If God did not create the sun and the moon till the 4th day (Genesis 1 vs. 16)?

Question

How was time measured before then? How could God have created the Universe in 6 days when there was no such thing as a day or night till the 4th day?

Answer 1

We don'e know how god measured time before the creation of the sun and moon to differenciate. His four days could have been thousands of years to us, but since he is omniscient and omnipresent and all powerful, his four days could equal four thousand years for us. Remember, he spent an eternity planning this all out. He was in heaven for an eternity before he created the universe.

Answer 2

According to Genesis 1, the sun was not created until day four. How could there be day and night (ordinary days) without the sun for the first three days?
Answer

a) Again, it is important for us to let the language of God’s Word speak to us. If we come to Genesis 1 without any outside influences, as has been shown, each of the six days of creation appears with the Hebrew word yom qualified by a number, and the phrase ‘evening and morning.’ The first three days are written the same way as the next three. So if we let the language speak to us—all six days were ordinary Earth days.

b) The sun is not needed for day and night! What is needed is light and a rotating Earth. On the first day of creation, God made light (Gen. 1:3). The phrase ‘evening and morning’ certainly implies a rotating Earth. Thus if we have light from one direction, and a spinning Earth, there can be day and night.

Where did the light come from? We are not told, but Genesis 1:3 certainly indicates it was a created light to provide day and night until God made the sun on day four to rule the day He had made. Revelation 21:23 tells us that one day the sun will not be needed, as the glory of God will light the heavenly city.

Perhaps one reason God did it this way was to illustrate that the sun did not have the priority in the creation that people have tended to give it. The sun did not give birth to the earth as evolutionary theories postulate; the sun was God’s created tool to rule the day that God had made (Gen. 1:16).

Down through the ages people, such as the Egyptians, have worshipped the sun. God warned the Israelites in Deuteronomy 4:19 not to worship the sun like the pagan cultures around them did. They were commanded to worship the God who made the sun—not the sun that was made by God.

Evolutionary theories (the ‘big bang’ hypothesis for instance) state that the sun came before the earth, and that the sun’s energy on the earth eventually gave rise to life. Just as in pagan beliefs, the sun is, in a sense, given credit for the wonder of creation.

It is interesting to contrast the speculations of modern cosmology with the writings of the early church father, Theophilus:

‘On the fourth day the luminaries came into existence. Since God has foreknowledge, he understood the nonsense of the foolish philosophers who were going to say that the things produced on earth came from the stars, so that they might set God aside. In order therefore that the truth might be demonstrated, plants and seeds came into existence before stars. For what comes into existence later cannot cause what is prior to it.’

Answer 3

there is no such thing as a day or a night until the fourth because there is no day and night until the North. Out of the north shall rise a great nation. We all have a part in His creation. The creator is the One that deserves the ovation not the donation. Get singing instead of questioning is what I think He would say! Hee Hee just kidding on that one! But really on the other answer.

Answer 4

In my day things were different! ( Generation)
How could you explain a computer or airplane to Moses?
Different as Day and night ( Black and White)
So please explain the terms you are defining.
Day literal? Day Figuratively? Daytime...12 hours
Day 24 hours? Day in Gods eyes is not even a nano second to our life time.
Try to explain life without a beginning nor an end and you may be seeking the wisdom of God. Keep asking and not doubting that there are many things that mankind will never know unless God explains it to them.
Study of creation is much different than being the Creator. A pot would not ask the potter " Why did you make me this way" Become a useful vessel and praise God and not man. Great question for the critical minds but not those with faith? The Bible is a treasure of wisdom but by no means does God weigh us done with details that will not help us day to day to praise Him.

Answer 5

My theory is that Time didn't exist. God took his "time" to create this beautiful world that we as humans are destroying little by little. Day or night was not created until the sun was made, therefore the Sun is part of the universe, day or night didn't exist till the fourth day.....God just gave us a time frame for us to have an idea of the order he created the gift of what we call LIife.

Answer 6

People mistake day and night for sun and moon. In the first day G-d created light and dark,- day and night and in the 4th day sun and moon.

Answer 7

Didn't say He created the universe in 6 days. He created the earth and everything on it and rested on the 7th day.

The earth was without form, and void; and the darkness was on the face of the deep.

Then God said, "Let there be light".

Answer 8

Mankind created "time" not God. God is not affected by "time."
No one knows the length of "day" given in the Bible. Since time was instituted during the writing of the Torah, time was used as a reference.

When is the "beginning," or is there truly one?

Answer 9

You must have overlooked verse 5 - And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

Answer 10

Genesis 1:3 And God ssaid, Let their be light and there was light, First Day