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The following is an excerpt of an article by Ken Ham taken from a magazine named "Creation Ex Nihilo" November 1985.
Genesis chapter 1 seems to say that God created the world, the universe and everything in them in six ordinary (approximately 24 hour) days. However, there is a view in our churches that has become prevalent over the years that these "days" could have been thousands, millions or even billions of years in duration. Does it really matter what length these days were anyway? Is it possible to determine whether or not they were ordinary days or in fact long periods of time? The word for "day" in Genesis 1 is the Hebrew word 'yom'. It can either mean a day (in the ordinary 24-hour sense), the daylight portion of an ordinary 24-hour day (ie."daylight as distinct from the night"), or occasionally it is used in the sense of an indefinite period of time (eg. "In the time of the Judges" or "In the day of the Lord"). Without exception, in the Hebrew Old Testament the word 'yom' never means "period", (ie. it is never used to refer to a definite long period of time with specific beginning and end points). Furthermore, it is important to note that even when the word 'yom' is used in the indefinite sense, it is clearly indicated by the context that the literal meaning of the word 'day' is not intended.
Some people often say that the word 'day' in Genesis may have been used symbolically and so we are not meant to take it literally. However, an important point that many fail to consider is that a word can never be used symbolically the first time it is used! In fact, a word can only be used symbolically when it first has a litteral meaning. In the New Testament we are told that Jesus is the 'door'. We know what this means because we know that the word 'door' means an entrance. Because we know its literal meaning it is able to be applied in a symbolic sence to Jesus Christ. The word 'door' could not be used first in this way unless it first had the literal meaning we understand it to have. Thus, the word 'day' cannot be used symbolically the first time it is used in the book of Genesis. Indeed, this is why the author of Genesis has gone to great lengths to carefully define the word 'day' the first time it appears. In Genesis 1:4 we read that God separated the "light from the darkness". Then in Genesis 1:5 we read "God called the light day, and the darkness he called night". In other words, the terms were being very carefully defined. The first time the word 'day' is used it is defined as "the light" to distinguish it from "the darkness" called "night". Genesis 1:5 then finishes off with, "and the evening and the morning were the first day." This is the same phrase used for each of the other five days and shows that there was a clearly established cycle of days and nights (ie. periods of light and periods of darkness).
The periods of light on each of the six days were when God did his work, and the periods of darkness were when God did no creative work.
But how could there be day and night if the sun wasn't in existence? After all it is clear from Genesis 1 that the sun was not created until day 4. Now Genesis 1:3 tells us that God created light on the first day, and the phrase "evening and morning" shows there were alternating periods of light and darkness. Therefore, light was in existence being directed from one direction upon a rotating earth resulting in the day and night cycle. However we are not told exactly where this light came from. The word for "light" in Genesis 1:3 means the substance of light was created. Then on day 4 in Genesis 1:14-19 we are told of the creation of the sun which was to be the source of light from that time onwards.
The sun was created to rule the day that already existed. The day stayed the same. It merely had a new light source. The first three days of creation (before the sun) were the same type of days as the three days with the sun. One of the possible reasons God deliberately left the creation of the sun until the fourth day is that He knew that down through the ages, cultures would try to worship the sun as the source of life. Not only this, modern day theorys tell us that the sun came before the earth. God is showing us He made the earth and light to start with, that He can sustain it with its day and night cycle and that the sun was created on day four as a tool of His to be the bearer of light from that time.
Probably one of the major reasons people have tended not to take the days of Genesis as ordinary days, is because they have beleived scientists have proved the earth to be billions of years old. But this is not true for there is no absolute age-dating method to determine exactly how old the earth is.
Besides this, there is a lot of evidence consistent with a belief in a young age for the earth, perhaps only thousands of years.
God is an infinite being. This means He has infinite power, infinite knowledge, infinite wisdom, etc. Obviously, God could then make anything He wanted to in no time at all - He could have created the whole universe, the earth and all it contains in no time at all. Perhaps the question we should be asking is why did God take as long as six days anyway? After all six days is a long time for an infinite being to make anything! The answer can be found in Exodus 20:11. Exodus 20 contains the Ten Commandments. It should be remembered that these comandments were written on stone by the very "finger of God" for in Exodus we read, "And when he had made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai, he gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God" (Exodus 31:18). The fourth commandment in verse 9 of chapter 20 tells us that we are to work for six days and rest for one. The justification for this is given in verse 11, "For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it". This is a direct reference to God's creation week in Genesis 1. To be consistent (and we must be), whatever is used as the meaning of the word 'day' in Genesis 1 must also be used here. If you are going to say the word 'day' means a long period of time in Genesis, then it has been already shown that the only way this can be is in the sense of the 'day' being an indefinite or indeterminate period of time - not a definite period of time. Thus the sense of Exodus 20:9-11 would have to be 'six indefinite periods shalt thou labour and rest a seventh indefinite period'! This however makes no sense at all. By accepting the days as ordinary days, we understand that God is telling us that He worked for six ordinary days and rested for one ordinary day to set a pattern for man - the pattern of our seven day week which we still have today! In other words, here in Exodus 20 we learn the reason why God took as long as six days to make everything - He was setting a pattern for us to follow, a pattern we still follow today.
There are many inconsistencies for those who accept the days in Genesis as long periods of time. For instance, we are told in Genesis 1:26-28 that God made the first man (Adam) on the sixth day. Adam lived through the rest of the sixth day, through the seventh day, and then we are told in Genesis 5:5 that he died when he was 930 years old. (We are not still in the seventh day now as some people misconstrue for Genesis 2:2 tells us God "rested" from His work of creation, not that He is resting from His work of creation). If each day was, for example, a million years, then there are real problems. In fact, if each day was only a thousand years long this still makes no sense of Adam's age at death either!
