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!
Phillips, "In terms of sheer mechanical engineering, the work of the second day of creation is astounding. The amount of vapor continually suspended in the air above us is estimated at 54 trillion, 460 billion tons! Water is 773 times the weight of air, so that gives some idea of the power required to separate the waters from the waters."
Trans: God’s power is mindboggling! It transcends our realm. To put it in some perspective. I can bench press 8,000 lbs! Did you know that I can do that? All I have to do is take a trip to the moon. The law of gravity is not the same - what is impossible on earth is easy on the moon.
On the moon I would be in a different realm. We have problems with the power of God because we keep Him in our realm. We try to limit Him to our realm, but God lives in a realm far beyond us, and His power operates according to vastly different rules.
I think our problem is we get all caught up in two extremes - either in our power, which is a joke compared to God’s; or in our problems. We need to look to God and His power and while it goes beyond our comprehension, that in itself should cause us to stand in awe.
Ed Dobson, pastor of Calvary Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, suffers with Lou Gehrig’s disease. He says:
"I have muscle atrophy and nerve damage in my right hand and arm, and I have twitches all over my body. There is a remote possibility the disease could remain localized in my arm, in which case it wouldn’t kill me. So I have three prayers for healing: a small-faith vision, a medium-faith one, and a big-faith prayer.
When my faith is small, I pray, "Lord, I’ll give up my right hand; just let the disease stop there." If I’m a little stronger in my faith, I pray, "Lord, stop it right where it is; let it get no worse than it is today." If I’m feeling particularly bold, I pray, "Maybe you could heal me, Lord. Maybe you could reverse this disease."
One night I asked my friend...to come over and anoint me with oil. He talked to me about people he has anointed who got healed and people he anointed who didn’t.
He said, "You need to get lost in the wonder of God. If you’ll get lost in that wonder, who knows what he’ll do for you."
When I read our passage about God taking this enormous body of water and just picking it up and making it stay there...I stand get lost in the wonder of God!
III. THIRDLY, THE EXPANSE WAS BASED ON GOD SURE WORD.
...and it was so - I like that!
Spurgeon, "Note those four words, "and it was so." Whatever God ordains always comes. You will find that it is true of all his promises that, whatever he has said, shall be fulfilled to you, and you shall one day say of it all, "And it was so." It is equally certain concerning all his threatenings that what he has spoken shall certainly be fulfilled, and the ungodly will have to say "And it was so." These words are often repeated in this chapter. They convey to us the great lesson that the word of God is sure to be followed by the deed of God. He speaks, and it is done.
If your lost - you can be sure that God’s promise of eternal judgment will come. Share gospel.
If your saved every promise God ever made will come to past.
"Blessed be the LORD, who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised; not one word has failed of all His good promise, which He promised through Moses His servant." 1 Kings 8:56 see Rom. 4:20-21
"3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. 4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust." 2 Peter 1:3-4
Jose Canseco’s last season in the major leagues was 2001. After seventeen years of playing baseball in the majors, Jose only played 76 games that year. Twice he led the major leagues in home runs, but at 37 years old he no longer was the home run threat he had been.
On August 1, 2001, Jose was playing for the Chicago White Sox. The White Sox were at home playing the Kansas City Royals.
That evening was "Cancer Survivors Night", where 450 patients and their families came to the game. During batting practice, Jose promised 4 young cancer patients that he was going to try to hit a couple of home runs for them during the game. Jose had only hit 6 home runs that year.
In his first at bat, Jose came through and launched a homer into the first row of the left field bleachers.
And Joe wasn’t done. He hit a two-run homer in the third inning, giving the White Sox a 5-3 lead. The crowd of 15,620 gave Canseco a standing ovation for his two home runs and 4 young patients were in awe of his kept promise.
God never strikes out on His promises. He always is faithful to knock them out of the ball park!
III. FINALLY, THE EXPANSE IS SPOKEN OF AS HEAVEN.
God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day. Genesis 1:8 - here the expanse is futher identified as heaven.
Heaven, shāmayim [shaw-mah-yim]. The word is always plural. It can refer to the sky, the atmosphere where the birds fly.
"Then God said, "Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens." Genesis 1:20
Heaven can also speak of where the sun, stars, moon are.
"14 Then God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years; 15 and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth"; and it was so. 16 God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also." Genesis 1:14-16 (NASB)
Heaven is also the throne of God.
Thus says the LORD, "Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest? Isaiah 66:1
In this context it seems the best translation would be "sky."
"God called the expanse "sky." There was evening, and there was morning, a second day." Genesis 1:8 (NET1)
"God named the air "sky." Evening passed, and morning came. This was the second day. Genesis 1:8 (NCV)
"God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning--the second day." Genesis 1:8 (NIV)
This is another case where a literal word for word translation is not always best.
"Translating from one language to another is not as simple as it might seem [and all English translations come from the Hebrew or Greek manuscripts - not the other way around!]...Translation is, in fact, a complex undertaking involving study of the vocabulary, the grammar, and the syntax of both the language from which one is translating and the language into which the translation is taking place."
It easy to say well just take it as literal as possible from the Greek or Hebrew text. Sounds good but:
"The French have a saying, "j’ai le cafard," which the most literal English translation would be, "I have the cockroach." That literal translation does not covey the real meaning, which to the French mean somthing like "I am depressed" or "I have the blues." Obviously a literal translation in that case would actually be misleading!
The German saying, "Morgenstund hat Gold im Mund" is literally "Morning hours have gold in the mouth." But it is an idiomatic saying similar to our expression, "The early bird catches the worm."
I personally like translations that lean toward the literal meaning, but realize that sometimes it is not always the best translation.
"Let these words sink into your ears; for the Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men." Luke 9:44 (NASB)
That is a literal translation but not the best one!
"Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you: The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men." Luke 9:44 (NIV)
Is actually a better translation - that is why no one translation is always the best! Sometimes the literal translation is much better:
"Enter Bethel and transgress; In Gilgal multiply transgression! Bring your sacrifices every morning, Your tithes every three days." Amos 4:4(NASB)
While the NIV puts it,
""Go to Bethel and sin; go to Gilgal and sin yet more. Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three years." Amos 4:4 (NIV)
The fact is the literal text is days not years!
Why bring this up in this sermon? Because I want you to understand why I think "sky" is the best translation, and because my goal is to teach people how to study the Bible. There is an old saying that I take to heart, "Give a man a fish and feed him for a day; teach him how to fish and feed him for a lifetime." To me a church built on a preachers personality instead of the Word of God is cultic. And if people are not taught how to study the scriptures they will be following man instead of the Scriptures.
Con:
1. The second day - the Expanse.
2. What a loving God who would not only make this planet our home, not only turn on the light, but make it to be a perfect climate! All that changed with the flood - which was caused by man’s sin.
3. Good news - salvation will one day include a perfect enviornment again!
"1 Then I saw a new earth (with no oceans!) and a new sky, for the present earth and sky had disappeared. 2 And I, John, saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven. It was a glorious sight, beautiful as a bride at her wedding. 3 I heard a loud shout from the throne saying, "Look, the home of God is now among men, and he will live with them and they will be his people; yes, God himself will be among them. 4 He will wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, nor pain. All of that has gone forever." Revelation 21:1-4 (TLB)
"Just Think
Of stepping on shore,
And finding it heaven;
Of taking hold of a hand.
And finding it God’s hand;
Of breathing new air,
And finding it heavenly air;
Of feeling invigorated,
And finding it immortality;
Of passing from storm and
Tempest to an unbroken calm;
Of waking up—
And finding it HOME!"
Johnny Palmer Jr
www.StrugglingThruScriptures.ning.com
