Indeed, this is why the author of Genesis has gone to great lengths to carefully define the word “day” the first time it appears. Thus, the word “day” cannot be used symbolically the first time it is used in the Book of Genesis, as this is where God not only introduced the word “day” into the narrative, but also defined it as He invented it. The word “door” could not be used in this manner unless it first had the literal meaning we understand it to have. Because we understand its literal meaning, it is able to be applied in a symbolic sense to Jesus Christ, so we understand that “He” is not literally a door. In the New Testament we are told that Jesus is the “door.” We know what this means because we know the word “door” means an entrance. However, an important point that many fail to consider is that a word can never be symbolic the first time it is used! In fact, a word can only be used symbolically when it has first had a literal meaning. Some people say the word “day” in Genesis may have been used symbolically and is thus not meant to be taken literally. Furthermore, it is important to note that even when the word yom is used in the indefinite sense, it is clearly indicated by the context that the literal meaning of the word “day” is not intended. The word which means a long period of time in Hebrew is olam. Without exception, in the Hebrew Old Testament the word yom never means “period” (i.e., it is never used to refer to a definite long period of time with specific beginning and end points). It can mean either a day (in the ordinary 24-hour day), the daylight portion of an ordinary 24-hour day (i.e., day as distinct from the night), or occasionally it is used in the sense of an indefinite period of time (e.g., “in the time of the Judges” or “In the day of the Lord”). The word for “day” in Genesis 1 is the Hebrew word yom. Does it really matter what length these days were? Is it possible to determine whether or not they were ordinary days, or long periods of time? What is a “day?” However, there is a view in our churches which has become prevalent over the years that these “days” could have been thousands, millions, or even billions of years in duration. When one picks up a Bible, reads Genesis chapter 1, and takes it at face value, it seems to say that God created the world, the universe, and everything in them in six ordinary (approximately 24 hour) days.
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