Days in the Bible…
For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. (Exodus 20:11
The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come. (Joel 2:31)
TODAY WE ARE LOOKING AT HE WORD: "DAY." The word “day” occurs 1,741 times in the King James Bible. “Days,” occurs 868 times. They don’t always mean the same thing. The word “day” can refer to the portion of time when the sun is visible, as well as to the whole period of twenty-four hours composed of “evening and morning” (Genesis 1:5). Sometimes biblical writers used “day” to describe a longer period of time in which God accomplishes some special purpose, such as “the day of the Lord” (Isaiah 2:12) or “the day of judgment” (Matthew 10:15). (Wiersbe)
WIERSBE CONTINUES: “When we speak about spiritual things, it’s important that we use God’s dictionary as well as His vocabulary. Words carry meanings and giving the wrong meaning to a word could lead to serious trouble. It would be fatal to a patient if a physician confused “arsenic” with “aspirin,” so, medical people are careful to use accurate terminology.” We should look carefully at how “day” and “days” are used in the Bible.
THE WORD: "DAY" IN GENESIS 1 MEANS A 24-HOUR DAY because it is preceded by a numerical adjective, (1st Day, 2nd Day, etc.) It is framed with the words “evening and morning.” A plain reading of these verses yields a 24-hour day. From the time Moses wrote Genesis 1, people of the Jewish tradition have understood the words should be read plainly, without forcing any other meaning into them. When Christians began to read those same words about A.D. 30, the words meant the same as it did for the Jews.
A GENERAL STATEMENT: One writer pointed out that when God brought the Jews out of Egypt and the mud pits and their bowed backs, they had no background for who they were or how they got there. They had heard bits and pieces that were passed along among themselves but had nothing formal or authoritative to define them. They were influenced somewhat by what they saw of the gods of the Egyptians.
GENESIS GAVE THE LITTLE NATION OF ISRAEL A BRIEF STATEMENT in plain language they could understand of how things, including themselves, came to be. The primary purpose of the writing of Genesis was to communicate with those people who heard it first, what God wanted most for them to know. Therefore, any complicated or hidden meaning in the text would have been, at best, secondary.
GENESIS HAD TO BE WRITTEN AND READ IN ITS PLAINEST MEANING for these untaught people of God. That kind of writing has also served the world’s millions of people who have followed and read it and pondered its meaning. The meaning of Genesis did not have to wait until the Enlightenment and Darwin’s book came along to show them and us how to read Genesis. Therefore, for us today, to feel any obligation to the apostles of spontaneous, evolutionary generation of life is out of the question! In light of that reality, the Gap Theory is inappropriate and unreal.
WHEN THE ENLIGHTENMENT PERIOD BEGAN IN EUROPE, evolution was being embraced and the stage was set for the theory of evolution as espoused by Charles Darwin’s book: The Origin of Species in 1859. The theory of an old earth came out of that period and church men began to look for ways to coexist with “an old earth.” Moses didn’t change Genesis. Jesus didn’t change Genesis. The apostles didn’t change Genesis. The European Enlightenment provoked church leaders to change Genesis from what it had been for over three thousand years.
THE PUBLISHING OF THE SCOFIELD BIBLE IN 1909 PAVED THE WAY for Bible-believing people to embrace an old earth without knowing their Bible had been changed. The Bible text was not changed. A little footnote let people change their own Bible as they read it. I used a Scofield Bible for several years before I discovered the tiny small footnote for Genesis 1:1 “The first creative act refers to the dateless past, and gives scope for all the geologic ages.” Today, I had to look hard to find it. It’s hidden away as a footnote in the small print.
THE "GEOLOGIC AGES," MENTIONED BY SCOFIELD, LEFT A LOT OF BONES BEHIND, death long before Adam was born. Millions of years of death bones of animals. Massive death before Adam was made, before Adam sinned. What about Romans 5:12: Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (Romans 5:12)
THE "GEOLOGIC AGES" MEANS "BILLIONS OF YEARS OLD." Then Scofield brings in the judgment of angels and a general wrecking of the earth. The Bible doesn’t say that. Scofield says that. That’s a pretty “handy” thing to say…if you don’t have to prove it. It amounts to adding a scrambled egg to what God wrote.
WHEN I WAS A SENIOR IN HIGH SCHOOL, FALL OF 1951, I went to school a half-day and worked in my father’s sawmill a half day. I boarded with a Baptist deacon in Stevenson, Alabama. (He has long been gone but the house is still there.) He showed me his new Scofield Reference Bible. Not long afterward, I heard a Baptist preacher tell everybody: “Sell your shoes and buy a copy of the Scofield Reference Bible!” So, my next paycheck, I bought my very own copy. I read it every spare minute I had for several weeks. It was a classic and a valuable study tool. But concerning the book of Genesis, not good.
AT TENN.TEMPLE, WE HAD GOOD TEACHERS AND HEARD SOME OF THE BEST guest speakers for Bible Conferences, and chapel, but I never heard anyone expound the Gap Theory. I heard later that perhaps J. Vernon McGee was involved with Gap, but I don’t remember his getting into it. I have McGee on my computer, and it is evident that for many years he maintained a keen interest in creation and evolution. His collection of newspaper and magazine clippings on that are impressive and very entertaining to read. I agree with McGee on there being only two basic possibilities about creation: 1. The Genesis simple account, and 2. Speculation. (Speculation abounds)
MY POSITION IS SIMPLE. I am going to go with the simple statement Moses made in Genesis without adding anything to it or twisting it to make it fit into somebody’s speculation. There is a growing body of reasonable, intelligent, God-fearing men and women who are writing and speaking out for a plain reading of Genesis, that Genesis is reliable history. These websites are going good work. https://answersingenesis.org/ and https://creation.com/
DR.HENRY MORRIS'S INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH has a membership of over two thousand scientists who believe in a six-24-hour-day creation of the earth and universe. He is accepted by friend and foe of being the father of the modern young earth, creation movement.
PLEASE FOLLOW THE LINKS BELOW FOR INFORMATION ON ENLIGHTMENT AND GAP. https://www.google.com/search?q=enlightenment&rlz=1C1TSNF_enUS610US610&oq=enligh&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j69i59j0l4.5031j1j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
https://www.google.com/search?q=how+old+is+the+gap+theory&rlz=1C1TSNF_enUS610US610&oq=how+&aqs=chrome.0.69i59j69i57j69i59j0l3.4389j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Read Through the Bible in a Year
JULY 26, 2019 - FRIDAY
A.M. Psalm 47-49 P.M. Acts 26
(Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)
Good Verses to Memorize:
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 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. (Genesis 1:1-2)
Song for Today:
Wonderful Peace (3:25) (Dick Anthony’s 16 Singing Men)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Szc9mWHNwN4
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