Lesson Aim: To cause a greater understanding and appreciation of the events of creation days two and three.

Monday: Genesis 1:6-8
Tuesday: Genesis 1:9-13
Wednesday: II Peter 3:5, Hebrews 11:3 & Genesis 7:11
Thursday: Psalm 74:16-17 & Psalm 95:4-7
Friday: Isaiah 48:13 & Psalm 102:25
Saturday: Job 38:4-6,8-11,16-18
Sunday: Psalm 111:2-4

LESSON OUTLINE

I. DAY TWO: THE SPECIAL FIRMAMENT (Genesis 1:6-8)

A. God’s main creative work on day two was the creation of a "firmament."

1. The Hebrew word for "firmament" is raqia meaning "spreadout-thinness," ¹ "an expanse," ² Though its exact thickness and density is unknown, it is certain that God took a portion of water from the earth and placed it in suspension high above the earth (Genesis 1:7), which was still a watery suspension.

2. Because of the clear visibility of the heavenly beings which appeared before the creation week ended, it is certain that the water canopy was transparent. Dr. Henry Morris states that "Water vapor, even in vast amounts, is invisible...."³

B. The water canopy would result in a "greenhouse" effect and produce many conditions unique to the pre-Flood era.

1. Dr. Carl Baugh contends that the water canopy would have, among other things, regulated temperatures world-wide, controlled humidity, increased atmospheric pressure, increased oxygen and hydrogen in the atmosphere and filtered out short-wave radiation from the sun.⁴

2. Dr. Henry Morris lists several benefits of the water canopy:

a. A global greenhouse effect, maintaining an essentially uniform, pleasantly warm temperature worldwide.

b. The inhibition of great air-mass movement, thus the absence of violent storms.

c. No rain as known after the Flood.

d. Uniform global humidities.

e. Lush vegetation world-wide with no deserts or polar caps.

f. Extended life-spans.

g. "Hyperbaric" atmospheric pressures resulting in enhanced health quality.

3. The fossil record is irrefutable proof of a past era when plant and animal life grew in places and sizes far greater than currently. For example, oil, which is a "fossil fuel" is being pumped from far below the ice near the North Pole. Since massive quantities of plant and/or animal life was necessary to form this oil deposit, it cannot be denied that at one time there was no polar cap at the North Pole and that animal/plant life flourished there. Dr. Carl Baugh mentions the fossilized remains of giant mosses which once grew to over 100 feet. The same variety today reaches only about 16 inches.⁶

4. The water canopy accounts for a large percentage of the waters of the great Flood. (Genesis 7:11)

II. DAY THREE: LAND AND PLANT LIFE (Genesis 1:9-13)

A. The making of land (Genesis 1:9)

1. To start day three, the entire globe was one mighty ocean saturated with material elements still randomly dissolved or suspended. By His word (II Peter 3:5), God caused great chemical reactions. Dissolved elements precipitated and combined with others to form compounds, minerals and rocks, the substance of solid earth. Heavier materials sank, lighter materials rose and others stayed in suspension. All three aspects of solid earth came into existence: (1) crust, (2) mantle and (3) core. A rich blanket of topsoil was deposited on the earth’s surface. (Psalm 74:16-17, Psalm 95:4-7)

2. At this beginning, there was only one land mass, and all rivers, lakes and underground waterways were joined into "one place" or network.⁷   (Genesis 1:9) This was later rearranged by the Flood.

3. God later referred to this work as His laying "the foundation of the earth," in Psalm 102:25. (Isaiah 48:13, Job 38:4-6,8-11,16-18)

B. The origin of plant life (Genesis 1:11-12)

1. Day three introduces living (organic) material and a multitude of enormously complex systems. At the point of creating plant life, God made the "quantum leap" from inorganic (non-living) material to organic (living) material. The simplest organic cell is incredibly more complex than the most complex inorganic material.

Those with a naturalistic, evolutionary view of origins have no plausible answer at this point. Here is one of the biggest "gaps" in the evolutionary hypothesis.

2. Three obvious and natural orders of plant are accounted for: (1) "grass" or ground cover, (2) "herb" or bushes and (3) "trees" or woody plants. This is a comprehensive accounting of all plant life.

Note that these were made fully grown. Since the processes of creation were not the same as current processes, normal means of explaining and dating such materials would be futile.

3. The phrase "after his kind" is a marvelously simple accounting of the profound DNA molecule. This is that built-in informational program containing the genetic code by which each plant would be able to reproduce other units like itself. In each plant, God put the building code of life, leaving much room for horizontal variation, but no room for vertical variation. Contrary to evolutionary claims, there have been no documentable instances of vertical variation and there is no record of such in the fossil record. The fossil record documents big leaps or huge gaps between differing species; not, as one would expect in view of the evolutionary hypothesis, the enormously long progression of specimens, each barely different from the one before it, ever moving upward into greater complexity until one specie eventually became the specie just above it. (Psalm 111:2-4)

4. It is noteworthy that the order given in Genesis 1 places plant life on land prior to marine life. This refutes the evolutionary claim that invertebrates and vertebrates existed millions of years prior to fruit trees and other complex trees.⁸

FOOTNOTES

1. Morris, Henry, The Genesis Record, Grand Rapids:Baker, 1976, page 58.

2. Strong, James, Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary, New York: Abingdon Press, 1958, page 110, reference 7549.

3. Morris, page 59.

4. Baugh, Carl, Panorama of Creation, Oklahoma City:The Southwest Radio Church, 1989, pages 41-71.

5. Morris, page 60.

6. Baugh, page 54.

7. Morris, page 61.

SUMMARY

The creative work of God on the second day was a "firmament." Since the great Flood of Genesis 7-8, a "firmament" has not existed. The Hebrew word for "firmament" is raqia meaning a "spread-out-thinness" or "an expanse." The firmament was made by a large portion of the waters of the earth being lifted into suspension by God high above the earth. At that point the earth was one watery sphere.

The firmament literally became a transparent water cap or canopy completely enshrouding the earth. It produced a "greenhouse" effect unique to the era prior to the Flood. There is debate about the thickness and density of the water canopy, yet there cannot be successful refutation that, in one form or another, it was there, and that indeed a greenhouse effect existed on this earth during some past era.

It is certain that a water canopy around the earth would have produced many favorable conditions different from current conditions. The canopy would most certainly have produced a uniform temperature and humidity worldwide. This would have inhibited great air-mass movements and have eliminated great storms. The global humidity and temperatures would have also prohibited polar ice caps and barren deserts. In all land sectors of the earth, lush vegetation would have proliferated, sustaining a massive abundance of animal life. The increased atmospheric pressure, providing enriched oxygen, would have been highly beneficial to animal and plant life, resulting in longer life spans and healthier andlarger specimens. This was precisely the kind of environment needed to sustain large animals such as dinosaurs. It was loss of this habitat that brought about the demise of the large plants and animals, a loss which occurred with the Flood.

The fossil record supports the fact that during some era of the past, plants and animals did indeed thrive in places impossible for their current survival, and that they grew to much larger sizes. In view of the fact that oil is derived from organic material, the huge oil deposits near the North Pole speak of thriving communities of plant and animal life there at one time. Fossil records reveal that at some past time, many species of plants and animals grew to many times their current sizes. Secular science has no plausible explanation for this documented phenomena; Genesis does.

On the third day of creation, God divided the land from the waters. Prior to this day, the earth sphere was one watery ocean saturated with randomly dissolved and suspended material elements. As God began to "lay the foundations of the earth" by His word, chemical reactions erupted, compounds formed and precipitated, heavier materials sank downward and lighter materials rose, giving the earth its crust, mantle and core. A rich blanket of topsoil covered the surface.

On day three, God made only one land mass and all the waters were joined by one network of waterways.

After God made the dry land on day three, He made plant life. Prior to this point, all earth’s materials had been non-living or inorganic. With plant life, God leaped from inorganic to organic (living) substance. This was a quantum leap indeed in view of the fact that even the simplest organic material is enormously more complex than even the most complex of all inorganic materials. Evolutionary thinkers have no explanation for this giant step, nor for the tremendous increase in complexity seen here.

God includes all plant life in His accounting of day three. He includes grass (ground covering plants), herbs (bushes) and trees (woody plants). All of these plants were made fully grown by God. Clearly, His creation dynamics were not the same as ordinary laws of physics and science currently in operation. Such being true, it would be impossible to use current processes as a means of understanding origins. Only divine revelation can tell us accurately how things originated.

The phrase "after his kind" is God’s accounting of the DNA molecule. This is the unique molecule that contains the particular genetic code of life for every living thing. This is the inner unit which enables living things to reproduce or replicate other units like unto itself. This genetic code leaves much room forhorizontal variation, but no room for vertical variation. There are no documented current instances of vertical variation, nor are there any in the fossil record, a point that flatly refutes the evolutionary hypothesis and every system of cosmology which denies creation by God.

QUESTIONS

1. Explain the word "firmament" as used to describe what God made on day two of creation.

2. Why didn’t the firmament block out view of the heavenly bodies?

3. Discuss the "greenhouse effect" resulting from the firmament.

4. Discuss the condition of the polar zones during the pre-Flood era.

5. Discuss vegetation conditions on earth prior to the Flood.

6. What primary condition brought about the demise of the dinosaurs?

7. Discuss the impact of hyperbaric conditions prior to the Flood.

8. Since oil is a product derived from organic materials, explain how such large deposits of oil occur in the frozen areas near the North Pole.

9. Describe the composure of the earth at the beginning of day three.

10. Describe briefly from a chemist’s standpoint the making of solid land.

11. Name the three basic aspects of the earth.

12. Explain the statement of Genesis 1:9 that the waters were gathered together into "one place."

13. Explain the biblical reference to God's laying "the foundation of the earth."

14. What new type of enormously complex material appeared for the first time on day three?

15. Discuss the evolutionary hypothesis regarding origins in view of the leap from inorganic to organic materials.

16. What is meant by many "systems" coming into being with organic material?

17. Explain God's comprehensive accounting of plant life in Genesis 1:11-12.

18. In what way does the Bible account for the DNA molecule?

19. Discuss the function of the DNA molecule.