“…[God] who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.” 1 Timothy 6:15b-16.

“In the beginning God created [bara, created from nothing] the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1.

“God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light.” Genesis 1:3.

“God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and morning were the first day.” Genesis 1:4b-5.

“Then God said, ‘Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.’ 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. So the evening and the morning were the second day.” Genesis 1:6-8.

The word firmament unfortunately is quite confusing. To simplify this let us just define firmament as air spaces or atmosphere as J. Vernon McGee put it.

This atmosphere is what God called heaven above and is where the birds fly. For more information on this see “Waters Above and Below” posted here on 8-19-21.

Since at this point the earth was covered with water it is possible that some of the surface water was moved in the form of a vapor, perhaps, to a place above the heavens, so much so that it could be said that there were waters above the firmament and waters below it.

Some have put forth what they call the Canopy Theory and attribute the longevity of the pre-flood fathers to this thick vapor barrier (see Genesis chapter 5), which was depleted during the flood (see Genesis chapters 6-9).

If the water which forms the humidity in the air around us were suddenly condensed it would amount to an ocean; this vapor layer above the earth is not unscientific.

“Then God said, ‘Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear’; and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth’; and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the third day.” Genesis 1:9-13.

“Then God said, ‘Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth’; and it was so. Then God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also.” Genesis 1:14-16.

“So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.” Genesis 1:19.

“Then God said, ‘Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.’ So God created [bara, created from nothing] great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.’ So the evening and the morning were the fifth day.” Genesis 1:20-23.

It is interesting to note that above in Genesis 1:21 the same word for create from nothing, bara, is used as it is in Genesis 1:1. The meaning then is that everything that was created on the fifth day was created from nothing.

Beware, however, there are those who say that the word used here can mean that God used existing material to create the birds and sea creatures. I find this passage extremely interesting though it is hard to be dogmatic.

Please note that everything else was made from preexisting material at the time, Adam was made from the dust, or “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind…”

“Then God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind’; and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’” Genesis 1:24-26.

“Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.” Genesis 1:31.

The word “kind” repeated numerous times in Genesis 1 above is important because it shows that God has set up barriers in the plant and animal kingdom which are not to be crossed.

You cannot cross a cat with a dog, and yet there are a wide variety of dogs in the world today through breeding dog with dog with the intent of bringing out specific characteristics of the animal.

In fact there are many more different dogs in the world today than there were on the sixth day of creation.

In some ways God has shared His ability to create with us. These barriers contradict evolution, as does the entire account of creation.

“Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.” Genesis 2:1-3.

Yom, the Hebrew word for day like our own English word day can be interpreted a number of different ways. For instance, “In my day kids didn’t do things like that.” or, “A day of reckoning is coming!”, so the context is important to understand the word.

In the case of the Hebrew yom, day, it is a solar day when the word is combined with a number i.e. “So the evening and the morning were the first yom”.

This is brought out because there are those who maintain that these six days can be interpreted as eons or years, thus allowing for evolutionary processes.

The Hebrew grammar does not allow for this. They are seven 24 hour days; there is controversy only in the minds of those who wish to twist Scripture to their own advantage.

“…consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation – as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.” 2 Peter 3:15-18.

God rested on the seventh day (the Sabbath, our Saturday), not because He was tired, God never sleeps, He never tires.

This day of rest is an example for our benefit, God set it aside so men would take a day off from work to recuperate from the week, otherwise we would drive ourselves or our workers to exhaustion.

“And He [Jesus] said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.’” Mark 2:27.

“God understands its way [the way of wisdom], and He knows its place. For He looks to the ends of the earth, and sees under the whole heavens, to establish a weight for the wind, and mete out the waters by measure. When He made a law for the rain, and a path for the thunderbolt, then He saw wisdom and declared it; He prepared it, indeed, He searched it out. And to man He said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding.’” Job 28:23-28.

“He has made the earth by His power, He has established the world by His wisdom, and has stretched out the heavens at His discretion. When He utters His voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens: ‘And He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, He brings the wind out of His treasuries.’” Jeremiah 10:12-13.

“The Lord is high above all nations, and His glory above the heavens. Who is like the Lord our God, who dwells on high, who humbles Himself to behold the things that are in the heavens and in the earth?” Psalm 113:4-6.

“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” Philippians 2:5-8.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16.

God Omnipotent, Part 1 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 6-20-15, updated on 1-12-24 ck.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.