There is not one specific verse in the Bible that states, “The creation of the world occurred in _____.” Instead, the approximate date of Creation can be derived by using the Creation account in Genesis 1, the genealogies found in Genesis 5 and Genesis 11, and so on.
Many have tried to argue that billions of years could be inserted somewhere before the creation of Adam, through ideas like the Day-Age Theory and Gap Theory. However, they neglect the fact that Jesus said Adam was created “at the beginning” (Matthew 19:5; Mark 10:6). Also, the language of Genesis account of creation does not allow for a world before the creation of Adam. Genesis 1:5 says, “And God called the light day, and the and the dark he called night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.” So, time began with the creation of the universe, on day one and five 24-hour days before the creation of Adam.
In Exodus, God gave Israel the Ten Commandments. The fourth commandment directs Israel to work six days, but rest on the sabbath, because God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. From this, we see that God took six days to create the universe to provide an example for man. The creation week was a template for man to work. The creation week was also a template for the land. Israel was to work the land for six years and let it rest on the seventh.
Many Bible scholars in the past were of the belief that the creation week is also a template for the history of the earth. There will be 6,000 years of recorded history for mankind before Jesus returns and establishes his 1000-year kingdom on planet Earth. The Bible says that a thousand years is as one day with the Lord. “Don’t forget this fact, dear friends: with the Lord, a single day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a single day” (2 Peter 3:8). “For a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it is past. And like a watch in the night” (Psalm 90:4). After 7,000 years, God will create a new heaven and earth for the faithful angels and redeemed man.
A major problem in discovering a date for the creation week problem is the difference between the account of Bishop Ussher in his book, Annals of the World; and the Jewish sages. According to Bishop Ussher, creation week occurred in 4004 BCE. So, in the year 2022 CE it has been 6025 years since creation. But according to the Jewish sages it has been 5783 years since creation. Logic dictates that both accounts can’t be right, unless we have been transported to the Twilight Zone. However, both can be wrong. So, what is the difference between the two accounts? Which account is the correct account? Is either account correct?
The Jewish account of the genealogies put Terah, Abraham’s father as being 70 years old when Abram (Abraham) was born. (Genesis 11:26). The Jewish account is supported by Josephus. (Antiquities of the Jews Book 1 chapter VI,5) That would mean Abraham was 135 years old when Terah died. Bishop Ussher, however, states that Abram (Abraham) was 75 years old when his father, Terah died at the age of 205 years. If the Bishop Ussher calculation is correct, which I think it is, then Terah was 130 years old when Abraham was born. That means the Jewish Sages’s account is off by 65 years. Which would put Adam’s creation 5848 years ago
The Jewish Sage’s account also shortens the Persian Empire by 100 years. The significance of that action is ending Daniel’s 69th week in the second century rather than the first century. They did that because there was a man in 132 CE who claimed to be the Messiah. His name was Simon Bar Kokhba and he tried again to bring down the Roman occupation of Judea. Blessed by the rabbinic sage Rabbi Akiva, Simon Bar Kokhba (“Son of the Star,” in Aramaic) was a legendary figure who led the Jews out from under the heels of the Roman army. For two and a half years, following a successful guerilla insurgency, Simon ruled over an independent Jewish state. However, his action failed when the Roman emperor sent the Roman army into Judea. The Roman army went through the land and killed every Jewish male. They sold women and children into slavery, burned every wooden structure, pulled down every stone building and then sowed salt wherever vegetation was growing, Then, renamed the land of Judea as Palestine, after the Jews greatest enemy, the Philistines.
The Jewish sages persist in this error, which adds 100 years to the date of which Adam was created, making it as 5948 years ago that Adam was created. They should know that their calculations are off because the prophets say that the Jews will be in the land of Israel in the last generation before Messiah establishes his kingdom. Evangelicals agree with this assessment. The only difference is the Jews are looking for his first coming and evangels are looking for his second coming.
Now let me address the calculations of Bishop Ussher. Bishop Ussher wrote book Annals of the World, in 1640. This was before the many archeological discoveries in the 19th and 20th centuries. Bishop Ussher placed the start of the Temple under Soloman at 1012 BCE and the Exodus at 1491 BCE. At present, because of archeological discoveries the start date of the temple construction is calculated as 967 BCE. This would place the Exodus at 1447 BCE. This date was first promoted by Emanuel Velikovsky in his book; Worlds in Collision. The date of 1447 for the exodus is also confirmed by Donovan Courville in his book The Exodus problem and its Ramifications. The date is also supported by Donald Wesley Patten in his books The long day of Joshua and six other Catastrophes, and Catastrophism and the Old Testament. If the date of the Exodus in 1447 BCE, and the rest of Bishop Ussher’s calculations are correct, then the date of creation would at 3960 BCE. That date would mean that the year 2022 CE is 5981 years from the creation of Adam and the year 2041 will be 6000 years since the creation.
Another indication that we are living in the last of the last days is the historical declaration which made Israel a nation. Jesus said, “Now learn from the parable of the fig tree; When his branch is tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh. So likewise ye, when ye see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.” (Matthew 24:32-34) In Genesis 15 God made a covenant with Abraham. When God made that covenant, he told Abraham that his seed would be a stranger in a land (Egypt) that was not theirs for 400 years and in the 4th generation they would come back to Canaan. So, if God says that 4 generations is 400 years, how long is one generation? That’s right, 100 years. So the generation that witnessed the birth of Israel in 1948, will end in 2048.
All these calculations point to the fact that we are still a few years short of 6000 years of human history. That the creation week is a template for human history should not be cast away as not relevant. But something else caught my attention. The number seven is the number of lamps on. a menorah. The middle lamp is called the Servant Lamp or the Lamp of God. Looking at the revised history, the Servant Lamp position would be the years 960 BCE to 41 CE. That millennium is the same that saw the ministry of the God’s servant Jesus Christ. His birth, life, death and resurrection
So, what should we conclude from what I have just said? Am I date setting? I don’t think so. In Matthew 24, Jesus tells his disciples that they should know when the end is near, but they wouldn’t know the exact date. He said, this generation would see that the end was near. How near would that be? One day? One year? Ten years? One thing is certain, time is short. History is coming to a conclusion. Little time left to get right with God.