[This is one in a series of devotional reflections prepared for Horley Baptist Church during November 2022]
Throughout the history of Christendom, whenever people have studied the Bible diligently there have arisen differences of opinion about how it should be understood. Sometimes these are just interesting debates but they can also result in dispute and division. There are many examples of where people who agree on the basics of the faith find that their differences have threatened the unity of their worship.
One such debate goes back to the first chapter of the Bible:
God called the light ‘day’, and the darkness he called ‘night’. And there was evening, and there was morning – the first day. Genesis 1 v5 [NIVUK]
Did you see the ambiguity? The word ‘day’ is used to describe both the period of light and then the combined period of light and darkness.
Some people argue that the use of ‘day’ for each stage of creation signifies 24 earth-hours; other believers are less adamant. The original writers had to use the vocabulary of their time to convey their message to their hearers and readers; they had no understanding of the solar system as we know it and the sun itself was not created until the fourth ‘day’.
A keen railway modeller wanted to create a new wagon for his layout. He considered the plans, assembled the parts, aligned the buffers, lubricated the bogies, painted the wagon and added appropriate decorations. It took several days; at the end of each day he paused to check his progress; it looked good. When the model subsequently took first prize in a local show his peers described it as ‘very good’.
Did God do something similar? The Genesis account tells us that “God said … and it was so”. Not for him the challenges and mis-steps in making the pieces fit. He spoke, it happened. God has no peers but perhaps a host of angels applauded his works of creation at the end of each stage.
If a creation day was equivalent to 24 earth-hours then what was God doing for the other 23 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds of each day? It might be interesting to speculate but not to the point of compromising our relationships with believers who might have a different opinion. The apostle Paul gave some sound advice to his protege Timothy:
Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. 2 Timothy 2 v23 [NIVUK]
By contrast, there is no ambiguity or disagreement about a specific period of time recorded by the first three gospel writers – those three hours when the sun was darkened at the time of the death of Jesus Christ. The sun would not illuminate the demise of its creator,[1] the execution squad was convinced of his innocence[2] and even the angels who had applauded the miracles of creation and sang praises at the birth of Jesus were now silent.
What is your reaction to the death of Jesus?
[1] eg Luke 23 v44
[2] Matthew 27 v54
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Contributed by Steve Humphreys; © the Author
Wagons don’t have bogies! Or is that a foolish and stupid argument?
These do!
https://youtu.be/-y9OqAXpoRw?t=184