The Age Of The Earth 8-3-25 AM

I.            The Gap Theory.

a.      Listen to Genesis 1:1-3.

b.      What the Gap Theory, which is not really a theory but a false idea, says is that there is at least one gap of time in these two verses, if not multiple gaps of time, that allow for there to be billions of years for evolution to take place.

c.       If you are like me, you are asking where is the gap?

d.      Those that say there is a gap say it is between verses 2 and 3.

          i.      The idea is that God created the heaven and the earth and that it was without form and void.

          ii.      The word “was” is important because they say that means the earth became without form and void or had become without form and void.

          iii.      This means that God had to recreate the earth.

          iv.      One writer stated, “It is the mistranslation of this word which has, perhaps, added more to the ranks of the gap theorists than any other factor.”

e.      They also go to Genesis 2:4 and say created and made mean two different things.

          i.      Created means created in the Hebrew.

          ii.      Made means recreated in the Hebrew.

          iii.      This is simply Hebrew parallelism, where one thing is stated two different ways.

          iv.      The heavens and earth were created; the Lord made the earth and heavens.

          v.      These two words, along with about eleven other words for creation, in Hebrew are used interchangeably.

f.        This last part of saying these two words mean different things is the most easily refuted aspect of this false idea.

          i.      Notice 1 Chr. 16:26 – made is the word here used to describe creation, and no one ever thinks this verse means a recreation.

         ii.      Neh. 9:6 – God created heaven, which in this verse means the realm of God, He did not recreate it.

         iii.      Ps. 33:6 – God did not recreate the heavens and no commentator has ever tried to say that is what this verse means.

g.      One of our own brethren, a man named John Clayton, went around teaching this for a number of years and may still be doing so.

h.      The truth is there is no gap or even room for a gap in Genesis 1.

i.        God created the heavens and earth on the first day.

         i.      The rest of the text no longer concerns itself with the heavens.

         ii.      It moves to the earth being without form and void.

         iii.      The earth, on day one, was unmolded by the creative hand of God.

         iv.      The succeeding days show how God molded and created this world into what was present while man was in the Garden of Eden up until the day the flood came.

j.        There is nothing in the text of Genesis 1:1-3 or 2:4 that demand a gap of time.

         i.      In fact, if there was a needed gap to be shown, there was a multitude of ways the Holy Spirit could have inspired Moses to write using Hebrew.

         ii.      When reading the account of Joseph there are three times we read of a gap of time and they are shown by the phrase “After these things” (Gen. 39:7; 40:1; 48:1).

          iii.      If a very long time was needed, the Hebrew phrase “many days” could have been used (found 38 times in the Old Testament).

           iv.      Neither of these phrases occurs in Genesis 1.

k.      Listen to this statement made by an Apologetics Press writer: So we are left to trust the Gap theorists that they are qualified to speak where the Bible is silent, and to understand in the Hebrew what no Hebrew scholars actually affirm, and what no qualified translators have ever put forth.

l.        So I conclude the Gap Theory is false.

II.            The Day-Age Theory.

a.      This idea about the age of the earth is much more popular than the Gap Theory among those who profess to be Christians.

b.      What this false idea asserts is that the days of creation were not literal 24 hour periods.

c.       Instead, each day was really long eons of time allowing for evolution to occur.

d.      There are basically two groups of people who believe this:

           i.      Those who completely accept organic evolution but do believe in God – we call them theistic evolutionists.

           ii.      Those who profess to believe in the Bible and don’t believe in organic evolution but do accept the commonly believed dating methods that say the earth is old – they believe God created the earth but did so progressively allowing geologic time for it to take place.

e.      We all know there are different ways to view the word day.

           i.      It can mean a literal 24 hour period.

           ii.      It can mean just the time when the sun is out – daytime.

           iii.      We also can use it to mean a period of time – back in my day.

f.        Listen to this paragraph that Eric Lyons wrote showing all the uses in one place: In Abraham’s day, God made a covenant with the righteous patriarch and his descendants, saying: “Every male child among you shall be circumcised…He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised” (Genesis 17:10, 12). As long as it was day eight, it may not have mattered if Abraham and his descendants circumcised their young males during the day or night. In Moses’ day, even if day eight fell on the seventh day (the Sabbath day), the Israelites were expected to circumcise their male children on this day, “so that the law of Moses should not be broken” (John 7:23).

g.      One of the passages that those who hold to this run to for support is 2 Pe. 3:8.

           i.      They say this verse means time means nothing to God.

           ii.      I was in a Bible class where this happened.

           iii.      All this means is that God does not need the time we might think He needs to do something.

h.      One of the main problems with this false idea is that it limits the ability of God to properly communicate.

           i.      If God wanted to tell us He created all things over vast spans of time, could He have not done that?

           ii.      If God wanted to tell us He created all things in six days, how else would He have done it?        

i.        The context of Genesis 1 demands that these be literal 24 hour days.

           i.      Notice Genesis 1:5 – the morning and evening.

           ii.      Notice Genesis 1:14 – if days are ages, what are years, or what is a night?

           iii.      One writer said, “If the word day in this chapter does not mean a period of 24 hours, the interpretation of scripture is hopeless.”

j.        Exodus 20:11 makes no sense if the days of Genesis 1 are not 24 hour days.

k.      If days are really long ages, you have plants created in the 3rd long age not getting any sunlight until the 4th long age.

           i.      They would be lasting for millions of years with no sunlight.

           ii.      Not only that but the animals and insects were not created until days 5 and 6 and certain plants need insects for pollination to occur.

l.        Plain passages of scripture show that the days of creation were literal 24 hour days:

           i.      Exodus 20:11; 31:17.

           ii.      Psalm 33:9; 148:5.

m.    But listen also to what Jesus has said (Mk. 10:6).

           i.      If this idea of the Day-Age Theory is true, man has not shown up until the last few hundred thousand years.

           ii.      Jesus said God made male and female from the beginning of the creation.

           iii.      Either evolution is true and Jesus is false or Jesus is true and evolution is false.

n.      Notice also Romans 1:20.

           i.      Man has been perceiving creation since the beginning.

           ii.      Man had to be here in the beginning in order to perceive that.

o.      It is not feasible to fit millions and millions of years into Genesis 1.

III.            The earth is young.

a.      The Bible clearly teaches a young earth.

b.      One has to believe in the Bible and its inspiration first.

           i.      The Bible claims to be from God (2 Tim. 3:16).

           ii.      The writers claim inspiration (2 Sam. 23:2).

c.       If it is such, which I believe it to be; it is going to be accurate about all things that are discussed in it.

           i.      It is right about history though not a history book.

           ii.      It is right about geography though not a geography textbook.

           iii.      It is right about science thought not a science book.

d.      So, when the Bible discusses things about the age of the earth it is accurate as well.

e.      The genealogies of Genesis 5, 10, and 11 all indicate that there was between 2,000 and 4,000 years between Abraham and creation.

           i.      History and scripture show there were about 2,000 years between Abraham and Jesus.

           ii.      Jesus lived roughly 2,000 years ago.

           iii.      These all go to show that the earth and the universe are fewer than 10,000 years old.

f.        Moses said that all things were created in 6 days (Ex. 20:11).

g.      When you read Romans 1:18-32 you see that God’s attributes have been clearly seen by man since “the creation of the world.”

h.      Notice Luke 11:50-51.

           i.      Jesus said the shedding of Abel’s blood occurred at the foundation of the world.

           ii.      According to the Big Bang idea, 99.96% of the earth’s existence took place before humans arrived.

           iii.      Either Jesus is wrong or the Big Bang is wrong.

i.        Human population statistics show that the earth is young.

           i.      If humans have been on the earth one million years, factoring in wars, disease and famine, there should be 10 to the 2000 place people on the planet today.

           ii.      There is not even 10 to the 10 place humans on the planet.

           iii.      To have what should be here, we would need 10 to the 200 place more universes the same size as ours to have that should be here according to evolution.

          iv.      However, if you base your calculations off the biblical model things are different.

          v.      If you assume the flood was roughly 4,500 years ago then you have all humanity coming from Noah’s 3 sons and their wives.

           vi.      Statistics show that there would be roughly 6.7 to 8.1 billion people on earth now.

           vii.      The US Census Bureau documents that the world’s population is no at 7.9 billion people.

j.        Carbon-14 dating suggests a young earth.

            i.      Right now, it takes 5,730 years for half of this element to break down into nitrogen-14 in wood or bone.

            ii.      After 57,300 years all the measurable Carbon-14 is gone.

            iii.      If Carbon-14 is detected in an uncontaminated specimen, the specimen cannot be older than 100,000.

            iv.      All the fossils that have been checked still contain Carbon-14.

            v.      It’s been found in wood dating to the Cenozoic era, which is believed to be up to 65 million years ago.

            vi.      Coal from the Paleozoic era, which is believed to be 40-320 million years ago.

            vii.      What this tells us is that the fossil record is not a record of life through time, but a record of death during the flood just a few thousand years ago.

k.      The fact that soft tissue/blood vessels in dinosaur fossils have been found show a young earth.

            i.      It is believed that dinosaurs became extinct anywhere from 65 to 200 million years ago.

            ii.      There is no conceivable way flesh could survive that long.

            iii.      Many fossils have been cracked open and studied only to find collagen and blood vessels with red blood cells intact, original proteins, and soft, stretchy, flexible tissue.

            iv.      Multiple species have been found this way.

            v.      Evolutionists have not come up with a reasonable explanation for this.

l.        There is plenty of reason to believe, even scientifically in a young earth.

(Some of this material came from Apologeticspress.com and from VBS material produced by Apologetics Press)