2. Old Earth Ministries Homeschool Series Creation The Fourth Day

3. Creation – The Fourth Day The 4th day of creation is discussed by God in Genesis Chapter 1, verses 14 thru 19. Click to proceed

4. Creation – The Fourth Day And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years. Genesis 1:14 Click to proceed Long before man invented the calendar, God planned the divisions of time by seasons, days, and years

5. Creation – The Fourth Day And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years. Genesis 1:14 Click to proceed Many Christians assume that God made the sun and the moon on Day Four However, the sun, moon, and stars existed before this point This does not make the Bible wrong…it must simply be interpreted correctly How did God do it? This doesn’t make sense. What does the Bible say?

6. Creation – The Fourth Day The creation account is written from the point of view of an observer standing on the surface of the earth Click to proceed Day Four is the point at which the atmosphere, created on Day Two, is clear enough to see the sun and moon for the first time Prior to this point, the sun did light the earth, but with the new atmosphere, the observer is unable to visibly see the sun and moon for millions of years due to the particles in the atmosphere

7. Creation – The Fourth Day The plants created on Day Three did not need direct sunlight to grow. The earliest plants in the fossil record are simple algae’s Click to proceed Further plant creation is ongoing on Day 4 with the principle of “Creation Overlap” As the earth’s atmosphere cleared, more delicate plants could be created which could withstand the direct rays of the sun

8. Creation – The Fourth Day And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth; and it was so. Genesis 1:15 Click to proceed In order for advanced life forms to survive, direct sunlight was needed. The sunlight provides for increased growth of plants, which are needed for food by the animals to be created later

9. Creation – The Fourth Day “And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; He made the stars also. Genesis 1:16 Click to proceed As the young atmosphere cleared, the moon became visible from the surface of the earth, as well as the stars To the observer on earth, it would appear that God just created these objects, when in fact they already existed

10. Creation – The Fourth Day Click to proceed Our sun rules the daytime, and is the greatest light in our sky. It is not the greatest star. There are many stars that are brighter than our sun. From the surface of the earth, our sun appears to be the greatest. It is clear that the Genesis account is written from the point of view of an observer standing on the surface of the earth “And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good.” Genesis 1:17-18

11. Creation – The Fourth Day And the evening and the morning were the Fourth Day. Genesis 1:19 Click to proceed Day Four details the purpose of the sun and moon, and their first appearance from the surface of the earth Direct sunlight is critical for the survival of plants, which animals depend upon for food With this sunlight, plants are able to grow rapidly, allowing the animals that God will create later to survive

12. Creation – The Fourth Day How Long is the Fourth Day? Click to proceed With Creation Overlap, it is difficult to determine exact lengths for any of the days of creation With Day Four, there is no clear starting point Length is not as important as the events that occurred in these Days as told by God We cannot know why God chose to divide the days of creation the way He did Day Five records the creation of the first animal life, which first appears in the fossil record about 600 million years ago – that is probably the best estimate for the end of Day Four

13. Creation – The Fourth Day More on Creation Overlap Click to proceed The days of creation categorize the events into logical groups. For example, Day 3 is plants, Day 4 is Light, Day 5 is ocean life, and so on Clearly God was still making plants at the same time we see Him making animals on Day 6. We know this is true because grass first appears about 70 million years ago, well after the arrival of the dinosaurs Creation Overlap, the process of the creation day events overlapping each other, is critical to a correct understanding of the Bible and science Consider Day 3. New plant species appear throughout the fossil record, all the way from 3.8 billion years ago to the present

14. Creation – The Fourth Day The fourth day of creation presents no problems for a person who believes in an old earth You can believe that God’s Word is without error, and that the earth is 4.5 billion years old This concludes this module on the 4th Day of Creation