“Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that are above the heavens. Let them praise the name of the Lord; for he commanded, and they were created. He has also established them forever and ever; he has made a decree which shall not pass.”
Psalm 148:4-6
THE SECOND DAY
”And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 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. And God called the firmament heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.” Genesis 1:6-8
God inserted space, referred to as firmament or heavens, between the waters above and the waters below. By doing so, this space created a terrarium environment for all the earth, with water vapors above and waters below.
“When the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, neither wild plants nor grains were growing on the earth. For the Lord God had not yet sent rain to water the earth, and there were no people to cultivate the soil. Instead, springs came up from the ground and watered all the land.” Genesis 2:5
Imagine forcing a huge air-filled balloon under water in a pool. Only the power and Word of God could hold it there. At the end of Day 2, God again confirms this creation took place within a 24-hour period.
SECOND THOUSAND YEARS
During the first thousand years there was no rain, no direct sunlight and no UV rays. Each person lived between 777 and 969 years of age during that time.
But man grew more and more evil during the first thousand years. “And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it makes me sorry that I have made them.” Genesis 6:6-7
As it turned out, God was furious with all the evil people. He chose to destroy everyone and everything on earth – except Noah and his family. It appears, out of all the people living on the earth, only “Noah walked with God.” Genesis 6:9.
God gave Noah the design and instructions for building an ark 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet tall, which took Noah and his sons 100 years to build. When the ark was built, filled with animals and Noah’s family, God closed the ark. “Yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living thing I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.” Genesis 7:4. God did exactly what he said he would do to everyone and everything on earth, with the exception of Noah and his family.
We’re told in Genesis 6 that all flesh died that moved on the earth, both fowl and cattle, and beasts and every kind of creeping thing that crept on the earth and every man; they all died.
So, how many people would have been destroyed by the flood?
Noah was the 10th generation from Adam. In addition to living between 777 and 969 years, each of the patriarchs is described as having other sons and daughters in addition to the ones mentioned in the Bible. Also, the patriarchs continued to have children when they themselves were 200 years of age and older. Josephus, the famous Jewish historian of the first century, reported that Adam and Eve had 56 children, 33 sons and 23 daughters. Noah’s 3 known sons had at least 16 sons between them. Seven of the grandsons of Noah had at least 38 sons. One could calculate an average of 10 or 11 children per family. This is a low estimate considering the high rate of longevity. There could easily have been a pre-flood population between 750 million to 7 billion people! That is a lot of wicked people!
As noted in day two, the flood had two sources of water: springs of the great deep were broken up and the floodgates of heaven were opened.
“In the 600th year of Noah’s life, in the 2nd month, the 17 day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.” Genesis 7:11. In the 601st year, the 2nd month and the 27th day of the month, God told Noah to “Go forth.” Genesis 8:14-16. The animals and Noah’s family were in the Ark 1 year and 10 days; One year and 17 days if you count the 7 days in the ark before it began raining.
This flood caused the earth’s terrarium-like environment to dissolve. There was a major movement in the earth. The earth tilted on its axis and, for the first time, seasons were set in place, causing everything at the north and south poles to quick-freeze. This created fossilization, something rarely occurring today. The coal beds we now have were once mats of dense vegetation that were buried quickly. Many changes would have occurred, including a vast erosion of the earth’s surface, creating crevices like the Grand Canyon. No longer was earth all one land mass with perfect temperatures year-round. If you look at a globe of the world, you can easily see where the land masses were all connected at one time, and then pulled apart.
After the flood, God limited a life span to 120 years. Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not put up with humans for such a long time, for they are only mortal flesh. In the future, their normal lifespan will be no more than 120 years.” Genesis 6:3
During the second thousand years, God put laws into place to preserve, guard and protect his people. The laws seemed cumbersome and, therefore, God’s people ended up disobeying him time and time and time again. An entire generation ended up roaming around in the desert for 40 years while God led and taught a new generation to trust him. God gave them the Ten Commandments to summarize the laws of relationship with simplicity: the first 5 Commandments taught how to have a relationship with God and the last 5 Commandments taught how to have a relationship with people.
Then God gave them the Promised Land. After 40 years of learning to trust God, they didn’t. They were afraid. But Joshua and Caleb believed God and led the conquest of the land. In Joshua 24, Joshua highlighted God’s efforts and provisions for these stiff-necked people summing up with, “Now, therefore, fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the river…”
Ever since that day, God’s people have drifted from his laws.
- Methuselah, one of the descendants of Seth, must have been a God-fearing man. His name means, “When he dies, it shall come.” Methuselah lived to be 969 years old, longer than any other recorded age of man in the Bible. Noah was born when Methuselah was 369 years old. When Methuselah died, the flood came. “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” Genesis 6:8
- “Have you marked the old way which wicked men have trod, who were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood?” Job 22:15-16
- “The Lord by wisdom has founded the earth; by understanding has he established the heavens. By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down the dew.” Proverbs 3:19
- “It is he that builds his stories in the heaven and has founded his troop in the earth; he that calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out upon the face of the earth: The Lord [YHVH] is his name.” Amos 9:6
- “Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord, my God, you are very great; you are clothed with honor and majesty, who covers yourself with light as with a garment; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain; who lays the beams of his chambers in the waters; who makes the clouds his chariot; who walks upon the wings of the wind; who makes his angels spirts, his ministers a flaming fire; who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed forever. You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. At your rebuke they fled; at the voice of your thunder they hastened away.”
Psalm 104:1-7 - “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and measured out heaven with the span, and measured the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Isaiah 40:12
Creation of the firmament between the waters the second day, was mirrored by the destruction of that same firmament, in the second thousandth year when God released the waters above and below to destroy the evil works conceived by men and, at the same time, revealed his plan of salvation by water for God’s people.
Gentle Power: “Have you no respect for me? Will you not tremble in my presence? I, the Lord, define the ocean’s sandy shoreline as an everlasting boundary that the waters cannot cross. The waves may toss and roar, but they can never pass the boundaries I set.” Jeremiah 5:22
Next Up: Day 3