Check out this fun discrepancy between the 9th-century AD Hebrew Masoretic text and the earlier, pre-1st-century AD Greek Septuagint: Job 26:13 KJV | Hebrew MasoreticBy His spirit He hath garnished the heavens; His hand hath formed the crooked serpent. Job 26:13 LXX | Greek SeptuagintAnd the barriers of heaven fear Him, and by a command He has slain the apostate dragon.
cir·cle1. a round plane figure whose boundary (the circumference) consists of points equidistant from a fixed point (the center).“draw a circle with a compass” Proverbs 8:27-29[27] When He established the heavens, I was there, when He inscribed a circle on the face of the deep,[28] When He made firm the skies above, when the springs of the deep became fixed,[29] When He set for the sea its boundary so that the water would not transgress His command, when He marked out the foundations of the earth;
Moses was instructed to create the Tabernacle as a copy made after the pattern of heavenly things: Hebrews 8:4-5… there are those who offer the gifts according to the Law; who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle; for, “See,” He says, “that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.” Irenaeus, 2nd century disciple of Polycarp (disciple of the Apostle John), says this about the seven-branched Menorah “Now this world is encompassed by seven heavens, in which dwell powers and angels and archangels, doing service to God, the Almighty and Maker of all things: not as though He was in need, but that they may not be idle and unprofitable and ineffectual. Wherefore also the Spirit of God is manifold in His indwelling, and in seven forms of service is He reckoned by the prophet Isaiah, as resting on the Son of God, that is the Word, in His coming as man. The Spirit of God, he says, shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of knowledge and of godliness; the Spirit of the fear of God shall fill him. Now the heaven which is first from above, and encompasses the rest, is that of wisdom; and the second from it, of understanding; and the third, of counsel; and the fourth, reckoned from above, is that of might; and the fifth, of knowledge; and the sixth, of godliness; and the seventh, this firmament of ours, is full of the fear of that Spirit which gives light to the heavens. For, as the pattern of this, Moses received the seven-branched candlestick, that shined continually in the holy place; for as a pattern of the heavens he received this service, according to that which the Word spake unto him: Thou shalt make it according to all the pattern of the things which thou hast seen in the mount.”– Irenaeus (The Proof of Apostolic Preaching, 9)
The vaulted dome structures of the firmaments of heaven are supported by foundations of pillars. Enoch 60:11And the other angel who went with me and showed me what was hidden told me what is first and last in the heaven in the height, and beneath the earth in the depth, and at the ends of the heaven, and on the foundation of the heaven. Jubilees 19:25And these shall serve to lay the foundations of the heaven, and to strengthen the earth, and to renew all the luminaries which are in the firmament.
There’s a reason your Biblical flat earth friend has tried to tell you about the Firmament… This vaulted dome ceiling that encapsulates the circle of the earth was the only thing God created on Day 2, in the first chapter, on the first page of the Bible. He gave this Firmament the name “Heaven” in Genesis 1:8, while describing the setting for the story of mankind. The Psalmist says the Firmament shows us God’s handiwork. In this way, it is a vital component in recognizing the truth of God’s creation. Its existence is overwhelming evidence for intelligent design – which is why Atheists are testifying, in droves, that Biblical Cosmology is what God used to lead them to faith in Christ. And given that the definition of a basic dome shape requires that it has a flat, circular base… the Firmament is a blatant giveaway for the shape of God’s green earth. Heaven is a literal and physical, solid structure above a stationary, level plane. Your friend just wants you to see the glory of God’s work.
2 Chronicles 6:18But will God indeed dwell with mankind on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You; how much less this house which I have built. Psalm 68:33To Him who rides upon the highest heavens, which are from ancient times; Behold, He speaks forth with His voice, a mighty voice. Ecclesiasticus 16:18Look at the heavens, indeed the highest heavens; the abyss and the earth will tremble at the Lord’s visitation.
John 3:13No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man. John 3:31He who comes from above is above all, he who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. John 6:38For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
Our Messiah was raised to eternal life with a real corporeal, immortal spirit body:– Luke 24:39-43, John 20:17, 1 Corinth. 15:35-46 The heavens are physical, tangible, vaulted dome structures over the earth:– Genesis 1:6-8, Job 22:14, Amos 9:6 The tabernacle in heaven is a literal, material building complete with furnishings and an active priesthood:– Hebrews 8:1-5, Hebrews 9:11, Revelation 15:5-8
Job 22:14 – Clouds are a hiding place for Him, so that He cannot see; And He walks on the vault of heaven. Psalm 148:4 – Praise Him, highest heavens, And the waters that are above the heavens! Jeremiah 10:12 – It is He who made the earth by His power, Who established the world by His wisdom; And by His understanding He has stretched out the heavens. 2 Esdras 16:59 – He spreads out the heavens like a vault; upon the waters has he founded it
