Jump Start # 407
Genesis 1:6-8 “And God said, ‘Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.’ And God made the expanse, and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so. And God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.”
This week our Jump Starts are going to follow the days of creation. It is a fact found throughout the Bible that God created. Hebrews tells us, “By faith we understand that the world were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible” (11:3). In other words, the invisible made the visible. Sprinkled throughout the Bible is the principle that life came from God and that God created.
Origins are important. They teach us and reveal to us our connections. Many deny this. They hold to the unproven theories of evolution, that every thing came about naturally through time, chance and error. Many fields of study, especially, microbiology reveal how complex substructures are and how they had to be right the first time. Time, chance and error have no place in microbiology. Science isn’t opposed to the Bible—evolution is! Believers in God will accept what God says because of His truthfulness and His holiness.
This week we are going to follow the creation account on the days that it actually happened. We missed yesterday, Sunday, the first day. We know that from how God defined a week in Exodus twenty. There He identified working six days and resting on the seventh day—which means creation started on Sunday—how appropriate. The day Christ rose from the grave, the day Peter preached at Pentecost. Sunday, the Lord’s day.
On the first day, Sunday, God made the heavens and the earth and light and darkness. This is before He’s made the sun and moon, yet the concepts of light and darkness exist.
On the second day, Monday, God made the expanse. Most likely, this is our atmosphere. God separated the water from water, the water in the air from the water on the ground. The canopy which engulfs the earth protects us from the sun, it is the mechanism that will provide moisture to water things and it keeps the temperature just right for our existence.
There is a sequence and an order in what God made. His wisdom is seen in establishing the climate, conditions and laws of nature before plant life, animal life and humans are made. God was getting the house in order for us. In many ways God was preparing the place for us. Jesus went to Heaven to prepare a place for us (Jn 14).
Our passage says that God called the expanse “heaven.” This seems odd because on the day before He made the Heavens and the earth. There are “three heavens” in the Bible. We use different words for this, but the Jewish people, who first received the book of Moses would have understood this. The first heaven would be our sky—this is what God made on day 2. The second heaven would have been the solar system—that was made on day 1. The third heaven is where God dwells. In 2 Corinthians Paul said he was caught up to the “third heaven” and heard things which is unlawful for him to repeat. He went where God dwells.
It is interesting that God doesn’t give us the physics of how He made things. He said it and it was. We probably wouldn’t understand and that is not the nature of the Bible. How wonderful it is to see the wisdom, forethought and detail of the created world. The Psalmist proclaimed, “The Heavens are telling of our glory…” (Ps 19:1).
Have you ever watched clouds? I’m a cloud watcher. I like seeing the shapes of clouds and sometimes seeing what clouds resemble. The clouds can be threatening and scary before a storm. The clouds can look peaceful and lazy as they work their way across our horizons.
Within the atmosphere are just the right components and levels so we can breathe and live. That’s God thinking of you. He made the world just for us. He made it beautiful, big and bountiful. Great is our God.
Monday is atmosphere day! Thanks, God!
Roger