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Part 1: Day 1

Genesis 1

1. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
3. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
4. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
5. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

Let’s look at a few points here.

First of all, day means day. I’m probably preaching to the choir here, but it bears repeating. The Lord wouldn’t start out a book of facts with a symbolic story and then expect us to take the rest of the book seriously, would He? Of course He wouldn’t! That’s why if there’s any conflict between what God has said and so-called “science,” we naturally ought to ask them the question: “Were you there? How do you know it took millions of years?” But there’s yet another reason why we should believe the Bible: the context in which the word yom (“day”) is used.

• The word “day” is used with “light.”
• The word “night” is used in the same verse with “darkness.”
• The word “day” is used with the phrase “evening and morning.”
• The word “day” is also used with a number.

So we see that the word “day” is placed solidly within the context of our own 24-hour light/dark cycle commonly referred to as “day.”

Second, what did God make on the first day? If you answered, “Light,” you’re only one-quarter right.

Notice the first verse: “In the beginning…” So God created time. This is also implied by verse 5: “the first day.”

Verse 1 again: “God created the heaven…” So He created space, too! The words “the heaven” could easily be rendered “the sky,” “the universe,” etc., in other words, outer space!

“God created…the earth” shows that before he spoke light into existence, He also created matter. Notice verse 2: “and the earth was without form and void…” The earth, matter, was indeed placed in the space that God had created in the first split second of the time God had just created. It just needed to be lit, formed, and filled. Oh—notice also the phrase “the face of the waters” (v. 2), which shows that the water also was made on the first day. And then God said, “Let there be light.” (v. 3)

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Part 2: Day 2

Genesis 1

6. And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
7. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
8. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

What did God make in the second 24-hour period of the earth’s existence? Air. The atmosphere. The sky. In other words, He was beginning to fill the space around the matter that He had made the previous day. By the way, this is very important; all living things need the earth’s atmosphere to survive.

It seems that there was water once, perhaps in a vapor form, above the atmosphere. This is undoubtedly what Moses refers to when he says “God said… let it divide the waters from the waters.” (verse 6; see also verse 7) There exists no such “water” today; it was probably spent in the Flood of Noah’s time (Genesis 6).

God didn’t bring the waters below the atmosphere together until the third day. Ever wondered why God did not just speak everything into existence all at once? Well, I think he took separate days to do it because He’s wise and we’re not. Maybe that’s the best way to do it: in a specific order, allowing one change to stabilize before going on to the next one. Whatever the reason, He didn’t take too long, and He didn’t go too fast, either.

And another thing: let’s look at the meanings of some of these archaic words:

firmament

The atmosphere or sky; an “expanse.”

heaven

In this context, “Sky.”

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Part 3: Day 3

Genesis 1

9. And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
10. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.
11. And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
12. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
13. And the evening and the morning were the third day.

So during the 24 hours known as the Third Day, God created the ocean. God brought all the water under the sky together into one place, and made seas, rivers, lakes, etc. In other words, He turned water vapor into liquid water. Now the ground would still have been incredibly soft in the first day after the water had been removed from the face of it. You see where I’m going with this: perfectly ready to grow plants.

Then God made all sorts of plants and trees and shrubs and vines and flowers. Keep in mind that the sun, moon and stars had not yet been made. This means that the earth was the sole solitary piece of matter in existence! I don’t mean to practice psuedoscience here, but what if the earth needed to be the only source of gravity in the entire universe for water to coalesce and plants to start growing? Just a thought.

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Part 4: Day 4

Genesis 1

14. And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
15. And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
16. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.
17. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
18. And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.
19. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

Let me make one thing perfectly clear. You’ve heard that the stars are billions of years older than the earth? Don’t believe it! They’re really 3 days younger. The solar system is in fact younger than the earth, too. God made all the other things in the universe on the fourth day: sun, moon, stars, planets, asteroids, comets, nebulae—all that we see outside our planet’s front door. This means that He also created the patterns of motion for all solar systems and galaxies in the entire universe on the same day.

“He made the stars also.” This does not mean “And oh, yeah… he had also already made the stars.” God made the stars on day 4. That’s the facts. Deal with it.

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Part 5: Day 5

Genesis 1

20. And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
21. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
22. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
23. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

On the fifth 24-hour day, God made everything that flies and everything that swims. All winged creatures and all water creatures were created on the same day.

Sometimes people try to classify an animal by certain of its characteristics. “Well? What about the penguin? It doesn’t fly; it swims. Is it a bird, or a water creature?” Does it matter? All birdlike creatures, including the penguin, were created the same day as all animals whose habitat is water, like the strange egg-laying mammal known as the platypus! We may not know what God was doing, but that’s one of His distinguishing characteristics—He knows what He does all the time and sometimes we don’t even know what we ourselves are doing.

God made water and air mammals on day 5. This would include dolphins, seals, hippopotamuses, walruses, whales, manatees, and yes, on the air side, even bats.

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