The Second Day - Day 4
"The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork." Psalm 19:1
This day two of His creation is very important to future events. We need to pay close attention to exactly what God is doing here. This day’s work also teaches us more about God and who He is. Remember, God is perfect in all His ways, the greatest and highest authority, and most worthy of all our praise! Everything He does has a purpose. God’s purpose is redemption. All He does, even now, at the beginning of all things, is purposing His creation out of His love for us. God’s love pursues His purposes - redemption and reconciliation.
Genesis1:6-8 says,
"And God said, ‘Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.’ And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day."
Three short verses is all that is needed for the second day. These words, firmament and heaven, are used in several places here in the creation week. Here, in verses 6 thru 8, and again in verses 14 thru 17, and then in verse 20. Both words, in the Hebrew, are synonyms, meaning “expanse”. Like most words with multiple meanings, the context defines the word; the open spaces of God’s throne room, outer space, our sky, and atmosphere, are the different meanings.
What is God doing? What is He making here on day two? The sky, our atmosphere. We left off day one with a watery sphere. Now on day two God created the atmosphere, the sky, putting it in between the watery sphere (our ocean covered earth) below, and a layer of water above. So, we have water all over the earth. The firmament, our air/atmosphere, above the water all over the earth. And now water, a layer of water above the air all around the atmosphere and earth. Above the water layer that is above the air is space, black empty outer space.
The air God made was perfect. It was exactly what we need. The water above was a transparent layer of vapor that allowed the sun, moon and stars to be seen, yet protect all earth’s inhabitants from the harmful effects of the sun. This would help explain why the pre-flood people lived so long.
“Thank you, Father, for such loving care you created into your creation. I may not understand it all, but I know You do. You give me all I need. Amen.”
[For more information on the science and interpretation of these texts, see “The Genesis Record” by Henry Morris available here.]
