God created time
Series: CREATIO | Bible text: Genesis 1:1–2,4
An omnipotent God could have created the world in the duration of a blink of an eye. But God takes time, creates time and gives it to creation. This is the ultimate announcement against stress and restlessness. How long do you think a day lasted in the creation story? Instead of arguing about this, the Christian church should focus on important beliefs and stand united against Darwinian theses.
Recently someone told me that the Corona viruses mutated into the more or less harmless Omicron variant out of a survival strategy. If they attacked their host, the human, too hard, it would die out, which would also threaten their own survival. However, we see a similar behaviour in the development of resistance of bacteria to antibiotics.
«The heavens proclaim the glory of God and the firmament bears witness to His marvellous works»(Psalm 19:2 NLB). We live in an ingenious creation. Last October, my niece had an accident with a meat processing machine. Instead of a steak, the machine caught her hand. Quick-witted, the boss grasped the situation and took her to the emergency including the machine on her hand. My niece was able to cope with this very stressful situation mentally and pain-wise because her body reacted with shock. When I heard this, I thought: «How ingeniously God created this world. Man even functions excellently in emergency mode!»
The genius and creativity of what has been created testify to a magnificent and omnipotent God. «Since the creation of the world, people have seen the earth and the heavens and everything that God has created, and can clearly recognise Him, the invisible God, in His eternal power and divine essence. Therefore, they have no excuse for not having known about God.»(Romans 1:20 NLB).
God takes time
Again and again the discussion is held whether God is really able to create the world in six days. The longer the more I marvel at the fact that he took so much time. If God is all-powerful, He could have created the world with a snap of His fingers. The surprising message of the seven days is: God takes his time! The creation of the world and time go hand in hand. From now on there is a before and an after. The eternal God opens up to the experience of chronological time.
God takes time, creates time and gives it to creation. This becomes visible very beautifully on the third day of creation. «Grass grew on the earth, as well as plants and trees that bore seed. And God saw that it was good»(Genesis 1:12 NLB). God gave creation time to grow and reproduce.
Although God created an incredible amount, he was not stressed. From the creation account we get a lot of rest and leisure. At the moment we are rebuilding our little house. Compared to the construction of an entire cosmos, this is quite modest work. And yet we tend to feel stressed.
We tend to live like we are in a hamster wheel. There are various engines that lead to high self-acceleration. One of them is the technical acceleration, which can be seen in communication, among other things. Another motor that drives this hamster wheel is the loss of eternity, so that people today are doomed to experience an eternal life before death. In the fear of being left behind or missing out, we increase the episodes of experience per time and overlap different experiences. A third driver is competition. Life functions according to the logic of the market. The allocation of resources, goods, wealth, privileges, positions, status, recognition takes place in competition. Power is defined as work per unit of time, which results in a strong acceleration.
God has given time to creation. And he invites us to share in his rest.
Time of a day of creation
As I said, God could have created the world in the duration of a blink of an eye. He took one day. How much time is that? If the days mentioned in Genesis 1 are calendar days, the earth would be between 6000 and 10000 years young. Maybe so, but there are quite a few arguments and facts from natural science for a much older Earth. The question of dating the dinosaurs or the ice ages are the most popular. Another fact is the fossils and their distribution and dispersion in layers and sediments. From the lower to the upper layers, a worldwide pattern of animals without spines, fish, amphibians, reptiles, mammals and humans is found.
The key question concerning the age of the earth and the cosmos has to do with the interpretation of the Hebrew word yom in Genesis 1 – in most versions of the Bible as the Day translated. However, this Hebrew word does not exclusively mean a 24-hour period. It covers various periods of time, including a long period of time. When 300 professors of Hebrew and Old Testament were asked about this question of time, none of them stated that Genesis 1 refers to six consecutive 24-hour days.
Considering the process that took place on one day of creation, this also indicates a longer period. As already mentioned, on the third day it is pointed out that «grass grew on the earth and plants and trees bore seeds». And while Genesis 1:26–27 says that Adam and Eve were both created on the 6th day, Genesis 2:7–23 makes it clear that a long time had passed between the creation of Adam and Eve – not a span of 24 hours.
However, according to the Bible, the announcement of each new day is «It became evening and morning«which can be interpreted as a reference to a 24-hour day. On the other hand, the reverse order – first evening, then morning – is remarkable. Perhaps this merely indicates the end of one age and the beginning of the new one.
Natural science does not have to contradict faith. Rather, it can support the truth of the Bible – including the belief in a personal God revealed in Scripture as well as in nature. The claim that the earth is young contradicts scientific evidence. Under no circumstances should we place scientific claims above the Bible, rather I am convinced that the Bible, correctly interpreted, agrees with the facts of nature. The two creation accounts in Genesis say nothing about the age of the earth. They were written by the writers as a message from God to his people, not as a report for historians who want to establish a precise timetable.
Nor is it the case that belief in an old earth automatically supports Darwinism. The message of the Bible and science together speak against it. For example, evidence of macro-evolution from a single-celled organism to complex organisms to humans is lacking. Science also has no explanation of how life was generated from inorganic substances. The origin of life remains the big problem of Darwinian science. We Christians would do well to focus on the important convictions and stand united against the Darwinian theses.
Timeless convictions
It does not harm my faith if I stop fighting for a young earth. The Bible retains its divine authority even if I consider the days in Genesis 1 as eons. Let us hold fast to the message of the creation story:
- There is an eternal and loving God who deliberately created the world out of nothing. «By faith we understand that the world came into being at God’s command and that everything we see now came into being from what is not seen»(Hebrews 11:3 NLB).
- A supremely creative God created every kind of plant and animal creating – perhaps mischievously smiling – inconceivably many and graceful variations. Micro-evolution (relatively small variations within a species) is proven, it is visible and not controversial. An example of this is the aforementioned development of resistance in bacteria to antibiotics.
- On the 6th day, God created man in His image. People do not inherit their intrinsic worth and dignity based on ancestry, financial status or royal position. Value and dignity are bestowed upon a person by the Creator, the exalted God. That is why Solomon says: «He who mocks the poor insults his Creator»(Proverbs 17:5 NLB).
- Man is given the task to serve creation, to care for it and to cultivate it. He has a stewardship mandate along the lines of a shepherd looking after the welfare of his sheep. Man should use the resources of the earth, but not harm it. He is responsible for the well-being of the whole earth.
- Creation is «very good» because each individual creature is uniquely in function and aesthetics is and because the relationships within the individual genres and beyond are perfectly aligned with each other. The secret of this interconnectedness has a name: Jesus Christ. About him it is said: «He was there before everything else began, and he holds all creation together»(Colossians 1:17 NLB).
«Now we still see things imperfectly, as in a dim mirror, but then we will recognise everything in complete clarity. Everything I know now is incomplete; but then I will know everything, as God already knows me now»(1 Corinthians 13:12 NLB). People who are connected to Jesus Christ will have full insight into the details of creation in eternity. In the meantime, it is wise to focus on more important doctrines, the Christian faith stands and falls with the death and resurrection of Christ and his return. Experiencing this gospel is more important than arguing about the age of creation. The resurrection of Jesus is the beginning of the new creation. Our attitude towards Him determines whether we are part of it!
Questions for the small groups
Read the Bible text: Genesis 1:1–2:4
- God took his time in creating the world? What could this mean for creation?
- What does it mean that He has given time to creation? How can we radiate peace despite many tasks?
- What do you think about the age of the earth? What speaks for a young and what for an old world? Which convinces you more?
- Which truths from the creation story are non-negotiable?
- What are the more important teachings in the Bible? How do I personally, existentially relate to them?
