[agrace]

That's always been the clincher for me as well - why would God bother to set up the sabbath as such, with a literal six day work week and a literal sabbath day, followed by a declarative statement that very specifically cites the creation week as comparative, if we aren't meant to understand it as literal?

Good enough for me.

[MEGoody]

why would God bother to set up the sabbath as such, with a literal six day work week and a literal sabbath day, followed by a declarative statement that very specifically cites the creation week as comparative, if we aren't meant to understand it as literal?Keep in mind, there were other sabbaths as well. For example, every 7 years, the Israelites were to let the land rest.

[azhenfud]

If God's "days" are defined as our "millions of years" and He commanded the day of rest, who could possibly keep His statute of keeping the Sabbath holy if one takes the meanings literally?

There were many temple ordinances given to symbolize the nature and character of God without having actually being the exact duplicate.

The lifespan of man would simply not allow us to work "six" of God's "days" and rest the seventh. In His wisdom, He divided our time in increments so we could reverence Him by keeping His Sabbaths, symbols of Himself.