Creation Account of Heavens and Earth
Genesis 1:1 states that, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth
Take note that, the Bible did not say “heaven” but “heavens”; this denote many…
Hebrews 11:3a says that, “By faith we understand that the worlds (some versions use “universe”) were framed by the word of God…”
Bringing Genesis 1:1 and Hebrews 11:3a side by side, we see that the universe (or the worlds) is made up of the earth and the heavens
Mathematically,
Universe = Earth + Heavens
The “heavens” used in the Bible, therefore, refers to all other elements or constellation in the universe aside the earth.
Biblical record of creation is presented from the perspective of one standing on the earth. This is because, the Lord chose to place humanity on earth from where He would roll out His redemptive plan for them. Creation account therefore list the earth, the moon, the sun and the stars.
Isaiah 13:10 says, “For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be darkened in its going forth, and the moon will not cause its light to shine”
I cited Isaiah 13:10 above to show that the sun, stars and moon makes up the universe outside the earth as the confirmed by the creation account.
The sun is a star, but the Lord gives it a special focus for emphasis since it is the star closest to the earth – where His redemptive purpose for humanity will take place. It is like Jesus telling Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome to go and tell, “the disciples and Peter” (Mark 16:7); that did not mean Peter is not a disciple but for the purpose of emphasis.
We can therefore see that, after the description of the creation account, the biblical narrative moves straight to the Garden of Eden – from whence God’s redemptive plan begins to roll out – starting with His interaction with Adam and Eve.
The Heavens
Predominant Hebrew word translated “heaven(s)” in the Old Testament is “samayim” (singular: sameh). This word means, “to be lofty” – meaning “to be lofty” – the sky (as aloft) – the visible arch in which the clouds move, as well as referring to the higher ether where celestrial bodies revolve. Predominant Greek word translated “heaven(s)” in the New Testament is “ouranos” (from the idea of elevation) and refers to the sky; by extension heaven (as the abode of God); by implication happiness, power, eternity. Thus “heaven(s)” refers to either of three realms, depending on context of a given biblical passage:
- The firmament
- The rest of the universe – often referred to in the Bible as, the host of heaven (stars including the sun and the moon)
- The heaven of heavens (the unapproachable light) where God dwells with the host of heaven (angels, etc.)
Hosts of heaven
Depending on context, “host of heaven” can refers to “the rest of the universe” or to “angels etc. with God in the heaven of heavens”
Let us examine these scriptures below to bring out the differences:
Deuteronomy 4:19; 5:8; 17:3; 2 Kings 17:16; 21:3, 5; 23:4, 5; Isaiah 13:10 among many other passages reveals the “host of heaven” as the sun, the moon and the stars which human beings are not supposed to worship; any worship that focusses on the moon, the stars and the sun is idolatry. For instance, Deuteronomy 4:19 says,
‘And take heed, lest you lift your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, you feel driven to worship them and serve them, which the Lord your God has given to all the peoples under the whole heaven as a heritage’
1 Kings 22:19-22; 2 Chronicles 18:18-21; Nehemiah 9:6; Psalm 103:21; 148:2; Luke 2:13-15, among many others passages also reveal the “host of heaven” as multitude of angels. For example, Luke 2:13-15 says,
‘And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.” When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, “Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.”’
Heaven as the Firmament – the 1st Heaven
Now back to “Heaven as the firmament”. As we have already established, the word “heaven(s)” can mean “the firmament”; “the rest of the universe” (stars, including the sun, & moon): or “the heaven of heavens where God dwells”. Genesis 1:8, 14, 15, 17, 20 refers to the heaven as the firmament; also referred to as “the first heaven”.
Genesis 1:7-8 says,
‘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. And, God called the firmament, heaven’
Genesis 1:20 also says,
‘… and let the birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens’
The firmament is part of the sky. The sky is everything above the earth surface even to outer space. Thus, the sky is therefore made up of the atmosphere (between the earth surface and outer space) and outer space. The atmosphere is made up of 5 levels: Troposphere; Stratosphere; Mesosphere; Thermosphere; and Exosphere.
Troposphere is the atmosphere between 8km to 14km above the earth surface. The troposphere holds nearly all of earth’s water vapor. It is where most clouds ride the winds and where weather occurs. It contains as much as 80% of the mass of the whole atmosphere. The further up you go in this layer, the colder it gets. Helicopters fly in this zone of the atmosphere. The boundary between the troposphere and the next layer up (Stratosphere) is known as the tropopause.
Stratosphere is the atmosphere between 14km to 64kms above the earth surface; unlike the troposphere, temperatures in this layer increase with elevation. Stratosphere is very dry, so clouds rarely form here. It also contains most of the atmosphere’s ozone, triplet molecules made from three oxygen atoms (O3). At this elevation, ozone protects life on earth from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet radiation. It’s a very stable layer, with little circulation. For that reason, commercial airlines tend to fly in the lower stratosphere to keep flights smooth. This lack of vertical movement also explains why stuff that gets into in the stratosphere tends to stay there for a long time. That “stuff” might include aerosol particles shot skyward by volcanic eruptions, and even smoke from wildfires. This layer also has accumulated pollutants, such as chlorofluorocarbons. Better known as CFCs, these chemicals can destroy the protective ozone layer, thinning it greatly. By the top of the stratosphere, called the stratopause, air is only a thousandth as dense as at earth’s surface.
Mesosphere is the atmosphere between 64km to 85km above the earth’s surface. Scientists do not know quite as much about this layer. It is just harder to study. Airplanes and research balloons do not operate this high and satellites (such as the moon) orbit higher up. We do know that the mesosphere is where most meteors harmlessly burn up as they hurtle towards earth. Near the top of this layer, temperatures drop to the lowest in earth’s atmosphere — about -90° Celsius (-130° Fahrenheit). The line marking the top of the mesosphere is called the mesopause. If you ever travel that far, congratulations! You are officially a space traveler — aka astronaut — according to the U.S. Air Force. It is important to note that, there is the ionosphere. The ionosphere is a zone of charged particles that extends from the upper stratosphere or lower mesosphere all the way to the exosphere. The ionosphere is able to reflect radio waves; this allows radio communications.
Thermosphere is the atmosphere between 85km to 600km above the earth’s surface. It soaks up x-rays and ultraviolet energy from the sun, protecting those of us on the ground from these harmful rays. The ups and downs of that solar energy also make the thermosphere vary wildly in temperature. It can go from really cold to as hot as about 1,980 ºC (3,600 ºF) near the top. The sun’s varying energy output also causes the thickness of this layer to expand as it heats and to contract as it cools. With all the charged particles, the thermosphere is also home to those beautiful celestial light shows known as auroras. This layer’s top boundary is called the thermopause.
Exosphere is the atmosphere between 600km to 10,000km above the earth’s surface. Its lower boundary is known as the exobase. The exosphere has no firmly defined top. Instead, it just fades further out into space. Air molecules in this part of our atmosphere are so far apart that they rarely even collide with each other. Earth’s gravity still has a little pull here, but just enough to keep most of the sparse air molecules from drifting away. Still, some of those air molecules — tiny bits of our atmosphere — do float away, lost to earth forever.
Heaven as Galaxies – the 2nd Heaven
We have also seen that the word “heaven(s)” can refer to the rest of the universe often refer to as “the hosts of heaven” – bodies in outer space; some view this as the “second heaven”. This includes the stars (the sun, being the closest star to the earth) and the moon (the earth’s satellite). A satellite is an object that moves around a larger object. Earth is a satellite because it moves around the sun. The moon is a satellite because it moves around earth. Earth and the moon are called “natural” satellites.
What the Bible refers to as “stars” are galaxies – groups of stars in space. When standing on the earth, stars appear very small – though they are far bigger than the sun – because, unlike the sun (a star, itself), stars, as seen from the earth, are very far away from the earth surface. Stars are far beyond the exosphere – the upper layer of the earth’s atmosphere; stars are in outer space. Outer space is everything beyond the exosphere.
Galaxies are sprawling systems of dust, gas, dark matter, and anywhere from a million to a trillion stars that are held together by gravity. Nearly all large galaxies are thought to also contain supermassive black holes at their centers. In our own galaxy, the Milky Way (one among the billions of galaxies in our Universe), the sun is just one of about 100 to 400 billion stars that spin around Sagittarius A, a supermassive black hole that contains as much mass as four million suns.
Moon and Sun to Determine Times and Seasons
Genesis 1:14-18 says,
‘And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good.’ (underline, mine)
Whiles the earth and other planets move round the sun, as said earlier, the moon also move round the earth. The moon is 384,400km from the earth and it is between the earth and the sun beyond the earth’s 5th atmospheric layer (exosphere). The moon moves around the earth at a speed of 3,700km/h. So how many days does the moon take to make one complete movement around the earth? Let that time be “T”; let “R” be radius of moon from the earth (R=384,400km); “V” is velocity or speed of moon round the earth (V=3,700km/h). Thus,
T = 2ΠR/V
T = (2 x 22/7 x 384,400km)/3,700km/h
T = 653.035hrs = 27.2days
Hence, all other factors (such as movement of the moon on its own axis) considered, it takes the moon between 28 to 31 days to move round the earth; this period is referred to as a month (one moon).
Since the moon is held attached to the earth by gravity as a satellite to the earth, even as the earth rotates on its axis and also move round the sun, the moon moves with it. Remember that a satellite is an object that moves around a larger object. Three sets of lessons can to drawn from the moon’s relationship with the earth and the sun. First, the moon shows commitment, loyalty and faithfulness towards the earth. The moon also expresses humility as it hides when the sun appears in the day over the earth – and rather than try to compete with the sun, the moon absorbs light from the sun; the moon acknowledges the greatness of the sun; the moon is not envious. Furthermore, the moon is not caught up in inferiority complex; at night, it gives off the “little” light it has absorbed from the sun during the day. The nature of God is revealed in sundry ways in His created order and at least, the moon reflects these three sets of the many nature of God manifested in His creation in parts but fully expressed in the Person of Jesus Christ. Hallelujah!
Colossians 2:9 states, ‘For in Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily’
It is worth noting that, the earth takes 24 hours to move on its axis of 360°. Thus time zones shift by 360°/24hrs = 15° per hour and that is why Ghana on longitude 0° is an hour behind Nigeria which is on 15°E. Also, the earth is 149,140,000km from the sun and moves around the sun at a speed of 107,000km/h. So how many days does the earth take to make one complete movement round the sun? We all know it to be approximately 365days (1 year). But how do we get this figure? Let that time be “T”; let “R” be radius of earth from the sun (R=149,140,000km); “V” is velocity or speed of earth round the sun (V=107,000km/h). Thus,
T = 2ΠR/V
T = (2 x 22/7 x 149,140km)/107,000km/h
T = 8,761.23hrs = 365days
Heaven as the Throne of God – the 3rd Heaven (Heaven of Heavens)
Far beyond the universe is the “heaven of heavens” where God dwells; God dwells in the infinity – a place yet to be explored by scientists; this explains infinity (∞) in mathematics. Well, that illustrates the unapproachable light where God dwells. Apostle Paul calls it “the third heaven” in 2 Corinthians 12:2. It states,
‘I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a one was caught up to the third heaven.’
Apostle Paul again refers to where God dwells as the “unapproachable light” in 1 Timothy 6:15b-16 which states,
‘God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen’ (underline, mine)
Various places in scripture reveals the reality of the throne of God in the heaven of heavens. Examples are Job 22:12; 1 Kings 8:27, 30, 43, 49; Psalm 115:16 among many others.
Job 22:12 quizzes the obvious, ‘“Is not God in the height of heaven?’
1 Kings 8:27 also reveals, “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built! (underline, mine)
In 1 Kings 8:30, 43, 49, Solomon prays to the Lord saying on these three occasions to the Lord, “…Hear in heaven Your dwelling place”.
The psalmist nails it in Psalm 115:16, saying, ‘The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s;
but the earth He has given to the children of men.
Our God: Transcendent and yet, Immanent
God is so far away but He is so close to us and even in us and comes speedily to bring help to us in times of trouble. Our God is Immanuel – God with us. Our God is Jehovah Shammah – God who is there! He is not absent. Others may persecute us, reject us, ghost us, and even cancel us but the God Almighty we serve, who has revealed Himself fully in Christ Jesus and now lives in those in Christ by the Holy Spirit, is our ever-present help in times of trouble
Deuteronomy 33:26, ‘“There is no one like the God of Jeshurun, who rides across the heavens to help you and on the clouds in his majesty”’
Job 22:14, ‘Thick clouds cover Him, so that He cannot see, and He walks above the circle of heaven’
Psalm 46:1, ‘God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble
Travelling from Nairobi, Kenya to the capital cities of nearly all the East African nations (Kigali, Rwanda; Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; Bujumbura, Burundi; Kampala, Uganda; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Juba, South Sudan) takes averagely 1 hour 20 minutes by flight with speed of about 840km/h at a height of about 10km (~33,000 feet) above sea level. This means, if I urgently need to help someone in any of this nations, it will take me not less than 1 hour, 20 minutes by flight barring delays from COVID test; check in; arrival protocols; drive from airport etc.
On the contrary, our God, living so far away beyond the universe (outside of Mass, Length and Time – which are the three defining dimensions of creation – as taught in physics under the topic, “Dimensions”) brings help instantly when we call upon Him. What an amazing God we serve! Be encouraged by this write up to thank, praise, adore and to trust the Lord God Almighty all the more as we journey this earth – enjoying eternal life here and the hereafter. Amen!
Written by Apostle S. K. Fianko-Larbi