Let There Be A Firmament – Day 2 Lesson 8 2024
Genesis 1:6-8 (KJV) 6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7 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. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
Firmament refers to an expanse or space God put between the waters above and below. God calls the firmament heaven.
The firmament includes the atmosphere around the Earth. And, God tells us the sun and the moon are part of the firmament. (Sun and Moon created on Day 4)
God created the planet Earth as the only planet able to support life.
The Earth is surrounded by a layer of gases called the Atmosphere. The atmosphere is very important to life on Earth and does many things to help protect life and help life to survive.
A Big Blanket
The atmosphere protects Earth like a big blanket of insulation. It absorbs the heat from the Sun and keeps the heat inside the atmosphere helping the Earth to stay warm. It also keeps the overall temperature of the Earth fairly steady, especially between night and day. So, we don’t get too cold at night and too hot during the day. There is also a portion of the atmosphere called Ozone. Ozone helps to protect the earth from the Sun’s radiation.
The big blanket also helps to form our weather patterns and climate. The weather keeps too much hot air from forming in one place and causes storms and rainfall. All of these things are important to life and the Earth’s ecology.
Air
The atmosphere is the air that plants and animals breathe to survive. The atmosphere is made up of mostly nitrogen (78%) and oxygen (21%). There are lots of other gases that are part of the atmosphere, but in much smaller amounts. These include argon, carbon dioxide, neon, helium, hydrogen, and more.
Oxygen is needed by animals and people to breathe and carbon dioxide is used by plants in photosynthesis.
“The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork.” Psalm 19:1 (NKJV)