The Firmament 2018/10/14

The Firmament 2018/10/14 Pastor Dave Cottrell

The Firmament 

Audio with Closed Captions

Genesis 1:6 – 8;14 – 17

In reading the Genesis record of creation, we have several choices. One, of course, is to dismiss it out of hand as an ancient myth, a story passed down verbally by eons of primitive people as they sat around their fires before finally retiring for the night.

Yet another is to recognize that God created the world, but the Genesis story was told in such a way that primitive human beings could understand it without the benefit of modern science. We need to fill in the blanks and explain everything by what we now know, somehow helping God to fit it into the Genesis narrative. We can turn days into ages and add in theistic evolution to give God enough time for the material he originally tossed out in the Big Bang to evolve to where we are, today.

Both of these ideas of Big Bang cosmology, whether interpreted through the lens of secular or theistic evolution, do great damage to the Word of God. The first is obvious: secular humanists simply deny God and any kind of Intelligent Designer altogether. But the second one must twist the scriptures to make it say something it does not.

The best way to read the Genesis record is to accept the fact that the universe and everything in it could not have begun without a Primary Cause, whom we know as God, because He has revealed Himself to us. The incredible, limitless power required to produce even the material our universe is made of makes it clear that God can create anything He wants, any way He wants, and within any time frame He wants.

Carefully reading the scriptures with this in mind gives us a much clearer picture of what actually happened during the creation week.

So What is it?

What is this firmament above the Earth, this expanse or dome that holds (or once held) a massive amount of water above our planet?

Do we now attack this passage with modern science, or do we believe God? Unfortunately, in their haste to make the Bible agree with science (rather than the other way around), many theologians have and do. This apparent need to make God fit what the secular scientists tell us stems from a lack of recognition of how great God is. He needed no help to do whatever he says he has done.

I Primitive Earth

1. Remember that when we looked at the Earth at the beginning of creation, it was a dark, wet mass, covered in deep water. We are not told how big it was, nor how much water it was covered in.
   1. We also learned that all the stars, planets, moons, etc., were created later, as we read again, today. All we really know about the primitive Earth, meaning Earth in the first day of creation, was that it was dark, wet, and covered in deep water.

II The Firmament

1. The word translated firmament is the Hebrew word, raqiya‘ (raw-kee’-ah). It means:

   1) extended surface (solid), expanse, firmament

   1a) expanse (flat as base, support)

   1b) firmament (of vault of heaven supporting waters above)

   1b1) considered by Hebrews as solid and supporting ‘waters’ above (Strongs)

   1. Theologians trying to make the Bible agree with secular scientists have taken this last idea, a Hebrew error, ignoring the fact that the Bible is given by verbal plenary inspiration. This is a concept that is essential, if the Bible is going to be anything more than an ancient book of myths.

      1. Verbal means that every word found in the Bible is given to us by God

      2. Plenary means that everything in the Bible is authoritative, comprehensive in function for human living and salvation

      3. Inspired means that every word is divinely directed, given directly to the writer by the Holy Spirit.

2. Thus we believe in verbal plenary inerrancy, that the Bible is the inerrant and infallible Word of God, without error.

   1. Therefore, the firmament is referring to something created by God that is real, that was not a myth given to primitive people who believed in a flat Earth with some kind of dome over it, and that there is nothing in the Bible anywhere that declares this firmament no longer exists.

      1. As a side note, the Bible does not, as some claim, teach that the Earth is flat. In fact, the Bible taught that the Earth was round, long before scientists began to tell us so. Christopher Columbus’ men were not afraid of falling off the Earth as we have often been told, but knew both from accepted knowledge of the day, as well as from experience, that the Earth was a sphere.

      2. So… what is the firmament?

III The Midst

1. 1. 1. We have a hint when we are told that it was placed in the midst of the waters that were on the Earth. It was put there to separate the waters on Earth from the waters above the firmament.

         1. Remember that the Bible does not tell us just how big the Earth was when it was first created.

         2. God called this firmament that separated the waters Heaven, which means everything above the surface of the Earth.

         3. Another thing that this record strongly suggests is that the Earth is somewhere near the centre of the universe. This doesn’t mean the universe revolves around the Earth, but only that the Earth is at or near the centre. This fact is very important in understanding that the universe is not billions of years old, as secularists say, but less than ten thousand years old, just as the Bible record says. (The fact that the Earth is at the centre of a spherically symmetrical universe can only be excluded on philosophical grounds.)

IV Where are its Boundaries? vv7,8;14 – 17

1. 1. 1. The lower boundary is quite clear in our text. It is the surface of the waters on Earth.

      2. The outer boundary is not as simple to determine, but we do have some clues. Birds fly in it. It is also called heaven, the same term used in Genesis 1:1 to refer to the entire universe. The sun, the moon and the stars are in it.

         1. The most straightforward reading of this passage tells us that the firmament is everything from the surface of the water on Earth to the very boundaries of the universe, itself, because in it are the sun, moon and stars.

         2. While an astonishing thought, nothing is too difficult for God. “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?“Jeremiah 32:27
         3. Note that the Bible does not teach that these waters above the firmament were all spent in Noah’s flood. Instead, the Bible speaks of them still being there. “Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens.“ Psalm 148:4 (Emphasis added)

V A Great Gulf

1. 1. 1. 1. This firmament is a great, insurmountable gulf between us, here on Earth, and the edge of our universe. Even with all our technology, it’s not possible for us to reach it. What a picture this firmament God created on day 2 of creation is of how fallen man is separated from God! “And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.” Luke 16:26

            1. Even more, some creationist cosmologists speculate that most of the water that was once on Earth is now surrounding our universe at a temperature of -270 Celsius or just above absolute zero Kelvin, which would create an impenetrable wall of ice. Scoffers forget that we are not told how big Earth was on Day One of creation. While we do not know this either from the Bible or from observation, it certainly does not disagree with either. Again, simply ruling it out is a philosophical stance, not a scientific one.

VI The Sun, Moon and Stars

1. The great firmament was created on the third day. God called this firmament Heaven. It includes everything from the surface of the Earth to the edge of the universe. What God did on the fourth day very clearly shows this to be so.
   1. On the fourth day, God created the sun, the moon and the stars. Verse 17 tells us that God placed them in the firmament that He created on the third day. We know that these heavenly bodies are out in the universe, as far as we can see, even with the most powerful telescopes we have ever invented. That tells us that the firmament God created on the third day is utterly vast. “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.” Psalm 19:1 Both the word heavens and the word firmament in Psalm 19:1 are the same words used here in Genesis!

Conclusion

1. The Genesis record of creation is not a fanciful myth given to an ancient people who couldn’t understand modern science. It is the very Word of God, and therefore absolute truth. We do not need to make the Bible fit science. Science must fit the Biblical record, and it does. The only reason that secularists deny the truth of the creation record is a philosophical one. Indeed, upon examination, their hypotheses have many insurmountable problems, to which they add things that have never been observed, such as black holes, singularities and dark matter. All of creation speaks not of a God who needs help in the form of vast ages and preexisting laws, but of an almighty God who spoke everything into existence by the power of his Word, including the very physical laws, themselves. He is the one to whom we must answer. We are by nature lost and separated from God, because of our sin. But God the Son, our Creator, came down to Earth and became human, to die in our place and wash away our sins in His blood. There is an impassible firmament, a great gulf between us and God, but Christ has bridged it for all who will repent and put their faith in Him.