Proverbs 8:27 (Mini Sermon)

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1.      Pro 8:27 – “When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth:”

1. When he prepared the heavens, I was there:
2. Wisdom is speaking (Pro 8:1, 12).
3. God possessed wisdom before He created the earth (Pro 8:22-23), oceans (Pro 8:24), mountains and hills (Pro 8:25), and fields (Pro 8:26).

iii.    God created all those things by wisdom (Pro 3:19), and therefore He had to have possessed wisdom prior to creating them.

1. Now wisdom switches from talking about God’s possession of her prior to the creation to describing her accompanying Him during the creation.
2. She says that she was there when God prepared the heavens (Pro 8:27).
3. Prepare v. – 1. a. trans. To put beforehand into a suitable condition for some action; to set in order previously for some purpose; to get ready, make ready, put in readiness; to fit out, equip. a. To make, produce, or form for some purpose; in mod. use esp. ‘to make by regular process’ (J.), to manufacture, to make or compound (a chemical product, a medicinal or other ‘preparation’, etc.).  1535 Coverdale Ps. xciv. [xcv.] 5 The see is his for he made it, and his hondes prepared the drie londe.
4. Not only did God use wisdom when planning to create the universe, but He also used it while He was creating it (Pro 8:28-29).
5. We can learn a practical lesson from this: it is necessary to use wisdom while both making and executing our plans.

(i)     Not using wisdom in the making of plans will end in disaster no matter how meticulously a man carries out his stupidly laid plans.

(ii)   Not using wisdom in executing plans will also end in disaster no matter how wisely the plans were made.

1. After describing how God possessed wisdom before He created the earth, oceans, mountains, hills, and fields, she then goes back to the very beginning of the creation and describes how she was there with God as He created.
2. The preparation of the heaven (singular) was the first act of creation (Gen 1:1).
3. Heaven n. – 1. a. The expanse in which the sun, moon, and stars, are seen, which has the appearance of a vast vault or canopy overarching the earth, on the ‘face’ or surface of which the clouds seem to lie or float; the sky, the firmament.
4. There are two heavens in the universe (outer space, and the sky/atmosphere) and a third heaven outside the universe where God dwells (2Co 12:2-4).

(i)     Outer space (the universe) was created on the first day and the earth was created on that same day and placed in it (Gen 1:1).

(ii)   Outer space is the second heaven where the sun, moon, and stars were placed on the fourth day of creation (Gen 1:14-19).

(iii) The first heaven (the sky/atmosphere) was created on the second day of creation (Gen 1:6-8) and is where the birds fly which were created on the fifth day of creation (Gen 1:20).

1. Therefore, the heavens (outer space, and the sky/atmosphere) were prepared in the beginning of the creation during the first two days, during which wisdom was there with God being used by Him to create.
2. when he set a compass upon the face of the depth:
3. When God set a compass upon the face of the depth…wisdom was by Him (Pro 8:30).
4. The face of the deep (the oceans which covered the entire earth) were created on the first day (Gen 1:2).

iii.    Depth n. – II. Something that is deep.  7. a. A deep water; a deep part of the sea, or of any body of water. Usually in pl.; now only poetic and rhetorical. b. The great abyss of waters; the deep. 1611 Bible Prov. viii. 27 When he set a compasse vpon the face of the depth.

1. God set a compass upon the face of the depth.
2. Compass n. – III. The mathematical instrument. a. An instrument for taking measurements and describing circles, consisting (in its simplest form) of two straight and equal legs connected at one end by a movable joint. IV. Circumference, circle, curve; bound.  5.  a. A circumference, a circle.  b. Anything circular in shape, e.g. the globe, the horizon; also, a circlet or ring.
3. The setting of a compass upon the face of the deep is said in the context of establishing the clouds above the fountains of the deep (Pro 8:28).

(i)     In other words, God made a compass (a circumference, a bound, a globe – see definition above) around the water-covered earth.

(ii)   This compass was the firmament (the second heaven – the sky/atmosphere) which divided the waters above it (the clouds) from the waters below it (the oceans) (Gen 1:6-8 c/w Gen 1:20).

(iii) God is a mathematician and an architect (not to be confused with the Masonic Great Architect of the Universe).

(iv) God used His wisdom to design the earth, the atmosphere, the clouds, the oceans, and the water cycle.