-3-
How Big is God (Part II)
Genesis 1:6-13
God spoke … and created the earth. He 'hung' it in space. We cannot assume that it was rotating nor placed in some kind of an orbit. Nothing had yet been created for it to orbit around. God created day and night. These days were 24 hours long, so now the earth is turning. The earth was, as yet, unshaped and entirely covered in water. Knowing what we do of God's attributes, we can safely assume that God is not figuring things out as He goes along. He knows where He will create and place the sun. He knows how He will start the earth in orbit around the sun. But before He gets to that:
Ge 1:6 ¶ … God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. {firmament: Heb. Expansion}
Ge 1:7 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.
Ge 1:8 And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.
What is the firmament? It is correctly translated, Expanse. God called it heaven.
What did God accomplish in making it? He separated the waters from the waters … that is, some of the water on earth and moved it outward and stored it 'above the expanse.'
The expanse (called heaven) needs to be commented on:
Paul makes this statement … I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows.
And I know that this man was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell. 2Corinthians 12:2-4
According to this verse there are at least three heavens. The third heaven clearly is the throne room of God and is the heaven which John, the writer of Revelation, was transported to.
The second heaven, or expanse seems to be space and created universe. The first one would be our atmosphere.
There are several theories and ideas as to where God put the water that He lifted from the earth, but what makes the most sense, to me at least, is that it was put above our atmosphere as a canopy or bubble. There exists a difference of opinion regarding just how much water it was … was it an actual bubble or was it a canopy of vapour?
At this point it does not matter what science or lack of science existed amongst the Jews or people on the earth generally. They could have believed the earth to be flat. They may have assumed that the firmament was a solid platform above the earth, designed to hold this extra water. Some ancients writers actually said the platform contained valves which could be opened to produce the water for the flood.
Later in Genesis we discover that Noah had never seen a rainbow until the day he came out of the ark. How could that be? We know that a rainbow is nothing more than the sun breaking through cloud and shining through raindrops. God made a point of announcing the presence of the rainbow and declaring it to be a visual promise that He would never repeat what He had just done.
Since rainbows require both sunlight and rain simultaneously we may safely assume that this had not happened from creation right up to that point. As a matter of fact, this more than an assumption.
God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, ... But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. Ge 2:5,6
How much water did God lift up off the earth? Could God not have just said, 'Let there be a large band of water encompassing the planet' and it would have been done? Of course. But for some reason He did not create 'new' water to place out there. He lifted …. apparently, a great deal of water and put it out there.
The bible does not come right out and list what effects such a layer of water surrounding the globe would have on the earth or its inhabitants. But we can make observations.
The climate would be much different. Light and heat would be diffused, much like a lens covering a florescent light. There would be no direct sunlight. Perhaps there was also a cloud cover. The clouds could have been similar to what we see today or they could have been non-existent or perhaps an evenly spread layer everywhere.
Atmospheric air pressure could have been very different.
Our experience tells us that UV rays from direct sunlight has a tendency to break things down. Too much exposure has been linked to skin cancer. Premature aging of skin has been attributed to excessive UV rays. Could this be a major factor in humans having such long lifespans at this time? It is curious to note that maximum ages people lived to, dramatically decreased once the direct sunlight appeared after the flood.
What about atmospheric pressure? It is presently about 28 pounds per square inch at sea level, and decreases with altitude. What effects can we imagine would be the case with a tremendous bubble of water around the planet, pressing in on us and raising atmospheric pressure? Would there be a difference in the oxygen ratio of the air.
We don't have to go too far for the answers.
The Pre-flood Atmosphere
There is evidence that the atmosphere enveloping the early earth was very different than it is today. At one time the entire earth enjoyed a warm tropical environment and there was enhanced oxygen in the atmosphere. Organisms grew larger and lived longer as a result.
Many creationists have attributed this to a water vapor canopy that was created by God on the second day, the “waters above the firmament” (Genesis 1:7). This theory holds that a “vast blanket of invisible water vapor, translucent to the light of the stars but productive of a marvelous greenhouse effect which maintained mild temperatures from pole to pole, thus preventing air-mass circulation and the resultant rainfall (Genesis 2:5). It would certainly have had the further effect of efficiently filtering harmful radiation from space, markedly reducing the rate of somatic mutations in living cells, and, as a consequence, drastically decreasing the rate of aging and death.”(Morris, Henry, Scientific Creationism, 1984, p. 211.) Citing evidence of denser atmosphere in the past, Morris postulated that this vapor layer could have dramatically increased the atmospheric pressure on the surface of the early earth, again contributing to a healthier environment (like a natural hyperbaric chamber). Later the canopy would have collapsed in the form of rain (the “windows of heaven” in Genesis 7:11), contributing to the Flood water, and resulting in the dramatic drop-off in longevity after the deluge.
Genesis 9 tells how Noah planted a vineyard after the flood and became drunk from the fruit of it. This is an aberration in the life of this godly man. Some have suggested that Noah did not know his grape juice would ferment so quickly or so extensively in the post-flood atmosphere. Or perhaps the reduced atmospheric pressure made it harder for him to “hold his drink.” While this is only speculation, the removal of the vapor canopy could help explain this curious situation.
Some creationists emphasize other factors that may have caused the worldwide temperate conditions that existed before the Flood. They stress the evidence of far greater concentrations of carbon dioxide levels in the past and point out that the earth’s magnetic field was far stronger than today. This could have acted as the shield for cosmic radiation and produced the healthier environment. (Humphreys, Russel D., Starlight and Time, 1995, p. 63.) John Baumgardner of Los Alamos has suggested that the atmosphere surrounding the original earth was far thicker than it is today and that the exploding of the fountains of the great deep during the initial stages of the Genesis Flood stripped some of this atmosphere away.
Certain Bible scholars cite the language of the Psalm 148:4 as evidence against a vapor canopy. If the canopy had collapsed during the flood, they reason, why does the Psalmist still reference the waters above the firmament? But this poetic allusion could hark back to the original creation, or it could make reference to waters God expanded out into deep space as part of creation, or it could refer to some of the original water vapor (left over from the canopy) still in the outer reaches of our atmosphere.
It is interesting that scientists who would not subscribe to the water vapor canopy theory described above, have published articles that lend credence to portions of that theory. “Using evidence collected in South America and New Zealand, an international team of researchers has determined that climate changes – both warming and cooling patterns – during the late Pleistocene occurred rapidly and were global in scale. As giant iceberg armadas flooded the North Atlantic, alpine glaciers were simultaneously advancing across the Chilean Andes and Southern Alps of New Zealand. Thomas Lowell, associate professor of geology at the University of Cincinnati, and his colleagues published their findings in the September 15, 1995, issues of Science. …So, what did cause the climate changes? Lowell admits that he and his colleagues have no quick and easy answers. Possibly water vapors played a role. ‘A lot of water vapor in the atmosphere leads to a warmer climate,’ he states. ‘If there’s less vapor, temperatures become colder. Amounts of water vapor can change quickly, and the geological record indicates that climate changes could be very fast.'” (Anonymous, “Were Climate Changes Global During Ice Ages,” Geotimes,vol. 41, 1996, p.7, as cited in Morris, 1997, p. 305.)
Another interesting feature of the early earth atmosphere was enhanced oxygen. The analysis of microscopic air bubbles trapped in fossilized tree resin gave Robert Berner of Yale and Gary Landis of the U.S. Geological Survey a glimpse into the ancient past. “The researchers clamped the amber into a vacuum chamber of a quadrupole mass spectrometer, a device that identifies the chemical composition of a substance. As the machine slowly crushed the sample, the microscopic bubbles were released, exhaling up to 100 billion molecules. These breaths disclosed some surprising evidence: the ancient air contained 50 percent more oxygen than the air today.” Landis believes that the reduction in oxygen could have led to the dinosaur’s demise. (Discover, February, 1988, p. 12.)
Other studies of air bubbles in amber have found increased pressure as well as greater oxygen levels. “One implication is that the atmospheric pressure of the Earth would have been much greater during the Cretaceous era, when the bubbles formed in the resin. A denser atmosphere could also explain how the ungainly pterosaur, with its stubby body and wing span of up to 11 meters, could have stayed airborne, he said. The spread of angiosperms, flowering plants, during the Cretaceous era could have caused the high oxygen levels reported by Berner and Landis, scientists said last week.” (Anderson, Ian, “Dinosaurs Breathed Air Rich in Oxygen,” New Scientist, vol. 116, 1987, p. 25.)
A Yale study published in the March 3, 2000 issue of Science independently confirmed the high levels of oxygen present in the earth’s distant past. Some have even suggested that without such an atmosphere the relatively small lung capacity in certain dinosaurs could not have supplied their massive tissue with the needed oxygen.
In October 2006 Science Daily publicized a study led by Arizona State University staff entitled “Giant Insects Might Reign If Only There Was More Oxygen In The Air.” The article claims, “The delicate lady bug in your garden could be frighteningly large if only there was a greater concentration of oxygen in the air, a new study concludes. The study adds support to the theory that some insects were much larger during the late Paleozoic period because they had a much richer oxygen supply, said the study’s lead author Alexander Kaiser. The Paleozoic period…was a time of huge and abundant plant life and rather large insects — dragonflies had two-and-a-half-foot wing spans, for example. The air’s oxygen content was 35% during this period, compared to the 21% we breathe now, Kaiser said.” This research concurs with the biblical model of the early earth. In 2010 researchers at Arizona State University presented the results of experiments raising insects in various levels of atmospheric oxygen. Ten out of twelve varieties of insects studied decreased in size with lower oxygen. Some, like dragonflies, grew faster and became bigger in an enriched oxygen atmosphere (Science Daily, October 30, 2010).
Some object strongly to using the scriptures to gain scientific insight into the natural world. While the Bible is not a science text, there are several clear lines of evidence that the Bible is God’s Word. If God’s word is truly inspired, it speaks accurately to all areas of knowledge: historical, political/economic, sociological, and scientific.
Ge 1:9 ¶ Then God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear"; and it was so.
Ge 1:10 And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
Ge 1:11 Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth"; and it was so.
Ge 1:12 And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
Ge 1:13 So the evening and the morning were the third day.
As I stated earlier, it does not make any difference what the writers of scripture believed when it came to science etc. … AS LONG AS they simply wrote down what they were told.
Why it does not matter what the Old Testament writers believed is simple; God's word was given and transcribed to a people that did not have to be up to date on science. It only needed to be recorded word for word … and this they did.
We know the earth is round.
We know that atmosphere surrounds the earth.
We know that gravity exists, in direct contradiction to what we know about centrifugal force.
We read … and believe … that it did not rain prior to the flood.
We read … and believe … that God separated a large portion of the water and put it above the expanse.
We read … and believe … that this 'expanse', which God called heaven, would be only one of the heavens mentioned elsewhere in scripture.
We read … and believe … that enough water came down and enough water came 'up' to cover the entire earth … in it's 'then present form'. (We will examine this more fully when we come to chapter 6)
God gathered the waters together into one place. How God did it is not super important. How did He do it? If He has already put into operation some of His laws of physics, He could have 'buckled' the earth's crust to some degree, pushing the earth upwards out of the water. This would be somewhat more effective now that He has removed a lot of the water and put it above the atmosphere. He names the land Earth, and the bodies of waters, Seas. Did the dry land appear already as continents? We don't know if the land mass was a single continent, but we are told later in the book that at a certain point in man's history, the land was divided.
On the third day God created grass, fruit trees, herbs etc. He filled the earth with them … He did not merely (?) create seeds and leave them there for a season.
God said … Jesus spoke. And it was good. God is good.
In our next study we will read about God's creating of the sun, moon and stars. No big bang. Simply the work of our omnipotent God!
Ge 1:6 ¶ … God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. {firmament: Heb. Expansion}
Ge 1:7 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.
Ge 1:8 And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.
What is the firmament? It is correctly translated, Expanse. God called it heaven.
What did God accomplish in making it? He separated the waters from the waters … that is, some of the water on earth and moved it outward and stored it 'above the expanse.'
The expanse (called heaven) needs to be commented on:
Paul makes this statement … I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows.
And I know that this man was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell. 2Corinthians 12:2-4
According to this verse there are at least three heavens. The third heaven clearly is the throne room of God and is the heaven which John, the writer of Revelation, was transported to.
The second heaven, or expanse seems to be space and created universe. The first one would be our atmosphere.
There are several theories and ideas as to where God put the water that He lifted from the earth, but what makes the most sense, to me at least, is that it was put above our atmosphere as a canopy or bubble. There exists a difference of opinion regarding just how much water it was … was it an actual bubble or was it a canopy of vapour?
At this point it does not matter what science or lack of science existed amongst the Jews or people on the earth generally. They could have believed the earth to be flat. They may have assumed that the firmament was a solid platform above the earth, designed to hold this extra water. Some ancients writers actually said the platform contained valves which could be opened to produce the water for the flood.
Later in Genesis we discover that Noah had never seen a rainbow until the day he came out of the ark. How could that be? We know that a rainbow is nothing more than the sun breaking through cloud and shining through raindrops. God made a point of announcing the presence of the rainbow and declaring it to be a visual promise that He would never repeat what He had just done.
Since rainbows require both sunlight and rain simultaneously we may safely assume that this had not happened from creation right up to that point. As a matter of fact, this more than an assumption.
God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, ... But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. Ge 2:5,6
How much water did God lift up off the earth? Could God not have just said, 'Let there be a large band of water encompassing the planet' and it would have been done? Of course. But for some reason He did not create 'new' water to place out there. He lifted …. apparently, a great deal of water and put it out there.
The bible does not come right out and list what effects such a layer of water surrounding the globe would have on the earth or its inhabitants. But we can make observations.
The climate would be much different. Light and heat would be diffused, much like a lens covering a florescent light. There would be no direct sunlight. Perhaps there was also a cloud cover. The clouds could have been similar to what we see today or they could have been non-existent or perhaps an evenly spread layer everywhere.
Atmospheric air pressure could have been very different.
Our experience tells us that UV rays from direct sunlight has a tendency to break things down. Too much exposure has been linked to skin cancer. Premature aging of skin has been attributed to excessive UV rays. Could this be a major factor in humans having such long lifespans at this time? It is curious to note that maximum ages people lived to, dramatically decreased once the direct sunlight appeared after the flood.
What about atmospheric pressure? It is presently about 28 pounds per square inch at sea level, and decreases with altitude. What effects can we imagine would be the case with a tremendous bubble of water around the planet, pressing in on us and raising atmospheric pressure? Would there be a difference in the oxygen ratio of the air.
We don't have to go too far for the answers.
The Pre-flood Atmosphere
There is evidence that the atmosphere enveloping the early earth was very different than it is today. At one time the entire earth enjoyed a warm tropical environment and there was enhanced oxygen in the atmosphere. Organisms grew larger and lived longer as a result.
Many creationists have attributed this to a water vapor canopy that was created by God on the second day, the “waters above the firmament” (Genesis 1:7). This theory holds that a “vast blanket of invisible water vapor, translucent to the light of the stars but productive of a marvelous greenhouse effect which maintained mild temperatures from pole to pole, thus preventing air-mass circulation and the resultant rainfall (Genesis 2:5). It would certainly have had the further effect of efficiently filtering harmful radiation from space, markedly reducing the rate of somatic mutations in living cells, and, as a consequence, drastically decreasing the rate of aging and death.”(Morris, Henry, Scientific Creationism, 1984, p. 211.) Citing evidence of denser atmosphere in the past, Morris postulated that this vapor layer could have dramatically increased the atmospheric pressure on the surface of the early earth, again contributing to a healthier environment (like a natural hyperbaric chamber). Later the canopy would have collapsed in the form of rain (the “windows of heaven” in Genesis 7:11), contributing to the Flood water, and resulting in the dramatic drop-off in longevity after the deluge.
Genesis 9 tells how Noah planted a vineyard after the flood and became drunk from the fruit of it. This is an aberration in the life of this godly man. Some have suggested that Noah did not know his grape juice would ferment so quickly or so extensively in the post-flood atmosphere. Or perhaps the reduced atmospheric pressure made it harder for him to “hold his drink.” While this is only speculation, the removal of the vapor canopy could help explain this curious situation.
Some creationists emphasize other factors that may have caused the worldwide temperate conditions that existed before the Flood. They stress the evidence of far greater concentrations of carbon dioxide levels in the past and point out that the earth’s magnetic field was far stronger than today. This could have acted as the shield for cosmic radiation and produced the healthier environment. (Humphreys, Russel D., Starlight and Time, 1995, p. 63.) John Baumgardner of Los Alamos has suggested that the atmosphere surrounding the original earth was far thicker than it is today and that the exploding of the fountains of the great deep during the initial stages of the Genesis Flood stripped some of this atmosphere away.
Certain Bible scholars cite the language of the Psalm 148:4 as evidence against a vapor canopy. If the canopy had collapsed during the flood, they reason, why does the Psalmist still reference the waters above the firmament? But this poetic allusion could hark back to the original creation, or it could make reference to waters God expanded out into deep space as part of creation, or it could refer to some of the original water vapor (left over from the canopy) still in the outer reaches of our atmosphere.
It is interesting that scientists who would not subscribe to the water vapor canopy theory described above, have published articles that lend credence to portions of that theory. “Using evidence collected in South America and New Zealand, an international team of researchers has determined that climate changes – both warming and cooling patterns – during the late Pleistocene occurred rapidly and were global in scale. As giant iceberg armadas flooded the North Atlantic, alpine glaciers were simultaneously advancing across the Chilean Andes and Southern Alps of New Zealand. Thomas Lowell, associate professor of geology at the University of Cincinnati, and his colleagues published their findings in the September 15, 1995, issues of Science. …So, what did cause the climate changes? Lowell admits that he and his colleagues have no quick and easy answers. Possibly water vapors played a role. ‘A lot of water vapor in the atmosphere leads to a warmer climate,’ he states. ‘If there’s less vapor, temperatures become colder. Amounts of water vapor can change quickly, and the geological record indicates that climate changes could be very fast.'” (Anonymous, “Were Climate Changes Global During Ice Ages,” Geotimes,vol. 41, 1996, p.7, as cited in Morris, 1997, p. 305.)
Another interesting feature of the early earth atmosphere was enhanced oxygen. The analysis of microscopic air bubbles trapped in fossilized tree resin gave Robert Berner of Yale and Gary Landis of the U.S. Geological Survey a glimpse into the ancient past. “The researchers clamped the amber into a vacuum chamber of a quadrupole mass spectrometer, a device that identifies the chemical composition of a substance. As the machine slowly crushed the sample, the microscopic bubbles were released, exhaling up to 100 billion molecules. These breaths disclosed some surprising evidence: the ancient air contained 50 percent more oxygen than the air today.” Landis believes that the reduction in oxygen could have led to the dinosaur’s demise. (Discover, February, 1988, p. 12.)
Other studies of air bubbles in amber have found increased pressure as well as greater oxygen levels. “One implication is that the atmospheric pressure of the Earth would have been much greater during the Cretaceous era, when the bubbles formed in the resin. A denser atmosphere could also explain how the ungainly pterosaur, with its stubby body and wing span of up to 11 meters, could have stayed airborne, he said. The spread of angiosperms, flowering plants, during the Cretaceous era could have caused the high oxygen levels reported by Berner and Landis, scientists said last week.” (Anderson, Ian, “Dinosaurs Breathed Air Rich in Oxygen,” New Scientist, vol. 116, 1987, p. 25.)
A Yale study published in the March 3, 2000 issue of Science independently confirmed the high levels of oxygen present in the earth’s distant past. Some have even suggested that without such an atmosphere the relatively small lung capacity in certain dinosaurs could not have supplied their massive tissue with the needed oxygen.
In October 2006 Science Daily publicized a study led by Arizona State University staff entitled “Giant Insects Might Reign If Only There Was More Oxygen In The Air.” The article claims, “The delicate lady bug in your garden could be frighteningly large if only there was a greater concentration of oxygen in the air, a new study concludes. The study adds support to the theory that some insects were much larger during the late Paleozoic period because they had a much richer oxygen supply, said the study’s lead author Alexander Kaiser. The Paleozoic period…was a time of huge and abundant plant life and rather large insects — dragonflies had two-and-a-half-foot wing spans, for example. The air’s oxygen content was 35% during this period, compared to the 21% we breathe now, Kaiser said.” This research concurs with the biblical model of the early earth. In 2010 researchers at Arizona State University presented the results of experiments raising insects in various levels of atmospheric oxygen. Ten out of twelve varieties of insects studied decreased in size with lower oxygen. Some, like dragonflies, grew faster and became bigger in an enriched oxygen atmosphere (Science Daily, October 30, 2010).
Some object strongly to using the scriptures to gain scientific insight into the natural world. While the Bible is not a science text, there are several clear lines of evidence that the Bible is God’s Word. If God’s word is truly inspired, it speaks accurately to all areas of knowledge: historical, political/economic, sociological, and scientific.
Ge 1:9 ¶ Then God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear"; and it was so.
Ge 1:10 And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
Ge 1:11 Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth"; and it was so.
Ge 1:12 And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
Ge 1:13 So the evening and the morning were the third day.
As I stated earlier, it does not make any difference what the writers of scripture believed when it came to science etc. … AS LONG AS they simply wrote down what they were told.
Why it does not matter what the Old Testament writers believed is simple; God's word was given and transcribed to a people that did not have to be up to date on science. It only needed to be recorded word for word … and this they did.
We know the earth is round.
We know that atmosphere surrounds the earth.
We know that gravity exists, in direct contradiction to what we know about centrifugal force.
We read … and believe … that it did not rain prior to the flood.
We read … and believe … that God separated a large portion of the water and put it above the expanse.
We read … and believe … that this 'expanse', which God called heaven, would be only one of the heavens mentioned elsewhere in scripture.
We read … and believe … that enough water came down and enough water came 'up' to cover the entire earth … in it's 'then present form'. (We will examine this more fully when we come to chapter 6)
God gathered the waters together into one place. How God did it is not super important. How did He do it? If He has already put into operation some of His laws of physics, He could have 'buckled' the earth's crust to some degree, pushing the earth upwards out of the water. This would be somewhat more effective now that He has removed a lot of the water and put it above the atmosphere. He names the land Earth, and the bodies of waters, Seas. Did the dry land appear already as continents? We don't know if the land mass was a single continent, but we are told later in the book that at a certain point in man's history, the land was divided.
On the third day God created grass, fruit trees, herbs etc. He filled the earth with them … He did not merely (?) create seeds and leave them there for a season.
God said … Jesus spoke. And it was good. God is good.
In our next study we will read about God's creating of the sun, moon and stars. No big bang. Simply the work of our omnipotent God!