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So let’s take a look at the creation of light, the firmament and the separation of the waters as we try to grasp a better understanding of what must have been happening at the very beginning of time.

Read Genesis 1:3-6 and then consider the following:

1. As we consider the rest of the first day of creation, let’s also consider some of the other things created on Day One that are NOT directly mentioned in Genesis. Read Job 38:4-7 and Psalm 104:2-5. They tell us that God created everything. Who else was present, and what were they doing?
   1. ANSWER: The angels had already been created by the time God created the earth. They must have been created on Day One, as we know they are created beings; and when they saw what God was doing they shouted for joy.
2. It is fitting that the first time God speaks, He creates light: God bringing light into a dark world. From a scientific point of view, when we read "He separated the light from the darkness" and that He "called the light day and the darkness he called night", what could that mean? We’ve seen earlier that God first created all of the elements required for creating the earth and everything in it. Then, while void (or empty) and without form, His spirit moved across the face of the deep and energized the elements. Heat was created, and then light; and there was "day" and "night", without a sun, moon or stars. What can this mean? What, from a scientific perspective, happened that would cause night and day, and day and night?
   1. ANSWER: Henry Morris, in his book "The Genesis Record", tells us that the earth thus began to rotate. Situated perfectly upright on its axis, the earth took shape as the elements were energized, creating light. The marking of days and nights became a function of the rotation of the earth. In one day, the earth went from simply being elements of creation, to becoming energy, heat and light; and a rotating earth began to take shape, being prepared by God to sustain life.
3. Of all of God’s creative works during the first six days, what was created at night?
   1. ANSWER: Absolutely nothing. Even here, we see that God works in the light and not the dark. All of his creative work was accomplished during the day; none of it during the night.
4. Read Genesis 1:6-8, Jeremiah 4:25, Isaiah 13:10, Hebrews 9:24. How many "heavens" are there, and how are they defined?
   1. ANSWER: There are three "heavens" defined in the Bible: (1) the atmospheric heaven or sky, (2) the sidereal heaven, or space as we define it, and (3) the heaven which is currently serving as God’s throne.
5. The best definition of the "firmament" cited in these verses is embodied in the concept of the "atmosphere". Henry Morris defines it as "thin stretched-out space". He goes on to describe the separation process as causing a water vapor to form above the "firmament"; and the waters that would become sea, ocean, and so on, falling under the firmament. What will happen to the water above the firmament later in the book of Genesis? (see Genesis 7:11)
   1. ANSWER: It is a widely-held belief that the flood of Noah’s day was a combination of the underground aquifers bursting forth at the same time as the water vapor canopy over the earth fell, flooding water down to earth over forty days.
6. So we now see a rotating earth setting perfectly on its axis with light and dark and water above and below the firmament. When will be the first day that it will actually rain on the earth? (see Genesis 2:5 and Genesis 7:4)
   1. ANSWER: It will not rain on the earth until the beginning of the flood. Prior to the flood, the system that God had in place at creation kept everything well watered from underground and from the vapor canopy above the firmament.
7. What can we infer from creation at this point with respect to rain, snow, seasons, storms, etc., based on knowing that the waters above the firmament were protecting the earth and that the earth was on a perpendicular axis?
   1. ANSWER: We can infer that there was no bad weather. The temperature at any location on the earth would have been the same: very tropical and well-watered. Winds would not have existed, nor would storms, rain, snow, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, droughts and so on.

We can see from the findings in this lesson that the earth was perfectly created to house the rest of God’s creation. With the light and dark cycles called days and nights and the water system, hydrology, etc., in place; God will begin to introduce plants and other vegetation, as He continues to build the perfect home for man.

Thanks for studying with us.

Yours in Christ,

Wes

[2010]

[PDF Version]