Devotionals

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Genesis 1:6
6 Then God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters."
7 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.
8 And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.
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"Firmament." Now that's a word you don't hear every day. According to my dictionary, "firmament" comes from the Late Latin "firmamentum" and from earlier Latin "firmus" - to strengthen or support. "Firmament" is used here to translate the Hebrew word "râqîya" - literally "an expanse" or open space. But "râqîya" is related to a verb that is sometimes translated "to make solid." So, while most modern translators favor calling the heavens an "expanse," some of the earlier Latin and Greek translators liked to follow the verb form and call the heavens a "firmament" - something that was firm, supported, fixed in place. God separated the waters, and He created the heavens between them - an expanse to keep the waters separate, to support the waters above over the waters below, something solid between them.

We will see this idea of separation more clearly on the third day of Creation, but even here we can see that God is separating things, creating distinctions and dichotomy. God is defining the world by creating opposites: Night and Day, above and below, Heaven and Earth. For God, Creation was about creating these distinctions between things, defining that which is good - the light, seas and plants, the sun and moon and stars, and all living creatures - and that which merely exists.

Notice, too, that God is naming these things. He called the light Day and the darkness Night (even before He created the Sun!), and now He calls the firmament "Heaven" (or "heavens" in some translations). God's Word is being laid right into the foundations of the universe.

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John 1:1-3
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
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All of the Father's creation was done through the Son. The very heavens themselves speak of God's love for us and for His Son. They speak also of the care the Son took in placing everything, of setting in motion the heavens and the earth, the times and the seasons, and even the growing plants that would someday produce the tree upon which He would be crucified. God named these things, using words to solidify their relationships, to make them firm, to make the Creation something concrete and real - even if it isn't permanent.

And that, in a way, is the irony of Creation: it really isn't permanent. All these stars and planets, these things that seem so firmly set in the sky, and even this solid earth beneath our feet: it will all pass away.

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2 Peter 3:10
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
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Someday, this "firmament" above our heads will be gone in an instant, as will all the earth and everything humanity has ever created. This Creation in which we now live will melt away to make room for a new world.

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2 Peter 3:13
Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
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Note that the new creation has a requirement, a need that must be met: righteousness. This firmament we now know, this creation in which we live, is a place where goodness and evil have been allowed to dwell together. Humanity has lived in sin and unrighteousness from the very earliest days, but a day is coming when that will no longer be tolerated. Jesus will return to judge the quick and the dead, and only those who humble themselves and repent and believe in Him will be found worthy of the second creation. And this coming creation will not take six days, nor even two, but it shall spring whole from the will and the Word of God, and the only ones who will dwell there will be those who are found righteous because of faith in Christ Jesus.

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2 Peter 3:11-12
11 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,
12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?
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As much as we like to think of the universe as something firm and solid, something eternal, it is not. Simple observation will tell us that stars fade and die even as plants and animals do, that all things in Creation have a life cycle, and that they are anything BUT firm and fixed. Everything is moving, changing, living and dying.

But just as our Savior was born to die and to live again, so is our universe. This creation will die and give way to a new world which will exist eternally. And we ourselves who are born again in Christ, we will dwell in that place of righteousness and love, that New Jerusalem where there is no darkness and no evil. Will it happen today? Tomorrow? A thousand years from now? No one can say. What we do know is that it will happen. One day we will be living and working and loving and then the earth will melt away, and on the next day, a new earth will come forth. Knowing that the end will come "like a thief in the night," how then shall we live?

Let us not assume that anything is permanent - not the expanse of the sky nor the solid earth beneath us. Let us instead fill our lives with God and His Holy Spirit, believing in and born again through His Son, so that when this "firmament" above us is gone, we shall remain with Him forever.

Father God, bless this day which You have made. I shall truly rejoice and be glad in this day, because Your mercies have brought me to it. I know that someday Your judgment will come upon this earth. Until that day, Lord, please let me work to share Your truth with the world. Allow me to go forth and make disciples, so that Your Word and Your Spirit move more hearts to come to You. Amen.

© 2010 Glenn A. Pettit-Noel

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