Six Days Or Millions Of Years Series

Did God create everything in six literal days?

__YES

__NO

__I’m not sure

__How can we know?

My NOTES Here’s the issue with many who answer with a loud and forceful YES!

They truly don’t know how to explain their answer.

How do we know that God created everything in 6 days instead of million? Because the Bible says so will not convince some 21st century person who has had evolution force fed to them since kindergarten.

How do we explain our belief in a literal 6 day creation?

We can start by explaining the use of the word day.

[Gen 1:2-5 NIV] 2 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. 3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning--the first day.

The word used here is the Hebrew wordיוֹם or yôm and it’s used to signify and actual 24 hour day some2,300 times in the NIV throughout the Old Testament.

This understanding, then, becomes the reason we must understand exactly how a word is used.

Can you think of a few words that have multiple meanings? What are they?

Let’s look at my list and see how many different meanings we can find for each word.

1. Organ

2. Yard

3. Wake

4. Shell

5. Race

6. Bear

Many will use Scripture to say that we can’t know. God doesn’t have a watch or a calendar. Man created time and days of the week. BUT that is just not true if we simply examine the Scriptures.

One verse, in particular, that many will use is an old faithful standby.

[2Peter 3:8 NIV]8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.

This verse just killed my theory that the days of Genesis are literal 24 hour days.

a.__TRUE

b.__FALSE

c.__What is the context [the background] of this verse saying?

d.__ Both B&C

LET’S TALK ABOUT THE CONTEXT OF THIS VERSE

[2Pe 3:1-11 NIV]1 Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. 2 I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles. 3 Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4 They will say, "Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation." 5 But they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. 6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. 7 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. 8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. 11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives

Why do people seem to only question the use of the word day in Genesis? Why not question the use of the word “day” in other verses?

It seems to always mean, to the skeptic, a 24 hour period, elsewhere.

IF DAY IS USED 2300 TIMES WHY ONLY QUESTION GENESIS?

Look at [Joshua 6:3, 15 NIV]3 March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days [yôm]. ... 15 On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day[yôm] they circled the city seven times.

How many TOTAL days were the Israelites to march around Jericho?

__Seven TOTAL days

__Seven thousand years

This is the very same word used in Genesis to describe the creation