Author Archives: John Samson

Should Christians Speak With Authority?

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Ken Ham writes:

Should Christians speak with authority?

“And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes” (Matthew 7:28–29).

Over the 40 years I’ve been involved in the Answers in Genesis ministry, I’ve had many Christians/Christian leaders accuse me of saying a person had to believe in six literal days of creation and a young earth to be saved.

Such an accusation is simply not true and can be documented as false from my many talks and articles I’ve written over the years showing clearly I have never equated salvation with believing in a young earth and literal creation days. What my accusers don’t like is the fact I speak with authority on what Genesis clearly says. They want me to allow other views. But there’s only one view: God’s Word as written.

Now, salvation is conditioned upon faith in Christ, not what a person believes about the age of the earth or days of creation. People then respond saying it’s not an important issue.

But, even though it’s not a salvation issue, it’s a very important matter indeed, as it’s one of authority.

The following examples represent the types of conversations I’ve had over the years with various Christians and Christian leaders as I’ve discussed this topic with me asking questions.

Question: “Do you believe Jesus bodily rose from the dead?”

Answer: “Of course, yes.”

Question: “Did you see it happen? Do you have a movie of the event? How do you know?”

Answer: “Because the Bible says so?”

Question: “Do you really believe Jesus fed thousands as a miracle?”

Answer: “Yes.”

Question: “Did you see this event? How do you know?”

Answer: “Because the Bible says so.”

Question: “Do you believe Jesus healed the blind, lame, and deaf and even raised people from the dead?”

Answer: “Yes.”

Question: “How do you know?”

Answer: “I know because the Bible says so.”

Question: “Do you believe the Israelites crossed the Red Sea as a miracle, and when wandering in the desert their clothes and shoes didn’t wear out?”

Answer: “Yes.”

Question: “How do you know?”

Answer: “Because the Bible teaches this.”

Question: “Do you believe a man was swallowed by a fish for three days and survived?”

Answer: “Yes, God’s Word says so.”

I then move to the book of Genesis and ask, “Do you believe God created in six literal days, death came after sin, Noah’s Flood was a global event, and we must take Genesis 1–11 as literal history?”

I often get answers like, “Well, no because of what the scientists tell us about millions of years, the big bang, and evolution. The days must be long periods of time. Noah’s flood might have been a local event. God used evolution.”

And here is my point! For other events in the Bible, Christians usually accept the accounts as written. But when it comes to Genesis, so many Christians and Christian leaders will go outside of Scripture and use what secular scientists are saying to then claim we can’t take Genesis as written on these matters.

And therein lies a major problem. They are putting man’s word over God’s Word and making man the authority, not God. Sadly, many pastors and Christian academics have taught generations of young people this. In doing so, they’ve unlocked a door that one can take man’s word over God’s Word. So if you can take millions of years and reinterpret God’s Word, why not take man’s word on marriage and gender and reinterpret God’s Word to allow gay “marriage,” etc. And this is happening in the church.

Over the years because so many Christian leaders have compromised God’s Word in Genesis, many people have been led to doubt God’s Word, and that leads to compromise and unbelief.

We can and should speak with authority on Genesis, just as we can with the rest of Scripture because it is the infallible Word of God!

I am saying compromise on Genesis is wrong, as there’s only one view—God’s! And I’ll continue speaking with authority (God’s) on this.

Are you taking God at his Word? Or putting man’s word over God’s Word? That’s the issue.

Noah’s Flood – Global or Local

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Ken Ham writes:

Was Noah’s flood a global or local event?

To be consistent, those Christians who believe in millions of years really have to make Noah’s flood just a local event. In fact, many have done so over the years. Let me explain why.

The idea of millions of years primarily came out of the atheism/deism of the 1800s. Secularists, in attempting to explain the fossil record by natural processes, promoted the (false) idea that the rock layers, filled with fossils, were laid down slowly over millions of years before man supposedly evolved.

Now, there are billions of dead things buried in rock layers, laid down by water all over the earth.

For those Christians who have accepted the belief in millions of years and attempted to add that into the Genesis account of origins, they have a major problem.

“The flood continued forty days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the face of the waters. And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep. And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark. And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days” (Genesis 7:17–24).

You can’t read that passage in a straightforward way and come to any other conclusion than this was a global flood covering the highest mountains over all of the earth.

What do those who accept the millions of years do then with the account of the flood of Noah’s day? If you accept the millions of years for the formation of the massive fossil record all over the earth, the question becomes, “What did Noah’s flood do?”

If it really was a global, catastrophic event as the Bible clearly describes, it would have eroded those layers and the fossils and redeposited the sediment. In other words, it would have destroyed the fossil record. That’s why some Christians claimed it must have been a “tranquil” flood. But I’ve never seen a tranquil flood! Floods of any size do catastrophic damage. Others claim it must have been a local flood. But the description given in Genesis chapter 7 does not describe a local flood at all. It was a catastrophic global flood.

Also, the description in Genesis makes it clear that all land-dwelling, air-breathing animals that weren’t on the ark died and only eight people survived the flood. No other people survived as it was a global event. Even in the New Testament we read confirmation that only eight people survived the Flood:

“Because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water” (1 Peter 3:20).

Now, the fossil record is not just one of death (the remains of billions of creatures), but also a record of disease as there are many instances where evidence of diseases like cancer are found in fossil bones.

For the Christian looking at the fossil record, how could one accept billions of dead things with evidence of diseases like cancer, tumors, arthritis, etc., millions of years before man when the Bible makes it clear that after man was created, God described everything he made as “very good”? Accepting millions of years is blaming God for death and disease and calling cancer “very good.”

But the Bible states death is an “enemy.”

“The last enemy to be destroyed is death” (1 Corinthians 15:26).

Death will one day be thrown into the lake of fire: “Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:14).

Death is an intrusion because of sin. Death did not exist before sin. Those who believe in millions of years are blaming God of death instead of blaming our sin.

And the Bible makes it clear that the world of death and disease we live in is one that’s groaning because of our sin, “For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now” (Romans 8:22).

It is actually a serious thing for Christians to accept millions of years, which is all part of the pagan religion of naturalism where people try to explain this world without God. Of course, evolutionists need millions of years, as in a way time is their god, as they have to have millions of years to try to propose an impossible process—evolution. Without time, they can’t propose their evolutionary ideas.

Noah’s flood was not a tranquil flood. Noah’s flood was not a local event. Noah’s flood was a catastrophic event sent to judge a wicked world.

“The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5).

If there was such a flood, we would find billions of dead things buried in rock layers laid down by water all over the earth. And that’s exactly what you find.

Also, consider the covenant of the rainbow! After the flood, God made a promise:

“And God said, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh’” (Genesis 9:12–15).

We’ve had lots of local floods since, so did God break his promise? NO! Noah’s flood wasn’t a local event—it was a global cataclysmic event.

The fossil record is not the graveyard of millions of years of slow processes recording the supposed evolution of life.

NO!

Most of the fossil record is the graveyard of the flood that occurred about 4,300 years ago.

And just as surely as God judged the wickedness of man with a global flood, he is going to judge this earth again but by fire next time. And this will be a global event, not a local one. In fact, he will judge the whole universe with fire and make a new heavens and earth.

***

“Scoffers and the last days”

Yes, we are in the last days. But how “last” are we? We don’t know. We just know every day is more last than the day before. We’ve been in the last days for nearly 2,000 years, ever since the life and earthly ministry of Jesus as the Godman. When Jesus’ earthly ministry was completed, we read:

“And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven’” (Acts 1:9–11).

Jesus left earth for heaven and said he would return. We’ve been waiting for that return for about 2,000 years.

In 2 Peter 3, we read about scoffers in the last days who scoff at the idea Jesus will return, as they say, “For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation” (2 Peter 3:4). They claim things have just gone on and on, and so Jesus can’t be returning as it’s been such a long time. But we’re told in this passage that to God, a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like a day. God is outside of time and 2,000 years is not a long time for God as he is not bound by time. And we’re given the reason why Jesus is patient and has not returned it:

“The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

Now consider what is told to us about these scoffers in the last days.

These scoffers, as per 2 Peter 3:4, believe that things have just gone on and on for a long time.

They will reject creation:

“For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God,” (2 Peter 3:5).

They not only reject God created the earth, but that the earth was created covered with water as it states in Genesis 1.

Then they will reject the flood of Noah’s day:

“and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished” (2 Peter 3:6).

And they will reject the coming judgment by fire:

“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed” (2 Peter 3:10).

Let’s apply this to the scoffers today:

They believe things on this earth have gone on for millions and millions of years. They believe life and the universe evolved over millions of years by chance random processes.

They reject that God created the earth and believe it came about by a supposed big bang.

They reject that the earth was covered by water and claim it was a hot molten blob to start with.

They reject the global flood of Noah’s day.

They reject that Jesus is going to come back and judge this earth with fire.

So scoffers down through the ages, just as scoffers in our day, reject God’s Word! And why do they reject God’s Word? Because they don’t want to be accountable to God. If God created them (and he did), then God owns them and God has a right to set the rules and determine what’s right and wrong. Then marriage is one man and one woman, there are only two genders of humans (male and female), the rightful place for sex is within marriage only, abortion is murdering a human being, and so on, as God’s Word instructs clearly.

God’s Word tells us that man is a sinner, and his sin nature is that he would rather believe man’s word (e.g., millions of years of evolution) than God’s Word in Genesis about creation, the fall, and the flood.

God’s Word here in 2 Peter 3:5 tells us these scoffers will “deliberately overlook” the truth of creation, the flood, and coming judgement by fire. Some translations state they are “willingly ignorant.”

These scoffers will reject the obvious evidence for creation and the flood, which is exactly what we see happening today. It’s so obvious life had to be created when one looks at DNA, the most complex information and language system in the universe—that could never arise by chance. It’s so obvious there was a global flood as we find billions of dead things (fossils) buried in the rock layers laid down by water all over the earth.

Don’t be led astray by scoffers—believe God’s Word.

***

Is the account of the creation of the male and female humans in Genesis 1:27 referring to the same humans created in Genesis 2:7 and Genesis 2:21, 22?

The simple answer is yes. Let me explain.

Genesis chapter 1 is an overview of creation in chronological order. God explains in summary what he did on each of the six days of creation. On day six, he created the land-dwelling, air-breathing animals and the first two humans:

“And God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds . . .’

“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness . . . So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them’” (Genesis 1:24–27).

Now, Genesis 2 focuses upon the creation of man specifically and gives specific details of how God made the first human man and first human woman (Adam and Eve).

We learn in Genesis 2:7, “Then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.”

By the way, this first man could not have evolved from some ape-like creature as some claim because:

1. He was made from directly from dust, not from a previously existing creature. And the “dust” can’t be symbolic of an animal because God said this man would return to “dust” when he dies (Genesis 3:19) because of sin. Humans don’t return to some creature like an ape-man when they die.

2. The first man did not become a “living creature” until God breathed into him. He could not have come from an already existing living creature.

Now in Genesis 2:21-22, we read how God created the first woman:

“So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.”

The first woman could not have evolved from an ape-woman as this account makes it clear that God created this woman from the first man’s rib:

1. That’s why the first recorded words of the first man Adam were: “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man” (Genesis 2:23).

2. God, through the apostle Paul, states: “For as woman was made from man” (1 Corinthians 11:12).

After the details of the creation of the man and woman in Genesis 2, we read in Genesis 2:24:

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”

This is the creation of marriage. It’s a reminder that God created marriage, not the US Supreme Court Justices or the president of the USA. Marriage is a God-ordained institution, and there’s only one marriage—the one God created—which consists of one male and one female (one man and one woman). This also means there is no such thing as gay “marriage.” People can call it gay union or whatever they want, but it’s not marriage.

Note that the devil takes what God has created and turns it around to pervert it. We see that happening with marriage. And it’s also interesting that in gay “marriage” they want to have two people. Why two? Well, two comes from the Bible because God created the first marriage to be one man and one woman—only two.

But as people abandon true marriage and God’s created purpose for marriage, we will see all sorts of perversion as moral relativism permeates the culture. For instance, now we see increasing polyamory where there’s any number of any sort of relationship with multiple men and women.

And really, when people abandon the basis of marriage in Scripture, why shouldn’t people then define marriage anyway they want? Why not polygamy, polyamory, or any combination that someone determines? After all, without an absolute authority, anything goes.

Now, when we jump over to the New Testament to Matthew 19 where Jesus is asked about marriage, note carefully his answer:

“Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?” (Matthew 19:4–5).

Jesus is referring back to the history in Genesis as the foundation for marriage. In fact, every single biblical doctrine of theology is ultimately founded in Genesis chapters 1–11. Jesus is referring to the text of Genesis 1:27 where he made male and female and the text of Genesis 2:24 the creation of marriage referring to one flesh as the woman as made from the man. This is also recorded in Mark 10.

In other words, Jesus is referring to the same one man and one woman as recorded in Genesis 1:27 and Genesis 2:24. Jesus obviously quoted the text in Genesis 1 and 2 as complementary accounts—not different accounts.

It’s amazing how many Christians including pastors and Christian college professors who think Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 are contradictory accounts of creation. No, they are complementary accounts with Genesis 1 serving as a summary in chronological order, and Genesis 2 focusing in on the details of how God created the first man and woman. This then sets the stage for the fall of man in Genesis 3.

Isn’t it amazing how so many Christians and Christian leaders will question just about every aspect of Genesis 1–11, but don’t do this with most of the rest of Scripture? The devil knows that Genesis 1–11 is the foundation for everything and so he will do whatever he can to get the church to reject or question the history in Genesis 1–11. This has been one of the greatest attacks on God’s Word in our time and, sadly, many Christians have succumbed to this attack.

Understanding “A Day is Like a Thousand Years”

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Ken Ham writes:

I have to admit it. Every time I hear someone say it, it drives me nuts.

What am I referring to?

Over the past 40 years, as I’ve spoken all over the world, I’ve had many people in churches come up and say something like, “But how can the days of creation in Genesis 1 be ordinary days when the Bible says a day is like a thousand years?” Ugh!

This is when I groan internally, and then set out to explain the many problems with what they stated.

1. They are quoting a small section from 2 Peter 3:8. Now this is a passage from the New Testament, and you cannot use such a passage to determine the meaning of a Hebrew word. The meaning of a Hebrew word in Genesis (eg: “yom,” used for the word day in Genesis 1) depends on the Hebrew language. One needs to use the immediate and wider context or a Hebrew Lexicon (dictionary) to determine the meaning of a Hebrew word.

2. When I’ve been asked this question, I can’t remember a time when the person asking the question actually quoted that passage correctly. They usually say, “But a day is like a thousand years.” That is not what the Scripture states. Let’s look at 2 Peter 3:8:

“But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” (2 Peter 3:8)

Now note that the text actually states, “with the Lord one day is as a thousand years.” In other words, the reference is to God, telling us that to God a day is like a thousand years. God is not limited by natural processes and time. God is outside of time. He created time. So, to God, a day is no different than a thousand years because God exists in eternity and is not bound by time.

3. I notice they always seem to quote the first part of the verse and not the rest. After “with the Lord one day is as a thousand years,” the verse continues, “and a thousand years as one day.” Now this in essence cancels out the first section.

The whole point is to God a day is like a thousand years or a thousand years a like a day. Again, it’s because God is outside of time. So, to God, a day or a thousand years doesn’t make any difference in regard to time. Now humans are created in time and we measure time by days and years. To humans, a thousand years is so much longer than one day. But that is not so for God.

4. Now let’s look at the context of 2 Peter 3. The passage leading up to verse 8 starting in verse 3 states, “Knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires” (2 Peter 3:3). The passage is discussing the second coming of Christ, the last days, and the scoffers who scoff at Jesus coming again: “They will say, ‘Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.’” (2 Peter 3:4).

So, these scoffers are saying that things just go on and on, so Jesus is obviously not coming back.

The passage is teaching us that for those scoffers that believe Jesus isn’t coming back again as things just seem to continue on and on, God through Peter tells us that we need to understand that to God, a day is no different to a thousand years. So humans think it’s been a long time since Jesus said he was coming back again, but, to God, it’s not a long time because he is not bound by time.

5. Then we are told why Jesus hasn’t come back yet, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). God will decide when he will return, but in the meantime, people need to hear the gospel as it’s not his will “that any should perish.”

6. Now think about this. I have found the main reason many Christians try to reinterpret the word “day” in Genesis and use this passage from 2 Peter 3 to justify this is because they really are trying to fit the false millions of years belief into Scripture. But how will making each day 1,000 years help accommodate millions of years—it won’t!

7. I also note something else. The Hebrew word for day (“yom”) is used hundreds of times in the Old Testament, but I don’t hear anyone questioning what those days mean by claiming a day is like a thousand years. So why is it they only single out the use of word “day” in Genesis 1? Again, it’s because they’re impacted by millions of years and they’re trying to fit long ages into Genesis 1. Do we ever hear anyone claiming Jonah was in the great fish for 3,000 years because a day is like a thousand years? Of course not.

8. Now, if we take Genesis 1 as written, and look at the context for the word “day” (“yom”) for each of the days of creation, we can come to no other conclusion than those days are ordinary, approximately 24-hour days. When yom is qualified by night, evening, morning, or number it always means an ordinary day. All six days have yom qualified by evening, morning, and number. Day one also qualifies yom with night, and day seven with a number. All seven days in Genesis one are ordinary days.

Now can you see why it drives me nuts when people, usually rather glibly, say, “Oh the days of creation aren’t ordinary days as a day is like a thousand years”? I find most say this because they heard it from a friend, their pastor, Bible school teacher, or read it somewhere. Once I explain what I’ve listed above to them, most realize they have not been thinking about this correctly at all.

By the way, Psalm 90:4 states something similar as 2 Peter 3:8, “For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.” This is teaching us that with God a thousand years is like a day or a watch in the night which was four hours. So, God is not limited by time, as he is outside of time.

I urge people to study God’s Word carefully before making off-hand statements. I think people do this because we humans are so quick to question God’s Word as that’s our propensity because of our sin nature.

The Days of Creation

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Ken Ham writes:

It’s amazing to me how many Christians claim the days of creation aren’t ordinary days, claim we can’t know, or it doesn’t matter.

But it does matter that we take God’s Word as written!

I remember one conversation that went something like this when discussing the meaning of the word “day” (Hebrew: “yom”) for the six days of creation:

The person said, “But the word ‘day’ can mean something other than an ordinary day.” I replied, “That’s true but the word ‘day’ can also mean an ordinary day.” The person said again, “But the word ‘day’ can mean something other than an ordinary day.” I realized this conversation could go on for ever, so I said, “The word ‘day’ can have a number of different meanings. The point is, ‘What does the word day mean in this context?’”

Actually, most words can have two or more meanings depending on context. For instance, take the word “back.” I could say to someone, “I see you came back after the intermission for my second talk and you’re sitting at the back with your back against the back of the seat because you have a sore back.”

Now we know what the word “back” means each time I used it because of the context.

The word “day” in English can have a number of different meanings. For instance I could say, as an Australian, that “one day I want to go to the outback and travel during the day for three days to get to a town I wanted to go to.”

I just used the word “day” to mean time (“one day”), the daylight portion of a day (“during the day”) and ordinary 24-hour days (“three days”).

Now in Hebrew, the word for “day,” “yom,” can have a number of different meanings. Context determines meaning.

Here are some general rules as to when “yom” means an ordinary day. Whenever it is qualified by morning, evening, number, or night it always means an ordinary day. Also when the phrase “evening and morning” occurs, this means an ordinary day. Let’s consider the six days in Genesis 1.

v. 5: “God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.”

v. 8: “There was evening and there was morning, the second day.”

v. 13: “There was evening and there was morning, the third day.”

v. 19: “There was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.”

v. 23: “There was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.”

v. 31: “There was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.”

It’s so obvious that the word “day” for each of the days of creation must mean an ordinary day. It’s as if God qualified it over and over again to make sure we couldn’t miss it. That’s why Hebrew dictionaries make it clear that the word “day” in Genesis chapter 1 means an ordinary day.

For instance, the Hebrew dictionary by Koehler Baumgartner makes it clear that the first example of when the word day means a 24-hour day is Genesis 1:5, the first day of the creation week (see photo).

Another Hebrew dictionary (lexicon) by Brown, Driver, Briggs gives the creation days qualified by evening and morning as examples of when the word “day” means an ordinary day.

The Hebrew word for “day” (“yom”) is used over 2,300 times in the Old Testament (in the singular or plural forms), but I don’t encounter people questioning what the word “day” means anywhere except Genesis chapter 1. So why is that? Because people have been impacted by the false teaching of millions of years, and many Christians and Christian leaders try to fit the millions of years into Genesis 1 and thus want to interpret the creation days as long periods of time to try to do this.

And if those creation days are ordinary days, and Adam was created on day six, and we study the detailed genealogies in the Old Testament we can add up dates to come to the present about 6,000 years later. One doesn’t get millions of years from the Bible, nor can one fit millions of years into the Bible.

Now, God could have created everything in six hours, six minutes, six seconds, or no time at all, as he is the infinite Creator God. So the question is: why did God take so long to create everything? Six days is a long time for God to create the universe and everything in it. He did it for us. He created the week for us to be able to work for six days and rest for one. Our seven-day week is based on the first week in Genesis 1 and is used as the basis of the fourth commandment:

“For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy” (Exodus 20:11).

Note also that the six days includes the creation of “heaven and earth” which is from Genesis 1:1. Thus it’s obvious that the first creation day includes Genesis 1:1 to Genesis 1:5.

Some people ask about the meaning of the word “day” in Genesis 2:4: “These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.”

Here the word “day” is not qualified by evening, morning, or number, etc. So in context it means time.

Throughout the Old Testament, the word “day” can have a number of different meanings depending on context, but in Genesis 1 there is only one meaning for each of the days of the creation week—ordinary 24-hour days.

Quotes to Ponder (116)

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“Much of the evangelical preaching with which I am familiar inspires neither a terror of God’s righteousness nor praise for the depths of God’s grace in His gift of righteousness.” – Dr. Michael Horton

“You must not judge your life by your past messes but by Christ’s present graces.” – Dr. Sam Waldron

“To love the doctrines of grace is to love God as He has revealed Himself in His Word.” – Richard Phillips

“We shall all do well to remember the charge: ‘Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some is.’ (Heb. 10:25). Never to be absent from God’s house on Sundays, without good reason – never to miss the Lord’s Supper when administered in our own congregation – never to let our place be empty when means of grace are going on, this is one way to be a growing and prosperous Christian. The very sermon that we needlessly miss, may contain a precious word in season for our souls. The very assembly for prayer and praise from which we stay away, may be the very gathering that would have cheered, established, and revived our hearts. We know very little how dependent our spiritual health is on little, regular, habitual helps, and how much we suffer if we miss our medicine.” – J. C. Ryle

“Happy are they, who in the matter of marriage observe three rules: The first is to marry only in the Lord, and after prayer for God’s approval and blessing. The second is not to expect too much from their partners, and to remember that marriage is, after all, the union of two sinners, and not of two angels. The third rule is to strive first and foremost for one another’s sanctification. The more holy married people are, the happier they are.” – J. C. Ryle

“The trouble with all false evangelism is that it does not start with doctrine, it does not start by realising man’s condition… If you and I realised that every man who is yet a sinner is absolutely dominated by the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, if we only understood that he is really a child of wrath and dead in trespasses and sins, we would realise that only one power can deal with such an individual, and that is the power of God, the power of the Holy Spirit. And so we would put our confidence, not in man-made organisations, but in the power of God, in the prayer that holds on to God and asks for revival and a descent of the Spirit. We would realise that nothing else can do it. We can change men superficially, we can win men to our side and to our party, we can persuade them to join a church, but we can never raise the spiritually dead; God alone can do that.” – Martyn Lloyd-Jones

“Faith is nothing but the instrument of our salvation. Nowhere in Scripture will you find that we are justified because of our faith; nowhere in Scripture will you find that we are justified on account of our faith. The Scripture says that we are justified by faith or through faith. Faith is nothing but the instrument or the channel by which this righteousness of God in Christ becomes ours. It is not faith that saves us. What saves us is the Lord Jesus Christ and His perfect work. It is the death of Christ upon Calvary’s Cross that saves us. It is His perfect life that saves us. It is His appealing on our behalf in the presence of God that saves us. It is God putting Christ’s righteousness to our account that saves us. That is the righteousness that saves; faith is but the channel and the instrument by which His righteousness becomes mine. The righteousness is entirely Christ’s. My faith is not my righteousness and I must never think of faith as righteousness. Faith is nothing but that which links us to the Lord Jesus Christ and His righteousness.” – Martyn Lloyd-Jones

“An ambassador is not a man who voices his own thoughts or his own opinions or views, or his own desires. The very essence of the position of the ambassador is that he is a man who has been sent to speak for somebody else. He is the speaker for his Government or his President or his King or Emperor, or whatever form of government his country may have. He is not a man who speculates and gives his own views and ideas. He is the bearer of a message, he is commissioned to do this, he is sent to do this; and that is what he must do. In other words, the content of the sermon is what is called in the New Testament ‘The Word’. ‘Preach the word’, or ‘preach the Gospel’, or ‘the whole counsel of God.’ That being interpreted means the message of the Bible, the message of the Scriptures.” – MLJ, pg 61, ‘Preaching and Preachers’

“My God, I have never thanked you for my thorn! I have thanked you a thousand times for my roses, but never once for my thorn. Teach me the glory of the cross I bear; teach me the value of my thorns. Show me that I have climbed to you by the path of pain. Show me that my tears have made my rainbow.” – George Matheson // “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses” (2 Cor. 12:9).

“When the devil accuses us and says, ‘You are a sinner and therefore damned,’ we should answer, ‘Because you say I am a sinner, I will be righteous and saved.’ ‘No,’ says the devil, ‘you will be damned.’ And I reply, ‘No, for I fly to Christ, who gave himself for my sins. Satan, you will not prevail against me when you try to terrify me by setting forth the greatness of my sins and try to bring me into heaviness, distrust, despair, hatred, contempt and blasphemy against God. On the contrary, when you say I am a sinner, you give me armor and weapons against yourself, so that with your own sword I may cut your throat and tread you under my feet, for Christ died for sinners. . . . As often as you object that I am a sinner, so often you remind me of the benefit of Christ my Redeemer, on whose shoulders, and not on mine, lie all my sins. So when you say I am a sinner, you do not terrify me but comfort me immeasurably.’” – Martin Luther, commenting on Galatians 1:4, “. . . the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins.”

“Life, death, hell and world’s unknown may hang on the preaching and hearing of a sermon.” – C. H. Spurgeon (So please pray for your pastor)

“When you get to heaven, you will not complain of the way by which the Lord brought you.” – John Newton

“One of the most counter-cultural things you can do is become an engaged member of a faithful local church.” – David Mathis

“Hell is eternity in the presence of God. Heaven is eternity in the presence of God with a Mediator.” – Roderick A. Finlayson

“We persevere because we are preserved by our High Priest’s intercession.” – R.C. Sproul

“The realization that my daily relationship with God is based on the infinite merit of Christ instead of on my own performance is a very freeing and joyous experience. But it is not meant to be a one-time experience; the truth needs to be reaffirmed daily.” – Jerry Bridges

“God is the owner; we are stewards. We need to adopt a steward’s mentality toward the assets He has entrusted – not given – to us. Stewards manage assets for the owner’s benefit. Stewards carry no sense of entitlement to the assets they manage. It’s the steward’s job to find out what the owner wants done with his assets, then carry out his will.” – Randy Alcorn

“From every little village in England—it does not matter where it is—there is sure to be a road to London. Though there may not be a road to certain other places, there is certain to be a road to London. Now, from every text in the Bible there is a road to Jesus Christ…” – C. H. Spurgeon

“He whose head is in heaven need not fear to put his feet into the grave.” – Matthew Henry

“Historic confessions and creeds protect the Church from foolish ‘cereal aisle’ autonomy. The Spirit who authored Scripture has through the years drawn the Church to understand it, and the great Church confessions greatly aid us in employing faithful hermeneutics. We are not advocating a paper pope, but a biblically grounded confidence in the historic analogy of faith. God is able to reveal clearly in his Word precisely what he wishes – not only to this generation, but consistently over the entire life of the Church.” – David B. Garner

“Let the man who would hear God speak read Holy Scripture.” – Martin Luther

“My God, I have never thanked you for my thorn! I have thanked you a thousand times for my roses, but never once for my thorn. Teach me the glory of the cross I bear; teach me the value of my thorns. Show me that I have climbed to you by the path of pain. Show me that my tears have made my rainbow.” – George Matheson // “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses” (2 Cor. 12:9).

“The Word of God can take care of itself, and will do so if we preach it, and cease defending it. See you that lion. They have caged him for his preservation; shut him up behind iron bars to secure him from his foes! See how a band of armed men have gathered together to protect the lion. What a clatter they make with their swords and spears! These mighty men are intent upon defending a lion. O fools, and slow of heart! Open that door! Let the lord of the forest come forth free. Who will dare to encounter him? What does he want with your guardian care? Let the pure gospel go forth in all its lion-like majesty, and it will soon clear its own way and ease itself of its adversaries.” – C. H. Spurgeon

“A company of mean-spirited, wicked men, who are no bigger than bees, mentally or spiritually, can get together, and sting a good man in a thousand places, till he is well-nigh maddened by their scorn, their ridicule, their slander, and their misrepresentation. Their very littleness gives them the power to wound with impunity. Such has been the experience of some of us, especially in days now happily past. For one, I can say, I grew inured to falsehood and spite. The stings at last caused me no more pain than if I had been made of iron, but at first they were galling enough. Do not be surprised, dear friends, if you have the same experience, and if it comes, count it no strange thing, for in this way the saints have been treated in all time. Thank God, the wounds are not fatal, nor of long continuance! Time brings ease, and use creates hardihood. No real harm has come to any of us who have run the gauntlet of abuse; not even a bruise remains.” – C.H. Spurgeon Autobiography, Vol 1, pp. 304-05

“That I am drawing breath this morning is an act of divine mercy. God owes me nothing. I owe Him everything.” – R.C. Sproul

“We find Christ in all the Scriptures. In the Old Testament He is predicted, in the Gospels He is revealed, in Acts He is preached, in the epistles He is explained, and in Revelation He is expected.” – Alistair Begg

“Before Calvary, Christ was represented by way of a blood-shedding ritual on an altar; after Calvary, he is represented by a blood-less feast at a table.” – Derek Thomas

A Right View of the Lord’s Day

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“Tomorrow is the Lord’s Day. What a blessing it is each week for the Lord’s Day to finally come. Sometimes we come to the Lord’s Day weary. Sometimes we come feeling great. But every week we come, we come knowing our God will meet us there. We want to be fresh and energetic and well-prepared for every Sunday—it is good for us to be so—but in some ways the weeks when we are the most worn out may be those that speak most clearly to us of our condition and need as we assemble for worship. Weekly worship has been historically known as The Divine Service, because it is God’s service to us, preeminently, and not our service to him. We gather not because we have energy and gifts to bring but because we need the strength and grace he brings to us.

We come weary, but the Lord brings his fullness. We come sinful, but he comes to cleanse us. We come worried, and he comes to comfort. We come haughty, and he comes to humble us. We come discouraged, and he comes to build us up.

Whatever your week has been like, wherever you are coming from on Sunday, remember that the Lord knows your needs better than you do. He knows your weakness. He knows your emptiness apart from his grace. And he is ready, willing, and eager to meet you in worship and to minister to you there. Come to the means of grace. Come to the ministry of the Word. Come to the Table. Come and welcome to Jesus Christ.”

– Pastor Joel Ellis

Quotes on the Word

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“When the canon closed on the OT [Old Testament] after the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, there followed four hundred ‘silent years’ when no prophet spoke God’s revelation in any form. That silence was broken by John the Baptist as God spoke once more prior to the NT [New Testament] age. God then moved various men to record the books of the NT, and the last of these was Revelation, also the last book in our Bibles. By the second century A.D., the complete canon, exactly as we have it today was popularly recognized. Church councils in the fourth century verified and made official what the church has universally affirmed: that the sixty-six books in our Bible are the only true Scripture inspired by God. The canon is complete. Just as the close of the OT canon was followed by silence, so the close of the NT has been followed by the utter absence of new revelation in any form. Since the book of Revelation was completed, no new written or verbal prophecy has ever been universally recognized by Christians as divine truth from God.” – John MacArthur, Does God Still Give Revelation, TMS Journal

“An ambassador is not a man who voices his own thoughts or his own opinions or views, or his own desires. The very essence of the position of the ambassador is that he is a man who has been sent to speak for somebody else. He is the speaker for his Government or his President or his King or Emperor, or whatever form of government his country may have. He is not a man who speculates and gives his own views and ideas. He is the bearer of a message, he is commissioned to do this, he is sent to do this; and that is what he must do. In other words, the content of the sermon is what is called in the New Testament ‘The Word’. ‘Preach the word’, or ‘preach the Gospel’, or ‘the whole counsel of God.’ That being interpreted means the message of the Bible, the message of the Scriptures.” – Martyn Lloyd Jones

“Let the man who would hear God speak read Holy Scripture.” – Martin Luther

“The Word of God can take care of itself, and will do so if we preach it, and cease defending it. See you that lion. They have caged him for his preservation; shut him up behind iron bars to secure him from his foes! See how a band of armed men have gathered together to protect the lion. What a clatter they make with their swords and spears! These mighty men are intent upon defending a lion. O fools, and slow of heart! Open that door! Let the lord of the forest come forth free. Who will dare to encounter him? What does he want with your guardian care? Let the pure gospel go forth in all its lion-like majesty, and it will soon clear its own way and ease itself of its adversaries.” – C. H. Spurgeon

Genocide and the Bible

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Visitor’s Question to monergism.com: Why does the Bible condone genocide? Was that just the Old Testament “god” who demanded that? It is clear that in the book of Joshua, God commanded the Jews to utterly wipe out people groups that inhabited Canaan. If this is so, why didn’t Jesus denounce him? Christians often try to avoid this question, it seems to me.

Response: Actually, I am surprised that this question should be avoided, as it provides one of the clearest illustrations of a most significant truth in the Bible: Not only did God take the lives of those He ordered the Israelites to kill (the Canaanites) – He also takes the life of everyone on earth. The peoples of Canaan may have faced the death penalty earlier than expected, but in essence, their fate was no different than ours. We are all subject to death. Death, as the Bible reveals, is the just penalty imposed for Adam’s disobedience in the garden (Genesis 2:16-17; Rom. 5:12-14). Thus, not only may God take life as He sees fit – He does take the life of every last human on earth (see Heb. 9:27). We should not lose sight of this alarming truth: death is not natural, it is not a normal process of time and chance, nor is it a necessary mechanism of evolution. Humans were created to live, and the fact that they do not speaks to a terrifying reality – we are all born under divine wrath and judgment.

Indeed, we must therefore submit to the fact that God is God and we are not. He alone is the Creator, the Giver of Life – and so He, too, is the Taker of Life. He takes life from whomever He wills, whenever He wills, and however He desires (1 Samuel 2:6; Job 1:21; Deut 9:4-6, 10:14; Isaiah 45:5-7). Even if we consider nothing else, that alone is more than sufficient reason for us to “lay our hands upon our mouths” (see Job 38-42, esp. 40:4). Doesn’t the potter have the right to create one vessel for honorable use and another vessel for dishonorable use from the same lump of clay (Isaiah 45:9-10; Rom. 9:19-24)? Then, so does God, who fashioned humans from the dust, have the right to do with them as He sees fit.

In Deuteronomy 9:4-6, God Himself explains the reason for His command to slaughter the Canaanites. However, it is crucial to note that in the same passage, God declares the Israelites no less wicked than the Canaanites, deserving the same fate:

4 “Do not say in your heart, after the LORD your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is driving them out before you. 5 Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the LORD your God is driving them out from before you, and that He may confirm the word that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 6 “Know, therefore, that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people.

Deut 7:7: “The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but because the LORD loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the LORD brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”

This passage connects Israel’s mission to conquer Canaan with God’s earlier intervention on their behalf in Egypt. To understand the significance of this, we must remember how God redeemed Israel from slavery. The pivotal event of Israel’s exodus was the Passover. During this event, the Israelites had to mark their doorposts with lamb’s blood so that the angel of death would spare their homes (Exodus 11-15). Without the lamb’s blood, their firstborn would have suffered the same fate as the Egyptians. Thus, Israel escaped judgment only through the protective power of the lamb’s blood.

In a similar vein, God warned the Israelites that they were not essentially immune from the Canaanites’ judgment of slaughter: “But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land, those you allow to remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will give you trouble in the land where you will live. And then I will do to you what I plan to do to them” (Numbers 33:55-56). The Israelites deserved judgment just like the others, whether Egyptian or Canaanite. This should serve to remind us that we may not assume that those who suffer unique or catastrophic calamities in this life are any worse than we ourselves since it is only the grace of God in Jesus Christ which makes us differ from anyone (see Luke 13:1-5; 1 Cor. 4:7).

A couple more points may be helpful to keep the slaughter of the Canaanites in perspective: first, at that time in the Old Testament, God had given the nation of Israel clear civil authority and responsibilities; and as a lawfully-ordained civil government, functioning directly under His control, He commanded them to carry out His just judgment against the idolaters of Canaan. Although He gave Israel the commandment, “Thou shalt not kill” (better, “murder”), it is clear that this is a prohibition against unlawful killing of any kind or taking vengeance into one’s own hands. In the same document in which we find this commandment, we may also find many places where God commanded the Israelites to put their own people to death for certain types of disobedience (like idolatry). When it is a judicial act of a properly instituted civil government, taking a life may sometimes be warranted. Apparently, the slaughter of the Canaanites was one such judicial act, carried out by the magistrates of Israel. This means God did not command some arbitrary genocide but gave a judicially sanctioned capital punishment to evil people.

There are a few additional points to consider:

1) The wickedness of the Canaanites: The extent of the Canaanites’ evil practices, such as child sacrifice and other abominable acts (Leviticus 18:24-30, Deuteronomy 12:31), which led to God’s judgment upon them. This helps to explain why God deemed it necessary to eliminate them from the land.

2) God’s patience and mercy: It is essential to note that God gave the Canaanites ample time to repent before executing judgment (Genesis 15:16). Their destruction was not a hasty decision but rather a measured response after centuries of persistent wickedness.

3) The importance of holiness: God commanded the Israelites to be holy and separate from the sinful practices of the surrounding nations (Leviticus 20:22-26). The removal of the Canaanites was part of God’s plan to ensure that Israel remained faithful to Him and not be corrupted by the idolatrous practices of the Canaanites.

4) God’s sovereignty and wisdom: God’s ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9). While we may not fully understand God’s rationale behind certain actions, as believers, we trust in His infinite goodness wisdom, love, and justice.

5) Christ’s fulfillment of the Old Testament: To address the question about Jesus not denouncing the events in the Old Testament, it is crucial to mention that Christ came to fulfill the Old Testament (Matthew 5:17) and that the Old Testament is not separate from the New Testament but serves as a foundation for understanding Christ’s redemptive work.

Sola Fide & Sola Gratia

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Dr. R. C. Sproul, from the book, ‘Willing to Believe’, pages 24-26:

“Evangelicals are so called because of their commitment to the biblical and historical doctrine of justification by faith alone. Because the Reformers saw SOLA FIDE as central and essential to the biblical gospel, the term evangelical was applied to them. Modern evangelicals in great numbers embrace the SOLA FIDE of the Reformation, but have jettisoned the SOLA GRATIA that undergirded it. Packer and Johnston assert:

‘Justification by faith only’ is a truth that needs interpretation. The principle of SOLA FIDE is not rightly understood till it is seen as anchored in the broader principle of SOLA GRATIA. What is the source and status of faith? Is it the God-given means whereby the God-given justification is received, or is it a condition of justification which is left to man to fulfill? Is it a part of God’s gift of salvation, or is it man’s own contribution to salvation? Is our salvation wholly of God, or does it ultimately depend on something that we do for ourselves? Those who say the latter (as the Arminians later did) thereby deny man’s utter helplessness in sin, and affirm that a form of semi-Pelagianism is true after all. It is no wonder, then, that later Reformed theology condemned Arminianism as being in principle a return to Rome (because in effect it turned faith into a meritorious work) and a betrayal of the Reformation (because it denied the sovereignty of God in saving sinners, which was the deepest religious and theological principle of the Reformers’ thought). Arminianism was, indeed, in Reformed eyes a renunciation of New Testament Christianity in favour of New Testament Judaism; for to rely on oneself for faith is no different in principle from relying on oneself for works, and the one is as un-Christian and anti-Christian as the other. In the light of what Luther says to Erasmus, there is no doubt that he would have endorsed this judgment.

I must confess that the first time I read this paragraph, I blinked. On the surface it seems to be a severe indictment of Arminianism. Indeed it could hardly be more severe than to speak of it as ‘un-Christian’ or ‘anti-Christian.’

Does this mean that Packer and Johnston believe Arminians are not Christians?

Not necessarily. Every Christian has errors of some sort in his thinking. Our theological views are fallible. Any distortion in our thought, any deviation from pure, biblical categories may be loosely deemed ‘un-Christian’ or ‘anti-Christian.’ The fact that our thought contains un-Christian elements does not demand the inference that we are therefore not Christians at all. I agree with Packer and Johnston that Arminianism contains un-Christian elements in it and that their view of the relationship between faith and regeneration is fundamentally un-Christian.

Is this error so egregious that it is fatal to salvation? People often ask if I believe Arminians are Christians? I usually answer, ‘Yes, barely.’ They are Christians by what we call A FELICITOUS INCONSISTENCY. What is this inconsistency? Arminians affirm the doctrine of justification by faith alone. They agree that we have no meritorious work that counts toward our justification, that our justification rests solely on the righteousness and merit of Christ, that sola fide means justification is by Christ alone, and that we must trust not in our own works, but in Christ’s work for our salvation. In all this they differ from Rome on crucial points. Packer and Johnston note that later Reformed theology, however, condemned Arminianism as a betrayal of the Reformation and in principle as a return to Rome. They point out that Arminianism ‘in effect turned faith into a meritorious work.’ We notice that this charge is qualified by the words ‘in effect.’

Usually Arminians deny that their faith is a meritorious work. If they were to insist that faith is a meritorious work, they would be explicitly denying justification by faith alone. The Arminian acknowledges that faith is something a person does. It is a work, though not a meritorious one. Is it a good work? Certainly it is not a bad work. It is good for a person to trust in Christ and in Christ alone for his or her salvation. Since God commands us to trust in Christ, when we do so we are obeying this command.

But all Christians agree that faith is something we do. God does not do the believing for us. We also agree that our justification is by faith insofar as faith is the instrumental cause of our justification. All the Arminian wants and intends to assert is that man has the ability to exercise the instrumental cause of faith without first being regenerated. This position clearly negates SOLA GRATIA, but not necessarily SOLA FIDE.

Then why say that Arminianism ‘in effect’ makes faith a meritorious work? Because the good response people make to the gospel becomes the ultimate determining factor in salvation. I often ask my Arminian friends why they are Christians and other people are not. They say it is because they believe in Christ while others do not. Then I inquire why they believe and others do not? ‘Is it because you are more righteous than the person who abides in unbelief?’

They are quick to say no.

‘Is it because you are more intelligent?’

Again the reply is negative.

They say that God is gracious enough to offer salvation to all who believe and that one cannot be saved without that grace. But this grace is cooperative grace. Man in his fallen state must reach out and grasp this grace by an act of the will, which is free to accept or reject this grace. Some exercise the will rightly (or righteously), while others do not. When pressed on this point, the Arminian finds it difficult to escape the conclusion that ultimately his salvation rests on some righteous act of the will he has performed. He has ‘in effect’ merited the merit of Christ, which differs only slightly from the view of Rome.”