—Genesis Chapter 1!—The Firmament & the Heavens!DO 269410/90

—Bible Classtime with Grandpa!

1. (David: Thank You Jesus! We pray for this class time, Lord, that You'll bless it & help us to learn something from it. Thank You so much for Grandpa, Jesus, & how he teaches us such wonderful things out of Your Word & how we've been really learning lots lately! Please help us continue to do so, Lord, & really bless our time together. Bless Mommy, too, in her work, Jesus, & give her strength & wisdom for it, in Jesus' name! Thank You Lord! Praise You Jesus!) Amen! TYL!

2. Have you enjoyed learning about your Bible? (Kids: Yes!) Do you think you've learned anything that's worthwhile? (Techi: Oh yes!) (David: Bible Chronology especially!)

3. We just had a simple test on the highlights of this Chapter. Shall we go over it again & dig out a few more items? (Techi: Yes!) This is not a test, this is just study tonight. So how does the first verse go? (Techi: "In the beginning God created the Heaven & the Earth.") And the next verse? (Techi: "And the Earth was without form, & void.") The Earth was without form & void. (Techi: It was floating around.)

4. (David: It doesn't mean it was a mass of gasses‚ right?) "Without form & void" means there was nothing distinguishing about it yet at all except that it was covered with water‚ obviously. (David: So it was still the Planet, right?) Oh, yes, it was the Planet. It was Earth! It says, "Without form & void." In other words, as far as anything on it, it was more or less zero except for the water.

The Female Holy Spirit!

5. And something very important: Who else was there besides God? (Techi: The Spirit of God!) "The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." You might say the Wife of God, because now we know that She's female. The 26th verse says, "Let us make Man"—"us" plural—"in Our image, after Our likeness: & let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, & over the fowl of the air, & over the cattle, & over all the Earth." Verse 27: "So God created Man in His Own image, in the image of God created He him; male & female created He them."

6. (To Techi who's flipping through her notebook:) Honey‚ we're studying the Bible right now. (Techi: I was finding a page to write something.) You don't need to write anything down now. (Techi: Oh, I don't?) No, not really. Just look at your Bible. Usually when I'm teaching a textbook or this type of Bible teaching‚ discussion, I frequently let you take an open Bible test. So one of the best ways you can take notes is to do a little underlining or make just a note or a word out in the margin of your Bible sometimes, that sort of thing.

7. Now in that 27th verse, what are the two most important words? (David: "Male & female.") "Male & female," in His Own image, in the image of God. So God is what? (Techi: Male & female!) That doesn't mean that just God the Father is male & female, but there is a female in there somewhere‚ right? (Kids: Yes!) And we found out other places that it is the Spirit of God, that the Holy Spirit is female. We don't have time to go into that right now, but there are a lot of verses in Proverbs where He is speaking of Wisdom & He speaks of Her as She. And when She speaks in the first person‚ She says, "I was in the beginning with God when He made the Earth," etc.—Pro.3:13-18; 8:1-4; 22-31.

8. So there are several ways that you can pretty well prove that God was the Father‚ Jesus was the Son & the Holy Spirit was the Mother.—Or had a Mother relationship with the little family Trinity. Of course, people who don't want to believe it are still not going to believe it! (For more Letters from Grandpa on the Holy Spirit being female, see ML#s 1301, 1302, 1303, 1304, etc.!)

The Firmament!

9. So verse 2 says, "The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." It says "the face of the deep" first, & then "the face of the waters," so obviously the Earth was covered with what? (Kids: Water.) Right!

10. Now, before we go on with these waters, He talks about the Firmament in Verse 6. And to make this Firmament He did what in the seventh verse? (Techi: He divided the waters.) He divided the waters which were under the Firmament—obviously that's the sea—from the waters which were above the Firmament.

11. Now this Firmament was what? (Techi: Air.) Well‚ some kind of a space, not just air, because further on we found that God put what in the Firmament? Over in the 16th & 17th verse. (Techi: The Moon & the Sun.) The Sun, the Moon & the Stars. (David: So the Firmament must be a really big place.) It's huge! Space! (Techi: I thought it was only the air up to Space.) No, no, no. (David: Then where are the other waters?) Outside of the Sun, Moon & Stars! (David: Oh, wow! Something that we haven't even seen yet‚ right?) Yes.

12. (Techi: The Sun‚ Moon & Stars go on for millions & millions & trillions & trillions of miles!) Honey, that's what those scientists say, these guys who don't know anything about it. (Techi: Yes, but Space does go for millions of miles, doesn't it?) Well, millions of miles, yes, but not this so-called "millions of light years" & all that baloney! (Techi: That's amazing, Grandpa!)

How Far Could Light Go in 6,000 Years?

13. I never thought about figuring that out, but since this is now only 6,000 years from Creation, it would be interesting to see how far light could go in 6,000 years. You'd have to figure out the number of seconds in one year & multiply that by 6‚000 years. Then you'd have to multiply that number by the distance light can travel in one second, 186,000 miles per second. (Note: Light travels approximately six trillion miles in one year.) All right‚ David, you're a mathematician! Shall we let him figure that out & bring us back the answer tomorrow?—That is, if you have a piece of paper long enough. (David: Ha! OK!)

14. So‚ since these stars & all have only been created for 6‚000 years‚ then the distance which light has travelled could not have been any longer than that‚ right?—Not the millions & billions of light years & all that hooey that the so-called scientists talk about!—Only 6,000 Light Years.

15. When you have to think about science, always remember what the Apostle Paul had to say about science. Can you quote me a good verse about it? (David: There's the segment of the verse that says "science falsely so-called.") Exactly! "Science falsely so-called."—1Tim.6:20. That might be a good verse for you to memorise. You can look up the full verse tomorrow. Maybe we should learn a verse every lesson! We've already memorised the first verse of Genesis, haven't we? Close your Bibles & see if you can recite it to me. (Kids: "In the beginning God created the Heaven & the Earth.") Very good! All right! That's a very important verse to remember by heart!

16. So the Firmament we could just call "Space," because apparently that's all the Space there is. If a spaceship was to go any further, then they'd run into the water out there somewhere!

17. (David: Grandpa‚ the Sun is 93 million miles away, & haven't they seen other galaxies with their telescopes? And are those in the Firmament, too?) They would have to be because there couldn't be any other stars than the stars God created. Right? (David: Wow! That's really interesting.) Well‚ when you come back with that long number you're going to give us, you'll understand how there can be other galaxies. You're going to need a galaxy to write it out, ha!

18. All right, now what is the speed of light? Just give me a round number. (David: 186,000 miles per second.) Per second! Whew! You can go a long ways in one hour! That'll be 60 minutes times 60 seconds. How many seconds in an hour? I always visualise the figures when I do it in my mind. (David: 3,600 seconds per hour.) All right, & per day, it'll be that many seconds times 24. Get it? That's a lot. Well, we're not going to figure it out now, you're going to figure it out on your study time & you can bring us the answer tomorrow!

The Waters!

19. (Techi: That is really amazing! I always thought that the water above the Firmament all came down & then there was just Space left.) Well, that is a theory of some scientists or some Christians. We can even turn to the Chapter in Genesis about the Flood & see what the Lord says about the Flood, if you want to, & where they get that theory. But it is not a proven fact. (Techi: OK, found it!) (David: It's amazing what you can find in the Bible!) Yes, see, if you don't really think about those things it's easy to read over them without understanding them. But that's me, I'm always thinking of something strange! (Techi: It says in Genesis 7:11‚ "All the fountains of the great deep were broken up.") Yes, well‚ that has to do with the Earth.

20. Where would you find the possibility of water coming down from the sky? (Techi: "And the windows of Heaven were opened.") Now, some Christians think that that's when the waters came down from above the Firmament. (David: There might have been waters there also, right? Like two waters? One beyond the galaxies & one there?) Well, we have no reason to believe there were any waters except the waters up in the clouds. But these waters were something really startling, far out beyond the galaxy, beyond the stars.

21. It seems a little impractical to me to say that those waters fell then on the Earth when you think of all the stars & planets & everything else they would have had to go through to finally arrive at Earth. And even a thin layer of water completely around a universe this big, can you imagine how much water that would be? The Earth would have drowned for sure! (Techi: Completely!) (David: So maybe the Lord let it rain for an awfully long time.) Yes, it did. And it also says "The fountains of the great deep were broken up." In other words, water even flowed out of the Earth. (Techi: Oh‚ like instead of volcanoes there was just water.) Water‚ yes, & rain. Did you know that was the first time it had ever rained? (Techi: Yes, that's why no one believed Noah.) Yes.

22. (Techi: Grandpa, how do you explain then about the Sun's rays being more after the Flood? I always thought that the reason people died sooner & they were more unprotected from the Sun was because all of the water rained down & then there was no water belt‚ so then the Sun got through more easily.) Well, the Sun is inside the Firmament & the water is beyond the stars & the Sun & the Moon.

23. So another theory of some people—I don't know that we have anything to prove it—is that before the Flood there was a thicker atmosphere, or a watersphere or something out there which shielded the Earth more from the rays of the Sun‚ & that could be. It could be that there was a very much thicker atmosphere, but that after the Flood the Lord withdrew it. And obviously people began to die much earlier. They didn't live as long any more, right? Their lifetime was cut down from around a thousand years to even less than a hundred. So something happened which made life more difficult on Earth & made people live shorter instead of longer.

24. Well, we'll get into that a little bit later, but I felt we should bring out right now about "the windows of Heaven were opened." That doesn't necessarily mean that there is a whole lot of water up there. You can believe the theory that the water came down from outside of the Firmament, but it seems a little difficult & unreasonable to me. (Techi: And it probably would have floated off into Space.) Well, it could have, yes, because things don't fall out there. There's no gravity in Space.

25. (Techi: Does God just go "poof" & the water belt stays there? Because otherwise naturally it would float around.) Do you mean the waters outside the Firmament? (Techi: Yes.) Well, He created that just like He created everything else. (Techi: He just made it hang there?) He divided the waters which were under the Firmament from the waters which were above the Firmament‚ 7th verse of the 1st Chapter. He divided them‚ He made a space in between them. In other words, the waters below are the seas, the waters above are a water belt or sphere.

26. Since we know the Firmament or Space goes out in all directions from the Earth, then we know that the Firmament is Space that's stretched out in all directions, which would mean then it would have to have water completely around it. Now you may think I'm a little fanatic like the people who thought the World was flat.—And there are still some people who insist the World is flat! Did you know that? (Kids giggling!) Dear Mr. Flatlanders, their brains are flat!

27. (David: That's really neat, because that was my question: How come the Lord can put the Stars & the Moon in the Firmament if the Firmament was only just in the atmosphere of the Earth. So that's really interesting!) Sun, Moon, Stars, Planets & everything are all out there in Space. We know that, right? They've sent probes past them & have seen them & all of that. Men even went to the Moon. Now they're even talking about going to Mars. They've sent space probes to Mars. The probes have taken pictures & analysed samples of the soil & things like that, so that we know that they're out there.

28. I will give some of these sci-fi movies credit for‚ as they say, "going further than Man will ever go" until the time when we have spiritual supernatural bodies. These stories are just Man's imagination, of course, but it's often interesting & we enjoy watching them, except for some of those ugly creatures!

29. Well‚ this is an interesting point, isn't it? I've heard theories, I've read a lot of books, & I've never heard of anybody who seemed to have the faith to believe this 7th verse about the Firmament & take it literally for what it really says! (Techi: That He put all those things in the Firmament?) Yes! That He divided it & created this big Firmament of what I would call Space!

30. Now I know that in earlier Letters I interpreted these waters as being around just the Earth, or around our Solar System. But I now prefer this interpretation of them being around all of Space, & feel that this is the best one. But you can take your pick & choose whichever interpretation you prefer, as it doesn't really make a lot of difference which one you choose; it doesn't affect your Salvation or your work for the Lord. It's just an interesting detail that we'll know for sure when we get to Heaven.

31. It's not even the kind of thing that you're likely to need to talk about when you're witnessing‚ it's just a note of interest. But I tend to think that this is the correct interpretation, that these waters surround all of Space‚ but I'm not going to insist on it or be dogmatic about it. I just don't see how the Sun & Moon & stars being placed "in the Firmament" can be any other way!

32. That's the 7th verse we're talking about, & then you've got to have faith for the 14th verse: "And God said, Let there be lights in the Firmament of the heaven." And again‚ 15th verse, "Let them be for lights in the Firmament of the heaven."—Of the heaven! "To give light upon the Earth."

The Heavens!

33. Now, speaking of "heavens," Paul says he was caught up to the Third Heaven. (2Cor.12:2.) Some also believe that there's a Seventh Heaven‚ the highest level of Heaven!—That Heaven is divided into seven levels. This is a belief popularly held by Catholics, Jews and forming a part of Islamic doctrine. Now what are the heavens? The first heaven is the heaven we're living in right now & which you're breathing. (Techi: The air!) Right, the atmosphere, the air! And the atmosphere goes up to the stratosphere.

34. I was so amazed as a boy when I rode my bicycle out to Pan American Airways terminal off the Florida coast, which they called Dinner Key then. It was just a small building, but it had a rotunda in the middle, a round room like some kind of museum. And right in the middle of this room was the largest globe I'd ever seen, a map of the Earth on a rotating ball. It was at an angle just like the Earth is & it was constantly turning at what was supposedly the speed of the Earth. It was 12 feet in diameter‚ & because it was so high, you couldn't have really seen the map very well‚ everything would have been out of sight, all of the North half of the Earth, so they had embedded about a fourth of it in the floor. About 3 or 4 feet of it was down in the floor, & yet it was turning. It was on an axis of some kind & it was turning.

35. But I think the most shocking thing that I learned when I studied the map & I looked at it, was when I read on a little sign, "According to the dimensions of this ball, the layer of the atmosphere would only be a quarter of an inch thick." (David: Amazing!) A quarter of an inch thick on this giant ball! So we really don't have much atmosphere. (David: And what produces the air? Is it only the vegetation?) Plants produce oxygen. Of course, I'm sure God gave the atmosphere a head start to begin with. (Techi: Otherwise it all would have died!) And He made the atmosphere as well.

36. (Techi: That's amazing! But there are no plants in here.) Well, look at all the plants outside! That's why I feel so good when I go outside on get-out & breathe that oxygen! I also sit out there on the porch an hour or two every day‚ as you know‚ & I'm literally cleansing my lungs by breathing that nice oxygen-rich air, which the trees & plants are putting out. Isn't that wonderful? (David: That is wonderful!) They're replenishing it, of course. God made the heavens & the Earth at the same time apparently, or some time around there, as He says.

37. So the way the Bible scientists have described it is that this, the atmosphere, is the first heaven that we live in, & the Space out there is the second heaven. (David: Is the stratosphere Space?) The stratosphere is towards the outer fringes of the atmosphere, as I recall, it's quite a bit larger than the atmosphere itself. Most of those satellites & space ships operate outside the stratosphere, which is extremely rare, if there is any oxygen at all, it's extremely rare & not enough to breathe. (David: But that's not counted as a heaven‚ is it?) Well‚ some Bible students call that second heaven. When you're trying to just estimate or theorise you can take your choice, you know?

The Third Heaven!

38. Paul said that he was caught up to what? (Kids: The Third Heaven.) Right! He said‚ "I don't want to be proud about that, I don't even know if it was me or somebody else!" Remember? (David: No, I've got to read up on this!) Well, we could turn to that if we could find it. (David: Oh, is it 2Cor.12:2?) How did you find that? (David: I was looking in my concordance!) OK! What does he say?

39. (David: He says‚ "I knew a man in Christ above 14 years ago, whether in the body I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth; such an one caught up to the Third Heaven. And I knew such a man, whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth; how that he was caught up into paradise, & heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such a One will I glory: yet of myself I will not glory, but in my infirmities."—2Cor.12:2-5.)

40. In other words, it's generally conceded that he was talking about himself, although it was such a strange experience, like a vision, that he didn't really know for sure whether it was himself, or if he was caught up in the person of some other man or something. But he says he was caught up to the Third Heaven‚ which was what? (Techi: Since it says Paradise, I don't suppose he meant the Heavenly City, because Paradise is in the heart of the Earth.) Yes, there is a Paradise in the heart of the Earth, but he says he was caught up. The Paradise we have referred to in other talks (See ML#s No.1526:5-8; 1769:42-45‚ 1897:56-57.) is the one that Jesus told the penitent thief on the cross about, "This day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise."—Luk.23:43. And we know that that must be in the "heart of the Earth" because that's where Jesus said He would go for three days. (See Mat.12:40.) But since the heart of the Earth is down, & Paul was "caught up," he must be talking about a different Paradise.

41. (Techi: Do you think he could possibly mean that he was caught up in the Spirit & then he went down to Paradise?) Well, you can believe that if you want to. He didn't know exactly where he was himself, ha! But he felt he was caught up to Heaven, to the "third Heaven," which he also refers to as "Paradise" (2Cor.12:2-4), & of course we know that Heaven is a wonderful Paradise, right? Maybe the one in the heart of the Earth could be the first Paradise‚ for those who are not sent to Hell. But Paul says quite definitely that he was caught up to Paradise, to the Heavenly City.

42. So that sort of limits the number of heavens if he said that was the Third Heaven. We're living in the atmospheric heavens right now, & Space is the second heavens, & then this was a third heaven! I'm just throwing out a guess, but since Space reaches all the way to the upper waters above the Firmament‚ then the Third Heaven could be beyond that, beyond those waters!

43. Well, maybe in Paul's day it was! In his day it could have been beyond the waters where God was creating it. Jesus said, "I must go & prepare a place for you," etc.—Jn.14:2-3. That was almost 2,000 years ago! And since He prepared that place, which we know is the Heaven that the Lord has revealed to us, that it is within that Pyramid, within that Sphere, the Crystal Sea‚ & has been travelling down from wherever the Lord created it, it could have been travelling for some time. If you go to the outer realms of Space & you come back through this watery cloak around Space to protect it, & all the planets & everything, when you get that figure tomorrow we may find out how far Heaven travelled before it arrived at the Moon! How's that? So it took a while, probably, like a space ship.

It's So Because the Bible Says So!

44. All right‚ so that was some more about Heaven & the Firmament & the waters which are above the Firmament. These are some interesting points we're bringing up about some of these verses! The first one was about how the Earth was just like a globe or a ball‚ just a Planet, void, darkness was on the face of the waters. So the waters obviously covered the Earth, because later on He had to divide them between land & sea. Right? (Techi: Yes, so did the Lord take part of the waters that were on the Earth & put them up there?—Or did He create a new set of waters? Or what did He do?)

45. We don't know exactly where these waters were‚ except it could have been water that was on the Earth. But when He caused the dry land to appear, obviously the land rose out of the water. See, it was all water, then He caused the land to rise above the water. (Techi: Oh, because the land was underneath the water.) Yes.

46. He said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together unto one place."—Gen.1:9. Now the waters under the heavens were the waters on the Earth, right? (Techi: Oh, so He must have created a different set of waters for up above?) I don't know! He said He divided the waters which were under the Firmament, from the waters which were above the Firmament. He divided them. Now, you could say, well‚ He took part of that deep sea, He calls it the "deep‚" & put it out there & made the Firmament in between. (Techi: But that would have been too much.) Well, how do we know how thick it is? Maybe it's only a quarter of an inch thick! But that's conjecture, some day we'll know. Right? But we do know, & I believe it, that there is water out there beyond the Stars!—Because the Bible says so!

47. (Techi: Why did the Lord make water out there?) We don't know that either! We don't have to know everything! Right? I'll tell you, Bible scholars have been guessing about things & theorising about things for centuries! But one thing we don't have to guess about—we know there's water out there because the Bible says so! But why we don't know. And I'm not ashamed to confess I don't know! It's better just to say you don't know! (Techi: It's sort of nice not to know that‚ it's sort of a mystery.) Right! It's one of the mysteries God is saving.

48. Isn't it going to be interesting to tour the Universe in our supernatural bodies & see all of these things? We'll know more about the whole Universe & Galaxies & other suns & planets & whatnot! We'll also know then why the Lord created so many! Why are there so many suns out there? In our one galaxy‚ the Milky Way Galaxy, there are supposed to be billions of suns, & no doubt more billions of planets! (Techi: Maybe that's to keep the atmosphere warm; otherwise we'd all freeze, so we have to have a lot of suns.) You mean keeping Space warm? (Techi: Well, yes.) Well, that's a thought! Of course we know that Space is pretty cold, because the astronauts have been out there.

The Heavenly City!

49. (Techi: Grandpa, is it possible that the Lord just made Heaven come down to the Moon in recent years?—Or do you think it's been travelling all 6,000 years?) Well, I don't know, that was just one of my theories‚ that it was made out there in the Third Heaven & that it's been travelling through Space. I had a vision once when I saw it coming‚ coming down! Don't you remember that? (Techi: Yes! It was like a gigantic Spaceship, it had all sorts of things on it.) Yes. (See "Spaceship!"‚ ML #624.)

50. Why does it have to be close now? Well, you say‚ God could do anything! He could whiz it here, whoosh, & it'd be here! (Techi: Maybe He likes to travel.) The Lord has done some things in a practical way, & He doesn't just have to wave a magic wand & have Heaven here in a hurry. Maybe He's giving all those people a tour of the Universe on their way down. Wouldn't that have been interesting? (Techi: Yes!)

51. But why does the Heavenly City need to be right close now? (Techi: So it can come down to Earth quickly.) Yes, & I believe we're going to see it up there in the heavens during the Millennium! (Techi: Boy, that will be neat!) Don't you remember some of our Posters? (Kids: Yes!) We had the ball hanging up there in the sky containing the Heavenly City!

52. (Techi: Grandpa, do you think the Lord used Hell or Paradise for any purpose before He made the Earth?) Well, no, it says about those things that they were in the heart of the Earth. (See Mat.12:40; Eph.4:9; 1Pet.3:19.) (Techi: I guess there were no bad people before that.) There were no people when He first made the Earth, it was void & darkness was on the face of the deep.

53. (Techi: What would He have been doing for all those years before He made the Earth?) Honey‚ that's one of the mysteries of the Lord. There's no point in even theorising about it‚ because as far as our brains are able to comprehend, the Lord just has always been in existence Forever! Maybe we'll learn some of those things when we get to Heaven.

54. I've suggested that since it's practical & reasonable to believe that if we're going to run the World during the Millennium just after we're resurrected & raptured, that Heaven needs to be close for that. We don't want to have to travel billions of miles through Space to outer Space. They call Space "Outer Space," but I call Outer Space the Space beyond the waters above the Firmament. Wouldn't that really be Outer Space?

55. (Techi: I wonder what's up there!) Well, as far as we know, maybe it's empty. The Lord had to have the World & its atmosphere & its space & the stars, suns & moons in our Space, He had to have it in conjunction with the Earth & our Solar System. Right? (David: Yes!) I mean, there's no point in having it except for our sakes, really. (Techi: Unless there are different spaces.) Well, that's something which could be. But I don't think there would be all those strange creatures like there are on some of these sci-fi movies. (Techi: Maybe there are other Earths with other humans.) Yes, that's possible! Could be! I think so. But anyhow, we know Jesus died for us on our Earth‚ right? (Techi: Right!)

56. (Techi: Grandpa, why would we need the whole Universe‚ though, for a little tiny planet if there aren't other people or other things?) I'll tell you why! Jesus is going to tell us why when we get to Heaven! (Techi: OK!) You've got the questions, & I can answer any question you ask me, only a lot of my answers will be...(Techi: I don't know!) Exactly! And that's the best way to leave it. Don't try to explain everything! How can you explain things you don't know?

57. I am just theorising that since we will be running the World for a Thousand Years in the Millennium, where are we going to be running it from? (Techi: The Heavenly City!) That's the logical answer. So therefore God in the Millennium will not have to hide the Heavenly City like He is now. You can bet your boots if these guys going to the Moon thought there was anything inside of it, they would have carried along drilling equipment! Right?

58. So the Lord has to hide the Heavenly City now! Really!—Or they would have carried atom bombs up there to bomb the place to find out what's underneath! He had to cloak the Heavenly City now. (Techi: Cloaking devices like in that video we watched!) Yes, there you are! Cloaking devices! And He used the Moon to do it. He had to have it hidden or Man could have tried to damage it.

59. But during the Millennium there will be no reason to hide the Heavenly City because we will be running things & nobody is going to be able to hurt us or the Heavenly City. And it's the logical obvious thing to me that it would be there & visible as the Earth turns & that all Mankind will see it. Right? (David: Yes!) And we will have quick access to it. We don't want to be running back & forth from somewhere clear out in Space, right? (David: Yes‚ that's true.)

60. (Techi: So it will actually be sitting on the Earth?) Yes! But that doesn't come until when? (David: The New Heaven & the New Earth after the Millennium.) Exactly! He wouldn't dare let it come down to Earth even in the Millennium or some stupid idiot would try to do something. There will still be wicked men on Earth in the Millennium, wicked men who have to make a choice between receiving the Lord or receiving the Devil when he comes back!

61. Well, our time is up! We even ran overtime a little bit. I don't know if we've covered everything that's interesting in this Chapter yet, but if we haven't, we will continue this study tomorrow night‚ Lord willing. OK? (Techi: Amen! That was really neat, Grandpa!)

62. (Techi prays: Thank You Lord! Amen, Lord Jesus, thank You for this good Bible class with Grandpa & the different things that we learned, & how interesting it is‚ Jesus‚ about the Heavenly City & the Firmament. Thank You for making this wonderful Earth, Lord, for us to enjoy! Please bless the rest of our night, in Jesus' name. Thank You Lord!) Amen! Thank You Lord! Thank You Jesus! Praise the Lord! Amen!

ML #2694 Picture captions & fact boxes:

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Waters above the firmament

The Universe contains many galaxies

White arrow points to a galaxy similar to our Milky Way Galaxy

Light Year is a unit used by astronomers to describe the distance to & between stars. It is the distance travelled in one year by a pulse of light. Light travels at 186,282 miles (299,792 kilometers) per second. One light-year therefore equals 5.88 trillion miles (9.46 trillion kilometers). A jetliner travelling at a speed of 500 miles (800 kilometers) per hour would need to fly for 1.34 million years in order to travel one light-year.

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Conversions: English/Metric System

For your use in calculating metric equivalents of figures given in this class.—A fun math project!

1 mile = 1.6 kilometers

1 pound = .45 kilo

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Oxygen is a life-supporting gas & a chemical element. Nearly all living things need oxygen to stay alive. Oxygen combines with other chemicals in plant & animal cells to produce energy needed for life processes. Oxygen is also needed to make most fuels burn. During the burning process, oxygen combines with the fuel in a chemical reaction. Heat is released during the burning process.

Oxygen is one of the most plentiful chemical elements on the Earth. It makes up about a fifth of the volume of air. Nitrogen makes up most of the other four-fifths. Oxygen is also found in the Earth's crust & in water. This oxygen is not pure, but is combined with other elements. On the average, 100 pounds of the Earth's crust contains about 49 pounds of oxygen. Nearly half of the weight of most rocks & minerals is oxygen. Every 100 pounds of water contains about 89 pounds of oxygen. Hydrogen makes up the other 11 pounds.

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The atmosphere gets thinner and thinner the higher it goes, and thins out into nothing about 300 to 400 miles up

exosphere

thermosphere

mesosphere

stratosphere

Mt. Everest = 29,000 feet high

troposphere

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The Milky Way is the Galaxy that includes the Sun, the Earth, & the rest of our solar system. It is not at the center of the Galaxy but well to one side. The Milky Way Galaxy contains hundreds of billions of stars. On clear, dark nights‚ it appears as a broad‚ milky-looking band of starlight stretching across the sky. The whole Galaxy has a flattened lens-like shape, so that we see most stars when we look along its diameter. Our solar system, in the small white square above, is dwarfed when compared with our Milky Way Galaxy.

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family