“Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. Then 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. God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on 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. So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.” (Genesis 1:14-19 NKJV).
“And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, to divide between day and night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and for years. And let them be for light in the firmament of the heaven, so as to shine upon the earth, and it was so. And God made the two great lights, the greater light for regulating the day and the lesser light for regulating the night, the stars also. And God placed them in the firmament of the heaven, so as to shine upon the earth, and to regulate day and night, and to divide between the light and the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.” (Genesis 1:14-19 LXX).
On the Fourth Creation Day, God filled the universe with galaxies, stars, planets, and moons from the matter and energy created on the first day. These heavenly spheres were to function as markers for years, seasons, months, weeks, and days (Genesis 1:14-19 NKJV). The sun marked the day (sunset to sunset), the moon marked the month (new moon to new moon), and the stars marked the seasons (spring, summer, winter, and autumn). The pre-flood year was 360 days long, its month equaled 30 days, and its week equal seven days, according to some creation science researchers. Time as we know it began during this day; however, if we could measure the period of the first three days, each day would equal 24 hours in duration because Exodus 20:11 and Exodus 31:17 says God created the physical universe in six days.
THE FORMATION OF STARS
God created many first generation stars. A Star system is massive celestial body made up of gas that shines by radiant energy generated from within. The Milky Way Galaxy contains hundreds of billions of stars. The closest star to Earth is the Sun. The closest star to the Sun is about 4.2 light-years away and the most distant stars are in galaxies billions of light-years away. Single stars such as the Sun are the minority and many stars occur in pairs and multiple systems. Stars also associate by their mutual gravity in larger assemblages called clusters. Constellations consist not of such groupings but of stars in the same direction as seen from Earth. Stars vary greatly in brightness, color, temperature, mass, size, chemical composition, and age. For many stars, hydrogen is the most abundant element. Stars are classified by their spectra, from blue-white to red, as O, B, A, F, G, K, and M. The Sun is a spectral type G star. Some stars other than the Sun are known to have one or more planets.
When God formed the stars from the matter and energy created on the first day, the light from the stars reach the Earth rapidly. The speed of light was faster during the creation week than it is today (300,000 km per second) because the speed of light has been slowing down since the creation week, according to astronomer Barry Setterfield. Animals and plants were able to survive faster light speed because the pre-flood crystalline canopy offered stronger protection from deadly outer-space radiation, according to Dr. Carl Baugh. The star light was also able to reach the planet Earth faster because of the gravitational space time dilation effect proliferating throughout the universe during the creation week. This history means the universe expanded rapidly during the first five creation days before stabilizing by day six. The rapid expansion of the universe caused a gravitational space time dilation effect throughout the cosmos, according to Dr. Russell Humphreys.
THE FORMATION OF GALAXIES
The creation of galaxies included billions of star systems and interstellar matter that make up the universe. The Galaxies vary considerably in size, composition, structure, and activity, but nearly all are arranged in groups, or clusters, containing from a few galaxies to as many as 10,000. Each is composed of millions to trillions of stars; in many, as in the Milky Way Galaxy, nebulae can be detected. A large fraction of the bright galaxies in the sky is spiral galaxies, with a main disk in which spiral arms wind out from the center. The Milky Way Galaxy is probably located near the center of the universe, according to Dr. Russell Humphreys. The stars in galaxies are massive celestial body of gas that shines by radiant energy generated inside it. The Milky Way Galaxy contains hundreds of billions of stars and only small fractions are visible to the unaided eye. The Sun is a star around which the components of the solar system revolve. This star system was created less than 10,000 years ago and is the dominant body in our solar system, with more than 99 percent of its mass.
FORMATION OF PLANETS AND MOONS
The creation of planets included large natural bodies orbiting the Sun or another star system. The word planet comes from the Greek for “wanderer,” because the planets’ positions change relative to those of the stars. The eight recognized planets that orbit the Sun are, in order of increasing distance, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. The moon was created to be the sole natural satellite of Earth. The moon orbits from west to east at a mean distance of approximately 384,400 kilometers. It is less than one-third the size of Earth. Its surface gravity is about one-sixth that of Earth and its gravitational pull is largely responsible for Earth’s tides. The Moon shines by reflected sunlight. It rotates on its axis in about 29.5 days, in exactly the time it takes to orbit Earth, and it therefore always presents the same face to Earth. However, that face is lit by the Sun at different angles as the Moon revolves around Earth, causing it to display different phases over the month, from new to full.
CREATION DAY FOUR ANALYSIS
During the four day, the account does not say how the heavenly bodies were formed. It is possible (as discussed on day one) that the material from which they were made had existed in the “heavens” that were created on day one, but was formless and void like the Earth. God may then have put them into their ultimate form and assigned them their duties here on day four. Again, God saw that what He had made was good. Genesis 1:2-31 describes the creation of the universe from a geocentric orientation. In other words, the creation account is told from the perspective of the Earth’s surface. While each creation day was a normal 24-hour solar day in duration on Earth’s surface, billions of years of cosmic history transpired in the outer regions of space. This means the first creation day represents 8 billion years of cosmic history; the second creation day represents 4 billion years of cosmic history; the third creation day represents 2 billion years of cosmic history; the fourth creation day represent 1 billion years of cosmic history; the fifth creation day represents 500 millions of cosmic history; and the sixth creation day represents 250 million years of cosmic history. However, all six days equal normal solar days on the Earth’s surface. This means the billions of years of cosmic history given to the universe is a reflection of the universe physical size, but not a precise indication of the universe’s real age. While the Holy Scriptures reveals no precise date for when God created the universe, creation science researchers have determined that the universe is probably less than 10,000 years old.
CREATION SCIENCE SOURCES
The New King James Version (NKJV); The Alexandrian Septuagint LXX translated by Sir Lancelot C. L. Brenton; Halley’s Bible Handbook by Henry Halley; Three Views on Creation and Evolution by J.P. Morland & J.M. Reynolds; Understanding Creation by Mark Worthon & Hill Roberts; Understanding The Bible by Kendell H. Easley; The Dead Sea Scrolls by Craig A. Evans; Christian Apologetics by Doug Powell; Theories of the Universe by Gary F. Moring; String Theory by George Musser; The New Answers Book by Ken Ham; Biblical Creationism by Henry Morris; Genesis Conflict by Walter Veith,