And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. [7] 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. [8] And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
Genesis 1:6-8 KJV
Genesis 1 showed God’s plan to make man in His image and Likeness. On the first day of creation, God called light to shine out of the darkness. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:6, that this light was God shining in our heart upon receiving Jesus as our Saviour. Paul described this light as the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. After calling the light, He separated the light from the darkness. This symbolically speaks of God defining good and evil to us and giving us the ability to make a choice. The days in creation are more than just physical activities that happened years ago. They are experiences we have individually and collectively as a church until we become the perfect man in the image and stature of God, an express image of the person of Jesus Christ. It also applies to the World at large as it transitions into the Kingdom of our God.
The next step after introducing man to light was to set the firmament to separate waters above from the waters beneath. ‘Waters’ in the scriptures has different meanings. It could speak of the Word of God, as seen in Ephesians 5:26, or people as seen in Revelations 17:15. Genesis 1:6-8 has an application to the church of God, but for the sake of this meditation, we will explore the meaning to the individual believer. The firmament simply means heaven. It is a place of God’s power and authority as seen in Psalm 150:1. The bible also says in Isaiah 66:1 that heaven is the throne of God and Daniel 4:26 says that heaven rules.
God setting up a firmament in an individual, therefore, means He establishes His governance over a man. This is the point where the individual begins to know God as King and Lord, accepting His command as law. Man is a Spirit, which has a soul and lives in a body. God separates the Spirit from the soul and sets the Spirit of a man as the heavens over his soul. This happens when the man is baptized in the Holy Spirit. The baptism of the Holy Spirit comes to give a man the power to not only chose righteousness but to live a righteous life. In the later part of Romans 7, Paul makes a lamentation about his struggles to do right even though he knows the difference between good and evil. Upon the introduction of the light of God to a man, good and evil become apparent. However, the journey to actually choosing and living a godly life is described in Romans 8. Here Paul describes the life of one governed by the Spirit. He says that if we are led by the Spirit, we are sons of God and by this spirit, we can kill the works of the flesh which is an enemy of God.
How are we led by the Spirit?
Paul said in Romans 8:13 (NLT) “For if you live by its (the flesh) dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live.“. Jesus also said in Matthew 4:4 that Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. In another passage (John 6:63), Jesus said that His Spirit gives life and the flesh is not profitable. He then mentions that His Words are Spirit and life. This simply means that the proceeding word of God for every situation has encoded in it the power to kill the flesh and walk in righteousness. We were not meant to struggle to do good. The Word of God is potent. Just like it helped the man who was lame for 38 years to walk at the command of Jesus in John 5, a man who listens to and obeys the proceeding word will experience the benefits of walking in the supernatural ability of the Holy Spirit. Such a man can be said to have a firmament to separate the waters above the heavens from the waters beneath the heavens.
Final thoughts: As a man begins to walk in this reality of the governance of the Spirit, we see in the days from the account in Genesis, that even the waters beneath the heavens become fruitful. This is because our soul is also like a garden that, under the tutelage of the Spirit, will produce the fruit of the Holy Spirit, Love, Galatians 5:22-26.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for the revelation of Your light to me. Thank you for leaving with Me the Holy Spirit and giving me the Word of God for every day to help me in every situation. Help me to listen and obey every word that proceeds from Your mouth, that I may live by the supernatural power of God every day.
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