In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea,
and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day.
–Exodus 20:11 (KJV)–

This verse shows that the days in the first chapter of Genesis were real twenty four hour days. For you compare like things to like. Just as God worked six days and rested on the seventh, so the Israelites were to do also. The comparison would make no sense if the days were “seven ages” or were “seven ages” that overlapped each other (Day Age Theory) or if there was a huge gap between the days (Gap Theory). These are modern compromises to accommodate the alleged geological ages with the Biblical account of creation. Further this verse allows one to determine the age of the universe. Using the Biblical genealogies (Gen. 5; 11:10-32), Bishop Ussher determined the date of creation to be 4004 B.C. Although this may be off by one or two percent, it is a very accurate estimate based on Biblical revelation, not man’s speculation.

–EDITOR OF JOHN GILL’S COMMENTARY ON EXODUS 20:11–

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Norman Geisler, “A Response to Ken Ham and Answers in Genesis.”

AiG, “The Early Church on Creation.”

Douglas Hamp, The First Six Days (Yoel Press, 2007), ch. 7: “‘Days’ According to the Church Fathers.” Here is the AUDIO BOOK.

John Haley, Alleged Errors of the Bible (Whitaker House, 2019). Originally published in 1874, the year before Charles Finney died, under the title of An Examination of the Alleged Discrepancies of the Bible, he was also from the same denomination at the time: the Congregational Church. While Haley technically remained silent on the age of the earth in this book, he seems to align with a traditional literalist view of the Genesis 1 six day creation, and would be much more compatible as a resource for believers in young earth creation, than Geisler or Gleason Archer are. It was Charles Finney who said, “For SIX THOUSAND YEARS God has been hearing it, and still the world is spared, and the vengeance of God has not yet burst forth to smite all His guilty calumniators to Hell!” (Sermon: “The Excuses of Sinners Condemn God”).

Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People (Penguin, 1991). This medieval church historian was a young earth creationist just like Josephus.