million individuals, and they produced a new generation DAILY, the likelihood of a good evolutionary mutation could be expected about once in 274 billion years’.
Now, when you consider that evolutionists themselves generally believe the Earth to be about 4 to 5 billion years old, you can see the problem. And, by the way, Simpson speaks of ONE mutation in 274 billion years. But remember you need TWO to breed! And to really mess things up, let it be stated that Mutations are always sterile!
No wonder Simpson became a little exasperated and said: ‘Unless there is an unknown factor tremendously increasing the chance of simultaneous mutations, such a process has played no part whatever in Evolution’. ‘Major Features of Evolution’. 1953
In other words, the case for Evolution cannot be supported by the mutation theory.
Why transmutation is impossible
There is a simple reason why change from one species of creature to another does not occur. Living cells are composed of protons, neutrons and electrons, and every cell has its own Mitotic Pattern. Mitosis is the method of cell division in which the nucleus of the cell divides to create ‘daughter’ cells, each of which contains the same number of chromosomes as its parent cell.
These chromosomes are responsible for carrying the characteristics, which are inherited by the offspring. In other words, the law of nature, as the Bible says, is ‘Like produces like’. Dogs do not produce cats! Genesis 1:12 / Genesis 1:21 / Genesis 1:25.
That Mitotic Pattern is like the fingerprint of the cell, and the cell is identifiable by the pattern contained within it. Interfere with the cell, try to change the pattern, and the cell will die. Or at best, maybe produce a Mutant, if you can wait so long!
Suppose the cell were to be invaded by an alien body. That would break up the pattern and the cell would die. You cannot change the Mitotic Pattern characteristic of one cell, into the pattern which is characteristic of another kind. Interference produces death.
This is one reason why it may be possible to detect the onset of Cancer by observing the condition of the cell. And this is also why Mutations turn out to be bad. Nature has placed boundaries, or limits, which cannot be overstepped without causing damage, 1 Corinthians 15:39.
It is interesting to notice that the Bible, in Paul’s First letter to the Corinthians, chapter 15:39, hints at this, when it speaks of different kinds of ‘flesh’, of birds and fish and other living things.
The cell of one KIND of creature cannot be changed into the cell of another. This is why it is nonsense to talk about Fish becoming Amphibians and then Mammals swinging from trees!
Transmutation
Transmutation is the name given to the theory, which ‘claims’ that one form of life, one ‘species’, changed into another form of life, or species. And this is another impossibility! ‘Trans’, across, ‘Mutation’, change. ‘Evolution’ comes from ‘e volvo’, Latin for ‘I turn’.
The question is, is it TRUE that one KIND of creature has changed, or can change, into creatures of an entirely different kind?
Sometimes those who advocate Evolution do not seem to realise how ridiculous they make themselves. For instance, Lamarck, the Frenchman advanced a theory known as ‘The Theory of Acquired Characteristics.’
This suggested that the Giraffe acquired its long neck, NOT because it was designed that way, but because in a time of famine, it had to stretch up to the leaves, which were high on the trees! The snake lost its legs through crawling through knotholes in trees when escaping from birds!
And, speaking of birds, Harold Firbans, in ‘Home Geography, page 142, offers us this piece of ‘science’.
‘If birds could talk, what stories we might hear. We might learn of a time, ever so long ago, when their grandfathers were not birds at all. Then, they could not fly, for they had neither wings nor feathers. These grandfathers of our birds had four legs, a long tail and jaws and teeth. After a time, feathers grew in their bodies and their front legs became changed for flying. These were strange-looking creatures. There are none like them living now’.
What a pity! ‘If birds could talk’?
If birds could laugh, they would laugh their feathers off at such ridiculous nonsense. But, this is one of the ways in which ‘evolution’ is supposed to have taken place.
Remember! We are not denying that changes may take place within the KIND or SPECIES. MODIFICATION or VARIATION is one thing, MUTATION is another thing entirely! It delivers the death blow to the theory of Evolution.
Why?
1. Because mutations rarely happen. Most genes mutate only once in 100,000 generations or more. ‘World Book Encyclopaedia’.
One Evolutionist, C. H. Waddington stated that ‘the odds are probably one ion a million’.
2. Good mutations are even rarer.
Herman Muller says, ‘Most mutations are bad. In fact, good ones are so rare that we can consider them ALL bad’.
Dr William J. Tinkle, who was a noted Geneticist, has stated that ‘No mutation is on record which would make an animal or plant better organised, or place it in a higher category than its ancestors.’
Professor Andrews also informed the Tribunal, that this theory was different from the current scientific view.
‘This is that there was an origin, referred to colloquially, as ‘the Big Bang’, to describe the suddenness of the beginning of the universe.’
He said, ‘Evolution is still an unproven hypothesis, there are overwhelming arguments against its validity.’
So, you see, even according to the latest theory, we are back to a Beginning! But we are still not told what or who caused the ‘Big Bang’, which created the Universe! And to propose an ‘effect’ without an adequate ‘cause’, is just as much an act of faith on the part of the person who believes in Evolution, as is the Christian’s belief in an intelligent Creator.
An example
Evolution would have us believe that two atoms came together, collided at great speed and life ‘evolved’ from it! Everything has to have a ‘cause’ and ‘effect’ but the bigger the ‘cause’ results in the bigger ‘effect’.
If two people were driving two separate cars and had a head-on collision at 100 miles per hour, both cars would be destroyed and both people would die. You get one brand-new car and one brand new human from it! If I were to throw a hand grenade into a crowded room, it would kill everyone inside and destroy the building. Everyone knows that that kind of collision destroys life and things, it doesn’t create new things or new life.
You should persist in demanding to know, HOW did it all happen? And WHERE did life come from? Never allow the Evolutionist to get away with asking all the questions! If the world began with ‘the big bang’, where did the things which caused the ‘big bang’ come from?
Incidentally, if you are ever asked, who made God? Just point out that this is not a CLEVER question at all. When people ask it, they usually think they have been very smart. It is NOT a clever question, because the two words ‘made’ and ‘God’ do not belong together.
There are some words that ‘fly apart’ the moment you put them together because they do not ‘fit’. Try imagining a ‘dry raindrop’, or a ‘lead balloon’. One word is an Adjective, ‘dry’, ‘lead’, whilst the others are nouns, ‘raindrop’, and ‘balloon’. Adjectives are words, which qualify nouns, and they are meant to belong together, but not all adjectives match all nouns.
So, with the words ‘made God’. In this case, ‘made’ and ‘God’ cannot be joined together. If God were ‘made’, He would not be ‘God’, because the concept of ‘God’ implies a Being who was never ‘made’, who did not have a beginning.
So, to return to our ‘hen and egg’, the hen and the egg are Secondary Causes, which means that once they have been brought into existence they can continue to produce each other. The Primary Cause, the First Cause, who created them, is God.
The bottom line is this, either everything we see around us is the result of intelligent, orderly DESIGN, or, the Universe or everything in it, is an ACCIDENT. It came into existence by BLIND CHANCE. I know which view I prefer to take!
Aristotle, who was so wise that he was known as ‘Master of those who Know’, because of his all-round knowledge spoke of the origin of things and declared that there are three factors in the world.
1. Matter, which is moved and does not move anything.
2. Nature, which is moved, and which can move itself.
3. God, Who moves everything and is Himself unmoved.
‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.’ Genesis 1:1
Genesis 1:1 is a summary of creation and the rest of the chapter are the accounts. This one verse throws out all other religions, like Evolution, Atheism, Polytheism, Pantheism, Materialism and Humanism.
God
The word here is from Elohim, which is plural and used approximately 2,000 times in the Old Testament. God is self-existing, but the world depends on Him. He is Eternal, full of mercy and love. He is eternal and omnipresent. He is all-knowing and all-powerful. There is only one God, ‘Shema’, Deuteronomy 6:4, the people of Old Testament times would have that Scripture in a Mezuzah which is like a small pencil object with this verse inside it hanging on their door as a constant reminder that there is only one God.
And notice there are no ‘ifs’ ‘buts’ or ‘maybes’, there’s no questioning if God exists and the Bible never sets out to prove the existence of God, it’s written as a matter of fact. John 1:1 / Hebrews 1:1.
Who was involved in Creation?
God the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit. Genesis 1:1 / Genesis 1:2 / John 1:1-3 / Colossians 1:15-18 / Hebrews 1:1-3. Remember that Jesus didn’t become Jesus until He became flesh, John 1:14, He was known as the Word. It was God who created, the Word spoke creation into existence and creation reproduces after its kind. The Holy Spirit was also involved in creation, Psalm 33:6-7 / Job 26:13.
The word for created is the word, ‘bara’ which is used exclusively by God in calling something into existence out of nothing. The heavens refer to the galaxies of all suns, moons and stars and the earth refers to that on which man resides. Genesis 2:1 /Genesis 14:19 / Genesis 14:22 / Jeremiah 23:24.
Three heavens
Speaking about himself, the apostle Paul says ‘I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago, was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows.’ 2 Corinthians 12:2
So, we have here three ‘heavens’.
1. The heaven which is God’s spiritual eternal home. This isn’t physical and isn’t created.
2. The heaven where the stars and planets are. This is physical and is created.
3. The heaven surrounding the earth where the atmosphere is, and the birds fly. This is physical and is created.
The word ‘heavens’ is used in different ways in the Bible.
1. It’s used of the two heavens that God created.
2. It’s also used of the third heaven. This is the uncreated heaven where God has always been from eternity.
Did God create the heavens and the earth millions of years ago, and let them become, without form and void. Then, the spirit of God moved, and we have the world today?
‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.’ Genesis 1:1-2
We should notice exactly what Genesis 1:1-2 tells us. It doesn’t tell us that God created the heavens and the earth, and then allowed them to ‘become without form and void’.
Instead, it makes a positive and emphatic statement about their origin. It tells us that they were created by God. That is how they came to exist.
The word, ‘created’ is significant, because the word ‘bara’ used in this chapter, means ‘to bring into existence something which has not previously existed’. Genesis 1:1 / Genesis 1:21 / Genesis 1:27. The word bara is only used for the works of God. Romans 4:17 / Hebrews 11:3.
It is very different from the word ‘made’. One can ‘make’ a thing out of pre-existent material, put God first ‘created’ the matter, brought into existence the ‘building blocks’ so to speak and began to produce the ordered system which we know as ‘the heavens and the earth’.
Notice, also, that God created this material ‘in the beginning’, and it is, therefore, reasonable to assume that, before this, matter did not exist. The phrase, ‘in the beginning’ has been called ‘the dateless date’ because we cannot go any farther back than ‘the beginning’.
‘Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.’ Genesis 1:2
This verse tells us that, at the time of its creation, the material to which God himself later gave the name ‘Earth’, Genesis 1:10, was, as described in the Hebrew text which is almost a play on words! The A.V. translated this as ‘without form and void’ and both words mean ‘empty’.
How long has God allowed this state of emptiness to continue, or if he allowed it to continue at all? We cannot say. There is nothing in the Bible that will permit us to be dogmatic on the matter.
But, in order to account for the fossil record, and, especially, to make room for the Dinosaurs mentioned in the question, attempts have been made to fix a gap of millions of years between verses 1 and 2. Sometimes, in order to prevent the Bible from being called ‘unscientific’, very clever religious people have gone out of their way to accommodate the scientists, or, at the very least, have tried to harmonize, the Bible and ‘Science’.
We have here a case in point. Thomas Chalmers was a Scottish clergyman, born in 1780, who is probably best remembered as the man who was largely responsible for the founding of the ‘Free Church of Scotland’. Dr Chalmers was a great orator, a mathematician and a chemist. As a writer, he produced a work entitled ‘Institutes of Theology’ which ran to 34 volumes!
In his attempts to reconcile the Biblical account of Creation with what was claimed to be ‘science’, he produced the ‘Catastrophe Theory’, which assumed that in the imaginary time-gap between verses 1 and 2, there had been an earlier ‘Creation’, which had been destroyed by some sort of disaster which destroyed all life, including the Dinosaurs, which, he thought, had existed during that earlier time.
According to this theory, it was this ‘catastrophe’ that, besides killing the dinosaurs, also produced the fossils. Since there is no mention of anything like this in the Bible, how did Thomas Chalmers support his theory?
He did it by going to the 2nd verse of Genesis 1 and changing the translation. He said that the word ‘was’, which in Hebrew is ‘havah’, should really be ‘hayah’, which means ‘became’. With this change, the verse comes out as ‘the earth became without form and void’.
Unfortunately for his theory, there is no linguistic evidence or authority for making such a change in the text. Linguistically, the word ‘was’ in the 2nd verse, refers to all the time during which the ‘Earth’ existed as a formless mass.
But, to support his theory, Dr Chalmers also turned to verse 28, which, in the AV., reads, ‘replenish the earth’, and he took this to mean, ‘fill the earth again’. But the word ‘male’ doesn’t mean ‘fill again’. It means ‘fill up’.
God commanded those whom he had created to ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill up the earth’. In other words, God commanded the first human beings to populate the planet which, as his work on the previous days reveals, he had prepared for them to occupy. Still no evidence for the ‘Catastrophe Theory’!
Dr Chalmers also argued from Isaiah 45:18, which tells us that God ‘created the heavens and formed the earth’.
The verse continues to say that God ‘did not create it a chaos, he formed it to be inhabited’. Bear in mind that Isaiah had not heard of Dr Chalmers’s theory! The prophet is speaking on behalf of God and is speaking about the earth on which we live today.
The Days
The Hebrew word for day is the word ‘Yom’ which means 24 hours, when this word is used with a numeral adjective, it always signifies a 24-hour day. Exodus 6-9, 40 Days and Nights, Genesis 7:24, 150 Days the Earth was flooded, Jonah, 3 Days, Creation, rested on the 7th Day. Of the 1,284 times, this word is used alone without the numerical adjective in the Old Testament there are only a few exceptions when it does not signify a 24-hour day.
The plural form ‘yamin’ always refers to a 24-hour day. Exodus 20:11. If God is who the Bible describes Him to be, then certainly He has the power to create and the power to create in a single moment.
Everything was made in order of creation on purpose so that everything that was created already had its environment created first. Genesis 1:2, Now and Was. ‘Hay etha’ is Hebrew for was, Genesis 1:2. Let’s not forget that the earth was formed in order to be inhabited, Isaiah 45:18. God brought form to the unformed Earth.
What did God Create?
Genesis 1:3-5 Light.
Genesis 1:6-8 Atmosphere, sky.
Genesis 1:9-13 Land, Sea and vegetation.
Genesis 1:14-19 Sun, Moon and the Stars.
Genesis 1:20-23 Birds, Fish, and Creatures that move along the ground, Wild Animals and Man.
Day One
‘And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light ‘day,’ and the darkness he called ‘night.’ And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.’ Genesis 1:3-5
This is the first recorded words of God; hence it is The Word who is speaking, and the text should read, ‘be light’ or ‘light be’ because it is a command. God worked during the day, in the day, in the light and when He speaks, He commands, and things come into existence from nothing.
We know that Jesus Himself is the Light of the world and the light of life. John 8:12, and we know that God Himself is Light, 1 John 1:5. We also know that Jesus often used physical realities to make a spiritual point, Matthew 12:39. They are actual, factual, historical events intended to point beyond themselves to greater spiritual truths. Paul suggests that God has done the same thing in creation itself, 2 Corinthians 4:6.
Paul here is alluding to Genesis 1:3, and Paul considers it to be a historical, factual and plainly understood the text. God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. The text, for Paul, points to a real event in time and history, the creation of light around six thousand years ago, as recorded in Genesis.
However, God revealed to Paul that the text does even more than record history. God showed Paul that His acts in creation were like cosmic words, foretelling spiritual things to come. Just as God said, ‘Let there be light!’ He now says to helpless, weak, sinners, ‘Let there be understanding of who Christ is.’
As the light on day One invaded the darkness of cosmic creation, so God’s grace invades our weak, frail minds. We stand before God without spiritual light and void of goodness. Like the original creation in Genesis 1:1-2, we don’t yet have spiritual life. But all that changes because of God’s grace, John 1:4-5.
Like Paul, John is alluding to Genesis 1:3, and he believes that every word is historic and literally true. In addition, God revealed to John that the Genesis text says much more. God intended the historic light of creation to burn into our minds an even greater spiritual truth. And notice that the Creator is magnified at least six times in the creation account with the statement, ‘It was good.’
Day Two
‘And God said, ‘Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.’ So, God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. God called the vault ‘sky.’ And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.’ Genesis 1:6-8
On day one, God created light and earth, covered with water and on day two, God divided that water. Some of the water stayed on earth to eventually form the oceans, lakes, and rivers, that’s day three, that would be filled with fish and other sea creatures, that’s day five. The Bible says that the rest of the water was ‘separated’ from this water on earth and was placed ‘above the vault.’
But what was the vault?
The word ‘vault’ is the Hebrew word, ‘raqiya’ and means a space or expanse. This includes the universe, outer space and the sky. 2 Chronicles 2:6 / Isaiah 13:10 / Jeremiah 4:25. The vault refers to a space or expanse called ‘heaven’, Genesis 1:8.
On day four of Creation, God put the sun, moon, and stars in the heaven, Genesis 1:17, and on day five He created birds that fly in the part of the heaven that is near us, Genesis 1:20. So from this, we know that on day two God created our atmosphere, what we call the ‘sky’ and outer space.
Where did the water go that God put ‘above the vault’?
We don’t know for sure because the Bible doesn’t give many more details. But this likely refers to water somewhere in outer space. As we learn more about the universe, studying it through the lens of Scripture, we’re sure to find out where this water is. After God divided the waters and created our atmosphere and outer space, there was evening and morning, ending day two.
Notice that God didn’t say ‘it was good’ at this point, why? Because it was incomplete at this point.
Day Three
‘And God said, ‘Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.’ And it was so. God called the dry ground ‘land,’ and the gathered waters he called ‘seas.’ And God saw that it was good. Then God said, ‘Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.’ And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.’ Genesis 1:9-13
Here we see God creating dry land and separating it from the sea and notice also that God commanded all the produce to grow, Genesis 1:11. On day one, He created a water-covered earth, and on day two, He created our atmosphere and outer space. But there was nothing on the earth, not even any land and nothing in space. On day three, it was time to start filling them up.
First, God commanded the water to go into one place so that dry ground could appear. Because this water went into ‘one place’, Genesis 1:9, it seems that God created one great big ocean and one great big continent. It wouldn’t be until the Flood that we would get the seven continents that we have today.
Now that there was dry land, God commanded it to produce plants. Soon fruit trees, green grass, pretty flowers, and many other kinds of plants filled the land. And each of these plants reproduces ‘according to its kind’, Genesis 1:12.
This means that one kind of plant cannot turn into another kind of plant, daisies always produce more daisies and pine trees always produce more pine trees. Plants didn’t evolve. God created all of the plant kinds on day three and since part of His creation was completed, God saw that the dry land and the beautiful plants were good, Genesis 1:12. It was then evening and morning, the end of the third day of Creation, Genesis 1:13.
Day Four
‘And God said, ‘Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.’ Genesis 1:14-19
Here we have the account of God creating the Sun, Moon and Stars to govern night and day. On day two God created, among other things, outer space, but outer space was just, well, space! So, on day four He filled it with all kinds of beautiful things.
These ‘lights’, Genesis 1:14, include the sun, moon, and stars, Genesis 1:15, as well as many other things that aren’t named in Genesis, such as the other planets in our solar system, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, dwarf planets like Pluto, asteroids, comets, exoplanets, planets that orbit other stars, and so much more.
God’s creativity isn’t just seen here on earth with all the different kinds of plants and animals. The creativity of our Creator is seen throughout everything He has made, including the objects in outer space, Psalm 19:1.
God created the sun, moon, and stars for two reasons. The first is for ‘signs and seasons, and for days and years’, Genesis 1:14. Did you know that you don’t need a clock to tell what time it is? We can actually use the sun!
And the moon determines our months while years are determined by earth’s revolution around the sun. The stars also change depending on the season, and we can use them to determine directions. Ancient sailors, explorers, and travellers used the stars to help them reach their destination, and we can still do that today.
The sun, moon, and stars do a good job doing what they were designed to do. The other purpose for the sun and moon is to provide light on the earth, Genesis 1:14 / Genesis 1:17-18. The sun gives us lots of light during the day, and the moon reflects the sun’s light on earth at night so that we can see.
God saw that His creations, the bright sunshine, the cool night moon, the twinkling stars, and all the other objects in outer space, were good, Genesis 1:18. Then there was evening and morning, the end of the fourth day.
Day Five
‘And God said, ‘Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.’ So, God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.’ And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.’ Genesis 1:20-23
Here we see God creating the Fish for sea, Birds for Sky, and notice again, ‘according to their kind’ and we see them receiving a blessing from God. On day five, God filled the oceans with fish, whales, corals, clams, squid, jellyfish, marine reptiles, and so much more, Genesis 1:20-21.
These creatures didn’t come about slowly over millions of years, with corals, sponges, and jellyfish coming first and then fish coming later. All of them were created on the same day by God. But God wasn’t finished yet, He also created birds and other flying creatures, Genesis 1:20–21. Imagine the quiet earth with all those beautiful plants suddenly filled with the songs and cries of all kinds of different birds.
It must have been amazing, but it wasn’t just birds, God also created bats and flying reptiles on day five. After He had finished creating all the sea and flying creatures, God told them to be fruitful and multiply, so they could fill the earth, Genesis 1:22.
Each kind of creature was created to reproduce according to its kind, Genesis 1:21, so bats have baby bats, crabs have baby crabs, and whales have baby whales. Of course, this is exactly what we see in the world. One kind of animal never produces another kind. They always reproduce according to their kind, just as it says in Genesis.
When God looked down and saw all the wonderful and amazing sea creatures and the beautiful flying creatures, He saw that it was ‘good’, Genesis 1:21, and there was evening and morning, the end of day five. Genesis 1:23.
What about the Dinosaurs?
If there was no ‘former creation’ during which Dinosaurs roamed the earth, when did they exist? Well, Genesis 1:21 offers us something to think about.
‘So, God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.’
On the fifth day God created ‘great sea monsters’, R.S.V. Here the Hebrew word used is ‘tannin’, which is used to describe any ‘long’ creature and is used to refer to sea monsters, dragons, serpents and lizards. Since the word ‘dinosaur’ comes from ‘deino saurus’ and means ‘terrible lizard’, verse 21 has therefore been described as referring to the ‘Saurian’ age.
Well, perhaps the ‘days’ of creation were vast geological periods and not 24 hour days? Not so! It is true that the word ‘yom’, ‘day’ is used in several ways in the Bible, and was used to refer to an indefinite period of time, as, for instance, ‘the day of temptation in the wildernesses’, Psalm 95:8 / Isaiah 2:11.
But, remember that the account of creation repeatedly says, ‘And there was evening and there was morning, one day. So, it was evening and there was morning a second day.’
Brother J.B. Rotherham’s literal rendering of the Hebrew text gives us this as the literal translation. Again, when the Israelites were commanded to ‘remember the sabbath day’ they were given a reason.
‘For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and the seventh (day) is a Sabbath’. The rule to follow is quite simple, when the word ‘day’ is preceded by a number, it must be understood to refer to literal days of 24 hours. Those of us, who believe in the omnipotence of God, have no difficulty in accepting that He who said, ‘Light be!’, and there was light, was also capable of completing the work of creation without resorting to the use of ‘vast geological periods’. Bear in mind that those who accept the Darwinian theory of Evolution need vast periods of time to accommodate it.
Day 6
‘And God said, ‘Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.’ And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ So, God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God, he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’ Then God said, ‘I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.’ And it was so. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.’ Genesis 1:24-31
We know that God created everything in just six days, Genesis 1 / Exodus 20:11. Each day of creation He formed something unique and amazing that brings glory to Him. Day six was His final day of creation. On day six, God commanded the earth to bring forth living creatures, Genesis 1:24.
All of the animals that live, or lived, on the land, such as elephants, horses, and dinosaurs, were created on this day, Genesis 1:24-25. And each kind was unique and different, from tiny mice to the huge T. rex to howling monkeys. Each one was created to reproduce according to its kind, Genesis 1:25, so one kind will never turn into another kind. Dogs always have baby dogs, cats always have baby cats, and horses always have baby horses.
After He finished creating the animals, God turned His attention to His most important creation, mankind, Genesis 1:26. Notice, ‘Let us make man in our image’ this only happened when God created man, Colossians 1:16 and notice the plural unity of the Godhead. Adam and Eve were created with free will, they will have choices to make, freedom, freedom of choice, Ephesians 4:20-24 / Colossians 3:9-10. True righteousness means being right by God and holiness means being set apart for a purpose.
God created man and woman in His very image, Genesis 1:27, ‘and God breathed into man the breath of life, and man became a living being’, Genesis 2:7
Man is unique among all that God made because none of the animals were created in God’s image, only man and woman were. Being in the image of God refers to the spiritual inclinations of man that make him a spiritual being who seeks to worship a higher power than himself. God even created a special place for them to live, the Garden in Eden, Genesis 2:15.
God created Adam, the first man, from dust, Genesis 2:7, and made Adam’s wife Eve from his rib, Genesis 2:21–22. This was the very first marriage, created by God, He blessed them and told them that they were to rule over the earth and fill it with children, Genesis 1:28. Now, Adam, Eve, and all the animals were created to be vegetarians, this means they only ate plants, Genesis 1:29-30.
This is because there was no death in God’s original creation, Adam and Eve were created never to die, and so were the animals. So, they only ate all the delicious fruits, vegetables, and plants that God had made on day three. Notice also that man has dominion over everything, the animals etc., except the heavens.
At the end of day six, God looked at all He had made, all the different animals and Adam and Eve, and He said everything was ‘very good’, Genesis 1:31.
Then there was evening and morning, the end of the sixth day, Genesis 1:31.
