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." 7Thus 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. 8And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.
Matthew Henry: “We have here an account of the second day’s work, the creation of the firmament, in which observe, 1. The command of God concerning it: Let their be a firmament, an expansion, so the Hebrew word signifies, like a sheet spread, or a curtain drawn out. This firmament is not a wall of partition, but a way of intercourse…
Job 26:7
He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth on nothing.
Job 37:18
With Him, have you spread out the skies, Strong as a cast metal mirror?
Psalm 104:3
He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters, Who makes the clouds His chariot, Who walks on the wings of the wind,
Amos 9:6
He who builds His layers in the sky, And has founded His strata in the earth; Who calls for the waters of the sea, And pours them out on the face of the earth-- The Lord is His name.
Clay Miller: The firmament is mainly considered the breathable atmosphere God created for us. It is the “first heaven”…the second heaven being outer space and the third heaven being the place where God dwells. In 2 Corinthians 12, where Paul speaks of being caught up to the third heaven, he is speaking of heaven as we normally think of it…the place where God dwells.
I was discussing origins with some friends the other night and we talked about the absurdity of “nothing” creating something. This is what many today believe. And I don’t think they have thought it through as they try to “picture it” happening. There was nothing, and suddenly it…wait…”it”…nothing is not an it. Nothing is nothing. But for arguments sake, they envision nothing suddenly creating something in some space…WAIT! Space? There was no space…there was nothing. And if you ask them why this nothing suddenly created itself…well something caused it to…WAIT! Something? What? What caused nothing to suddenly create itself and where did that something, or force come from? It is absurdity!!!! But who cares! It makes them feel deep and smart and…sophisticated?
God even accounts for space. He created space too. God is incorporeal and does not have to inhabit space. He is self-sufficient. He is Spirit. Too wonderful for you? Too lofty? Ah, that is why He is God and we are not. God is the self-sufficient, self-existing Creator of all else. He created space, and on day two of the creation account, He made a habitable atmosphere for the human race He would crown His creation with. He hung the earth on nothing. He spread out the skies…He did it! His name is The Lord.
