Genesis 1:6-8 “Then God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters." (7) Thus 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. (8) And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.”
As recorded in the above quoted passage of scripture, the second creation event is the creation of the firmament that God called heaven. This is the only physical heaven that God has created, and as such can also be referred to as the first heaven, because of the relation of its proximity above the earth (for we have already identified the second and third heavens as being the two spiritual heavens above the earth). The above passage of scripture tells us that God created the physical heaven by separating the waters that covered the earth. In other words God created a vacuum of space around the earth with water above it and water on the earth below. And so, just as water covered the earth, so it is that water also encapsulates the space vacuum that God has created, for the scripture teaches us that God has laid the beams of His upper chambers (heaven) in the waters (Psalm 104:2). We need to note however, that at this point in the creation account; the earth itself was also still covered in water. Mankind today, refers to the vacuum of space which surrounds the earth, as the universe. And so, what God called heaven, men have called the universe. Scientists using natural thinking would consider it foolishness to propose that the universe could be surrounded by water, but it wasn’t too long ago that scientists would have also considered it foolishness to think that there was ever a beginning to the universe (that has since changed). I suspect that some Christians would also find it hard to believe that the universe could be surrounded by water, although I don’t understand why. For the same God who created such a vast universe, is well able to encapsulate His creation in a mantle of water, and scripture also plainly tells us that there are waters above heaven (Psalm 148:4).
Before the twentieth century, most scientists believed that the universe was static and infinite. In other words, they believed that the universe had always been in existence and unchanging, and would remain so for all eternity. Over the last one hundred years however, science has started to catch up with the bible through new discoveries that they have made. The most significant of these discoveries as far as the universe is concerned, is what is commonly known today as the “Big Bang theory”. In essence, this theory states that the universe began as a very hot, very dense, point in space. From this point there was a burst of expansion, which is known as inflation, and the universe grew exponentially in size. After inflation, the universe continued to grow, but at a slower rate. As space expanded, the universe cooled. Scientific evidence shows that the universe continues to expand even to this day and that fact agrees with scripture, for numerous passages of scripture speak of the Lord stretching out the heavens, for example, “It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.” (Isaiah 40:22). And so, as revealed to us in the Genesis account of creation, the point in space for the origin of the Big Bang was in fact the earth itself. Scientists however, would dispute that claim because their view is that the very hot, very dense, point in space where the universe began, cannot be determined. Scientists may yet however catch up with scripture through new discoveries in the future.
A key contributor to the discovery of the Big Bang comes from observations of the cosmic microwave background, which contains the afterglow of light and radiation left over from that event. This relic of the Big Bang pervades the universe and is visible to microwave detectors, which allows scientists to piece together clues of the early universe. Without this discovery it would not be possible to scientifically determine the age of the universe, because the universe itself is just a vacuum of empty space. That is why in the Genesis account, the second day of creation is the only day when God looked on what He had created and made no comment, simply because there was a vast empty space with nothing to be seen. On every other day of creation however, the scriptures tell us that God looked upon what He had created and saw that it was good. And so using the evidence of cosmic radiation background, scientists have been able to estimate the age of the universe to be approximately 14 billion years[1]. Something else that we need to keep in mind is that according the scriptures, the earth is older than the universe that surrounds it, for the earth was already in place when God created the universe. And so the earth would therefore be older than the universe’s estimated age of 14 billion years. This again points us to the fact that the earth is central to God’s physical creation. Scientists today, would strongly disagree with the concept of the earth being older than the universe, for their estimated age for the earth (which we will discuss in a later section) is only 4.5 billion years. These would be the same scientists however, that would also strongly disagree with God as being their creator.
As an aside however, I need to comment on a common misunderstanding of the above quoted passage of scripture. Many have thought that the water above the firmament in this passage, referred to the water vapour that exists in the earth’s atmosphere today. That viewpoint however is incorrect for two main reasons. Firstly, no sun had been created yet to cause any evaporation of the earth’s water into the atmosphere. And secondly, no water vapour existed in the earth’s atmosphere during that period, for at that time God watered the land not by rain, but rather by a mist that went up from the earth (Genesis 2:5-6). As revealed to us in scripture, the first time water vapour (clouds) appeared in the earth’s atmosphere, was when God caused rain to fall upon the earth during the flood in the days of Noah, for until that time no rainbow had ever appeared in the earth (Genesis 9:13).
Michael E.B. Maher
[1] Wikipedia
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