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THE BIBLE SAYS THAT THERE IS WATER OUTSIDE OUR CIRCUMSCRIBED UNIVERSE:

(Last Review, 2 February 2004)

Can you imagine our own Universe as a gigantic cell in suspension? Let’s see what can we perceive of the wonderful and trustworthy book of the Bible.

THE WATERS ABOVE THE HEAVENS:

Gen 1:6-7,

"And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 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.”

John Gill says, "And God made the firmament... By a word speaking, commanding it into being, producing it out of the chaos, and spreading it in that vast space between the heaven of heavens and our earth... Mr. Gregory (in his Notes and Observations, &c. c. 23. p. 110, &c.) is of opinion, that an abyss of waters above the most supreme orb is here meant; or a great deep between the heavens and the heaven of heavens, where, as in storehouses, the depth is laid up; and God has his treasures of snow, hail, and rain, and from whence he brought out the waters which drowned the world at the universal deluge.”

Keli and Delitzsch state: "The division of the chaotic mass of waters through the formation of the firmament, which was placed as a wall of separation in the midst of the waters, and divided them into upper and lower waters… Keerl, [makes] the bold assertion, that the mass of water which came through the windows of heaven at the flood was different from the rain which falls from the clouds, beyond the limits of the terrestrial atmosphere”.

Albert Barnes says, regarding the word "made” in Gen 1:7: "work on,” "make out of already existing materials.”

"Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens… He hath also stablished them for ever and ever…” (Ps. 148:4, 6a).

Arthur Clarke explains this verse as "Heavens exceeding heavens (heavens of heavens—the very highest). Systems of systems extending as far beyond the solar system, as it does beyond the lowest deeps… This refers to Gen 1:7, Clouds (Nebulae), vapours, air, exhalations, rain, snow, and meteors (Comets) of every kind.”

In "The Treasury of David,” written by C. H. Spurgeon, we read regarding that Biblical scripture, "Let the sea above roar, and the fullness thereof, at the presence of Jehovah, the God of Israel”: "There is something of mystery about these supposed reservoirs of water; but let them be what they may, and as they may, they shall give glory to the Lord our God. Let the most unknown and perplexing phenomena take up their parts in the universal praise”.

Keli and Delitzsch comment on this verse, "this notion may also have things for its substance which lie beyond our knowledge of nature. The Scriptures, from the first page to the last, acknowledge the existence of celestial waters, to which the rain-waters stand in the relation as it were of a finger-post pointing upwards (see Gen. 1:7).... for ever and ever (Psa. 111:8), i.e., in order for ever to maintain the position in the whole of creation which He has assigned to them.”

God tells us that the heavenly bodies, including this huge heavenly body of waters that surrounds the universe, are "established for ever and ever”.

John Gill also expresses that: "The Targum is, "ye waters, that by the Word (of the Lord) hang above the heavens'', in which is displayed the glory of amazing power, wisdom, and goodness. The most ancient Syrians and Arabians were thoroughly persuaded, that beyond the bounds of the visible heavens there was a great sea, without any limits; which some (Vid. Steeb. Coelum Sephirot. Heb. c. 7. s. 3. p. 126, 127. and Gregory's already mentioned Works…, p. 110) suppose to be the waters here meant”.

Albert Barnes adds: "The allusion here is to the waters which seem to be above… which seem to come from some higher region - some higher heaven”.

And the NET Bible says: "The "water” mentioned here corresponds to the "waters above” mentioned in Gen 1:7 ” (See also Ps 104:3). For a discussion of the picture envisioned by the psalmist, see L. I. J. Stadelmann, The Hebrew Conception of the World, 47”.

"Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters…” (Pss 104:3a).

Of this verse Albert Barnes says, "the exalted abode of God - as if raised above all other edifices, or above the world. The word "waters” here refers to the description of the creation in Gen. 1:6-7 - the waters "above the firmament”… the meaning is, that God had constructed the place of his own abode - the room where he dwelt - in those waters; that is, in the most exalted place in the universe. It does not mean that he made it of the waters, but that his home - his dwelling-place - was in or above those waters, as if he had built his dwelling not on solid earth or rock, but in the waters, giving stability to that which seems to have no stability, and making the very waters a foundation for the structure of his abode.”

And again in "The Treasury of David” we read, "His lofty halls are framed with the waters which are above the firmament. The upper rooms of God's great house, the secret stories far above our ken, the palatial chambers wherein he resides, are based upon the floods which form the upper ocean. To the unsubstantial he lends stability; he needs no joists and rafters, for his palace is sustained by his own power.”

"Hast thou with Him spread out the sky?” (Job 37:18).

THE DEPTHS:

Some usages of the Hebrew word Tehowm, translated as "deep” or "depth” in English:

"The waters are hid as a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen” (Job 38:30).

"Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O LORD, thou preservest man and beast” (Ps. 36:6).

"Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above the mountains” (Ps. 104:6).

"The mountains saw thee, and they trembled: the overflowing of the water passed by: the deep uttered his voice, and lifted up his hands on high” (Hab. 3:10) ["lifted up his hands on high” is a figure for the overflowing of waters coming from the deep].

"Whatsoever the LORD pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places” (Ps. 135:6).

"Praise the LORD from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps” (Ps. 148:7).

"Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? or hast thou walked in the search of the depth?” (Job 38:16).

"By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds (skies) drop down the dew” (Prov. 3:20) ["the dew” is the night mist, which falls only when there are no clouds, The NET Bible].

The waters of the flood did came from one "deep”, the "deep” of the outer space to flood the earth, but God formed another "deep” under our earth to dry the earth again, after the flood:

"He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap: he layeth up the depth in storehouses” (Ps. 33:7) ["he layeth up the depth in storehouses”, as the water is stored frozen].

"Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under…” (Gen. 49:25a).

"And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the LORD be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath” (Deut. 33:13).

"He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the great depths” (Ps. 78:15).

"They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths…” (Ps. 107:26).

THE DOORS AND THE WINDOWS OF THE HEAVENS:

"Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb? When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it, And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors, And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?” (Job 38:8-11)

That which is revealed in Genesis 1:6 and 7:11-12 is here clearly implied. In the thirtieth verse of the same chapter of Job 38 we meet with the expression "the face of the deep” which is found in Genesis 1:2, and nowhere else, except in the similar context of Proverbs 8:27,

"When He prepared the heavens, I (wisdom personified) was there, when He drew a circle on the face of the world”

Which in a peculiar manner is a retrospective about the book of Job, in which Elihu knew that a "firmament” had been "stretched out” as indicated in Genesis 1:6-8, using the very verb raka which gives us the word translated "firmament” and which is translated in the margin of the AV "expansion” and in the RV margin "expanse”.

It will be remembered that Genesis 1:2 reveals a prehistoric catastrophe:

"The earth became without form (tohu) and void (bohu): and darkness was upon the face of the deep (tehowm)”.

This revelation is somehow present in the book of Job, where we read:

"He stretcheth out the north over the empty place (tohu), and hangeth the earth upon nothing” (Job 26:7)

and

"Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? or hast thou walked in the search of the depth (tehowm)?” (Job 38:16).

Does the Bible describe ozone holes?

Science has defined some of the Biblical windows of heaven as "ozone holes,” and imagined them as being man-made (use of CFC’s and other gaseous compounds, (ref. 10); however, if we adhere to what the Bible has to say about them, we can see that those very holes have been there since the beginning, as "a chimney with its apertures for smoke,” to let out all atmospheric contaminants (to expel gaseous toxics to the outer, empty space), as the ozone holes can be closed or opened intermittently.

At the time of the flood (the waters coming from the outer space found a barrier on our atmosphere and formed a "mono-layer” outside and around it, which some Bible Scholars called "the canopy”); then, when the ozone holes where opened (Heb. pathach), the waters entered like a thick and huge cascade over the poles.

These "ozone holes” were the first place of entrance for that water that came from outer space, from the farthest limits of our universe. So, that water entered like a thick waterfall in liquid state at 0 °C and entered through that "ozone holes”. Then, as the water arrived to the earth surface at the poles, it became frozen immediately, freezing instantly plants and animals, forming the thick permafrost (that’s why we found mammals (like thousands of Mammoths) and plants (like palm trees) frozen in the north pole "out of a sudden”, as before the flood the weather over all the earth was uniform, the four seasons came to be as a consequence of the flood and of the redistribution of waters, winds and heat on our atmosphere). As more and more water continued entering, it overflowed the poles and inundated the whole earth, covering all the mountains in existence at that time. The evaporation and precipitation of that exceeding waters lasted forty days [That even may have included a hole made on the earth’s surface of the poles as a consequence of the strong penetration of such waters from the outer space with its posterior emergence as "geysers”].

"The fountains also of the deep (Heb. tehowm, Gk. abussou) and the windows (Heb. ‘arubbah, Gk. kataractai) of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained” (Gen. 8:2).

It is interesting the plural use of "windows” of heaven, which may include not only the ozone holes, but also the holes of the final limits of our universe, in the outer space, which as we have seen, according to the Bible is surrounded by water. The "doors” or holes on the final (or last) limits of our universe may be something very similar to the theoretical black holes of Albert Einstein. "Windows” also include the "lattices” of the clouds from which the rain most commonly falls.

In the Bible it is written that,

"the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered” (Gen. 7:19-20).

In Psalm 104:6 we have another statement related to that event,

"thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above the mountains”.

After the flood, and by the order of God, there was an increasing volcanic activity that led to the formation of the high mountainous chains and high peaks, like the Everest, leaving marine sediments on the top of them. Being almost all of those mountainous complexes lined parallel to the ocean bays in order to allow the waters of the flood to drain out of the earth.

After that flood, the order given to the waters and the increase in the height of the mountains is described as,

"At thy rebuke they (the waters of the flood) fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away” (Ps. 104:7),

"The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place which thou didst appoint for them” (Ps. 104:8, RSV),

"Thou hast set a bound that they (the waters of the flood) may not pass over; that they turn not again to cover the earth” (Ps. 104:9).

Let’s review the words used in the Old Testament to describe the earlier events of the flood:

"In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great (Heb. rabaah, Gk. word lost in the Septuagint translation) deep (Heb. tehowm, Gk. abussou) broken up, and the windows (Heb. ‘arubbah, Gk. kataractai) of heaven were opened (Heb. pathach, Gk. eneojtesan). And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights” (Gen. 7:11-12)

"The fountains also of the deep and the windows (Heb. ‘arubbah, Gk. kataractai) of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained” (Gen. 8:2).

As we have seen before, Tehowm is an abyss, as a surging mass of water; while " ‘Arubbah” is "a chimney with its apertures for smoke, a dove-cot (dove’cote’) because of the pigeon holes, a sluice gate with specific openings for the water to enter, that is a lattice” (ref. 9). ‘Arubbah has been translated as "chimney” in Hosea 13:3:

"Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the early dew that passeth away, as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney (‘Arubbah)”

As far as I understand, before the flood there was never been a rain, but only a mist was wetting the surface of the ground, as water vapor:

Gen. 2:5: And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.

Gen. 2:6. But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.

THE COMPLETE VICTORY OF THE ONE OF US THAT WAS PERFECT:

"…Who shall descend into the deep (abusson)? that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead” (Rom. 10:7:),

It is remarkable that the reference in Rom. 10:7 to the deep (abusson) is a translation of Deut. 30:13, where it says,

"Neither is it beyond the sea (Heb. yam, Gk. talasses), that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea (Heb. yam, Gk. talasses) for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?”

In Hebrew "yam” comes from a root that means "to roar,” like a sea (as breaking in noisy surf) or a large body of water.

The Peshitta translation of Rom. 10:7 is, according to some translators, as follows: "Or, Who descendeth to the abyss of the grave, and bringeth up Messiah from the place of the dead?” (Murdock), "And who has descended into the abyss of Sheol and brought up Christ from the dead?” (Lamsa). According to that context, abusson refers here to the profoundness of the Sheol.

"…by the Spirit: By which also he (Christ Jesus) went and preached unto the spirits in prison (phulake); Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us… by the resurrection of Jesus Christ…” (1 Pet. 3:18b-21a).

Jesus Christ went to proclaim his victory to the spirits in prison, the ones left outside our universe, where waters surround it. The angels of God, shut the doors, leaving those spirits "in prison”. Jesus Christ presented himself to them as the triumphant Lord of Lords. Those spirits in prison are angels that brought the flood with the purpose of destroying the human race and to prevent that the Word of God should be fulfilled in Christ Jesus.

Is remarkable the use of the word "baptism” in the context of the cleansing waters of the flood, but also of that travel of the resurrected Christ Jesus to the outer space, in which there is water, also. We went there in Him! We are the fruits of the resurrection of Christ!, as he was our first-fruits. We are saved and a living evidence of the total failure of all of the attempts of the adversary to make the Word of God of no effect by destroying and/or by contaminating the human race.

By the specific use of different words, Peter tells to us that those "spirits in prison” are only one group of rebel angels, and that those are different to the other group of rebel angels, which were called "the angels that sinned”, the ones responsible for the origin of the Neanderthal, which are clearly depicted in the Bible…

2 Peter 2:4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; and spared not the old world, but saved Noah...

Jude 6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.

Gen 6:1: And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,
Gen 6:2: That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

Gen 6:4: There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
Gen 6:5: And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

1Chr 20:4: And it came to pass after this, that there arose war at Gezer with the Philistines; at which time Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Sippai, that was of the children of the giant: and they were subdued.
1Chr 20:5: And there was war again with the Philistines; and Elhanan the son of Jair slew Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, whose spear staff was like a weaver's beam.
1Chr 20:6: And yet again there was war at Gath, where was a man of great stature, whose fingers and toes were four and twenty, six on each hand , and six on each foot : and he also was the son of the giant.
1Chr 20:7: But when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea David's brother slew him.
1Chr 20:8: These were born unto the giant in Gath; and they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.

Those beings tried to corrupt the human genetics to prevent the coming of Jesus Christ but also they failed in their purposes. But that corresponds to another chapter in our Biblical study.

If we are able to perceive all of these wonders, with the Bible as our secure foundation for every human activity, for every scientific discovery, why we don’t seek and believe in our eternal salvation according to the Bible: Receive Christ Jesus as your Lord and Believe that God Raised Him from the Dead (as you can read in Romans 10:9-10), and then, to manifest the gift of holy spirit in all its fullness without any fear or doubt (1 Corinthians, Chapters 12, 13 and 14).

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APPENDIXES:

THE ASTRONOMICAL PHYSIOGRAPHY FOUND IN THE ISBE (Edited by James Orr):

The ISBE (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia) presents the next quotation under the word "Astronomy”, within its subsection III. "Physiography”:

"1. THE CIRCLE OF THE EARTH. It has generally been assumed that the Hebrews considered the earth to be a vast circular plain, arched over by a solid vault - "the firmament" - above which were stored, as if in cisterns, the "treasuries" (Job 38:22) of the rain, snow and hail, and some writers have even attempted to express this supposed conception in diagrammatic form. One of the best of these attempts is given by Schiaparelli, in his Astronomy in the Old Testament. The same word used in the Old Testament to express the roundness of the heavens (Job 22:14) is also used when the circle of the earth is spoken of (Isa. 40:22), and it is likewise applied to the deep (Prov. 8:27). Now it is obvious that the heavens are spherical in appearance, and to an attentive observer it is clear that the surface of the sea is also rounded.”

"(1). The Earth a Sphere. The spherical form of the heavens almost involves a similar form for the earth, and their apparent diurnal rotation certainly means that they are not rigidly connected with the earth, but surround it on all sides at some distance from it. The earth therefore must be freely suspended in space, and so the Book of Job describes it: "He stretcheth out the north over empty space, and hangeth the earth upon nothing" (Job 26:7).”

"(2). The North Stretched out over Empty Space. Here the "north” signifies the northern circumpolar constellations and the writer recognized that they stretch out beyond the utmost confines of the earth; so that he was not under any impression that the heavens rested upon the earth, or were borne up by mountains. The celestial sphere surrounded the earth entirely, but at a distance from it; between the two there was "empty space.” Some commentators have indeed claimed that Job 26:10, hath described a boundary upon the face of the waters, unto the confines of light and darkness”.

"3. THE FIRMAMENT. (1) The Hebrew Conception. Above the, spherical earth was stretched out the "firmament” made on the second day of creation to "divide the waters from the waters” (Gen. 1:6). To the Hebrews the "firmament” was the apparent void above”, (2). And such, "firmament” "should be rendered "expanse” or "space”; it corresponds to the "empty space” of Job 26:7. The "expanse” was appointed to divide "the waters which were under the expanse, from the waters which were above the expanse”; and it has been argued from this that the upper waters must have been regarded as being enclosed in a watertight reservoir, furnished with sluices or floodgates, which could be opened”

The references provided by the ISBE for this section are: Maunder, Astronomy of the Bible; Astronomy without a Telescope; Schiaparelli, Astronomy in the Old Testament; Warren, The Earliest Cosmologies, 1909.

Under the word "World” and its subsection "Hebrew Idea of the World”, the ISBE states that:

"The world is a solid expanse of earth, surrounded by and resting on a world-ocean, and surmounted by the 'firmament,' above which the waters of a heavenly ocean are spread” (Skinner)…. A few passages convey the idea of depths within or beneath, as well as around the solid earth (Gen. 7:11; Deut. 33:13). One place in Job (Job 26:7) has the bold idea of the earth as hung in free space - a near approach to the modern conception… one has only to look at the great ideas which the first chapter of Genesis is intended to teach to see that it conveys those great truths on the origin and ordering of things… no matter to what stage knowledge or science may attain. Science itself is gradually coming to see the limits within which the doctrine of evolution must be received, and, kept within these limits, there is nothing in that doctrine which brings it into conflict with the Biblical representations… [Genesis 1], standing at the head of the Bible, lays the foundation for all that follows in the Biblical view of the relation of God to the world, and yields the ground for our confidence that, as all things are created by God and dependent on Him, so everything in Nature and providence is at His disposal for the execution of His purposes and the care and protection of His people.”

The literature that the ISBE mentions here is: "Earth” in Smith's DB and in EB. A valuable extended discussion of the word "Firmament” may be seen in Essay V of the older work, Aids to Faith (London, Murray), 220-30.

THE FILES THAT EXISTED IN THE TIMES OF JOB:

In the past there was a store of teaching available to the enquirer,

"Enquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thyself to the search of their fathers” (Job 8:8).

If Job could "enquire”, and "search” the wisdom of the fathers, it must have existed in some accessible form. Granted that such wisdom of ancient days was accessible, it will not appear strange to read words which seem an echo of the flood (the Deluge), "All flesh shall perish together” (Job 34:15). Dr. Samuel Lee says of this passage that there are "the very words used of the historian of that event. See Genesis 6:17; 7:21”. Job also speaks of those angelic beings as "the sons of God” (38:7) as does the writer of the prose introduction (Job 1:6; 2:1) and of Gen. 6:1-4.

Welch, C. W. "The Book of Job and the Enigma of the Ages” (Berean Publishing Trust, 1952, London).

To go to Part 2: http://fdocc.ucoz.com/index/0-103

Thanks to oocities for saving it!: http://www.oocities.com/fdocc3/waterout.htm

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