AND GOD SAID, "LET THERE BE AN EXPANSE BETWEEN THE WATERS TO SEPARATE WATER FROM WATER." SO GOD MADE THE EXPANSE AND SEPARATED THE WATER UNDER THE EXPANSE FROM THE WATER ABOVE IT. AND IT WAS SO. GOD CALLED THE EXPANSE "SKY." AND THERE WAS EVENING, AND THERE WAS MORNING-THE SECOND DAY. (NIV)
This is the time when God begins Earth's water cycle.
There is a tremendous of fine tuning to our water cycle. Without this fine tuning it would not be possible for life to exist.
God begins separating the different aspects of our atmosphere.
The Hebrew words for "Expanse" and "Sky" are "raqia" and "shamayim". Both refer to the visible "dome" above us though "shamayim" refers more specifically to the portion of the atmosphere where clouds form and move.
The Hebrew verb "asa" is used here. It means to "make", "manufacture", "fabricate", or "construct". This implies that God himself "built" the atmosphere. This makes sense with the tremendous degree of fine tuning needed to have a proper atmosphere for life.
God's separation of the water describes accurately the formation of the different types and layers of atmosphere that we have. The troposphere, the atmospheric layer just above the ocean, is distinct from the stratosphere, mesosphere, and ionosphere lying above it.
Read Psalm 148 which confirms this.
AND GOD SAID...AND IT WAS SO.
You will see these statements a number of times in Genesis. Notice that whatever God says, will come to pass. If He says it, it is done, PERIOD! His word is all powerful.
ISAIAH 55:11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
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