I can't do anything outside! 🌂"In the Beginning" Part V

Genesis 1:6, 7, 8

Our verses for today as we continue in the series “In the beginning” is: Genesis 1:6-8, which is day two of creation…

“⁶ And God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” ⁷ And God made the firmament and separated the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament. And it was so. ⁸ And God called the firmament Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.” 

Remember on day one, God separated light from darkness.  

And now on day two, God is separating the heaven from earth.

         The English word “Heaven” in these verses is not referring to God’s abode… [or even the universe] but literally means “air” or “breath”.

It’s what we refer to as the… “Atmosphere”, the place of the air… the place where birds fly—just it also says in Genesis 1:20

Now our scripture speaks about the forming of a “Firmament” or an “expanse” as some translations say…

The idea of this word is "to make thin," or "to stretch out," which is a beautifully descriptive word for the atmosphere. Time and time again throughout the rest of the Old Testament you’ll find the prophets referring to this phenomenon, like in Isaiah 51:13; when it says: "God stretched forth the heavens," Therefore, the literal meaning is actually “the Atmospheric Layer” which most Bible translators translated as “the Firmament of heaven” or “The expanse of heaven.”

This is a beautifully accurate description of the atmosphere which indeed is stretched out over a hundred miles high, gradually thinning out until it merges with the emptiness of space, and is also stretched completely around the earth, forming a great blanket of air which serves to protect us.

It’s where the clouds are and the birds can fly.

It also preserves the warmth of the earth, and in many ways makes life possible on this earth.

And it is all accomplished by the stretching out of this amazing blanket of air called the atmosphere.

                                                    

(Now just to recap, God said, “Let there be a firmament [an expanse] in the midst of the waters and let it separate from the waters from the waters.” 

And this is interesting…  Remember on day one the earth was covered all with water.  Now on day two, God has separated that water in to two places.  That’s what it’s saying here.  He put an expanse in between and some water was above and some remained on the earth.

I want to point out that the primary purpose of this firmament of this expanse of the atmosphere, according to the Bible, is not to support life.

That is what science would say was its primary function, but that is not according to the Scriptures.

In Scripture, the primary purpose is to provide an area, …a place, for suspending billions of gallons of water above the earth, just as our scripture verse tells us… "that the waters might be separated from the waters,"

Again, like light, this is absolutely necessary to life.

If it were not for this ability of the atmosphere to sustain water above the earth in great quantities there would be no plants, there would be no animals, there would be no human beings, there would be no life on this earth.

The continents would be nothing but great barren deserts, arid and devoid of life of any kind.

Which is due to the miracle of water in all its forms…

Our planet is unique. Its enormous amount of water changes the character of earth and makes it different from the other planets.

So, we are at the end of the second day… where God is preparing the earth to receive life…

And, today’s scripture tells us that the “firmament” (the atmosphere) was made on the second day. Yet, God did not say it was: “good,” … unlike the light on day one.

My thoughts on this is perhaps it’s because, God had not yet finished working with the waters this expanse separated (as we’ll see in verses 20–23).

But it’s important not miss what it means when God calls His creation “good.” For in evaluating His creation, God reminds us that He gives value to all things. God tells us what is good and what is evil — not the other way around.