The Cosmology Chronicles | Part 2

What does the Bible mean?

Jun 07, 2024

Introduction

That Scripture declares forthrightly that God created the heaven and the earth in six literal 24-hour periods is indisputable, and we would be entirely unjustified in either spiritualizing away, claiming metaphorical language, or denying outright what God has made perfectly plain.

It is no light thing to mystify Scripture,1 which is to shroud God’s word in doubt and keep the hearers in darkness. As humble servants of Jehovah, the Most High,2 we should have naught to do with such things.

Now if the time period within which God made our world is definite, and without ambiguity or pretext, then what excuse have we to suggest that the account of what God did within those six days were mere allegory? What license have we to allegorize such a crucial text—which could not have been presented more matter-of-factly—as Genesis 1? Are not those whom teach and practice such things following after the serpent, who cunningly posed that fatal question to Eve, “Yea, hath God said?” The devil beguiled Eve into questioning her Maker’s veracity by implanting the thought in her mind, “Did God really mean what He said?”

As we delineate the words of God and explicate the meaning thereof, let us take the Bible as it reads—and believe the account which our Creator has given to us concerning His creation—that we may single-mindedly align ourselves with the truth,3 whatever it is, and surrender wholeheartedly to all that He has purposed to reveal to those who search for Him with all their heart.4

With well over one hundred references supplied in Part 1: What does the Bible say?, we have succinctly and emphatically shown what the Bible declares. Using these references, you may see for yourself that we have provided a cloudless, decisive summary of Bible Cosmology.

Now that what the Bible says is fresh in our minds, let us explore: what does the Bible mean?

What is the Firmament?

The firmament is first introduced in the account of the second day of creation,5 which describes the earth that then was, in its primordial state, and that God “divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament”.6 Prior to this parting of the primordial waters, called the deep, we are told that the earth was formless and void;7 and concerning the deep, that darkness was upon its face.8

Purpose of the Firmament

So God made the firmament, setting it in the midst of the primordial waters, and stretched it out into an arched9 vault, having purposed it with two functions:

to uphold an immense volume of water; and
to bring about an inhabitable expanse as a result of the enclosure created by the firmament (in order that He could set the celestial bodies within it, as well as all that resides upon the earth, and all that resides in the seas).

Solidity and Strength of the Firmament

Such a structure upholding an immeasurable body of water must be so strong as to be impenetrable. In fact, the word for ‘firmament’ in Hebrew, rāqîaʿ [H7549], which denotes solidity, and also means ‘the visible arch of the sky’, comes from the primitive root rāqaʿ [H7554], meaning: to pound the earth (as a sign of passion); by analogy to expand (by hammering); by implication, to overlay (with thin sheets of metal): beat, make broad, spread abroad (forth, over, out, into plates), stamp, stretch. This description indisputably indicates something that is not only material in nature, but solid; hence “firm” in the word firmament.

The strength and function of the firmament, to uphold the waters above,10 is further evidenced by the account of the flood.11 The immense volume of water below and above the firmament is what made the worldwide flood, during the time of Noah, possible.12 God opened all the windows (or floodgates; doors) of heaven13 above, and broke up all the fountains of the deep14 beneath, and then came flooding in the waters.

The Firmament Likened to Sapphire/Crystal

Elihu, referring to the firmament, employs the very same language:

Job 37:18 Hast thou with Him spread out [H7554] the sky, Which is strong, and as a molten looking glass?

Moses and Ezekiel give us further light upon the nature of the firmament:

Exo 24:10 And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under His feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness.

Eze 1:26 And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.
10:1 Then I looked, and, behold, in the firmament that was above the head of the cherubims there appeared over them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne.

According to Mohs hardness,15 sapphire has a hardness 9.0, placing it among the hardest minerals on earth. The only minerals that can scratch a sapphire are diamond (which has a hardness of 10.0), another corundum (sapphire or ruby) under certain circumstances, and possibly some rare minerals, such as silicon carbide and tungsten carbide, which are comparable in hardness to sapphire.

Although Moses and Ezekiel were speaking to the firmament’s rich, vibrant blue appearance, the fact that they associated it with a sapphire stone is nonetheless significant due to its exceptional hardness, concerning which we can reasonably assume they were familiar.

On two occasions, the beloved disciple John further describes the firmament as a sea of glass16 like unto crystal, another reference denoting its solid, crystalline-like structure.

A Vaulted, Crystalline-Like Dome

We may conclude that the firmament is an arched; vaulted, crystalline-like dome over the earth, of impenetrable strength, which God made to encase the sun, moon, and stars, the birds which fly above the earth17 and all that lives upon it, and the seas and all that lives within them, like an inhabitable terrarium / aquarium that is surrounded by and upholding an immeasurable body of water, and above which God’s throne is established.

Biblical Geocentricity

That the Biblical, cosmological model is geocentric18 and not heliocentric19 is undeniable. According to Scripture, the sun, moon, and stars are lights inside the firmament of the heaven, which God made and ordained for the sole service of the earth and man, to give light upon it and to generate the days, nights, seasons, and years through their movements.

Some proponents of the hurtling, spinning globe would suggest that God merely moved the Bible writers to speak to these matters from their own vantage point, from which it only appears that the sun moves. Yet in reality (or so they say), it’s the earth whose shifting and turning gives the illusion of the sun’s movement, thus making God a liar to uphold their cherished, man-made philosophy.

However, in 1 Chronicles 16:30, we read that the earth is stable, and cannot be moved, and Zechariah 1:11 tells us that the earth is still and at rest.20 Thus the Bible is clear that it is the sun (and the moon and stars), not the earth, that moves, and by whose movements the ages are marked as they pass.

Divine Intervention with Sun’s Movement

The sun’s movement according to Scripture is further substantiated by Joshua 10:12-14 and 2 Kings 20:8-11. On these two separate occasions, God intervened with the movement of the sun in a powerful and miraculous fashion. In the first case, stopping it so that it stood completely still in one spot in the sky for an entire day.21 In the latter, the sun was even moved backward in the sky.22

The divine power that ordained the celestial bodies in their courses on the fourth day is the same divinity that caused the ceasing and retrogradation of their movements, and only divinity could perform such a marvellous feat. These two miracles performed by the power of God declare the sun’s divinely appointed movement, and the perfect rest of the earth beneath our feet. There is no parable given issuing reason to allegorize this text. By all indications, context considered, these accounts are literal and mean precisely what they say.

Earth a Circular Face with Ends

Throughout Scripture, the earth is always described as having a face23 with ends,24 and Isaiah describes the earth as circular.25 This circular face with ends stands in contrast to another word that Isaiah uses to describe the spherical shape of a ball.26 A sphere does not have a face or ends/edges. A circle, however, has both. It is upon this circular face that it will be possible for every eye to see when Christ returns.

We are further told that the waters of the seas should not fall off the ends of the earth because there are bounds set around them.27

The Foundations & Pillars of the Earth

In Job 38:4, God, speaking to Job, presents a humbling question: “Where wast thou when I laid the foundation of the earth? Declare if thou hast understanding.” And in 1 Samuel 2:8, we read that: “the pillars of the earth are the LORD’S, and He hath set the world upon them.” The Bible all throughout attests to the earth’s foundations28 and pillars.29

But Job 38:6 presents an important question concerning the architecture of our world: Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? To which the Psalmist, under inspiration of the Holy Ghost, answers:

For He hath founded it upon the seas, And established it upon the floods.
Psalm 24:2

In astonishment at God’s magnificent engineering, Job reverently declares:

He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.
Job 26:7

So God, whose mount resides in the sides of the north30 straight above us, created the earth in the midst of the primordial waters, and by the arm of His power the world is upheld, which in man’s estimation, equates to “hanging upon nothing”. The earth has foundations that rest upon pillars, which are established upon ‘the great deep’, from which the ‘fountains of the deep’ spring upward.

In closing

An open mind and heart desirous to know the things of God is all that is required to understand Biblical Cosmology, for Scripture is exceedingly clear and the doctrine simple enough for a child to grasp. The Bible is so plain, and speaks for itself so loud and clearly upon the matter, that we have hardly had to expound upon it in this short commentary.

Now that we’ve equipped ourselves with a knowledge of the Scriptures, in the following instalments of this series, we’ll take a walk together through the aisles of the history of cosmology, from the conception of the ancients all the way through to the present day.