"IT'S A YOUNG WORLD AFTER ALL" ©1986 by Paul D. Ackerman    http://www.creationism.org/books/ackerman/

The following points are a summary of the biblical doctrine of a young creation:

1. God spoke the following words directly to Moses: "For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them. . ." (Exodus 20:11, NASB).

2. Genesis 1 specifically says that each of the six days of creation consisted of one evening and one morning. For example: "And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day" (Genesis 1:23, NASB).

3. Adam and Eve were created on the sixth day (Gen. 1:27; cf. Gen. 2) and became the parents of all the people that have ever lived (Gen. 3:20). Genesis 5:5 states that Adam lived 930 years before he died. Therefore, the time from the sixth day of creation until Adam's death was 930 years. We know the creation days were short in duration because (1) they each consisted of one morning and evening, and (2) Adam lived through at least part of the sixth day plus the entire seventh day and still lived "only" 930 years.

4. Genesis 5 and 11 provide a detailed genealogy from Adam to Abraham. Gaps are precluded because the age of each patriarch is given at the age of his son's birth. We are told, for example, that "Seth lived one hundred and five years, and became the father of Enosh" (Gen. 5:6, NASB). We are also told how old each patriarch was at his death.

    Thus, the time frame from creation to Abraham is clearly on the order of a few thousand years.

5. The historical lineage from Abraham to the present is well understood. Scripture provides a detailed history from Abraham to Christ, and our present calendar measures from Christ to the present. The total time period is again a matter of a few thousand years.

6. What about the time-gap theory? Lucifer was the chief of God's created angels and rebelled against God and fell from his original state of beauty and perfection. We now know him as Satan or the devil. Some have suggested that Lucifer's fall occurred before the six creation days, during a time gap between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2.

The theory of a gap between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2 (during which Lucifer was created and fell) cannot be true, because Ezekiel 28:13 tells us that Lucifer in his pre-fall state of splendor and beauty was in the Garden of Eden. Scripture also states clearly that Eden was planted during the six creation days (Gen. 2:4-9), and therefore Lucifer's fall cannot have been prior to the six days of creation.

We also know that on Day Six, God saw all that he had made and it was still "very good" (Gen. 1:31). Exodus 20:11 confirms that God created all that is in heaven and earth in six days. Lucifer/Satan is in heaven and earth. Therefore, he cannot have preceded the six creation days, and his fall cannot have been before Day Six.