1/13/2024 0 Comments The firmamentWhen we understand that the heaven is the heaven of God, we can understand why the firmament is not permanent. “Heaven” corresponds to invisible and the listing of the angelic hosts. (Colossians 1:16) For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities–all things were created through him and for him. Psalm 104, the creation Psalm, recapitulates the seven days of creation, and on the first day, the angelic hosts are celebrated. God initiated that process in Genesis 1.įurthermore, later biblical reflections on the event interpret the heavens as the throne of God and angelic hosts. The six days model our own work-week because we are the image of God: we spent six days working at the world and then consecrate the world as Eucharist to God on the Christian Sabbath. The development and maturation of the earth takes time. The heavens are instantly mature and as glorious as possible. For humans, by contrast, our wills are only fixed at our death or at the Second Coming. According to the Fathers of the Church, the angels had a single free choice, after which their wills are fixed in goodness or evil. The earth is simply disorganized water at this point, which God will form, fill, and brighten over the next six days.īut the heavens aren’t any of these things. In Genesis 1:2, we are told that the earth was formless, void, and dark. The most basic reason to think this is because the creation of the heavens occurs on the second day, and it doesn’t make sense that the heavens would be created twice. But are we speaking of the throne-room of God or simply the sky? Contrary to liberal scholars, we are certainly speaking of the throne-room of God. Genesis 1:1 says that in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. ![]() In order to see why, we need to understand what Genesis 1:1 says. What the lack of a declaration of goodness must mean, then, is that the firmament is not going to be there in the renewed creation. ![]() God measures the world, through the Spirit, according to their degree of correspondence with the Son, who will fill all things in the eschaton. This is not because it is bad, but because “good” in Genesis 1-3 refers to things which endure eschatologically. ![]() Our first step is to note that the firmament is not called good. On the second day of creation, God makes the firmament.
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