Christians who believe each day of creation was a literal 24-hour earth day - how come the seventh day isn't?

It’s significant that the first 6 days of creation all end with the phrase, “And there was evening, and there was morning – the first day.” But that phrase does not conclude the 7th day. It shows that all God’s work of creation had finished by the start of the 7th day. It does not say there was evening and there was morning – a 7th day. On the contrary, the Bible goes on to explain to Christians that there is a Sabbath rest still open for believers to enter into, and that was stated 4,000 years or more after the Genesis account of creation!

Hebrews 4:1-11 needs to be read in its entirety to establish the significance of God’s Sabbath rest still standing open. See also Joshua 22:4. And Jesus spoke of Himself as being Lord of the Sabbath, of giving us rest by exchanging our yolk of sin for His yolk (Mat.12:8).

Another significant point is that it’s possible to read Genesis opening statement as heaven and Earth being created, then the specific 6 days of creating upon Earth detailed. This has the merit of doing away with the potential problem of day 4 (when it appears as if the sun, moon and stars were created after Earth was created.) But reading the account as the heavens and Earth already being in existence prior to the chaos being organised, shows day 4 as how it would appear from the viewpoint of someone on Earth. There is no way Earth was in existence before the sun, moon and stars! We all know Earth travels around the sun, which had to be formed before its gravity could attract massive rocks to begin orbits, gradually shaping those rocks into spherical planets. This is where the rotation of Earth also plays an important part in the length of days spoken of in Genesis.

To begin with, Earth had a 5 hour rotational day. It took billions of years for gravity to slow it down to its present 24 hours. We know this from the way our moon has been affected by Earth’s gravity. It’s the same observable science with all the planets in the universe. This means that the earliest point a 24 hour creation day could apply would be day 4, when the already existing sun and moon marked the seasons, days and years. Only from day 4 could those have been recognisably the same as at present and which have continued the same for the past 6,000+ years. The curious way of saying each creative day started with darkness and ended with light could be a literary device for how chaos was turned into order.

I’m happy for the universe to be 13.7 billion years old and Earth to be 4.6 billion. Genesis does not preclude that if the 6 creative periods only kicked in once they were in place. Or, if they are unspecified eras and not forced to be uniform time-periods, then they could have been as short or as long as God wanted, but with no chance of 24 hour days until day 4 onwards. But I think that if the universe and Earth are billions of years old, there is no problem with the time spans for life on Earth being developed and organised by God over vast time spans as well. I mean, what’s the rush? God is eternal! God created time! He can take as much, or as little time as He wishes! But please, let’s not dismiss the careful calculations of scientists who have learned about light years, orbits and even invisible things, like black holes! They may still be developing their theories but we need to be open to them. Have we learned nothing since the Copernicus debacle?

Nor is there any obligation to accept macro-evolution if God took billions of years. God did not allow man to evolve from ape-like creatures; man is the apex of creation, directly made by God in His image. This does not preclude development of species. It precludes blind chance.

Yes, "yom" can mean an indefinite amount of time, similar to how someone might say "back in my day..." However, the description of "evening" and "morning" indicate that it does in fact mean a literal day.

Also, it doesn't give an "evening" and "morning" for the seventh day simply because that's when the narrative ends. The narrative covers creation: "In the beginning" was the beginning of creation, and "God rested" was the end of creation. The end of the seventh day was not necessary to record because it was not part of creation.

And even if the day was a bit longer or shorter back then, it doesn't matter. There is no significant difference between a 24 hour day and a 23 hour 15 minute day. The point is that in Genesis chapter 1, a day is a day, as in a full rotation of the earth on its axis.

What I do not understand is how you can't understand "how it all happened in six literal earth days." Are you suggesting that God is incapable of doing what is described in Genesis? I would expect people to ask the opposite question: what took Him so long?

Each day is specifically described as evening and morning, therefore having a set period of time. The seventh day has no such description.

We are told God ceased from His Creation works, His works under the Old Creation.

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

What is your problem?

How do you come to the assumption that the seventh day is still continuing?

In the Genesis passages, it says "evening and morning" for the creation days, clearly indicating a literal 24 hour period.

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Hebrews 4:1-13 refers to the believer's entrance into the kingdom of God or Heaven, to God's "rest" or being at peace with God. The unbeliever can never come to peace with God (or be at rest with Him) (Hebrews 11:6).

In Genesis, I believe the passage is referring to a different kind of rest (i.e. rest from toil). Not that God was tired after the 6 creation days, but rather to show us a day that should be specifically devoted to God in worship.

[Barnes]

Of entering into his rest - The rest of God - the rest of the world where he dwells. It is called “his” rest, because it is what he enjoys, and which he alone can confer. There can be no doubt that Paul refers here to heaven, and means to say that there is a promise left to Christians of being admitted to the enjoyment of that blessed world where God dwells.

The story of creation in Genesis supposedly took place some 6,000 years ago. The bible writer Moses wrote the story sometime after the year 1200BC or approximately 3800 years after the creation events took place.

During that 3800 years, calendars and methods of keeping time changed dramatically. By the time Moses sat down to write the book of Genesis, perception of time had changed several times.

Attempts at interpreting just what was meant by day, days, in God the creator eyes, would almost assuredly, be different than how man decided to calculate the passing of time. The creator of finite and infinite surely cannot be limited to man’s calculations. True?

So Moses probably used the only method of explaining the passing of time that he knew day, days. How ridiculous of us to say God the creator used our own discoveries to measure his work or rest. Seems absolutely absurd to me.

Again man tries to fit God into his own mold. ‘Man created god in his own image’, becomes an expression believable when speculating on such questions.

What was Jesus' first miracle? He turned water into wine. And not just wine, but the steward said, "the best wine." So, Jesus made "instant wine" which is scientifically impossible. Yet he did it. He made an aged product. All of Jesus' miracles violated the laws of science, hence the term, 'miracle.'

Likewise, God made Adam an aged human. Same with Eve. Both creative acts violated the laws of science and biology. All of God's OT miracles violated the laws of science and physics.

So why does it bother you that Creation doesn't make sense...according to our laws of science? Why does the time period matter? If God can create all this from nothing, surely he could do so in six days. Heck, he could have done it all in six seconds. I'm more curious as to why it took him six days.

Fun stuff.

Peace.

Simple; Creation did not happen in 6 24 hours days. The 24 hour day requires a reference point (the Earth takes 24 hours to revolve once compared to a reference point; the Sun). The Sun was not created until day 4. (Thus days 1-3 were not 24 hours; and probably day 4).

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On the seventh day God rested from His labours.

That's a good question.

Another good question is, What evidence is there that the universe was created by a God?

BTW, neither humanity nor life was created in a special act, rather all evolved from a common ancestor that lived some 3500 million years ago.

God isnt a confusing God..He said 6 days..He said He said let the light be called day and the dark be called night...evening and morning was the first day...Gen. 1:5