Forming the Sky and Seas

Reading:

Proverbs 8:27-28 “When He established the heavens, I was there; when He drew a circle on the face of the deep, when He made firm the skies above, when He established the fountains of the deep,”

Introduction:

God in these passages in Proverbs reveals to us who the creator is: Himself. He is revealing how He created: He drew a circle around the globe, He established the skies. God is amazing. He deserves all our praise and should have all honor.

I hope you have been going through the days of creation, thinking through each day, gaining understanding and growing in your faith and how the text can be trusted as God’s perfect authority! Also how it is revealing God’s power, authority and wisdom to the world. It can be utilized by each believer for the foundation of what you believe; and also to challenge what someone else may believe. Providing that opportunity for giving the gospel and evangelizing the lost.

As we read the creation account and think through each day we recognize some patterns. We can see: God speaks, it is obeyed, He hands out authority and laws for what He created. We can say He forms, then fills.

Day 2 begins with:

I. God Spoke!

Here we are privy to the Lord’s authority to “call into existence” all that is. He is very specific in verse :6 which reveals a very small fraction of His wisdom.

If you were to create a place where humans could physically live, what would you need to set in place for life to be possible? Also It would need to be sustainable as well.

Think through all a human would need to live?

#1 Oxygen: kind of a big one.

How long can a person survive in a vacuum?

Answer: The hypothetical would be approximately 2 minutes.

?What would happen to a person in the vacuum of space?

Live Science.com says:

“Space is a vacuum devoid of air — meaning that, unlike on Earth, there's no atmosphere and no pressure exerted by air molecules. Atmospheric pressure determines the temperatures at which liquids boil and turn gaseous. If the pressure exerted by the air outside a liquid is high, as it is at sea level on Earth, it's harder for bubbles of gas to form, rise to the surface and escape. But because there is virtually no atmospheric pressure in space, the boiling point of liquids decreases significantly.

"As you can imagine, given that 60% of the human body is made up of water, this is a serious problem," Dr. Kris Lehnhardt, an element scientist for the Human Research Program at NASA, told Live Science. In the absence of pressure, liquid water in our bodies would boil — changing immediately from a liquid to a gas. "In essence, all of your body tissues that contain water will start to expand," he said.”

- What is needed for survival?

A spacesuit!

“A spacesuit protects astronauts from those extreme temperatures. Spacesuits supply astronauts with oxygen to breathe while they are in the vacuum of space. The suits contain water to drink during spacewalks. They protect astronauts from being injured from impacts of small bits of space dust.” - NASA

How can the world wear a spacesuit?

*Here is where God’s wisdom can be seen:

Genesis 1:6 “And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.””

Transition:

Before we talk about the “waters” let’s explore:

A. The Expanse.

The expanse is described:

“God separated the atmospheric waters from the terrestrial waters by an arching expanse or “space” that God called “sky.” This may suggest that previously there had been a dense moisture covering the earth. By making this area of atmospheric pressure, God was making further divisions and distinctions within his creation. First light as opposed to darkness, and now water and air as opposed to dense moisture over the whole planet—conditions were beginning to come about that would support life.” - Ross Allen’s commentary.

It is a firmament or surface which acts as a dividing partition.

The word firmament better expresses the image here.

It is see thru, yet still is a barrier.

- One commentator explains it this way:

“The verb underlying firmament (raqia‘) means to beat or stamp (cf. Ezek. 6:11a), often in connection with beaten metal. Job 37:18 shows that we are not meant to rarefy this word into ‘expanse’ or ‘atmosphere’: ‘Can you, like him, spread out (tarqia‘) the skies, hard as a molten (i.e. cast metal) mirror?’ (rsv). It is pictorial language, like our expression ‘the vault of heaven’.” - Derek Kinder’s intro. and commentary

Transition:

- This firmament provides a safety barrier around the earth for the purpose of making:

B. A Separation.

? What was separated?

The atmosphere is what separated the surface waters of the earth (i.e., “the waters below”) from the atmospheric waters or clouds (i.e., “the waters above”).

The picture is the solid form of water had a layer of dense fog or vapor on top of it.

God divided the vapor from the liquid, creating the “expanse” where birds fly; which we call the sky.

where the clouds are.

? Wouldn’t this create a problem for the flood’s description for the heavens opened and a tremendous amount of water fell?

There is here a description of a vast amount of water around the earth and when the heavens opened a huge portion of that vapor was collected into liquid and fell to the earth (that’s my theory) or it separated a thick layer of water from the surface.

Cool side thought: A theory is that the water barrier around the world would’ve made earth a pressurized oxygen chamber.

*explain benefits to this!

Transition:

There’s now the division of vapor from liquid, one above and one below. Yet both are:

C. The Waters.

? Why wouldn’t God just want all the water above us?

Water is necessary for life!

Without water we couldn’t survive.

Having an atmosphere would allow an space for winds which in turn would create currents in a body of water. Circulating the water and circulating the air.

It is very important for there to be no stagnation in a body of water and also in the atmosphere.

With both the winds, and also the currents stagnation would be impossible.

Point:

God’s will is always done and what He says will be done! He speaks it is! Our lives are to be lived through the lens that His will be done and that His authority makes it possible, even the things you and I don’t believe are possible.

Transition:

With all authority God spoke or commanded that there be an Expanse that separates the liquid water from the gas and:

II. It was So!

Genesis 1:7 “And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so.”

A. The Expanse Exists.

We have an atmosphere that is real!

Nasa defines the atmosphere as:

“Earth’s atmosphere is similar to a jacket for our planet. It surrounds our planet, keeps us warm, gives us oxygen to breathe, and it is where our weather happens. Earth’s atmosphere has six layers: the troposphere, the stratosphere, the mesosphere, the thermosphere, the ionosphere, and the exosphere.”

Each layer is different in mans eyes because of the different gasses they possess. Each gas has a different weight, thus creating layers.

There is always a question that arises with every child about the dome around the world:

Why is it blue?

?Do you know the answer?

The short answer is because of gas.

That answer is directly related to the inner child of me. Every answer at some age was: Because of Gas.

Now i’m validated that I was right.

NASA’s kids website says:

“Sunlight reaches Earth's atmosphere and is scattered in all directions by all the gases and particles in the air. Blue light is scattered more than the other colors because it travels as shorter, smaller waves. This is why we see a blue sky most of the time.”

We are seeing a frequency that light refracts through gas!

The atmosphere is visible!

What about other planets in our solar system?

?If a planet has an atmosphere can’t life exist there?

Comparison:

“The main difference between the Earth's atmosphere and the one of other planets (such as Venus and Mars) is that about 21% of it is composed by oxygen. Oxygen is a key element to sustain any complex life form on the planet. It’s origin is due to the presence of vegetation on the land masses and of phytoplankton in the oceans.” - The Internet.

Transition:

All of this sciencey stuff is awesome, intriguing and makes my brain hurt; but it just continues to highlight the wisdom of our Lord. Just imagine all the things we don’t know. God has allowed us to understand that there is:

B. A Separation:

How can there be a separation what is keeping the waters separate?

The way we have come up with explaining the separation is through a process we call the water cycle.

This cycle is the constant picture of what is happening everyday within the bond of Hydrogen and Oxygen.

(Refer to the water cycle image)

Liquid form is H2O ( 2 hydrogen molecules and 1 oxygen molecule)

Gas form is Hydrogen separated from Oxygen.

The oxygen is heavier than Hydrogen, so it would make sense that oxygen is closer to the surface of earth and hydrogen is much higher.

? How does hydrogen bond with oxygen to create the liquid form?

If I read it right, the process of evaporation isn’t separating the molecules it is making the water droplets much smaller and divided.

The wind and other conditions have their effect on the droplets which force them together to make bigger ones until they are heavy enough to fall to the earth.

Illustration:

When your cooking and there is a lid on the warming liquid, water droplets are evaporating and get stuck to the surface of the lid, and what happens when you disturb the lid?

water drops that are separated combine and gain weight and fall from the lid.

Simple enough.

The Lords wisdom and forethought for what He would create in the next few days Is astonishing. How amazing is God?

As you read you can recognize a pattern in the days of creation:

1. God Said.

2. It was done.

3. It was declared good.

Transition:

His wisdom is unquestionable. No person could create how He did, and we can see in His next declaration the:

III. Authority Issued!

There is an authority and title which comes through the declaration of each part of His creation.

Genesis 1:8 “And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.”

A. Heavens.

He named the expanse.

A name suggests a position, job and location.

Illustration: Kinda like why farmers don’t let kids name their animals; because that suggests they are going to make that animal a pet with a position in the family and a title of pet.

That points to not much authority or much of a job; but none the less a pet has more pull on the family then the profitable meat!

The title Heavens are given:

The position above the earth:

Webster says:

“the upper atmosphere or expanse of space that constitutes an apparent great vault or arch over the earth”

A great vault.

The vault is what keeps the earth safe and secure. It holds all the gasses in to create the atmosphere we need for life and the much needed oxygen.

Transition:

We are blessed that God handed out authority to the sky which brought laws that cannot be broken. This authority is followed up with an specific:

B. Time formula.

Each day God proclaimed it good and provided an formula for a 24hr period.

The formula is:

Evening.

Morning.

The # Day.

Scripture has this formula and it has never been interpreted as anything other than one 24hr period.

Conclusion:

God tells us about the creation of the atmosphere: something that can be seen and observed. It Came from God! We are given a specific way He formed the world:

He spoke it to be!

It obeyed and was so!

3. Then He provided authority, position and a job!

God shows His wisdom, compassion and mercy and grace through each aspect of creation.

God is awesome! He is who we can know and speak with day in and day out!

Present the Gospel and How to know the Lord personally (God’s word).

*Pray!

Dismissal:

The blue sky is because of Gas and the Lord does everything for His will