The firmament is the "expanse" of atmosphere surrounding the Earth.

The heavens and the Earth are one unit in God’s eyes. When you look up, to where the birds fly, you are not looking into outer space. You look up into the sky. The atmosphere. The “waters above the Earth.” Without this atmosphere there would be no life on Earth. This ribbon of gaseous life-giving substance is known in the Hebrew as an “expanse.”

We are the water planet. But that water is not just on the Earth. In its gaseous form, water surrounds us every day. Occasionally it can fall as rain or other wetness, but most often it is just there, the air we breathe, the elements that provide life for the plants and other life forms.

Remember your school days? You found that science had further broken down this incredible protective covering that came with the original package we call “Earth”.

First there was the troposphere, with its nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide and other gases, that controls the weather patterns. Then the stratosphere and its ozone, perfectly protecting us from the sun’s ultraviolet rays. The mesosphere breaks down meteors that try to penetrate our space. The ionosphere deflects radio waves all over the planet. The exosphere is the outer layer, interacting with outer space. Can anyone suggest that such a perfect alignment of gases was put in place by accident. No, we prefer the Genesis account: Let there be an expanse. Let it be called “heaven”. It will divide gaseous water from liquid water.