Jack Ryan
Senior Member
How long is a Creation day?
A day is a length of time that varies according to subject matter. For example, it’s common to use the word day to mean an era, an age, a generation, or the life span of a person. The question for this discussion is, “How long is a Creation day?”
Many people are adamant that when Genesis 1:5 says, “and there was evening and there was morning, a first day,” it was a time period of 24 hours. Are they right? Let us see.
Genesis 1:14,15, says of the sun and moon . . . “they must serve as signs and for seasons and for days and years. They will serve as luminaries in the expanse of the heavens to shine upon the earth.”
Note the sun and moon were to serve the earth. However, the Bible tells us that God doesn’t need to rest and he’s a spirit person so he doesn’t need light to see. Since God doesn’t have our constraints it’s readily apparent that he doesn’t need to use our units of time. So why would we assume God consigned himself to using our 24 hour days in creation?
The Bible tells us a thousand years is as a day to God. (2 Peter 3:8) (See also Psalms 90:4) So the question arises, why would God create everything in 24 hour time periods? Twenty-four hours is the length of our day, not Gods, and he’s the one doing the creating.
Since we know the word day can mean different lengths of time, the best one can do in determining a creation days length is to consider the creation context and to take into account what other scriptures in the Bible have to say about creation. When you do so you find you still won’t know the length of each creative day, but the evidence indicates creative days were much longer than 24 hours.
THE THIRD DAY
(Genesis 1:11-13) 11And God went on to say: “Let the earth cause grass to shoot forth, vegetation bearing seed, fruit trees yielding fruit according to their kinds, the seed of which is in it, upon the earth.” And it came to be so. 12And the earth began to put forth grass, vegetation bearing seed according to its kind and trees yielding fruit, the seed of which is in it according to its kind. Then God saw that [it was] good. 13And there came to be evening and there came to be morning, a third day.
Note that God says, “Let the earth cause grass to shoot forth . . . the seed of which is in it, upon the earth.” It doesn’t say God caused grass to shoot forth. Apparently he only planted the seeds and let the earth produce the vegetation right from the start.
Notice also that in verse 12 the text specifically states that the ". . . Earth began to put forth . . . trees yielding fruit."
Yes, God could have planted full grown vegetation, however he didn’t grow vegetation to maturity himself, he planted seed and let the earth . . . “cause grass to shoot forth.”
Now if you think that this could still all happen in 24 hours, notice that verse 12 shows that the earth began putting forth vegetation. The text specifically states that the “. . . Earth began to put forth . . . trees yielding fruit.” The point here is that fruit-bearing trees require several years growth to produce fruit. The text states that the earth produced these trees.
The text shows that God seeded the earth, and then let the earth do it’s job. Thus the context indicates that the third creative day was longer than 24 hours.
THE FIFTH DAY
(Genesis 1:20-23) 20And God went on to say: “Let the waters swarm forth a swarm of living souls and let flying creatures fly over the earth upon the face of the expanse of the heavens.” 21And God proceeded to create the great sea monsters and every living soul that moves about, which the waters swarmed forth according to their kinds, and every winged flying creature according to its kind. And God got to see that [it was] good. 22With that God blessed them, saying: “Be fruitful and become many and fill the waters in the sea basins, and let the flying creatures become many in the earth.” 23And there came to be evening and there came to be morning, a fifth day.
Notice that God blessed his creations. The sea creatures were to, ‘fill the sea basins,’ and the birds were to, ‘become many.’ Their doing so would of course take more than 24 hours.
Another point. Consider that God only created two of mankind, Adam and Eve. He then blessed them and told them to fill the earth and subdue it. Besides the case of Adam and Eve we have Noah's Ark as an example of just a pair of creatures being needed to populate the earth with their kind. That being the case it’s likely he just created two of each creature and let them multiply on their own.
Again when you consider the context of what the Bible says you come to the conclusion that the fifth creative day was longer than 24 hours.
THE SIXTH DAY
(Genesis 1:24-31) And God went on to say: “Let the earth put forth living souls according to their kinds, domestic animal and moving animal and wild beast of the earth according to its kind.” And it came to be so. 25And God proceeded to make the wild beast of the earth according to its kind and the domestic animal according to its kind and every moving animal of the ground according to its kind. And God got to see that [it was] good.
26And God went on to say: “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness, and let them have in subjection the fish of the sea and the flying creatures of the heavens and the domestic animals and all the earth and every moving animal that is moving upon the earth.” 27And God proceeded to create the man in his image, in God’s image he created him; male and female he created them. 28Further, God blessed them and God said to them: “Be fruitful and become many and fill the earth and subdue it, and have in subjection the fish of the sea and the flying creatures of the heavens and every living creature that is moving upon the earth.”
29And God went on to say: “Here I have given to YOU all vegetation bearing seed which is on the surface of the whole earth and every tree on which there is the fruit of a tree bearing seed. To YOU let it serve as food. 30And to every wild beast of the earth and to every flying creature of the heavens and to everything moving upon the earth in which there is life as a soul I have given all green vegetation for food.” And it came to be so. 31After that God saw everything he had made and, look! [it was] very good. And there came to be evening and there came to be morning, a sixth day.
We see on the sixth creative day God created both domestic and wild animals as well as Adam and Eve. The second chapter of Genesis adds further details to the creation account. Notice what Genesis 2:18-23 says,
(Genesis 2:18-23) 18And Jehovah God went on to say: “It is not good for the man to continue by himself. I am going to make a helper for him, as a complement of him.” 19Now Jehovah God was forming from the ground every wild beast of the field and every flying creature of the heavens, and he began bringing them to the man to see what he would call each one; and whatever the man would call it, each living soul, that was its name. 20So the man was calling the names of all the domestic animals and of the flying creatures of the heavens and of every wild beast of the field, but for man there was found no helper as a complement of him. 21Hence Jehovah God had a deep sleep fall upon the man and, while he was sleeping, he took one of his ribs and then closed up the flesh over its place. 22And Jehovah God proceeded to build the rib that he had taken from the man into a woman and to bring her to the man. 23Then the man said: “This is at last bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh. This one will be called Woman, Because from man this one was taken.”
There are several things that indicate the sixth creative day was longer than 24 hours. First, the creation account says that God would bring the birds and animals to the man for him to name them. Obviously there were no artificial lights back then, so this naming task would have to take place in daylight so Adam could see them. So if a creation day was only 24 hours long Adam only had about 12 hours to name all the animals, not a full 24 hours.
Consider the math. Meaning how many animals and birds could Adam name in 12 daylight hours? This would appear to be an impossible job for Adam to accomplish in one day.
Another point. Does it seem to you that God would give Adam a job to do right after he created him? That would have been the case if each creation day were just 24 hours long. Or would he instruct Adam with the things he needed to know and then give him time to orientate himself and time to explore his new home? Big companies routinely give new hires a period of orientation to familiarize themselves with their new surroundings.
Remember Adam is a newborn as to experience and knowledge. He wouldn’t know anything other than what God had told him.
We also need to remember that God said, “It is not good for the man to continue by himself. I am going to make a helper for him, as a complement of him.” That statement is not something God would likely say after only a few hours. And as busy as Adam would have been studying and naming the birds and animals he wouldn’t have had time to get lonely on the first day.
Also notice what Adam said when God brought the woman to him, “This is at last bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh. This one will be called woman, because from man this one was taken.”
Adam’s first sentence where he says, “At last. . .“ indicates he had waited for some time for God to provide him with a mate. This doesn't appear to be what someone would likely say after having only lived for a few hours himself, and has spent most of his time naming animals.
Adam’s second sentence indicates that he studied whatever was brought to him before he provided it with it’s name. Notice he says, “This one,” indicating he had already named others. Then he continues and gives a reason for giving the woman her name saying, “This one will be called Woman. Because. . . ”
The context shows Adam gave a reason for giving the woman her name. The way the sentence is worded indicates he likely gave a reason for giving the birds and animals their names also. Th
They way we view names today gives support to Adam having a reason for each name. We always like to give forethought before providing something or someone a name. We are so serious about names that books full of names have been produced to aid expectant parents in deciding on a baby’s name. And very often when a name is decided on others want to know the reason the name was chosen.
If creation days were 24 hour days as some insist, it’s apparent it would have been rushing things for Adam to have provided names to all the birds and animals in just a few hours, maybe impossible. We might consider too that there would have been no need to rush things, Adam had the prospect of living forever. With such being the case does it make sense that God would give Adam a task to do almost immediately after creating him? That would have had to have been the case if he were to have named all the birds and animals on the first day.
It’s much more likely God gave Adam time to settle in and explore before he gave him the task of naming the birds and animals. Just exploring the Garden of Eden would likely have taken Adam weeks if not months since the Bible says their were four rivers in the Garden of Eden.
In reading about the 6th day and then reasoning on it, it becomes apparent that the 6th day was also longer than 24 hours.
THE SEVENTH DAY
Before the 7th day began the Bible gives closure to the other days with the words:
(Genesis 1:5) . . . And there came to be evening and there came to be morning, a first day. (Genesis 1:8) . . . And there came to be evening and there came to be morning, a second day. (Genesis 1:13) . . . And there came to be evening and there came to be morning, a third day. (Genesis 1:19) . . . And there came to be evening and there came to be morning, a fourth day. (Genesis 1:23) . . . And there came to be evening and there came to be morning, a fifth day. (Genesis 1:31) . . . And there came to be evening and there came to be morning, a sixth day.
However, the Bible says something different about the seventh day:
(Genesis 2:1-3) . . .Thus the heavens and the earth and everything in them were completed. 2 And by the seventh day, God had completed the work that he had been doing, and he began to rest on the seventh day from all his work that he had been doing. 3 And God went on to bless the seventh day and to declare it sacred, for on it God has been resting from all the work that he has created, all that he purposed to make.
The Bible doesn’t give a closure to the seventh day, it says . . . “for on it God has been resting from all the work that he has created, all that he purposed to make.”
There are no reports in the Bible of the seventh day ending. Where it says God has been resting, does it mean it is still ongoing? According to the Bible, yes! The apostle Paul shows it was still ongoing thousands of years later in his day.
In the Bible book of Hebrews the apostle Paul tells us that most of the Israelites that Moses led out of Egypt lacked faith and were disobedient, causing God to become disgusted with them.
They were eye witnesses to God’s miracles, they lived though the ten plagues on Egypt, and they crossed the Red Sea on dry ground because of a Godly miracle, but they rebelled and wanted to elect a leader to take them back to Egypt because 10 of the men sent to spy out the promised land brought back a report saying the people living in the promised land were giants and too much for them.
Their rebellion showed a complete lack of faith in God, so he swore that they would not enter into his rest. Paul then urges Christians to do their utmost to enter into God's rest. Let’s read that account.
(Hebrews 3:16-4:5) 16 For who heard and yet provoked him to bitter anger? Was it not, in fact, all those who went out of Egypt under Moses? 17 Moreover, with whom did God become disgusted for 40 years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose dead bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did he swear that they would not enter into his rest? Was it not to those who acted disobediently? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of lack of faith. 4 Therefore, since a promise of entering into his rest remains, let us be on guard for fear someone among you seems to fall short of it.
2 For we have also had the good news declared to us, just as they had; but the word that they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. 3 For we who have exercised faith do enter into the rest, just as he has said: “So I swore in my anger, ‘They will not enter into my rest,’” although his works were finished from the founding of the world. 4 For in one place he has said of the seventh day as follows: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works,” 5 and here again he says: “They will not enter into my rest.”
Note that in those last two verses Paul shows that entering into God’s rest means God’s rest day. In verse 4:1 he says, “since a promise of entering into his rest remains, let us be on guard for fear someone among you seems to fall short of it.”
Paul wouldn’t have urged Christians to enter into God’s rest day if it were not ongoing in his day. In verse 4 above Paul says very pointedly, “. . . a promise of entering into his rest remains.”
For our discussion on the length of creative days we see other scriptures point to the 7th day as being thousands of years long.
In summation, the Bible doesn't provide a time period on the length of the creation days. However it does give information that points to creation days being longer than 24 hours, sometimes thousands of years long. Ascribing not just 24 hours, but thousands of years to each of the creative days harmonizes with both what the Bible says, as well as with scientific evidence found in the earth, and the universe around us.
SIDEBAR: What does it mean to enter God’s rest day?
God swore disobedient Israelites would not enter his rest. The apostle Paul encouraged Christians to enter God’s rest. Apparently it means that obedient, faithful people, that enter and are still faithful at the end of the 7th day have the prospects of then entering into the new creative week and living forever. Conversely, those who are disobedient and unfaithful and don’t enter into God’s rest day will not be alive at the end of God’s rest day.
SIDEBAR: What will happen after God’s rest day ends?
Other than another creative day starting we don’t know much. We do know God is finished with the earth.
The Bible says at Genesis 2:1-3, Thus the heavens and the earth and everything in them were completed. 2 And by the seventh day, God had completed the work that he had been doing, and he began to rest on the seventh day from all his work that he had been doing. 3 And God went on to bless the seventh day and to declare it sacred, for on it God has been resting from all the work that he has created, all that he purposed to make.
The Bible says that God completed the heavens and the earth and everything in them. So after the seventh day is completed it’s logical God will start creating again. Doing what, we can only guess?
If he’s going to continue creating in the vicinity of the earth maybe he will make Mars, or Venus, livable for some new creation? Then again being God, he could create something that none of mankind would ever conceive of.
SIDEBAR: What doesn’t God produce miracles in our day?
There are many people that say if God would just preform miracles today they would put faith in him. But the Israelites that came out of Egypt prove that line of reasoning untrue. They were eye witnesses to miracle after miracle from God, they lived though the ten plagues, they were witnesses to the Red sea being split so they could cross on dry ground, they followed a pillar of smoke during the day and a pillar of fire at night. They drank water produced from a rock, etc., and they still didn’t put faith in God. Instead they rebelled because 10 of the 12 spies sent into the promised land said the people living in the promised land were giants and too much for them.
What’s needed today is for people to read their Bibles. 2nd Timothy 3:16, 17 says, 16 All Scripture is inspired of God and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be fully competent, completely equipped for every good work.
Since the Bible completely equips us for every good work, a miracle is not needed to help us put faith in God. All you have to do is regularly read your Bible. . . .”
What difference does it make to Christian how long was a "creation day"?
I believe it is just more divisive bull crap, a diversion evil uses to distract you from God's work. It doesn't matter. Quit wasting efforts you could be using for good arguing and thinking about useless trivia.
