LIFE ON EARTH

Gloria Phifer

Ps. 57:5 “Be exalted O God above the Heavens. Let Thy glory be above all the earth. “Psalm 104.

We have been experiencing how God (Elohiym) has taken this dismal earth and brought forth order and Light.

Lab footnotes: The vast galaxy we live in is spinning at the incredible speed of 490,000 miles an hour. Even at this breakneck speed our galaxy still needs 200 million years to make one rotation. God did not need to create the universe; He chose to create it. God is love and love is best expressed toward something or someone else. God created the universe because He loves us. (Gals can you believe we are spinning at this incredible speed...Wow!) Also, if we were any farther from the sun, we would freeze. If we were any closer, this earth would burn up.

The waters are in their boundaries…God named them “seas”. Dry ground has appeared and God named it “earth”.

Genesis 1:11-13. Can you smell the vegetation? See the trees loaded with fruit…flowers…color…the beginning of life. He was preparing this earth for us…mankind. What are your thoughts about these being seed bearing plants and trees with seed-bearing fruit?  (Hebrew says producing, yielding seed, to be sown.) I thought of self-sustaining…to produce more.

And God SAW that it was good. Evening passed and morning came, marking the 3^rd day. I love that God was watching His creation come into being. How satisfying. What joy!!!

Vs 14-19. When God said…”said” in Hebrew it is active and powerful…when God speaks it is explosive!!!  “Amar” “With great latitude. Challenge, command, declare, demand, desire, expressly.” I would have loved to hear God’s voice commanding everything into existence. To watch this creative process.

“Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night.  Lights “maowr” (maw-ore) a luminous body or luminary light. Cheerfulness; specifically a chandelier…bright. Break of day. Glorious, kindle, set on fire, shine.” We know our sun is a ball of fire.

Hydrogen generally determines a star's nuclear lifetime because it is used as the main source of fuel in a main sequence star. ... As an example, the Sun's nucleartime scale is approximately 10 billion years. Wikipedia

Vs. 14 what was their purpose?  The greater light ruled the day. The lesser light ruled the night.  Stars “kowkab” “in the sense of rolling. In the sense of blazing. Star…Messiah.” I thought it was interesting that Messiah was in this description.

And the evening and the morning were the 4^th day.

Vs 20—22. Now we have sound. There are fish filling the waters and birds flying, landing in the trees. Life. I love life. I love to hear the birds singing. I am amazed at the fish in the sea. A friend and I visited an Aquarian in Florida…there were fish with big Blue eyes. Also saw dolphins etc. I love the Omaha Zoo with the large fish tank. I am always amazed at the colors in God’s creation.” According to the best estimates of scientists, there are 3,500,000,000,000 (3.5 trillion) fish currently living in the ocean.”

New Study Doubles the Estimate of Bird Species in the World

https://www.amnh.org/about-the-museum/press-center/new-study-doubles-the-estimate-of-bird-species-in-the-worldNew research led by the American Museum of Natural History suggests that there are about 18,000 bird species in the world—nearly twice as many as previously thought. The work focuses on “hidden” avian diversity—birds that look similar to one another, or were thought to interbreed, but are actually different species.

And the evening and the morning were the 5^th day.

Vs. 24-25 every kind of animal. The beast of the earth. The only thing I’m not sure about it is the creepy things (lol). Oh there went a butterfly.  More life. More sounds. The lion roaring, the cattle mooing, (even the purring of my cat (J And God saw that it was good.

MANKIND vs. 26-31. To create “bara” “To create, shape, form, fashion. God created man in His Own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created he them.”  Man in Hebrew is “Adam” ( aw-dawm). A human being.  To show blood in the face. Flush or turn rosy be (dyed, made) red (ruddy).

Image “Tselem” (tseh’lem) meaning to shade. Resemblance. A representative figure. Semblance.

Male…”to record, to make a memorial, make remembrance. A male of humans.”

Female “from the sexual form. Woman.

LAB footnote: “God made both man and woman in His image. Neither man nor woman is made more in the image of God than the other. From the beginning the Bible places both man and woman at the pinnacle of God’s creation. Nether sex is exalted and neither is depreciated.” Thoughts?

And God blessed them. “To be blessed, be adored”. I loved that He blessed them and He adored them. .  

Vs. 28 God blessed them and God said unto them, “Be fruitful, and multiply and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.

LAB footnote: “To “reign over” something is to have absolute authority and control over it. God has ultimate rule over the earth and He exercises His authority with loving care. When God delegated some of His authority to the human race, He expected us to take responsibility for the environment and the other creatures that share our planet. We must not be careless and wasteful as we fulfill this charge. God was careful how He made this earth. We must not be careless about how we take care of it.”

They were given dominion.  “To tread down. To have dominion. Prevail against. Dominate, rule, subjugate. “So all dominion on this earth was given to mankind. God made him ruler over this earth. Thoughts?

There was another time when Jesus gave us the dominion over the enemy (who will soon show up in this story).  Luke 10:19 “Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”

Vs. 29-31. Notice what the man and the woman were given to eat. A vegetarian diet. They did not eat meat until after the flood. Vs. 31 And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the 6^th day. So mankind was created on the 6^th day.

Gen. 1:1-3. What did God do on the 7^th day?  He blessed and sanctified (set apart as holy) the 7^th day. +

Rested “Shabath” (shaw-bath’) “To repose, desist from exertion. Celebrate, be still.” To keep the Sabbath holy is one of the 10 commandments.

Notice vs 31 “And God saw everything that He had made and behold, it was very good.”  Hebrew “towb”. “Good, beautiful, bountiful, best, cheerful, at ease, be in favor, graciously, joyful, kindness, pleasant, pleased, pleasure, prosperity, wealth, welfare, well favored. To be good, be pleasing, be joyful, be beneficial, be happy, be right.” This is how God saw and felt about everything He had created!!! Once again I am struck with the thought that God loved the experience of what He had created…He was very pleased with it. Thoughts?

1^st day….Light (so there was light and darkness)

2^nd day…sky and water (waters separated)

3^rd day…Land and seas (waters gathered): vegetation.

4^th day….Sun, moon and stars (to govern the day and the night and to mark seasons, days and years.

5^th day…fish and birds (to fill the waters and the sky)

6^th day…animals (to fill the earth.) Man and Woman (to care for the earth and to commune with God.)

7^th day…God rested and declared all He had made to be very good.

THE FIRMANENT AND EARTH

The 2^nd day.

Gloria Phifer

Genesis 1:6-8 the firmament in Hebrews “raqiya” (raw-kee-ah). “An expanse, the firmament or visible arch of the sky. Expanded surface (solid), expanse (flat at base support) firmament (of vault of heaven supporting waters above. 

 1. Considered by Hebrews as solid and supporting waters above. To make a spreading of clouds.

Amp. Bible “And God said, let there be a firmament (the expanse) and separated the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse. And it was so. And called the firmament Heavens. And there was evening and morning, a second day.” (2^nd day, sky and water (water separated).

Life app footnotes: The space between waters, was a separation between the sea and the mists of the skies.

Thoughts?

Living Bible “And God said, “Let the vapors separate to form the sky above and the oceans below. So God made the sky, dividing the vapor above from the water below. 

This all happened on the 2^nd day. (Living Bible footnote “literally, “let there be a dome to divide the waters.”)

Job 26:7-10. “He created the horizon when He separated the waters; He set the boundary between day and night. (Lab study Bible).

Psalm 33:7-9 “He assigned the sea its boundaries and locked the oceans in vast reservoirs.” Vs. 9” When He spoke, the world began! It appeared at His command.”

Prov. 8:28-36. “I was there when He set the clouds above, when He established springs deep in the earth, so they would not spread beyond their boundaries. And when He marked off the earth’s foundations, I was the architect at His side I was His constant delight, rejoicing always in His presence. And how happy I was with the world He created; how I rejoiced with the human family!””(Wisdom is speaking)

LAB footnotes “God says that wisdom is primary and fundamental. It is the foundation on which all life is built. Paul and John may have alluded to some of Solomon’s statements about wisdom to describe Christ’s presence at the creation of the world. Col.1:15-20, Col. 2:2, 3; Rev. 3:14. (Solomon wrote Proverbs, doesn’t give a date but was early in his rulership.)

Jeremiah 5:22 “fear you not me? Saith The Lord: will you not tremble at My presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it. “(Though the ocean and sea toss their waves and roar they cannot go over God’s limits. His command prevails!!!)

This is perhaps a better question than how much rain a cloud can hold. Scientists estimate that one inch of rain falling over an area of one square mile is equal to 17.4 million gallons of water. That much water would weigh 143 million pounds!

You'll Be Shocked at How Much the Average Cloud Weighs - Heads Up

https://headsup.boyslife.org › Science

According to scientists, the weight of the average cumulus cloud is 1.1 million pounds!

The Water Cycle: Water Storage in the Atmosphere

New!

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Water cycle

The atmosphere is full of water

The water cycle is all about storing water and moving water on, in, and above the Earth. Although the atmosphere may not be a great storehouse of water, it is the superhighway used to move water around the globe. Evaporation and transpiration change liquid water into vapor, which ascends into the atmosphere due to rising air currents. Cooler temperatures aloft allow the vapor to condense into clouds and strong winds move the clouds around the world until the water falls as precipitation to replenish the earthbound parts of the water cycle. About 90 percent of water in the atmosphere is produced by evaporation from water bodies, while the other 10 percent comes from transpiration from plants.

There is always water in the atmosphere. Clouds are, of course, the most visible manifestation of atmospheric water, but even clear air contains water—water in particles that are too small to be seen. One estimate of the volume of water in the atmosphere at any one time is about 3,100 cubic miles (mi³) or 12,900 cubic kilometers (km³). That may sound like a lot, but it is only about 0.001 percent of the total Earth's water volume of about 332,500,000 mi³ (1,385,000,000 km³), as shown in the table below. If all of the water in the atmosphere rained down at once, it would only cover the globe to a depth of 2.5 centimeters, about 1 inch.

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN:“Another way to illustrate the relative lightness of clouds is to compare the total mass of a cloud to the mass of the air in which it resides. Consider a hypothetical but typical small cloud at an altitude of 10,000 feet, comprising one cubic kilometer and having a liquid water content of 1.0 gram per cubic meter. The total mass of the cloud particles is about 1 million kilograms, which is roughly equivalent to the weight of 500 automobiles. But the total mass of the air in that same cubic kilometer is about 1 billion kilograms--1,000 times heavier than the liquid!

So, even though typical clouds do contain a lot of water, this water is spread out for miles in the form of tiny water droplets or crystals, which are so small that the effect of gravity on them is negligible. Thus, from our vantage on the ground, clouds seem to float in the sky.”

How cool to think that in the atmosphere around us right now are these small particles of water. Thoughts? Oh, the magnificence of God Almighty. The One Who gives us gravity, air and water…clouds and seas.

Genesis 1:9-10. And Elohiym said, “Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called He Seas: and God saw that it was good.”

 This is the 2^nd time that God SAW “That is was good.” The 1^st was when He saw the Light and He said “it was good.” Now He calls the dry land Earth and the water Seas and God SAW that it was good.

Said in Hebrew “To say with great latitude. Appoint, certify, challenge, charge, give command, declare, demand, desire, determine, expressly, name, promise, publish, Use Speech.”

What stands out to you? I like all of these. Especially appoint, charge, challenge, command, desire, use speech…actually I like them all (:

Together in Hebrew is “quvah” (kaw-vaw) “To bind together (perhaps by twisting) To expect, collect, gather together, to wait, look for, hope, expect. To be collected. To wait for, linger for. Thoughts?  (to gather the waters together.)

Dry in Hebrew is “yabbashah” (yab0baw-shaw) “dry ground. Ground, land. To make dry, be dry, become dry, be dried up, and be withered. To exhibit dryness.”

Appear “raah”. “To see, appear, approve, behold, consider, discern, make to enjoy, have experience, gaze, joyful, view, and visions. To see, have vision, observe. “ So God saw the water go into place and the ground appear.

We saw last week with the coming of The Light God had a wonderful experience. Now it looks like He enjoyed this experience of the earth appearing dry. Thoughts?

God called “qara” “to call out, proclaim, cry, and utter a loud sound. To call with the Name of God. To summon, invite, commission, appoint, endow, to call, name, and give name to. Be proclaimed, be read aloud, be summoned, be named, and be chosen.

Earth “eh-rets”. “Whole earth (as opposed to a part).Land, country, territory, land of the living, to be firm.” What are your thoughts?

Seas “Yam”. An unused root meaning to roar; a sea (as breaking in noisy surf or large body of water. Seaward.

When God saw His work, accomplished by His Word, He saw that it was “Good.” I love that God had enjoyed this experience of Creation.

How about you?