THE SIX DAYS OF CREATION AND THE SABBATH REST

Let us look at the Hebrew word for ‘day’: Yom. This could mean long periods of time, but it is always a 24 hour day when it is used with a numbered order, First, Second, Third, etc.  Also, if the text uses the words ‘evening and morning’, it is again only 24 hours. Genesis chapter one uses both of these formats, so it is definitely 24 hour days.  Adam and Eve were there on the seventh 24 hour day.  The day of rest only makes sense if all of the other six days are 24 hours.

The re-creation of the cosmos begins in Genesis 1:3, and is separated from Genesis 1:1 and 1:2. The six days of creation have a special seven part format that is not found in the first two verses.  Again, this is from Arnold Fruchtenbaum’s commentary on Genesis.

1) Introduction   “And God said”  

2) The Fiat             “Let there be”  

3) Fulfillment       “And there was”

4) Action                “And God made”

5) Naming              “And God called”

6) Evaluation         “And God saw that it was good”

7) Terminus           “And it was evening and it was morning of day…”

FIRST DAY 

The Light:  Dividing of Light from Darkness

                    The Light of God Protects the Universe from Darkness;

                    Physical Darkness and Spiritual Darkness

“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.”  Genesis 1:3-5

God is lifting the darkness that was part of the curse on the earth.  He is separating the darkness from the light, and calling it good.  The source of this light is the ‘Shekinah Glory’ of God, before the sun, moon, and stars.  A 24 hour day only requires the earth to be spinning and a source of light.  This light would include all of the electromagnetic spectrum:  radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, X-rays, and gamma rays.

SECOND DAY

The Sky: The ‘Rakia’, the Firmament or Stretching out of the Sky

                  The Sky Protects the oceans from evaporating

                  The Magnetosphere Protects the earth from Solar radiation

 “And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. ” Genesis 1:6-8

God is creating the sky, an expanse, ‘the Rakia’, dividing out the waters on the earth from the atmospheric waters.  God is preparing the earth for life, so He is placing a protective covering over the land and the oceans.  As part of this covering, He is working on the iron core of the earth.  This will create the Magnetosphere, a ‘Magnetic Bubble’ of charged particles that will surround the earth and protect life from the harmful high energy rays of the sun, the solar wind.  This is why the Earth, with its protective shields, had to be created ‘before’ the Sun.

There is one additional source of water, and it is inside the Earth.  It was just discovered that there are ‘oceans’ of water 400 miles inside the earth attached to a mineral called ‘ringwoodite’.  There is enough water to provide for ‘Noah’s Flood’. 

“New Evidence for Oceans of Water Deep in the Earth”, Brookhaven National Laboratories, June 13, 2014.

This is the only day not called ‘good’.  The third day will be called good twice.

THIRD DAY

The Dry Land: Separated out from the Gathering of the Seas

                         The Dry Land Protects life from Tidal Waves

Plant Life: Produces Food and Oxygen for the Higher Animals
Plants create Oxygen - Protects life from the Sun’s UV rays 

“And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.  And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.”  Genesis 1:9,10 

“And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself upon the earth: and it was so….and God saw that is was good.”

Genesis 1:11,12

There are three types of vegetation presented here:

1) Grass and Grains

2) Herbs and vegetables

3) Fruit trees

God is preparing the earth for animals and Man himself.  There is an abundant supply of liquid water, vegetarian food for all God’s creatures, and an atmosphere that holds the air we breathe, the moisture in the clouds, and a protective bubble that shields us from the high energy rays of the Sun and the stars.

FOURTH DAY

The Sun: Creates the Heliosphere - a Protective Shield from other Stars

The Moon and Planets:  Protect the Earth from Comets and Asteroids

The Stars and Galaxies: Declare the Glory of God

Gravitationally hold the Solar System and Galaxy Clusters in place 

“And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divided the day from the night: and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: ” Genesis 1:14

This verse indicates the normal division of time was already operational in the first week of creation: day and night, seasons, and years.

“And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.”  Genesis 1:15

 “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.”  Genesis 1:16

This shows us that light was visible on the earth the same day the sun, moon, and stars were created.  This could only be possible if they were made less than ‘One Light Day’ distance, about 16 billion miles. Traveling at the Speed of Light, the Light from the Sun reaches Earth in 8.2 minutes, and sunlight reaches Pluto in 5.3 hours, 4 billion miles away.  The Stars were created at a distance of about 12 billion miles, about 18 light hours away, so their light could reach us in One Day.

We see that God created the Sun, Moon, and Stars in a two-part process.  The Sun and Moon, the Solar System, were created first, and then “He made the stars also.” The Sun’s Solar Wind creates the Heliosphere, which is a protective bubble about 24 billion miles in diameter.  This ‘bubble’ protects us from deadly radiation of nearby stars and super novae.

The Earth by Day Three had a Magnetosphere and Atmosphere to protect us from the Sun.

Now that the Earth was ‘Double-Shielded’ by the Magnetosphere (protects from the Sun),  and the Heliosphere (Protects from other stars), all the stars of the Universe could be created less than ‘One Light-Day’ away, about 12 billion miles.  About 5,000 stars are visible on a clear night, so only these had to be fully energized on Day Four.

Because ‘Space’ itself can expand faster than light, those trillions of stars could ignite as the Universe expanded.  This expansion of space on Day Four is the source of the Cosmic ‘Red Shift’: the stretching of light toward the longer, redder wavelengths.  This expansion of space begins at the edge of the Heliosphere, our Solar System’s ‘Protective Bubble’. Thus the Stars could fulfill their purpose by giving us light on the same day they were created.

The entire Solar System with the Earth, Sun, and Planets, was placed in our Milky Way Galaxy a safe distance from the high energy core.  We are 27,000 light years from the center of our Spiral Galaxy, on a spur of the Orion Arm.  Our Local Group of Galaxies is part of the Virgo Super-Cluster, which is about 100 million light years in diameter.  This again is nested in the larger ‘Super’ Super-Cluster of Galaxies, Laniakea: Hawaiian for “immense heaven”, 500 million light years in size.

Because of the enormous mass of all these stars created near us, there would be an extreme ‘Time Dilation’, according to Einstein’s Theory of Relativity.  In simple terms, the Earth would experience only one day, while the Universe aged and expanded to 13 billion light years.

Clocks at sea level run slower than clocks on mountain tops, because they are nearer to the center of the mass of the Earth.  The Great Mass of all the stars would make our ‘Clocks’ run a lot slower.

The Stars and Galaxies certainly declare God’s Glory, Power, and Creativity!

Now to complete the creation of the cosmos with all the Clusters of Galaxies, we finally come to the Cosmic Web: The largest scale of the Universe.  It is called a ‘Web’, because the Galaxies are connected by filaments, sheets, and voids of Stars, stretching billions of light years.

The Great Cosmic Web can be described like rivers feeding oceans, streams of gas and stars nourishing galaxies throughout the cosmos. Since the earth possessed the original 92 elements with all the laws of physics operational in Genesis 1:1, we are not made of ‘Stardust’, but the stars and nebulae are made of ‘Earth dust’. The Earth was made before the Sun, Moon, and the Stars!

This fills the work of the First Day: Sun, moon, stars for lights to divide the Day from the Night.

The Bible has accounted for three main areas in Cosmology:

Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMB):

Created in Genesis 1:1, the oldest relic radiation in every direction, with an ‘Axis’ aligned with the Solar System. Proves the CMB was created at the same time and place as the Earth. Becomes a Local Microwave Background, (LMB).

Hydrogen, Helium, and Lithium:

The source of the ‘lightest’ elements, and all 92 elements found on the Earth in Genesis 1:1. The Earth was originally a ‘mineral garden’ containing all of the elements. Ezekiel 28:13,14.  Stars and nebula are made of ‘Earthdust’.  Stars can produce heavier elements with Gas (Hydrogen) and Dust (Oxygen, Silica, Iron) through nucleosynthesis.  However, the original matter came from the earth itself:

Oxygen - From Earth’s Atmosphere

Silica – From Earth’s Surface Land

Iron – From Earth’s Core

Expansion of Space:

God says that ‘He stretches forth the Heavens’, when He made the Stars and Galaxies on Day Four: 4,000 years before Hubble.

FIFTH DAY 

The Fish: To Fill the Void in the Oceans

The Birds: To Fill the Void in the Skies

This fills the work of the second day, the sea and sky.

“And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.”   Genesis 1:20

“And God created great whales, and every living creature that moves, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. “  Genesis 1:21

God creates by speaking the Fish and the Birds into existence.  He makes each one after its own ‘kind’, allowing for variations within species, but not changing one species into another.

SIXTH DAY

The Animals: Cattle, Creeping Things, and Wild Beasts of the Earth

Mankind: Male and Female made in the Image of God

This fills the work of the Third Day: animals and man to inhabit the land   and plant life for food.

“And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind…and God saw that it was good.”  Genesis 1:24,25

“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth…

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them…And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply… ” Genesis 1:26-28

“And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”Genesis 1:31        

God created three types of Creatures:

1) Cattle – all domesticated animals

2) Beasts – Wild animals that cannot be domesticated 

3) Creeping things – Amphibians, Reptiles, short or no legs

Mankind, male and female, are the crowning high point of creation. We are separated from the rest of creation because of our Spiritual Nature, that we can know God personally and collectively.  God visited the Earth in person as the man Jesus Christ, Yeshua the Messiah.  The entire purpose of Creation was for mankind to be in relationship with God his creator. God the Father desires us to be in His family, calling us Sons and Daughters. This was God’s plan from the beginning of time. 

SEVENTH DAY

The Sabbath Day:  Rest, First full Day of the Finished Creation

Fills the purpose of the entire Creation - the Picture of Salvation:

Adam and Eve, Bridegroom and Bride, living in Eden, Paradise, walking with God their creator in the light of the day.

This took only Seven Days, but after man sins, it will take Seven Thousand Years and the crucifixion of the God-Man Yeshua, to restore all things.  This will be in the New Heavens and the New Earth of Revelation 21 and 22, and the Earth will be a Mineral Garden once more.

“Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.”   Isaiah 46:10

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

Robert Lyons

San Diego, CA

August 31, 2025