Creation Day in Genesis and 1000 Years
The six day creation in Genesis chapter 1 of the Bible is unimaginable on a human scale with 24 hours in a day, and a recent comment from a visitor to the Ultimate Riddles website confirms this difficulty of human perception. They, and others, reference a verse about time and eternity in the New Testament as evidence that the universe in Genesis 1 was created in 6000 years.
But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 2 Peter 3:8 (KJV)
The word in 2 Peter for "day" in Greek is hemera (hay-MER-ah), and translates to the time space between dawn and dark, or the whole of 24 hours. In other words, this is the same as our 24 hour day, yet time for our eternal God is infinite which explains why 1000 years pass like the blink of an eye. This visitor has correctly understood the meaning of one day in that verse.
Next, consider the conclusion of each day of creation in Genesis that ends with the definition of day, as well. The Hebrew of the Old Testament properly translated without making assumptions about time is likewise speaking of days as 24 hours, not 1000 years or eons of time. God is omnipotent with the power to create by spoken word, and the six day creation was literally human 24 hour days. Here's the evidence.
And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. Genesis 1:5 (KJV)
The phrase "the evening and the morning were the first day" is repeated for each day replacing "first" with second, third, etc., including the sixth in the last verse of Genesis 1. The Hebrew word for day is yom (pronounced YOME), and means literal days from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next.
When Bible students encounter the word day with a cardinal or ordinal number, for example one or first, this is a literal day of 24 hours. Each day of creation in Genesis emphasizes this fact by including the phrase "the evening and the morning...", so there's no reason to imagine God created the heavens, the earth, the sea, and all things within them in any amount of time longer than six 24 hour days.
TAGS: Bible creation eternity Genesis God study
But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 2 Peter 3:8 (KJV)
The word in 2 Peter for "day" in Greek is hemera (hay-MER-ah), and translates to the time space between dawn and dark, or the whole of 24 hours. In other words, this is the same as our 24 hour day, yet time for our eternal God is infinite which explains why 1000 years pass like the blink of an eye. This visitor has correctly understood the meaning of one day in that verse.
Next, consider the conclusion of each day of creation in Genesis that ends with the definition of day, as well. The Hebrew of the Old Testament properly translated without making assumptions about time is likewise speaking of days as 24 hours, not 1000 years or eons of time. God is omnipotent with the power to create by spoken word, and the six day creation was literally human 24 hour days. Here's the evidence.
And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. Genesis 1:5 (KJV)
The phrase "the evening and the morning were the first day" is repeated for each day replacing "first" with second, third, etc., including the sixth in the last verse of Genesis 1. The Hebrew word for day is yom (pronounced YOME), and means literal days from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next.
When Bible students encounter the word day with a cardinal or ordinal number, for example one or first, this is a literal day of 24 hours. Each day of creation in Genesis emphasizes this fact by including the phrase "the evening and the morning...", so there's no reason to imagine God created the heavens, the earth, the sea, and all things within them in any amount of time longer than six 24 hour days.
TAGS: Bible creation eternity Genesis God study
Labels: Bible, creation, eternity, Genesis, God, study
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