Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up, and they saw the God of Israel. Under his feet there was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear like the sky itself. (Exodus 24:9,10)
I had someone leave me a comment on YT yesterday, sharing this verse. Yet again, I find myself marveling at how these little “crumbs” are sprinkled all throughout the Bible, and yet we managed to somehow ignore them, or just shrug our shoulders and keep on reading…
I have to admit that I have probably allowed that thing to happen which I was afraid of, that is, let myself get slowly pulled away from writing as I’ve devoted more and more time to making videos and engaging with people over on that whole platform. I am sorry for that, but it’s just kind of been unavoidable I guess. I only have so much time I can devote to “non-nuclear-family stuff”, so somewhere, something has to suffer, now that I’ve launched into the video medium and it really takes SO much more time and energy to make even a simple video than it does to write a blog post.
But… Back to this verse! Is that not fantastic!? Especially when you cross-reference it with what we find in Ezekiel 1:
And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature was as the color of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above. And under the firmament were their wings straight, the one toward the other: every one had two, which covered on this side, and every one had two, which covered on that side, their bodies. And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of an host: when they stood, they let down their wings. And there was a voice from the firmament that was over their heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings.
And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it. (verses 22-26)
And also in Ezekiel 10:
Then I looked, and, behold, in the firmament that was above the head of the cherubims there appeared over them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne. (verse 1)
I mean, it’s really there you guys. It’s in the Scriptures… From Genesis on through to Revelation. The Firmament. The “dome”. The “glass ceiling”. Call it what you want.
It’s just kinda funny to me, because I keep getting in these discussions with certain people, who adamantly insist that the Bible absolutely does not describe an enclosed, flat world (as they cling to Isaiah 40:22 with all their might…), and it’s like they just want to be shown some singular “knock out proof text” to point them to an undeniable FE cosmology.
But… It’s just not that easy, unfortunately. Sorry guys. It’s actually more in line with the same way we understand what the Bible says about all kinds of topics, be it the age of the Earth, or the question of “Creationist Evolution”, or the nature of angelic beings, or the atonement of the Cross, or the Judgment on the Last Day, etc. In every case, to get the “fullest picture”, you have to take ALL the pertinent verses which speak towards it, and allow them to cohere together in the way that is most sensible.
And, well… At this point there is simply no WAY I can compile all these various segments which speak about the Firmament, the “sapphire pavement”, the “crystal sea”, etc., etc., and in good conscience cram that back into some kind of convoluted theological interpretation of the heliocentric model. And I really do feel that’s what is being done. There’s no other way to see it now. It’s really no different than when someone tries to make Genesis conform to what modern science claims about the “scientific facts” of Evolution, or how Noah’s Flood couldn’t have possibly covered the entire Earth, etc. To do that you have to mangle the verses so badly, ignore what it says so plainly. You have to be more committed to the “truth” being presented by the atheistic world, than to an honest reading of the text.
There are plenty of people out there willing to do this when it comes to regarding the Bible higher than the false claims of Evolution, but once again I ask (and I will continue to ask…), are you willing to do the same thing with OTHER claims being made by modern “science”?
Are you willing to at least question these things which the Fallen world holds to be oh so irrefutable?
Are you willing to risk looking foolish in the eyes of the World, in order to seek the ‘simple’ wisdom of God…?
Anyhow, I got so busy making and uploading videos recently I never got around to posting the latest ones here. So, here they are. Neither are specifically talking about the Firmament, but, it’s all still related I suppose, in terms of the broader category of FE Cosmology…