What is at the edge of the universe?

[Antonio83]

Genesis clearly reads that a firmament was created between waters. And in this very firmament is where the stars are placed. Therefore it would make sense to understand this firmament as the universe, since that is where the stars are, correct? And what about the water that was separated?

Psalm 104:3
He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters, Who makes the clouds His chariot, Who walks on the wings of the wind,

Psalm 148:4
Praise Him, you heavens of heavens, And you waters above the heavens!

Isaiah 40:12
Who has measured the waters [ Following Masoretic Text, Septuagint, and Vulgate; Dead Sea Scrolls read waters of the sea; Targum reads waters of the world.] in the hollow of His hand, Measured heaven with a span And calculated the dust of the earth in a measure? Weighed the mountains in scales And the hills in a balance?

Isaiah 43:2
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you.

Jeremiah 2:13
"For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns--broken cisterns that can hold no water.

Jeremiah 10:13
When He utters His voice, There is a multitude of waters in the heavens: "And He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, He brings the wind out of His treasuries."

John 3:5
Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

 

[JohnR7]

Therefore it would make sense to understand this firmament as the universe, since that is where the stars are, correct?

The firmament is our atmosphere and that is where we see the stars.

 

[Antonio83]

But I thought the stars were placed IN the firmament. The firmament cannot just be the earth's atmosphere according to Genesis, because that is where the stars were placed also..

Gen ch1
17God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth

 

[keyarch]

Genesis clearly reads that a firmament was created between waters. And in this very firmament is where the stars are placed. Therefore it would make sense to understand this firmament as the universe, since that is where the stars are, correct? And what about the water that was separated?

Genesis 1 defines two Heavens.



The lower heaven

is the firmament between the waters, meaning from the sea up to the bottom of the clouds.

The upper heaven

is from the bottom of the clouds up into stellar space.



With the correct definitions of heaven, many passages become clear.

I have put together a study on this at: www.genesistruth.org/documents/heaven.pdf

Keep in mind that the planet was covered with the deep and a thick cloud layer (Psalms 104:6, Job 38:9). The separation of the waters was between these two things to create the firmament of the lower heaven. Precipitation comes from the upper heaven (in the clouds). The Sun and the Moon were set in the firmament of the upper heaven.

Many people have used the two interchangeably and created problems for themselves. One example is from John MacArthur who sates:
--------
“Look at verse 8. God called this expanse what? Heaven. It's what we understand as heaven. It's what we understand as the space above us. Heaven is shamayim and it literally means the sky, or the skies. It refers to the universe and the space above us. So there was no heaven, there was no space as we know until the second day and God just cut all the way around that sphere and released some of that water and sent it up, creating between the waters above and water below space.”

“God took the waters way up...way up. Left some still engulfing the earth and in between created the separator between the waters which was the expanse we call heaven, space...the vast space of the universe. It could be that clear out at the end of infinite space there is water.”

“Six days God made it and in one day He filled the universe with all the stars, suns and moons.”
--------