Recording Time and Days in Scripture

Introduction

As we live our fast-moving, instant communication, 21st-Century lives, I wonder if we have ever stopped and considered how we are affected by the different divisions of time - days, weeks, months, seasons, and years. Why are there twenty-four hours in a day, twelve months in a year, and 365 days in a normal year? Not only our everyday lives, but scripture also is based on the same time divisions, for when God created the sun and the moon it was for the benefit of His creation to know His appointed times, and also the division of days and years as He originally set it to be!

Days, months, seasons, years

All these time divisions have a plausible scientific explanation, being governed and controlled by astronomical and terrestrial constants. The twenty-four-hour day is based on the time it takes the Earth to make one rotation on its axis. The month is based on intervals between new moons, i.e., the length of time it takes the moon to orbit the Earth. The seasons are governed by the changing positions of the Earth in relation to the sun (equinoxes, solstices). The year is the time the Earth takes to make one revolution of the sun, which is approximately 365 days and six hours. This explains why every four years we must add a day, February 29th, in a leap year; it also accounts for the Spring and Autumn equinoxes falling on slightly different days each year. Although all of these time-markers can be scientifically explained, yet the factors that they all rely on were created by God for just that purpose! But what about the week? Where does the origin of that come from?

The week

Throughout the Earth, the seven-day week is almost universally accepted and observed without much thought -yet really it is a living testimony to the fact of creation! All the human timemarkers that we have just considered - the day, the month, the seasons and the year - can be explained concerning the Earth’s relation to the sun and the moon. Yet the week has no astronomical basis at all! It can only be accounted for in relation to its establishment at creation and has been engrained in human order ever since! We notice that God’s creative work, Gen. 1. 1 - 2. 3, fits within the timescale of seven days. The number seven is significant in scripture as it refers to rest and completion. So, the seven-day cycle (one week) should be a reminder to us of God’s perfect, completed work in creation, but also as a template for work and rest in the human cycle, Exod. 20. 8-11; 31. 17.

The day in scripture - is it twenty-four hours?

A good basic rule when studying God’s word is that if scripture can be taken literally in its context and when compared with similar passages, then it should be taken literally! The comparing of scripture with scripture is essential. God’s word seeks to make His mind and will known to mankind, and because of this we should accept what is written at face value with its ordinary literal meaning, unless there are clear reasons otherwise. It has been suggested by some that a day in scripture could be any length of time, often quoting the ‘Day of the Lord’, and also the summary, Gen. 2. 4. Again, we often refer to the day of grace, which has continued for the last 2, 000 years! It must be admitted that the word ‘day’ in scripture sometimes can indicate an extended period of time. However, we should also note that whenever the word day is connected to a number, e.g., seventh day, third day, etc., then the context always demands it to be taken literally - meaning one day of twenty-four hours duration!¹

The ‘days’ of creation, Gen. 1. 1 - 2. 4

It might be good to ask the question: ‘Is a day in Genesis chapter 1 a period of twenty-four hours as we understand a day to be?’ Some have suggested it to be a long period of time, perhaps thousands or even millions of years, so that geological time scales can be accounted for. Yet, if we accept this argument, then by the seventh day Adam would be one ‘day’ old; we would then have to accept that Adam would be thousands (or even millions) of years old by the seventh day when God rested, Gen. 2. 2. However, Genesis chapter 5 verse 5 clearly states that Adam was 930 years old when he died!

The present writer believes that each day of creation in Genesis chapter 1 was of a twenty-four-hour period; this was the simple way in which a day was measured before calendars and clocks. God distinguished between light and darkness and between morning and evening to show structure and completion of one day. Genesis chapter 1 verse 14 talks of ‘seasons … days, and years’, yet, if the days were not actual twenty-four-hour time periods, then confusion exists regarding seasons and years! In Exodus chapter 20 verse 11, we read, ‘for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day’. This verse speaks of Israel’s Sabbath, a day of a normal week to follow six normal days before it. To be consistent we must accept that Israel’s Sabbath was a normal twenty-four-hour day, but also be consistent to all the verse and accept that the days of creation were normal twenty-four-hour periods of time.

The ‘days’ of scripture

In our 21st-Century language, we can also, like scripture, refer to a day in different ways. When we talk of, say, yesterday or Tuesday, for example, we are obviously referring to a twenty-four-hour period of time. However, we can also refer to a day as a protracted period of time; we might, for example, be comparing aspects of today’s generation to what it was like ‘in my day’. So with scripture; whether a day is a twenty-four-hour period of time or a much longer time period will depend on the context. We have already discussed the use of the word day to convey twenty-four-hour periods in the days of creation; we will now examine three instances where the use of the word ‘day’ demands a protracted period of time in every instance! We shall look very briefly at the ‘Day of the Lord’, the ‘Day of Christ’, and the ‘Day of God’.

The Day of the Lord

This expression occurs mainly in the prophetical section of the Old Testament.² It has to do with God’s dealings and intervention with Israel and world affairs (the nations). This period commences after the church has been caught up at the rapture, so it has nothing to do with the church. It involves mainly judgement, wrath and destruction and their effect on humanity on Earth! It begins at the commencement of the seven-year tribulation period and continues on to the end of the present Earth’s history (as we know it) with the consummating judgement that ushers in the new Earth, 2 Pet. 3. 10-13; Rev. 20. 7 - 21. 1.

Biblical descriptions of the Day of the Lord by the prophets have had their partial fulfilments and foreshadowing in Earth’s history, but never a complete fulfilment! Peter, quoting Joel on the day of Pentecost, used careful language to indicate that what was taking place was a partial fulfilment of Joel’s prophecy, Acts 2. 16, but he never indicated that it was a complete fulfilment. Again, Peter seems to indicate that the Day of the Lord begins unexpectedly after the rapture, 2 Pet. 3. 10, and continues to the end of the present Earth’s history.³

The Day of Christ … of Jesus Christ … of our Lord Jesus Christ … of our Lord Jesus

Clearly the Day of Christ and the Day of the Lord are completely different.

The first is an expression unique to the New Testament while the second is mainly found in the Old Testament. The first is associated with comfort, joy, and anticipation, e.g., 1 Cor. 1. 8; 2 Cor. 1. 14, while the second is associated with wrath, darkness, and judgement on the Earth. The Day of Christ seems to parallel the ‘coming’ [Gr. parousia] of Christ for His people, yet the word used for ‘coming’ indicates both an arrival and the resultant presence of the one coming.⁴This would indicate, then, that the Day of Christ is also a protracted period of time, which would include the rapture and some events that will follow - including the Judgement Seat of Christ, 2 Cor. 5. 10, the marriage of the Lamb and the marriage supper of the Lamb, Rev. 19. 6-9.

The Day of Christ will be an experience unique to the believer. The work of God that commenced in the life of an individual believer at salvation will be brought to a perfect conclusion at the rapture, Phil. 1. 6. The anticipation of this should regulate our lives now, vv. 9, 10, and should also be a powerful incentive to us in view of that day of review at the judgement seat of Christ, 2. 16, 2 Cor. 5. 10.

The Day of God

This expression is only found in 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 12. By studying the literal meaning of the verse, it would appear that when the Day of the Lord ends at the dissolution of the present heavens and Earth, then the Day of God begins with the establishment of the new heavens and new Earth, ‘wherein dwelleth righteousness’, v. 13. In this eternal state, the Day of God, righteousness will be a permanent, unchanging feature. Before that time, the Day of the Lord, righteousness will actively subdue any opposition to God’s will.