To him that by wisdom made the heavens: for his mercy endureth for ever. To him that stretched out the earth above the waters: for his mercy endureth for ever.
Psalm 136:5-6
It is well understood by those who believe in the Genesis account of creation that God stretched out the heavens, or firmament, over the earth, for it is written: ‘[God] stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in’ (Isaiah 40:22). The fact that the heavens referred to in this verse are of a tangible and material nature is testified to by the fact that they were stretched out. It would be nonsensical to describe some dark void of space as being stretched out, or as being like a tent.
The Psalmist proclaimed that it was ‘by wisdom [that God] made the heavens’ (Psalm 136:5). Moreover, as Isaiah penned that God ‘stretcheth out the heavens’, David similarly declared in verse 6 that God ‘stretched out the earth’. As heavens were stretched out on the second day, so too was the Earth stretched out on the third. The heavens, therefore, are as material as the Earth!
But this Scriptural gem does even further damage to Newtonian pseudo-science. The fabled space ball is purported to increase in density under its surface, working inwards to a ‘gravity’ compressed molten core. Yet Psalm 136:6 declares the Earth to be ‘stretched out above the waters’. Unlike the sorcery-inebriated mind of Issac Newton, David understood that the Earth swam upon the waters of the great deep, declaring that God ‘hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods’ (Psalm 24:2).
The word ‘mercy’ as it appears in every verse of the above quoted psalm is elsewhere translated as ‘lovingkindness’. It was in His enduring lovingkindness to man that God stretched out both the Earth below us and the heavens above us. It was in His enduring mercy that God ‘redeemed us from our enemies: for his mercy endureth for ever’ (Psalm 136:24).
Truly, in both creation and redemption, ‘the works of the LORD are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein’ (Psalm 111:2).
Christopher Sparks