Ian McNaughton comments on the creation of the world

Ian McNaughton

The seven-day week speaks of creation ex nihilo. Why is there a seven-day week? This is a question that has puzzled many. It is not sufficient to end the creation story on the sixth day, this is because there is one more day in the weekly cycle that the Lord God made. God had already finished his work of creation by the end of the sixth day and so abstained from work on the seventh day. The seventh day week is the standard model of time around the globe and we find its origin in biblical history. The cycle of seven days bears no relation to the moon's rotation round the earth or the orbit of the earth round the sun. Thus appears the distinction between the six days of labour and the one of rest. If the six days of Genesis 1 are long ages, how long is the seventh (Sabbath) day!

In Exodus 20 we have the giving of the Ten Commandments. The fourth commandment agrees with the Bible's creation account in Genesis 1 & 2, which discloses that creation ex nihilo took six 24-hour days. Thus the children of Israel were reminded that sabbath day was also a day of 24 hours; in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it. But is there a reason why God took so long? He could have taken six seconds to make the cosmos, or six minutes, or six years, or six million years if he had so chosen. Yet the seven day week is the norm. So why? Two reasons stand out:

The first is to teach humankind that 24 hours is the length of a day including the day of the Jewish sabbath and their sabbath rest. So God arranged the lives of his people around the sabbath. God made time. Time does not exist independently but is the product of the creation week. The seven-day week owes its origin to the religious significance that was placed on it, in the Holy Scriptures. Efforts to find its origin in ancient near Eastern calendars or in the Hellenistic world during the second century B.C. are mooted to deny once again the authority and grace of God our Creator. It is worthy of note that the synagogue was known as "the sabbath house" as it was established after the destruction of the first temple by the Babylonians in sixth century B.C. to enable the exiles to worship one day in seven. It was deliberately designed to bring a weekly congregation together to pray and read the Torah taking the place of sacrifice. Thus the seven day cycle goes back to Genesis 1 & 2 and not to the Babylonians or the Greeks. The weekly pattern of six-days of work and one-day of rest is God's idea. God established a pattern for man to follow. So God took six days to create the world for humanities benefit and for its prosperity, dignity and unity. It was an act of love on his part as well as power: an act of condescension as well as glory. A day of rest one day in seven is a pattern to be followed, a provision to be welcomed and a gift to prize.

The second reason for six day creation is that it is a proof of God's existence as the New Testament makes clear; "For since the creation of the world his (God's) invisible attributes are clearly seen". This means that those who deny God's existence and intelligence are deceiving themselves when they refuse to acknowledge that God is God. Beholding the world's beauty and the sky's glory, one sees the work of God; this the Psalmist acknowledged, "the heavens declare his handiwork". General revelation (creation) is so clear an evidence of God's existence, that according to the Bible, it leave us all without excuse. When God created matter out of nothing (ex nihilo) he did not use magic. The supernatural may be mysterious but creation in six-days is not some trick or illusion but the planned omnipotent work of God. When he said, 'let there be light' we understand his will and when we read 'and there was light' we read of his work.

• Only God can create out of nothing


• Only Intelligence can design and manufacture


• Only life can beget life

God created a universe with laws and systems that cosmologists, physicists and others can discover, explore and learn from, but most of all that they might believe!