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Bible Study Guides – “In six days the Lord made heaven and earth”

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July 17, 1999 – July 23, 1999

MEMORY VERSE: “For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.” Exodus 20:11.

STUDY HELP: Ibid., pages 128–134, Patriarchs and Prophets, 111–116.

Introduction

“The Bible recognizes no long ages in which the earth was slowly evolved from chaos….The statement is made at the close of the first week’s record, ‘These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created.’ Genesis 2:4. But this does not convey the idea that the days of creation were other than literal days. Each day was called a generation, because that in it God generated, or produced, some new portion of His work.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 112.

“On the Seventh Day God Ended His Work”

  1. How is each day of the creation week described in Genesis? Genesis 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31.

NOTE: “Millions of years, it is claimed, were required for the evolution of the earth from chaos; and in order to accommodate the Bible to this supposed revelation of science, the days of creation are assumed to have been vast, indefinite periods, covering thousands or even millions of years.

“Such a conclusion is wholly uncalled for. The Bible record is in harmony with itself and with the teaching of nature. Of the first day employed in the work of creation is given the record, “The evening and the morning were the first day.” Genesis 1:5. And the same in substance is said of each of the first six days of creation week. Each of these periods Inspiration declares to have been a day consisting of evening and morning, like every other day since that time.” Education, 128–129.

  1. What perpetual reminder did God give mankind of His creation in six days? Exodus 31:16–17.

NOTE: See Desire of Ages, 281.

“I Form the Light, and Create Darkness”

  1. What did God make on the first day? Genesis 1:1–5, 2 Corinthians 4:6, Isaiah 60:1.

NOTE: “When God had made our world, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, He said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. And God saw the light that it was good. Shall we close our houses, and exclude from them the light which God has pronounced good? Many deprive themselves of light and air, because they fear their picture frames or expensive furniture will be tarnished, and their lovely carpets faded. We may arrange our houses tastefully, and yet with simplicity, and have no fears of welcoming in the purifying air and glad sunshine. We had better dispense with costly furniture and expensive carpets, rather than with the sunlight, and the invigorating air of heaven.” Health Reformer, April 1, 1871.

  1. What was God’s work on the second day? Genesis 1:6–8.

NOTE: “Let us talk of the love of God that has been manifested to us, that is seen in nature, in the firmament of the heavens, in all the wise arrangements of Providence. Let us search out the rays of sunshine that have brightened our pathway, and linger over their memory with grateful hearts. Let us dwell upon the matchless love of Christ; for in Him we have a constant theme of rejoicing. In Him is no darkness. He is the Light of life, the chief among ten thousand, and the One altogether lovely.” Health Reformer, October 1, 1877.

“The high and lofty One who inhabiteth eternity claims and deserves our highest thoughts and holiest affections. God is the source of all power. From His infinite love flow blessings to every creature formed in His image. Our heavenly Father has hung out glories in the firmament of the heavens, that men may have an expression of His love in the revealing of His wondrous works. God would not have us indifferent to the symbols of the glories of His infinite power in the heavens. David delighted to dwell upon these glories. He composed psalms which the Hebrew singers chanted to the praise of God. ‘The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth His handiwork.’” Signs of the Times, December 12, 1878.

“I the Lord Do All These Things”

  1. What was created on the third day? Genesis 1:9–13.

NOTE: “As the earth came forth from the hand of its Maker, it was exceedingly beautiful. Its surface was diversified with mountains, hills, and plains, interspersed with noble rivers and lovely lakes; but the hills and mountains were not abrupt and rugged, abounding in terrific steeps and frightful chasms, as they now do; the sharp, ragged edges of earth’s rocky framework were buried beneath the fruitful soil, which everywhere produced a luxuriant growth of verdure. There were no loathsome swamps or barren deserts. Graceful shrubs and delicate flowers greeted the eye at every turn. The heights were crowned with trees more majestic than any that now exist. The air, untainted by foul miasma, was clear and healthful. The entire landscape outvied in beauty the decorated grounds of the proudest palace. The angelic host viewed the scene with delight, and rejoiced at the wonderful works of God.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 44.

  1. What did God create on the fourth day and for what purpose? Genesis 1:14-19. Compare Luke 21:25.

NOTE: “I see nothing wherein man should be praised or glorified. I see no reason why the opinions of worldly-wise men and so-called great men should be trusted in and exalted. How can those who are destitute of divine enlightenment have correct ideas of God’s plans and ways? They either deny Him altogether and ignore His existence, or they circumscribe His power by their own finite conceptions. Let us choose to be taught by Him who created the heavens and the earth, by Him who set the stars in their order in the firmament and appointed the sun and the moon to do their work.” The Ministry of Healing, 449.

“God Saw That It Was Good”

  1. What did God bring forth on the fifth day of creation? Genesis 1:20–23.

NOTE: “While on earth, the Redeemer of the world sought to make His lessons of instruction plain and simple, that all might comprehend them; and can we be surprised that He should choose the open air as His sanctuary, that He should desire to be surrounded by the works of His creation? True, He taught in the synagogues, but the largest part of His work was done, the greatest number of His lessons were given, in the open air. He had special reasons for resorting to the groves and the seaside. He could there have a commanding view of the landscape, and make use of objects and scenes with which those in humble life were familiar. The things which His own hand had made He took as His lesson book. He saw in them more than finite minds could comprehend. The birds, caroling forth their songs without a care, the flowers of the valley glowing in their beauty, the lily that reposed in its purity on the bosom of the lake, the lofty trees, the cultivated land, the waving grain, the barren soil, the tree that bore no fruit, the everlasting hills, the bubbling stream, the setting sun, tinting and gilding the heavens, all these He employed to impress His hearers with divine truth. He connected the work of God’s finger in the heavens and upon the earth with the word of life. From these He drew His lessons of spiritual instruction.” The Youth’s Instructor, March 24, 1898.

  1. What was the first work of the sixth day? Genesis 1:24–25, 30.

NOTE: See Desire of Ages, 281, 282.

“Let Us Make Man in Our Image”

  1. What was the crowning work of God’s creation? Genesis 1:26–29; 2:7.

NOTE: “In the creation of man was manifest the agency of a personal God. When God had made man in His image, the human form was perfect in all its arrangements, but it was without life. Then a personal, self-existing God breathed into that form the breath of life, and man became a living, intelligent being. All parts of the human organism were set in action. The heart, the arteries, the veins, the tongue, the hands, the feet, the senses, the faculties of the mind, all began their work, and all were placed under law. Man became a living soul. Through Christ the Word, a personal God created man and endowed him with intelligence and power.” The Ministry of Healing, 415.

  1. How is the creation of women described? Genesis 2:18–25.

NOTE: “God Himself gave Adam a companion. He provided “an help meet for him,” a helper corresponding to him, one who was fitted to be his companion, and who could be one with him in love and sympathy. Eve was created from a rib taken from the side of Adam, signifying that she was not to control him as the head, nor to be trampled under his feet as an inferior, but to stand by his side as an equal, to be loved and protected by him. A part of man, bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh, she was his second self, showing the close union and the affectionate attachment that should exist in this relation. ‘For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it.’ Ephesians 5:29. ‘Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one.’ God celebrated the first marriage. Patriarchs and Prophets, 46.

“Thus the Heavens and the Earth Were Finished”

  1. How long did it take God to create the heavens and the earth? Exodus 20:11.

NOTE: “Infidel geologists claim that the world is very much older than the Bible record makes it. They reject the testimony of God’s word because of those things which are to them evidences from the earth itself that it has existed tens of thousands of years. And many who profess to believe the Bible are at a loss to account for wonderful things which are found in the earth, with the view that creation week was only seven literal days, and that the world is now only about six thousand years old. These, to free themselves from difficulties thrown in their way by infidel geologists, adopt the view that the six days of creation were six vast, indefinite periods, and the day of God’s rest was another indefinite period; making senseless the fourth commandment of God’s holy law. Some eagerly receive this position, for it destroys the force of the fourth commandment, and they feel a freedom from its claims upon them.” Signs of the Times, March 20, 1879.

  1. What evidence do we have that God continues to sustain His creation? Nehemiah 9:6.

NOTE: “Rightly understood, both the revelations of science and the experiences of life are in harmony with the testimony of Scripture to the constant working of God in nature.” Education, 130.

Question: How do we know that the seventh day of the week today…

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Question:

How do we know that the seventh day of the week today is the same seventh day as when God created this planet?

Answer:

Who is the Author of the weekly cycle? It is certain that if some man figured it out and established it as a way to keep time and days straight, it would be recorded in the history books. But, then, if man did it, how did the weekly cycle become known in every country and tribe in the world? We know about the history of the sundial, about the calendar, and about Augustus Caesar changing the calendar. But the weekly cycle stayed the same through it all.

Considering the development of and changes to the calendar; the addition of months; the addition or subtraction of days due to calendar errors; the addition of “leap years”; the complete change from one calendar to another; changes to the beginning of the year; and many other changes noted in the historical record lead to one inescapable discovery: There is no historical record suggesting that the steady, seven-day week has ever been broken! When Julius Caesar added his 90 days to correct for errors in the Babylonian/Roman calendar, the date changed, not the day of the week. When the Gregorian calendar came into effect in 1582, the date changed, not the day of the week. Considering the supreme power emperors, kings, and rulers have had over the millennia, none have changed the day of the week.

Our best resource is the Bible—even though there are many other evidences. If we believe the Bible, we accept the creation story as it is written. “And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.” Genesis 2:2.

The fourth commandment says: “For [in] six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them [is], and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.” Exodus 20:11. Here the Lord Himself acknowledges the seven-day weekly cycle and the creation of the world in six days.

When Jesus was here on earth, He kept the commandments, including the fourth: “And, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read.” Luke 4:16. Then, in Revelation we read: “Blessed [are] they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.” Revelation 22:14. Therefore, we may come to the conclusion that the best and real source to believe that the seventh day is still the same day as the one at creation is the Bible. If we believe that the Bible is God’s Word, we should have no trouble believing that the Sabbath is still God’s holy day, and it is the same day of the week as when our world was created.

The seventh day was the last day of the cycle, and was the Sabbath set aside for God. Despite a long history since the resurrection of the Messiah where the “Christian Church” has foolishly attempted to change the day of rest to the first day, Sunday, the seven-day cycle still has not been broken. Those who wish to obey God and observe the Sabbath and keep it holy may be comforted to know that if you can determine the number of years which have passed since Adam, and divide the total number of days since then by seven, you will know exactly the number of weeks that have passed and know that the Sabbath you are observing is the same Sabbath observed since the beginning! The fact is that since the dawn of man, by the hand of God, the seven-day period was established, the seventh day declared “set aside” and “holy,” a day of rest, and despite the many opportunities by man to alter it (even still today), it has never been altered!

Editorial – Remember the Sabbath Day…

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There are three major positions that Christians take concerning the Sabbath of the fourth commandment (Exodus 20:8–11). The majority position of Christians today is that the Sabbath does not need to be kept for a variety of reasons.

The most straightforward reason is the reason that has been given by Roman Catholic theologians, namely: “Question: Which is the Sabbath day? Answer: Saturday is the Sabbath day. Question: Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday? Answer: We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church, in the Council of Laodicea (A.D. 336) [other sources say 364] transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.” Peter Gehermann, The Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, Second Edition, 1910, p. 50.

Other reasons given are that Sunday is observed in honor of Christ’s resurrection and simply because it has become a custom to worship God on this day or to rest on this day. Scholars have attempted to prove that the apostles, especially the apostle Paul, actually instigated the change but there is no real proof of this, as we will later see.

There are two minority positions taken by Christians today concerning the Sabbath. The first one is that we need to keep the law of Moses, which, of course, includes the seventh day Sabbath, and all the other laws written by Moses. The second minority position is that there are actually two codes of law in the Old Testament—one which is eternal, moral and unchangeable and the other which was temporary for the dispensation of the Old Covenant and not in force anymore.

Interestingly, proponents of all three positions have gone to the early and later church fathers, ancient Christian sources, for support of their position. Before investigating further, we need to know what sources we are going to depend on for authority. The Roman Catholic position is that tradition has authority as well as the Bible and not only written tradition but oral tradition. The Protestant position is that only the Bible should have authority in matters of faith and doctrine.

“The grand principle maintained by these Reformers—the same that had been held by the Waldenses, by Wycliffe, by John Huss, by Luther, Zwingli, and those who united with them—was the infallible authority of the Holy Scriptures as a rule of faith and practice. They denied the right of popes, councils, Fathers, and kings, to control the conscience in matters of religion.” The Great Controversy, 249.