It has to be eternity. In the long run. Overall.
What I said was:
“Peter does not limit his statement to prophecy, he notes it as a principle that applies to prophecy – he doesn’t say it doesn’t apply elsewhere.
The alternative is that God is limited by time as we know it.”
Now you’re making stuff up, or being very sloppy at quoting.
I never limited God to any thousand years; I explicitly rejected that.
No I am not.
Is very clear, and not a valid alternative.
If I got you wrong, then pehaps you did not make yourself clear.
Richard
For sure. I believe the Spirit hovering over the surface of the waters establishes that perspective right after the formation of the earth. With the earth in place, Day 1 can begin. Estimates for the rotation speed of the earth when it was first formed have a day lasting only 4 hrs. The pull of the moon has been slowing it since.
Correct. The 4 hour day length is what I used to base the beginning of Day 1 to be 4.5 billion years ago when the earth was formed.
For the timeline of creation of the universe before that, you can take or leave this, but I felt lead to set 1 day equal to 1 hr and see what the result would be. It takes us back to 13.3 bya – This is less than the estimate of 13.8 bya for the Big Bang, but lines up with the most distant redshifted stars that we can see. The point where space is expanding at the speed of light where any starlight beyond that no longer can reach us (the ‘dark age’ in the OP image) is 13.37 billion light years away.
I found that interesting that setting 1 day equal to 1 hr results in a time equal to the speed of light. If we could but spend 1 hr per day with the Lord in prayer and Bible study, what could be the result?
- Matt 26:40 Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?
This ties back in a bit with the topic this one spun off from, but perhaps there was no Big Bang and the ‘Beginning’ is still undetermined and may never be measured. The universe is at least 13.3 billion years old and if the galaxies seen in the Hubble telescope at that distance appear mature, then the universe has to be much older.
As we all should be but I hope you find this one worth putting to the test. I had to go though and work out a lot of these issues you present, and I’m sure there are some things I have not thought of.
The key here is that these are both worldviews interpreting inspired Scripture. Can God not speak to both and have it make sense? I believe we can reinterpret based on a modern view, as an ANE view was no where near perfect and the understanding of many things remained shrouded. How many times did Jesus say, “Have you not read?”
Your right, the asthenosphere that the lithosphere stands on is not quite solid. 
Acknowledged. This is an ANE interpretation of raqia though. I believe we have some liberty to reinterpret it within the defined meaning of the word. Its an extended solid surface, as if beaten out like a thin sheet of metal. No one in the ANE world traveled to the sky dome to be sure that was the actual raqia (at least not in canonical scripture).
There is something else we can examine that is beaten in thin sheets or layers:
There are only a few places in Scripture where we can examine this word and how it is used. Genesis 1, Psalm 19 and 150, Ezekiel 1 and 10, and Daniel 12. Most of these are a reflection on Genesis 1 so lets go through those first and then come back.
- Psa 19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork.
This makes much more sense if the firmament is the surface of the earth. David is describing the whole of creation and not just two different things up in the sky, one of which – God’s handiwork – doesn’t even exist.
- Psa 150:1 Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary; Praise Him in His mighty firmament!
We can praise Him in a sanctuary, but do we need to fly up to the sky dome to praise Him outside the sanctuary? Again this makes more sense if the firmament is the solid ground under our feet. We are standing on holy ground, in heaven on earth.
Songs are Spirit lead and shows God’s inspiration, but then we get to visions in Ezekiel which are a little different.
- Ezek 1:22 The likeness of the firmament above the heads of the living creatures was like the color of an awesome crystal, stretched out over their heads. 23 And under the firmament their wings spread out straight, one toward another. Each one had two which covered one side, and each one had two which covered the other side of the body. 24 When they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of many waters, like the voice of the Almighty, a tumult like the noise of an army; and when they stood still, they let down their wings. 25 A voice came from above the firmament that was over their heads; whenever they stood, they let down their wings. 26 And above the firmament over their heads was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like a sapphire stone; on the likeness of the throne was a likeness with the appearance of a man high above it.
This certainly does indicate that the firmament is a solid dome in the sky. The thing we need to differentiate though is that this is a vision of Ezekiel – a true vision, but in recounting it he is speaking from his own ANE world view. He believes that the blue sky is the underside of the firmament holding back the waters above it. Overall it is a bit difficult to visualize what Ezekiel is describing – maybe a helicopter?
– but if we were to see the same vision we would probably say, “the blue sky was crystal clear above the heads…”
- Ezek 10:1 And I looked, and there in the firmament that was above the head of the cherubim, there appeared something like a sapphire stone, having the appearance of the likeness of a throne.
This is again a vision described from his own ANE world view.
- Dan 12:3 Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.
This suggest that the firmament shines like a star. Here is an image of Earth from Saturn:
The firmament does indeed have a curved shape (like a dome), but is the full sphere of the earth. The seas are the waters above the firmament and erets often translated as ‘earth’ is the portion of the firmament (local dry land/continents) standing above the waters.
Back to Genesis:
The atmosphere is part of the heaven that extends indefinitely into space however vast the universe is.
- Psa 103:11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His loving devotion for those who fear Him.
The ‘heavens’ (8064. שָׁמַיִם shamayim) – 1. the sky (as aloft 2. the dual perhaps alluding to the visible arch in which the clouds move, as well as to the higher ether where the celestial bodies revolve) – is a completely different word from raqia and with it being ‘aloft’, a continuous open space to a great height, appears to contradict the notion that there is a solid firmament with waters above it somewhere in between there (some flat-earthers estimate about 75 miles up).
And of course ‘heaven’ can also refer to the abode of God.
- Gen 1:6 Then God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” 7 Thus 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.
God’s plan in the beginning was to make His abode right here on Earth, and by naming it ‘Heaven’ He is calling it His home. He doesn’t have to continue to ‘hover over the waters’ (Gen 1:2) but can also walk in the Garden, His Paradise.
- Gen 3:8a And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day,
Now that the firmament has been called ‘heaven’:
- Gen 1:9 Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. 10 And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters (above)* He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
*‘above’ added by me to clarify – If the waters under the firmament are the seas, how would they gather (against gravity) if not for the ground being pushed up? No, the gathering waters below is magma caused from tectonic activity which then pushes up on the land making it appear. The waters above then drain off the land and gather into seas.
The word for ‘water’ is mayim (4325. מַיִם) – 1. water 2. (figuratively) juice 3. (by euphemism) urine, semen – and can mean pretty much anything in a liquid or semi-liquid state.
Where does it say that there is anything between the erets and the raqia? The raqia divides waters and the erets is subsequently the dry part of the raqia appearing above the waters.
This is figurative language.
Revelation is the fulfillment of the prophecies in Daniel. Lift your head up indeed! He comes like a thief in the night. You wake up in the morning and realize He is already here.