Deepening the Well

1
Deepening the Well

• Book of Genesis
• Session Three

2
Brief Review

• First book of the Torah (5 books of Moses)
• Genesis The book of beginnings
• Exodus The birth of a nation (Israel)
• Leviticus The law of the nation
• Numbers The wilderness wandering
• Deuteronomy Review of the law and wanderings

3
Brief Review

• Unit One Pre-History
• Genesis 1, 2 Creation
• Genesis 3 Fall of man (Introduction of sin)
• Genesis 4 Cain and Abel
• Genesis 5 Adam to Noah
• Genesis 6 Descent of man / Introduction of Noah
• Genesis 7-9 The flood
• Genesis 10 Expansion of the nations
• Genesis 11 Rebellion at Shinar (Tower of Babel)

4
The Book of Genesis

• Chapter 1
• The Creation Week

5
Chapter One Creation WeekOverview

• Day One Light
• Day Two Stretching out the heavens / the
  firmament
• Day Three Seas gathered, dry ground appears,
  and vegetation brought forth
• Day Four Sun, Moon, Constellations
• Day Five Sea creatures and birds of the air
• Day Six Land animals and mankind

6
The Outer Limits
7
The Outer Limits

• For there are problems so perplexing that they
  are seemingly impossible to solve when man
  ventures to the outer limits of his experience.
• - The Outer Limits (1965)
• The Premonition

While we do not look at the things which are
seen, but at the things which are not seen. For
the things which are seen are temporary, but the
things which are not seen are eternal. - 2
Corinthians 418 (NKJ)
Our universe and reality is far more bizarre than
what most people even begin to comprehend.
8
The Second Day

• Genesis 1 6-8

9
The Second Day
Then God said, "Let there be an expanse in the
midst of the waters, and let it separate the
waters from the waters. And God made the
expanse, and separated the waters which were
below the expanse from the waters which were
above the expanse and it was so. And God
called the expanse heaven. And there was evening
and there was morning, a second day. Genesis
16-8
10
The Second Day
Then God said, "Let there be an expanse in the
midst of the waters, and let it separate the
waters from the waters. Genesis 16

• Expanse raqiya (Firmament KJV and NKJV)
• Used 17 times in OT
• An extended surface (solid), an expansion
• Separated the waters (mayim)

11
A Local Raqiya

• Idea 1 Atmospheric pressure separating the
  waters above (clouds) from below (hydrological
  cycle)

• Idea 2 Water Vapor Canopy
• Blanket of water surrounding the earth
• Greenhouse effect
• Sub-tropical climate (even at poles)
• Lush vegetation
• Protection from harsh cosmic rays
• Explains long life spans
• Broken at the flood (Gen. 711)

12
A Local Raqiya

• Some problems

And God said, Let there be lights in the
firmament of the heaven to divide the day from
the night and let them be for signs, and for
seasons, and for days, and years And God set
them in the firmament of the heaven to give light
upon the earth, - Genesis 114,17
The heavens declare the glory of God and the
firmament sheweth his handywork. Psalm 191 (KJV)
13
A Broader ViewStretching The Heavens?
14
Stretching the HeavensThe Nature of Reality
And God called the expanse heaven. And there was
evening and there was morning, a second day.
Genesis 18

• The heavens shamayim
• Used 421 times in OT, refers to three realities
• The sky (local atmosphere)
• Outer space (abode of sun, moon, stars)
• Where God dwells (the highest heaven, heaven
  of heavens)

15
Stretching the HeavensThe Nature of Reality

• The heavens shamayim

• Dual grammatical number that some languages
  use in addition to singular and plural (man vs.
  men).
• When a noun or pronoun appears in dual form, it
  is interpreted as referring to precisely two of
  the entities.
• In Hebrew, the dual exists only for words that
  naturally come in pairs, such as eyes.

• Shmayim from an unused root meaning to be
  lofty or aloft
• The dual may allude to the visible arch in which
  the clouds move, as well as to the higher cosmic
  expanse where the celestial bodies exist.

16
Stretching the HeavensThe Nature of Reality
Heavens as we know them in three stories
Third Heaven
But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold,
heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain
Thee, how much less this house which I have
built! 1 Kings 827
I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago--
whether in the body I do not know, or out of the
body I do not know, God knows-- such a man was
caught up to the third heaven. 2 Corinthians
122 (NAS)
17
Stretching the HeavensThe Nature of Reality
Third Heaven

• God has heaven as His footstool. He answers
  from the highest heavens. He dwells in the
  highest heaven of His creation, but it cannot
  contain Him.

Praise Him, highest heavens, And the waters that
are above the heavens! Let them praise the name
of the LORD, For He commanded and they were
created. Psalm 1484-5
18
Stretching the HeavensThe Nature of Reality

• The lower heavens created in day 2

• The heavens were stretched out like a tent
  curtain

It is He who sits above the vault of the earth,
And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who
stretches out the heavens like a curtain And
spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. Isaiah
4022 (NAS)
It is He who made the earth by His power, Who
established the world by His wisdom And by His
understanding He has stretched out the heavens.
Jeremiah 1012 (NAS)
19
Stretching the HeavensThe Nature of Reality

• Big debate about raquiya Solid or open space
• Raises a question Is empty space empty or
  does it exhibit physical properties.

The Heavens can be Torn Is. 641 Worn out like
a garment Ps. 102.25-26 Shaken Heb 1226,
Haggai 26, Is. 1313 Burnt up 2 Pet 312 Split
apart Rev. 614 Rolled up like a scroll - Is.
344
20
A Broader View

• A possible dual separation

• The waters (mayim) of the cosmos
• The Fourth state of matter - plasma

• The Nature of reality
• Space / Time (weaved together)
• Length, width, height, time
• Time changes with mass, acceleration, and
  gravity
• Foundations of existence
• Atoms and sub-atomic particles

21
A Broader View

• The Nature of reality
• Hyperspaces
• Zero-point energy

For by Him all things were created, both in the
heavens and on earth, visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or rulers or
authorities-- all things have been created by Him
and for Him. And He is before all things, and
in Him all things are held together. Colossians
116-17
22
Next Week

• Genesis 19-12