Why did God take six “days”
(to create the universe, all life and the earth)
Chapter 5 of the book titled:
The Answers Bookby Ken Ham, Dr. Carl Wieland and Dr. Andrew A. Snelling 

There is a widespread belief, even in many Christian circles, that the “days” of Genesis are not normal 24-hour days. However, a careful study of scriptures using well accepted methods of interpretation leads us to the clear conclusion that God went out of his way to demonstrate to us that he meant for us to interpret the six “days” of creation as actual 24-hour days, with no gaps in between them. Chapter 5 (in the most recent version of this book it’s chapter 2) of the book titled The Answers Book does a good job of arguing this from a Bible interpretation perspective. There are other materials that expand on the topic even more. We wish to express our gratitude toAnswers in Genesis Ministries Group (AiG) for allowing us to publish the entire chapter on our web site. We encourage all Christians to purchase a copy of the book because we have found it to be a very useful witnessing tool. 

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CHAPTER 5
Why did God Take Six Days?

When one takes up a Bible, reads Genesis, Chapter 1, and takes it at face value, it seems to say that God created the world, the universe, and everything in them in six ordinary (approximately 24-hour) days. However, there is a view in our churches that has become prevalent over the years, that these days could have been thousands, millions, or even billions of years in duration. Does it really matter what length these days were, anyway? Is it possible to determine whether or not they were ordinary days, or in fact long periods of time?

The main reason why many try to make the days into long periods is to find a way to harmonize the creation account with the idea that there was a succession of vast geological ages before man appeared.

But if one accepts these ages as being real, then one is accepting that interpretation of the fossil record which (1) denies a world-wide flood (since such a flood would have wiped out all traces of such preceding ages), and (2) insists that there were many creatures which lived, struggled, and held out long before man appeared on the scene. This, of course, seriously undermines the whole New Testament/Gospel emphasis relating to sin, death, bloodshed, redemption, and the curse. (1)

Put simply any attempt to harmonize long geological ages will Genesis (Gap Theory, day-age theory, progressive creation, etc.) inevitably means accepting that before man, rather than the New Testament insistence that the struggle, suffering, and bloodshed of the present world came about after Adam sinned. That these attempts to compromise are artificial, and not true to the text can be seen by the following quotation from Dr. James Barr] (Regius professor of Hebrew, at Oxford University).

So far as I know, there is no professor of Hebrew for Old Testament at any world-class university who does not believe that the writer(s) of Genesis 1-11 intended to convey to their readers the ideas that (a) creation took place in a series of six days which were the same as the days of 24 hours we now experience, (b) the figures contained in the Genesis genealogies provided by simple addition a chronology from the beginning of the world up to latter stages in the biblical story, (c) knows the flood was understood to be world-wide and extinguished all human and animal life except for those in the ark.” (2) Note that experts are not saying they believe the account; they are just dealing honestly with what it actually says, with the realities of the language