IS HEAVEN REAL AND WHERE IS IT?
Heaven is the place were God dwells, where His Holy Throne is (Psalm 103:19) and where He is surrounded by an innumerable multitude of spiritual beings (1Kings 22:19). God’s Word clearly teaches us that heaven is a real place where believers will dwell with God for eternity. In that eternity we will for ever learn new things about God as He is infinite and that doesn’t mean that the things new about Him will reach an end as they are infinite. What an eternity to look forward to. However Scriptures don’t give us a physical geographical location as to where heaven is. They teach us that God is everywhere at the same time, He is omnipresent. One of our favourite Psalms explains it so beautifully, Psalm 139:7-12. Some teach that because God is everywhere means that heaven is everywhere. We strongly disagree with this. When you read the above six verses in Psalm 139 you know that God is in Sheol (the netherworld or place of the dead), but that doesn’t mean that heaven is in Sheol. You know that God is in the remotest parts of the sea, but that doesn’t mean that heaven is there. We believe heaven is above the Earth and universe of stars and planets. There are numerous verses in Scripture that make us believe that this is so. Psalm 103:11, Genesis 11:7, Acts 1:9-11, Psalm 14:2, John 3:13, Revelation 4:1, 2 Corinthians 12:1-4 etc.
This brings us to a very important distinction in Scripture about heaven. Namely, that there are THREE HEAVENS. although the Scriptures only mention the Third Heaven, we can conclude from other parts of Scriptures that there is also a First Heaven and a Second Heaven. To quote one of these verses we read: “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the HEAVENS , Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.” Hebrews 4:14. We will look at this “passing through the HEAVENS” closer on our topic pages “Paradise” and “What happens the moment you die?”.
Let us take a closer look at these three heavens.
The heavens are the heavens of the LORD, But the earth He has given to the sons of men.
Psalm 115:16
THE THREE HEAVENS
The First Heaven - Our Atmosphere
For starters, the First Heaven itself is an amazing place to be. Most people take the air of our atmosphere that they breath in for granted. However it is a most wonderful creation by our wise God as He created it so that it is held around the Earth as a canopy by the gravity of the Earth. He created our bodies with lungs so we can breath in the air with oxygen so we can live. As the windpipe branches from the trachea into the left and right brochi which divide narrower and narrower, they end up as alveoli (thin air sacs). Tiny blood vessels surround each of the 300 million alveoli in the lungs. Oxygen moves across the walls of the air sacs, is picked up by the blood and carried to the rest of the body. Carbon dioxide or waste gas picked up from the burned up oxygen in the cells, passes into the air sacs from the blood and is breathed out. Only God could think of something marvelous as this. The First Heaven is also very important in the RAPTURE event as we will meet the Lord in THE AIR at the Rapture. 1Thessalonians 4:17. It is also a battlefield where Satan and his demons work hard to make mankind walk in the ways of this world. Ephesians 2:2. The atmosphere extends about twenty miles above the earth.
The Second Heaven - The Universe (Celestial Heaven)
From the amazing creation of the First Heaven we move on to another amazing place called The Second Heaven which is the beautiful and vast Universe or Celestial Heaven. Astronomy is such a beautiful science but is even more beautiful and powerful if the glory is given to God the Creator. He just spoke the Word and the Universe came into existence. He placed them all in their appointed places subject to the laws of His infinite and perfect wisdom. Astronomers have estimated the number of stars in our Milky Way as over 100 billion and that is only a guess. They also guess that there are more than 2 trillion galaxies like the Milky Way. Are you getting the picture? 100 billion x 2 trillion=????? You wouldn’t be able to write down the zeros. This is ONLY a GUESS! Yet God gave them all a name! Psalm 147:4. Let us tell you that mankind will never be able to estimate the number of stars and planets in the universe. Our message to the so called Moon travellers:
The heavens are the heavens of the LORD, But the earth He has given to the sons of men. Psalm 115:16
Psalm 19:1 says, “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.” Next time you look at the night sky and see the moon and the stars remember who made them and just lift up your hands to Heaven and praise God our Creator for His amazing wisdom, power and love for us!
Jeremiah proclaimed the wonderful Truth when he said: “Ah Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You,” Jeremiah 32:17.
We believe that Satan and his fallen angels have access to and operate in the realms of what we call the First and Second Heavens. We DON’T think they have access to the Third Heaven where God dwells and where His throne is. That place is not a place of chaos but perfect order and holiness. Often the verses in Job 1:6 and Job 2:1 get quoted where Satan presents himself before God and also Revelation 12:7 where there is a war in heaven between Michael and his good angels and Satan and his fallen angels. This could never happen in God’s throne room.
In Isaiah 14:13 we read about how Satan in his heart said that he would raise (but never did) his throne above the stars of God, and will sit on the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north. We believe that this the place where Satan use to present himself before God as per Job 1 and 2, the mount of assembly. A place of appointed meetings. Another example is 1Ki 22:19 Micaiah said, “Therefore, hear the word of the LORD. I saw the LORD sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by Him on His right and on His left.” Again we believe this would be the throne on the mount of assembly.
The Third Heaven - Where God dwells and where Paradise now is.
Now we have come to the wonderful place called the Third Heaven. The Scriptures clearly speak of this amazing holy place. In 2 Corinthians 12:2 we read how Paul was caught up to the Third Heaven and into Paradise, 2 Corinthians 2:4, where he heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak. We are not told why he wasn’t allowed to speak these words and we should not speculate. We have read many so called explanations but we believe that all are futile. There are things we will find out about when we go to the Third Heaven at the Rapture or if the Lord tarries, at death, because that’s where our soul and spirit will go the moment we die, because Paradise is now in the Third Heaven. More about this on our topic pages “Paradise” and “What happens the moment you die?”.
The Third Heaven is where the throne of God is. Nothing and nobody EVIL can enter that holy place. There is ONLY holiness and LIGHT present in the third HEAVEN.
This is the dwelling place where Christians’ hearts long for. So let us worship the Lord and tell Him how we long for His dwelling place.
Let us worship the Lord and tell Him how we long for His dwelling place.
The heavens are the heavens of the LORD, But the earth He has given to the sons of men. Psalm 115:16