Earth Created in Six Literal Days?
One of the arguments surrounding creation is that of the earth being created in six literal days, or was it around a lot longer. Well lets take a look at what the Bible says about it. Genesis 1 is about the perfect creation of the earth, it's degradation through sin, and then it's recreation.
Genesis 1 is a statement of completion, for when God creates anything it is perfect.
Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."
Lucifer had not yet sinned in earth's first creation for he would walk in the garden of Eden.
Ezekiel 28:13 "Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created."
Ezekiel 28:14 "Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire."
Ezekiel 28:15 "Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee."
But then in Genesis 2 we find a statement of degradation, sin has now entered into the world, Lucifer has now sinned.
Genesis 1:2 "And the earth
wasbecame ("was" is the wrong choice of translation word, the proper translation would be "became" Strong's Number: 1961 Definition "to be, become, come to pass, exist, happen, fall out") 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."
Lucifer has now sinned and is cast from heaven to the earth, he in turn has caused the world to become a wilderness. Notice the word ground being used, such as a snake would be cast on the ground. So why would the earth become desolate and empty? We know that Lucifer and his angelic followers rebelled (sinned) sometime before the creation of Adam, so could it be that because of Lucifer's sin that the earth become void and without form just as it was during Noah's time? Because of sin, it was covered by water and recreated? The same thing could have happened at Lucifer's rebellion.
Isaiah 14:12-17 "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!"... "That made the world as a wilderness,"... "Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground,"
At the end of Genesis 1:2 we see the movement of god's spirit to start start the rebuilding the earth to it's original perfect creation. Genesis continues on in detail the process of that recreation, and the creation of the first humans.
The first day God created light, a light to begin the restoration process.
Genesis 1:3-5 "And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day."
Notice that this light is not the sun or the moon, because they where created on the 4th day;
Genesis 14-19 "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: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. 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. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 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. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day."
but instead the light of God which is needed to begin the restoration process, the same light that will be there in the New Jerusalem when both God and Christ live upon the earth.
Isaiah 60:19 "The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory."
Revelation 21:23-24 "And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it."
The most notable verse that the world was old prior to the flood of Noah's time is found in 2 Peter,
2 Peter 3:5-7 "For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men."
YES! The earth was restored in six literal days, but, we do not know how long it took to create the earth when it was first created, nor does the Bible tell us just how old the earth really is.