It is normally
colorless, odorless, and tasteless, and yet without it this would be
a lifeless world. Air
is necessary for life. Air is part of earth's atmosphere which is maintained by gravity.
Air is made up of gas molecules that move very rapidly.
Earth's gravity is so strong that nothing moving slower than 25,000 miles per hour is able
to escape. [Thus astronauts must attain this speed to go into orbit.] Air
molecules move much slower and thus are held in place by earth's gravity.In order to keep the right balance of oxygen in the air, plants, which give off oxygen in the food making process, need sunlight. Were the earth nearer the sun, the higher temperature would cause oxygen molecules to move faster and escape from the atmosphere. If the sun were farther away, the earth would be too cold for life.
In
the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and
void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the
face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the
light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the
light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the
first day. And God said, Let there be a firmament [an atmosphere] in the midst of the
waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And 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. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening
and the morning were the second day. Genesis 1:1-8.God did it right. How could He do it wrong?! God by wisdom created all things and put them in perfect balance. Even the presence of sin and pollution and the curse upon the earth have not destroyed God's earth.
God called the atmosphere heaven. Elsewhere He speaks of the birds
of the air (literally, heaven), Matthew 8:20. This is the first heaven-where the
birds fly
. The second heaven is where the stars go by (see Psalm 19). The third
heaven is the very abode of God. [Paul was caught up to the third heaven or paradise,
2 Corinthians 12.]Man has been able to live in and explore the first two heavens. But without a new birth, a birth from above, man cannot see or enter the kingdom of heaven (John 3), God's abode, the third heaven or paradise. We need the atmosphere of earth to live on earth or on the moon or anywhere else in the universe. We need the atmosphere of Heaven to live in God's heaven. God's heaven is characterized by righteousness, a rightness that we do not have by birth. God by grace gives this rightness to those who come to Him as sinners and put their whole trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for our sins and arose again, as their only God and Saviour.