The Bible allows for the possibility that the earth is ancient, but also suggests that it is very young.
Old Earth Alternative
The Bible says God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. The first six days had a morning and an evening. These demarcations are not ascribed to the seventh day.
This means the seventh day is still ongoing, and we are currently living in it. As such, the seventh day has lasted much longer than twenty-four hours.
This suggests that the six previous creation days also lasted longer than a calendar day. They could have lasted eons.
If so, the Genesis days may reference phases in God’s creation process that generally align with the geological epochs posited by science—e.g., the Precambrian, Paleozoic, and Mesozoic eras.
Young Earth Alternative
God exists outside the realm of time and space. To him, a single second is the same as a million years.
Just as we compress data files to store large amounts of information on small electronic devices, God may have compressed the geological eras into shorter phases, allowing the earth to reach its current state more quickly.
The initial miracle that Jesus performed at the inception of his earthly ministry lends credence to this possibility.
Water Into Wine
In his first miracle, Jesus turned water into wine at a wedding in Cana.
According to the head of the wedding banquet, the wine that Jesus spontaneously created was the best vintage served that day.
Wine takes time to make. Excellent wines ferment for years. The wine that Jesus created exhibited the attributes of age even though it was only minutes old.
In other words, Jesus miraculously condensed the years required to make fine wine into an instant.
This miracle introduced Jesus to the world as the Son of God, the creator of the universe.
However, it may have served another purpose as well.
Jesus may have turned water into wine to demonstrate how he compressed time when he commanded each aspect of the world into existence.
The quality of the wine suggests that he may have effectively created the earth with the attributes of age, e.g., coal, oil, and fossils.
Read How God Relates To Other Scientific Creation Theories
God’s active participation is implicit in the Big Bang and the evolution of plant and animal species within kinds. The Bible suggests that humans are not the result of evolution. God directly and uniquely created us. DNA affirms that he is the source of life. The Bible and science are harmonious.
