Jul
1
Yom
Filed Under Devotional
One little word, three little letters, and so much controversy: Yom. That translates into English as “day”.
“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you.
For 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 made it holy.” Exodus 20:8-11
Many learned Christian writers, including John Calvin, hold to a twenty-four hour day.
“The increase of his house will depart;
His possessions will flow away in the day of His anger.” Job 20:28
“for He says,
‘AT THE ACCEPTABLE TIME I LISTENED TO YOU,
AND ON THE DAY OF SALVATION I HELPED YOU.’
Behold, now is ‘THE ACCEPTABLE TIME,’ behold, now is ‘THE DAY OF SALVATION’ ” 2 Corinthians 6:2
The same word, Yom, is translated to mean, allegorically, a time period. Augustine held to this view.
We don’t all agree about how God intended the inspired Word to be translated, but we can all agree that it was inspired, as is all of Scripture. Don’t be afraid of this type of situation. Don’t let it erode your faith. God has the power to make the earth in twenty-four hour days with the apparent age assigned to all living things. He could do it in a nanosecond, if He chose. He may have chosen to do it differently. Just because we don’t understand the exact definition in every case only means that we don’t understand, it doesn’t mean that it isn’t true. Scripture is not meant to explain everything, but it is meant to teach and to keep us on track.
It is very easy for someone to bring up a point like this. Remember that it’s easy to ask a hard question on the fly, but not so easy to answer it in twenty-five words or less.