Genesis 1:5
“And there was evening, and there was morning — the first day.”
The words ‘evening’ and ‘morning’ doesn’t necessarily mean a literal 24 hour day. Context is key here. A day to God is clearly not a day as we record it, so why do some always see these things from their point of view? Is it not meant to be how God sees it? First off, God is NOT bound to earth and its cycles. Not even the heavens can contain him.
Secondly, there are other verses in the Bible that talk about evening and morning that are not 24 hour days.
Psalm 90:6
“In the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers.”
This shows a metaphor for life’s brevity and not a strict 24-hour reference, but a beginning and end.
Ecclesiastes 11:6
“In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand…”
Again, this is figurative, meaning to be diligent from start to finish.
As for literal vs figurative meanings in the Bible, you can pick out numerous examples. Take the verses that say that the Son of Man has a two-edged sword coming out of his mouth. Do you think that it is an actual sword like a samurai? Perhaps that is figurative like much of the Bible?
Jesus even said it himself, he spoke in parables. Taking everything literally is carnal thinking. Only a spiritually minded person can discern the scriptures and it is written this way so the wicked will not understand.
Daniel 12:10
Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be refined, but the wicked shall act wickedly. And none of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall understand.
Proverbs 28:5
Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the Lord understand it completely.
Matthew 13:10–11
Then the disciples came and said to him, ‘Why do you speak to them in parables?’
And he answered them, ‘To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.’
Matthew 13:13
This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
1 Corinthians 2:14
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
