GENESIS 1:7 (THE FIRMAMENT)
“And 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.”
Genesis 1:7
Genesis is not describing random creation.
It is describing God bringing order to chaos.
Back in Genesis 1:2 the earth is described as “without form and void.” The Hebrew phrase is tohu va-bohu.
Formless. Unstructured. Unordered.
Beginning in verse 3 God starts structuring reality.
Light is separated fro... moreGENESIS 1:7 (THE FIRMAMENT)
“And 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.”
Genesis 1:7
Genesis is not describing random creation.
It is describing God bringing order to chaos.
Back in Genesis 1:2 the earth is described as “without form and void.” The Hebrew phrase is tohu va-bohu.
Formless. Unstructured. Unordered.
Beginning in verse 3 God starts structuring reality.
Light is separated from darkness.
Day is separated from night.
Now in Genesis 1:7 God separates waters from waters.
The key word in this verse is firmament.
The Hebrew word is רָקִיעַ (raqia).
It comes from the root רָקַע (raqa) which means to spread out, stretch out, or beat out like metal.
Ancient craftsmen would hammer metal until it spread into a wide sheet. That same idea is behind the word. Something stretched out overhead.
Many modern translations render it expanse.
Genesis is telling us that God created a vast expanse between two bodies of water.
Waters below the firmament.
Waters above the firmament.
The waters below are easy to identify. Oceans, seas, lakes, and rivers. The surface waters of the earth.
The waters above have been discussed for centuries. Some see this as the atmosphere and cloud systems. Others believe there may have been a vapor canopy surrounding the early earth before the Flood.
But the main point of the verse is not speculation about a canopy.
The point is division and structure.
Genesis repeatedly shows God separating realms.
Light from darkness.
Day from night.
Waters above from waters below.
Soon land from sea.
God is building the architecture of the world.
Creation is being organized step by step.
And the verse ends with a simple but powerful statement.
“And it was so.”
God speaks.
Reality obeys.
No struggle. No rival gods. No cosmic battle.
The God of Scripture simply commands creation into order.
And that order includes the physical laws that govern the universe.
God is not separate from physics. He created it.
The laws that govern matter, energy, gravity, and light are part of the structure God built into creation itself.
Physics is simply the study of how God’s ordered universe operates.
One of the remarkable discoveries of modern astrophysics is that space is not truly empty.
Much of the universe exists in a state called plasma, a form of matter made of electrically charged particles.
Stars are plasma.
Solar wind is plasma.
Nebulae are plasma.
Scientists estimate that more than 99 percent of the visible universe exists in this state.
Because plasma is electrically active, it forms currents, filaments, and massive cosmic structures governed by electromagnetic forces.
These forces shape stars, solar flares, nebulae, and even the massive filaments connecting galaxies.
When physicists model plasma mathematically, it often behaves like a flowing medium.
In other words, large regions of the heavens behave less like empty nothing and more like a vast dynamic system governed by physical laws.
Genesis is not giving us physics equations.
But it is declaring something even more foundational.
The universe is structured, divided into realms, and governed by order because it was created by an intelligent God.
Light separates from darkness.
Waters separate from waters.
Heaven separates from earth.
And the laws that govern those realms operate consistently because the Creator is consistent.
In the very next verse we learn something else important.
“And God called the firmament Heaven.”
Genesis 1:8
The Hebrew word is שָׁמַיִם (shamayim).
In Scripture heaven can refer to three realms.
The atmospheric heaven where birds fly.
The stellar heaven where the sun, moon, and stars exist.
And the third heaven, the dwelling place of God.
In Genesis 1 the firmament refers to the sky and the expanse above the earth.
Later in Genesis 1:20 birds are described as flying in the open firmament of heaven, confirming that this expanse includes the sky.
Genesis 1 shows the world moving from formless chaos to structured order under the command of God.
Day 1
Light is created and separated.
Day 2
The sky is formed and waters are divided.
Day 3
Land appears and vegetation grows.
Step by step the universe takes shape.
Creation is not random.
It is spoken, ordered, and governed by God Himself.
And every step ends the same way.
“And it was so.”
There is another fascinating passage that hints at the structured nature of creation.
In Job 38:16, God asks Job a question:
“Have you entered into the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in the search of the depth?”
Later in Job 38:25, God asks another question:
“Who has divided a channel for the overflowing water, or a path for the lightning of thunder?”
Lightning follows paths through charged plasma channels in the atmosphere.
Modern physics shows that electrical currents in plasma often travel along filamentary pathways, forming branching structures that guide the flow of energy.
The Bible describes God establishing paths for waters and lightning long before modern science understood how these processes work.
Again, Scripture is not trying to teach physics.
But it repeatedly describes a universe that is structured, governed, and ordered by God.
The deeper we study creation, the more we discover that the universe is not chaotic.
It is mathematical, structured, and lawful.
Because it was spoken into existence by the One who holds it all together.
“And it was so.”
✠ Sir John Scivoletti ✠
✠ Turco Joan of Arc Priory ✠
✠✠Act and God will Act (Actus et Deus Act)✠✠
