Bible Cosmology (5)

More about Heaven
Now that we’ve established that the firmament up there is solid, what is above it? For one thing, water. “God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it.” (Gen.1:7,8) The word “expanse” in NIV and NASB really is a bit of a cop-out; Genesis 1:7 in the KJV says “God made the firmament.’ The water is held back in the heavens by some type of dam, with “floodgates”. (Gen.7:11) In times of blessing, “The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season.” (Deut.28:12) But then, “He waters the mountains from his upper chambers.” (Psa.104:13) At times there can be no rain, “when the heavens are shut up.” (1 Kings 8:35) The Lord tells Job, too, that there are “storehouses of the snow” and “storehouses of the hail”. (Job 38:22) Manna was up there too. (Psa.78:23-25) To be sure, the psalmist calls forth praise from the “waters above the skies.” (Psa.148:4) Amos refers to him “who builds his lofty palace in the heavens and sets its foundation on the earth.” (Amos 9:6)

This hard sky holds up God’s bounty in water jars (Job 38:37) that can be tipped over; and, when the floodgates of heaven in this hard sky are opened, rain falls on the earth. Storehouses of snow and hail can also use these “windows” or “doors”. Even here, we can’t get away from imagery. God’s dwelling place in the heavens is termed His “pavilion”, His “tent”, His “palace”, so that when He comes down below the sky, He “parts” the heavens, He “rends” the heavens, He “opens the doors of heaven.” It seems that those ancient writers liked best the idea of a solid sky, partly because how else would the “waters above the firmament” be held up there? [Firmament: Strong’s #7549] They also spoke of pillars holding it up, presumably out beyond the circle of the horizon, at the region referred to as “the ends of the heavens.” And God’s power can make those pillars quake, and those foundations shake.

To the writer of Genesis, heaven was just “up there”, but fairly close, because, when the Babylonians tried to build “a tower that reaches to the heavens” (Gen.11:4), it was not unreasonable to him or to them. They were going to build their tower right up against the hard sky, the solid “floor of heaven”, break their way through, and so physically enter heaven. This idea of physically reaching heaven comes up in several other places as well: perhaps Jacob’s dream in Gen. 28:12; certainly the spies of Joshua’s day described Canaanite cities ‘with walls up to the sky.” (Deut.1:28) Jeremiah says that “even if Babylon reaches the sky” (Jer.51:53), God will “send destroyers against her.” Daniel describes a tree whose “top touched the sky” (Dan.4:10,11) —a really big tree but still with that solid dome of sky up there. And Amos says “though they climb up to the heavens, from there I will bring them down.” (Amos 9:2) And again, the Apostle John talks about the sins of Babylon “piled up to heaven.” (Rev.18:5)