Expanding Our Knowledge Of The Expanse. Series

Intro: EXPANDING OUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE EXPANSE.

1. In a 1960’s musical, King Arthur declares by decree that Camelot Canada is the perfect climate all year round! The decree goes:

"It’s true! It’s true!

The crown has made it clear:

The climate must be perfect all the year.

A law was made a distant moon ago here,

June, July and August cannot be too hot;

And there’s a legal limit to the snow here...

In Camelot.

The winter is forbidden till December...

And exits March the second on the dot.

By order summer lingers through September...

In Camelot.

I know it sounds a bit bizarre.

But in Camelot, Camelot,

That’s how conditions are.

The rain may never fall till after sundown,

By eight the morning fog must disappear.

In short, there’s simply not,

A more congenial spot

for happy everaftering than here

In Camelot."

2. God not only created planet earth to be our home, equipped with free electricity, but also with the year round perfect climate!

Mr. Morris, "The canopy must have been in the form of a vast blanket of water vapor, extending far out into space, invisible and yet exerting a profound influence on terrestrial and living conditions. It would have insured a worldwide warm, mild climate, without only minor seasonal and latiudinal differences.

There would have been no rain in the form with which we are familiar...The vapor canopy also would have served as a highly effective shield against the many powerful and harmful radiations that surround the earth, and which are now only partially filtered by our present atmosphere. Such radiation system, tending to cause harmful mutations and general biological deterioration. It is quite possible that the blanket was one major factor contributing to human longevity in those early day."

What a contrast with the world today! Why? Not because of God, but because of man’s sin! And thus since the Fall and the Flood, both caused by man’s sin, we live in a world of snow storms, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods and droughts, and much more

3. Second day - the Expanse.

Trans:We have looked at the Introduction with the key word Existance; and the Exposure, now we come to the Expanse. Gen. 1:6-8

I. FIRST, THE EXPANSE IS SANDWICHED BETWEEN THE WATERS.

Then God said, "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters - 6a

First, lets get a picture of what the earth was like: "remember what the earth was like: surging, raging waters covered the whole earth. No land rose above the waters; no land was exposed; no land could be seen. There was only the primeval waters with churning, gigantic waves raging back and forth over the face of the earth.

Also covering the earth were heavy, thick clouds, fog, and mist, all of which engulfed the earth in pitch black darkness.

"4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made earth and heaven. 5 Now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the LORD God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. 6 But a mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground." Genesis 2:4-6

This is the picture of prehistoric earth, an earth covered by waters, waters that surged back and forth and waters in the form of clouds, fog, and mist hanging right above the surging waters. The whole earth was covered in water, its face and its atmosphere. The earth was one massive, unending ocean of water covered with high rising clouds, fog, and mist—all blanketed in pitch black darkness." [Preacher’s Outline and Sermon Bible ]

expanse - rāqîaʿ[Raw-key-ah]. Leupold, "the word "firmament" (ragia) comes from the Hebrew root that means "to hammer or to spread out"

"The Hebrew word refers to an expanse of air pressure between the surface of the sea and the clouds, separating water below from water above. In v. 8 it is called "sky." [NET Bible note]

"God spoke: "Sky! In the middle of the waters..." Genesis 1:6 (MSG)

So you might have a global air pocket in the middle of the water that was surrounding the earth.

II. FURTHERMORE, THE EXPANSE SEPARATED TO CREATE A SPACE.

...and let it separate the waters from the waters." 7 God made the expanse, and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; Genesis 1:6-7 - so the global air pocket expanded, leaving a space between the waters below and a canopy of water above.

This demonstrates God’s power - if you have ever moved water, you know it is extremely heavy. You can take a small kids swiming pool, fill it with water and then try to move it!