The atmosphere acts as a watery blanket that protects and supports life on Earth. And its design is pretty amazing! A good example to help us understand this wonderful piece of our planet is to compare it to something you see everyday: your skin.
Just as God covered our bodies with skin to protect them from without and hold our tissue and muscles from within, so the atmosphere protects Earth from radiation and meteors in Space and holds in water vapor and heat. But how does it do this?
God created our atmosphere with five layers: the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere, and exosphere. And just like each layer of skin is necessary so each layer of the atmosphere is also necessary.
The troposphere is the layer closest to earth and the layer that makes about 50% of the atmosphere. The second layer, the stratosphere is also called the ozone layer, and is followed by the mesosphere and the thermosphere. The last layer, the exosphere, is the upper layer of the atmosphere and what is generally considered outer space.
While Space has fascinating planets, stars, and galaxies, it also has many things that could be harmful to life on Earth. Yet God, in His perfect wisdom, gave us an atmosphere different from any other in our solar system to protect us.
All together the atmosphere is 300 miles thick and made of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0.04% carbon dioxide, and traces of neon, methane, krypton, hydrogen, and water vapor. When we study the atmosphere we discover it is so intricate and complex that only an almighty Creator could have created it, which is exactly what Genesis 1 records. In this chapter of beginnings, God tells us He created the atmosphere on day two of the Creation Week.
Since the word atmosphere was first used in 1638, you won’t find it in the Bible, BUT you will see God often uses the word heaven or heavens when speaking about the atmosphere. This means the atmosphere has a specific created purpose as with all of God’s creation. Without the atmosphere being created as it is life as we know on Earth would not exist.
For thus says the Lord, Who created the heavens, Who is God…Who did not create it in vain, Who formed [earth] to be inhabited: “I am the Lord, and there is no other”. (Isaiah 45:18)
Christian Scientists and the Atmosphere
Did you know some of the scientists who discovered these fun and important facts about the atmosphere were also Christians? Robert Boyle, John Dalton, and Balfour Stewart were great scientists who also acknowledged God as Creator.
Robert Boyle (1627-1691)
Born in an age when science was mostly an intellectual pastime, Robert Boyle encouraged the view of science being a field where experiments took place rather than mere mental exercises. Going beyond just talking about experiments, he formulated a theory that the atmosphere is mostly gasses that interact with each other and performed many experiments to back up his claim. Boyle’s Law, an equation that describes the function of gasses in response to pressure, is named in his honor.
John Dalton (1766-1844)
John Dalton, a man known for his faith throughout life, made great contributions to meteorology (the study of weather). He also demonstrated the atmosphere is made mostly of nitrogen and oxygen, along with how the air absorbs water vapor. John Dalton is also known as the father of the modern atomic theory.
Balfour Stewart (1828-1887)
A highly respected physicist, both in his own time and ours, Balfour Stewart pioneered research leading to the discovery of the ionosphere and its ability to distort Earth’s magnetic field. Stewart also co-authored The Unseen Universe (published 1875).
When God looked at all He had made on the sixth day of Creation, He said it was very good. Six thousand years later, we still see this incredible goodness and how God’s creative works, like the atmosphere, are beautifully crafted to support life on Earth.
Something we see in our daily lives and don’t give much thought to is trees. These staples of our world have very interesting ways of pointing back to our Creator. Let’s examine how just two species of trees give evidence of design.
Giant Flood, Giant Rocks, Giant Wonder On a recent trip to Northern Ireland, my family had the opportunity to visit one of her greatest natural wonders: Giant’s
We love helping people put the truths of the authority and reliability of God‘s Word into their hearts. We also enjoy getting resources for these truths into their hands. And with the holiday season coming up, the bookstore can be a blessing both to the ministry and to your family and friends!
Everyone has a worldview, and every worldview has questions that it must answer. The truth will naturally produce the best and most sensible answers, and the Bible does just that.
