The Earth: God's Clock

At the first instant of time, God reached out of his own eternal domain and created the physical domain. God spoke and the rotating earth "stood fast" (Ps. 33:6-9), "hung on nothing" (Job 26:7) in space, in darkness(Gen. 1:2) —a sphere (Isa. 40:22) of watery mud.(Gen. 1:2)

Light
During the first earth rotation, God created light and created day and night by separating darkness from light.
And God separated the light from the darkness. And God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day. (Gen. 1:4,5)
From this statement, supported by the laws of motion and inertia and the fact that earth rotations still separate day from night, we can deduce that the earth was rotating and measuring time from the instant it was made. At the end of each of 6 evening-morning periods, Genesis 1 restates this simple clear definition to reinforce the meaning of "Day." Night-day transitions are the hands on the face of this giant clock we all ride on. No passenger can escape the meaning of "day."

"Days" are Earth-rotations
With eternal God's timepiece, time-bound finite man would be able to comprehend his own brief opportunity to respond to his Maker. He can number his days, see his brief opportunity to trust God, and fear a soon-coming Judge. He can understand God’s time limits on Bible warnings and appreciate God's loving patience with man. He would need to understand how his days are limited and accountability is inevitable. Without God’s timepiece man would not understand the urgency of time-limited warnings and our Creator could not righteously hold a man to account if He did not define time precisely.

God's Time Standard
The world time standard was not installed at Greenwich, England a few hundred years ago; it was hung in space "in the beginning." Beginning at Time-0 the earth's rotation speed established the length of a day that does not change. Its invariability represents its Maker well. Days set the very rhythm of our life. We can number our days and know that one of them will be our last. Earth-rotations are the universal time standard by which finite man understands eternal God's precise time references on nearly every page of God's Word.

Because the earth-clock started precisely at the beginning of time we have an accurate measure of the Creator's power. By the Creator’s timepiece we appreciate how infinite power is His power that could create all in 6 earth-rotations. By accomplishing the creation of all this complexity and immensity before the earth had rotated six times, God revealed infinite power and intelligence. With the same clock measuring time then and now, we can perceive His infinite greatness far above our own.
For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. (Rom 1:20)

The earth’s rotation defined "day." The earth’s circuit around the sun defined a year. The moon established months and the Creator’s work established weeks. Seasons, mentioned in Gen. 1:14, implies the tilt of the earth’s axis from the beginning. The Bible numbers the days of the week and months of the year. Pagan cultures have named the days and months to honor their gods, but weeks still honor God’s work in spite of many attempts in the past to improve on the seven day cycle.

The light at the beginning came from a source other than the sun, as it will again in the future when the sun is removed. (Rev. 21:23-25 & 22:5) The sun, moon and stars were not created until the fourth earth rotation.
And God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also. And God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good. (Gen. 1:16-18).

Sovereign God Rules Time

God gave man dominion over matter and space but retained exclusive control over time for Himself.

Jesus’ power over time —His instant miracles —was the proof of His Deity. Jesus' miracles achieved natural results in supernatural time. If Jesus had said to the waves, "Peace be still!" and after an hour they calmed down, there would be no miracle. Changing water into wine is natural, but it takes months to grow grapes and make the wine.Those who arrived after a miracle seldom saw evidence for the supernatural.

Recent Creation

Six days you shall labor and do all your work,[...] 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. (Ex 20:9-11)
When God defined "day" by creating and naming it as He did, He established an unmistakable model for Israelite workers.

The fourth commandment says God worked six days and rested on the seventh day. So Israelites were to work for six days and rest for one. The only reason given for this commandment is to imitate God’s ways —an often given reason to obey God. For example:
"Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy." 1Pe 1:16

Without God’s timepiece we, and the Israelites could interpret days as weeks, years, eons or anything we liked. How would they measure time so they could know when they were obedient?

The 4th commandment —words not just inspired but inscribed by God —settles creation time, and with it all the petty arguments.
The context demands 24 hour days. (Israelite work days) If days were long periods, then were Israelites to work for say 6000 years and rest for 1000? Ridiculous! All creation work was done in those 6 earth-rotations. If God did any odd jobs outside that period, He was moonlighting, violated His own model and was dishonest. Could God communicate this pivotal truth with any more force?

Long Ages and Doublemindedness
Those who dislike evolution but who cannot trust the Bible's plain meaning completely will first raise the possibility of long ages. This supposedly optional belief leaves open the door to rescue the Bible’s credibility if evolutionists are right. But this door swings two ways. It distances the Creator, doubts infinite power and flirts with the lie that, Given enough time, creatures can improve themselves. "Time makes a fool wise." Not true! Compromising the clearly stated date and duration of creation begins a double-minded slide. Charles Darwin was once a preacher of the Gospel who began his slide into atheism by questioning the Bible's emphatically stated creation in 6 earth rotations.