Reference: Heaven
American
In the Bible, means primarily the region of the air and clouds, and of the planets and stars, but chiefly the world of holy bliss above the visible heavens. It is called "the third heaven," "the highest heaven," and "the heaven of heavens," expressions nearly synonymous. There holy beings are to dwell, seeing all of God that it is possible for creatures to see. Thither Christ ascended, to intercede for his people and prepare for them a place where all shall at length be gathered, to go no more out forever, Eph 4:10; Heb 8:1; 9:24-28. In this life we can know but little of the location and appearance of heaven, or of the employments and blessedness of its inhabitants. The Scriptures inform us that all sin, and every other evil, are forever excluded; no fruits of sin will be found there-no curse nor sorrow nor sighing, no tear, no death: the former things are passed away. They describe it figuratively, crowding together all the images which nature or art can supply to illustrate its happiness. It is a kingdom, an inheritance: there are rivers of pleasure, trees of life, glorious light, rapturous songs, robes, crowns, feasting, mirth, treasures, triumphs. They also give us positive representations: the righteous dwell in the presence of God; they appear with Christ in glory. Heaven is life, everlasting life: glory, an eternal weight of glory: salvation, repose, peace, fullness of joy, the joy of the Lord. There are different degrees in that glory, and never-ceasing advancement. It will be a social state, and its happiness, in some measure, will arise from mutual communion and converse, and the expressions and exercises mutual benevolence. It will include the perfect purity of every saint; delightful fellowship with those we have here loved in the Lord, Mt 8:11; 17:3-4; 1Th 2:19; 4:13-18; the presence of Christ, and the consciousness that all is perfect and everlasting. We are taught that the body will share this bliss as well as the soul: the consummation of our bliss is subsequent to the resurrection of the body; for it is redeemed as well as the soul, and shall, at the resurrection of the just, be fashioned like unto Christ's glorious body. By descending from heaven, and reascending thither, he proves to the doubting soul the reality of heaven; he opens it door for the guilty by his atoning sacrifice; and all who are admitted to it by his blood shall be made meet for it by his grace, and find their happiness for ever in his love. See KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.
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But I say unto you, that many shall come from the rising and setting sun, and shall lie down at table with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of the heavens;
and lo, Moses and Elias appeared to them talking with him. And Peter answering said to Jesus, Lord, it is good we should be here. If thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles: for thee one, and for Moses one, and one for Elias.
He that descended is the same who has also ascended up above all the heavens, that he might fill all things;
Now a summary of the things of which we are speaking is, We have such a one high priest who has sat down on the right hand of the throne of the greatness in the heavens;
For the Christ is not entered into holy places made with hand, figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear before the face of God for us: nor in order that he should offer himself often, as the high priest enters into the holy places every year with blood not his own; read more. since he had then been obliged often to suffer from the foundation of the world. But now once in the consummation of the ages he has been manifested for the putting away of sin by his sacrifice. And forasmuch as it is the portion of men once to die, and after this judgment; thus the Christ also, having been once offered to bear the sins of many, shall appear to those that look for him the second time without sin for salvation.
Easton
(1.) Definitions. The phrase "heaven and earth" is used to indicate the whole universe (Ge 1:1; Jer 23:24; Ac 17:24). According to the Jewish notion there were three heavens,
(a) The firmament, as "fowls of the heaven" (Ge 2:19; 7:3,23; Ps 8:8, etc.), "the eagles of heaven" (La 4:19), etc.
(b) The starry heavens (De 17:3; Jer 8:2; Mt 24:29).
(c) "The heaven of heavens," or "the third heaven" (De 10:14; 1Ki 8:27; Ps 115:16; 148:4; 2Co 12:2).
(2.) Meaning of words in the original,
(a) The usual Hebrew word for "heavens" is shamayim, a plural form meaning "heights," "elevations" (Ge 1:1; 2:1).
(b) The Hebrew word marom is also used (Ps 68:18; 93:4; 102:19, etc.) as equivalent to shamayim, "high places," "heights."
(c) Heb galgal, literally a "wheel," is rendered "heaven" in Ps 77:18 (R.V., "whirlwind").
(d) Heb shahak, rendered "sky" (De 33:26; Job 37:18; Ps 18:11), plural "clouds" (Job 35:5; 36:28; Ps 68:34, marg. "heavens"), means probably the firmament.
(e) Heb rakia is closely connected with (d), and is rendered "firmamentum" in the Vulgate, whence our "firmament" (Ge 1:6; De 33:26, etc.), regarded as a solid expanse.
(3.) Metaphorical meaning of term. Isa 14:13-14; "doors of heaven" (Ps 78:23); heaven "shut" (1Ki 8:35); "opened" (Eze 1:1). (See 1Ch 21:16.)
(4.) Spiritual meaning. The place of the everlasting blessedness of the righteous; the abode of departed spirits.
(a) Christ calls it his "Father's house" (Joh 14:2).
(b) It is called "paradise" (Lu 23:43; 2Co 12:4; Re 2:7).
(c) "The heavenly Jerusalem" (Ga 4:1; 6:18; Heb 12:22; Re 3:12).
(d) The "kingdom of heaven" (Mt 25:1; Jas 2:5).
(e) The "eternal kingdom" (2Pe 1:11).
(f) The "eternal inheritance" (1Pe 1:4; Heb 9:15).
(g) The "better country" (Heb 11:14,16).
(h) The blessed are said to "sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob," and to be "in Abraham's bosom" (Lu 16:22; Mt 8:11); to "reign with Christ" (2Ti 2:12).
In heaven the blessedness of the righteous consists in the possession of "life everlasting," "an eternal weight of glory" (2Co 4:17), an exemption from all sufferings for ever, a deliverance from all evils (2Co 5:1-2) and from the society of the wicked (2Ti 4:18), bliss without termination, the "fulness of joy" for ever (Lu 20:36; 2Co 4:16,18; 1Pe 1:4; 5:10; 1Jo 3:2). The believer's heaven is not only a state of everlasting blessedness, but also a "place", a place "prepared" for them (Joh 14:2).
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In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
And God said, Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it be a division between waters and waters.
And the heavens and the earth and all their host were finished.
And out of the ground Jehovah Elohim had formed every animal of the field and all fowl of the heavens, and brought them to Man, to see what he would call them; and whatever Man called each living soul, that was its name.
Also of the fowl of the heavens by sevens, male and female; to keep seed alive on the face of all the earth.
And every living being was destroyed that was on the ground, both man, and cattle, and creeping things, and fowl of the heavens; and they were destroyed from the earth. And Noah alone remained, and what was with him in the ark.
Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens belong to Jehovah thy God; the earth and all that is therein.
and goeth and serveth other gods, and boweth down to them, either to the sun or to the moon, or to the whole host of heaven, which I have not commanded;
There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, Who rideth upon the heavens to thy help, And in his majesty, upon the clouds.
There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, Who rideth upon the heavens to thy help, And in his majesty, upon the clouds.
And it came to pass at the end of three days, that the officers went through the camp;
When the heavens are shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, because thou hast afflicted them;
And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of Jehovah stand between the earth and the heavens, and his sword drawn in his hand, stretched out over Jerusalem. And David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell on their faces.
Look unto the heavens and see; and survey the skies: they are higher than thou.
Which the skies pour down and drop upon man abundantly.
Hast thou with him spread out the sky, firm, like a molten mirror?
The fowl of the heavens, and the fishes of the sea, whatever passeth through the paths of the seas.
He made darkness his secret place, his tent round about him: darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies.
Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts in Man, and even for the rebellious, for the dwelling there of Jah Elohim.
Ascribe ye strength unto God: his excellency is over Israel, and his strength is in the clouds.
The voice of thy thunder was in the whirlwind, lightnings lit up the world; the earth was troubled and it quaked.
Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and had opened the doors of the heavens,
Jehovah on high is mightier than the voices of many waters, than the mighty breakers of the sea.
For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from the heavens hath Jehovah beheld the earth,
The heavens are the heavens of Jehovah, but the earth hath he given to the children of men.
And thou that didst say in thy heart, I will ascend into the heavens, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit upon the mount of assembly, in the recesses of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High:
and they shall spread them out to the sun and to the moon and to all the host of the heavens, which they have loved, and which they have served, and after which they have walked, and which they have sought, and which they have worshipped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried; they shall be for dung upon the face of the ground.
Can any hide himself in secret places, that I shall not see him? saith Jehovah. Do not I fill the heavens and the earth? saith Jehovah.
Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the heavens; they chased us hotly upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness.
Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth of the month, as I was among the captives by the river Chebar, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.
But I say unto you, that many shall come from the rising and setting sun, and shall lie down at table with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of the heavens;
But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun shall be darkened, and the moon not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.
Then shall the kingdom of the heavens be made like to ten virgins that having taken their torches, went forth to meet the bridegroom.
And it came to pass that the poor man died, and that he was carried away by the angels into the bosom of Abraham. And the rich man also died and was buried.
for neither can they die any more, for they are equal to angels, and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.
And Jesus said to him, Verily I say to thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise.
In my Father's house there are many abodes; were it not so, I had told you: for I go to prepare you a place;
In my Father's house there are many abodes; were it not so, I had told you: for I go to prepare you a place;
The God who has made the world and all things which are in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands,
For our momentary and light affliction works for us in surpassing measure an eternal weight of glory;
For we know that if our earthly tabernacle house be destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this we groan, ardently desiring to have put on our house which is from heaven;
Now I say, As long as the heir is a child, he differs nothing from a bondman, though he be lord of all;
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren. Amen.
And when the letter has been read among you, cause that it be read also in the assembly of Laodiceans, and that ye also read that from Laodicea.
The salutation by the hand of me Paul. Remember my bonds. Grace be with you.
if we endure, we shall also reign together; if we deny, he also will deny us;
The Lord shall deliver me from every wicked work, and shall preserve me for his heavenly kingdom; to whom be glory for the ages of ages. Amen.
And for this reason he is mediator of a new covenant, so that, death having taken place for redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, the called might receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
For they who say such things shew clearly that they seek their country.
but now they seek a better, that is, a heavenly; wherefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God; for he has prepared for them a city.
but ye have come to mount Zion; and to the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem; and to myriads of angels,
Hear, my beloved brethren: Has not God chosen the poor as to the world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to them that love him?
to an incorruptible and undefiled and unfading inheritance, reserved in the heavens for you,
for thus shall the entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ be richly furnished unto you.
He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. To him that overcomes, I will give to him to eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of God.
He that overcomes, him will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more at all out; and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven, from my God, and my new name.
Fausets
From "heaved up;" so "the heights" (Ps 148:1). The Greek ouranos and the Hebrew shamaim, are similarly derived. It is used of the surrounding air wherein "the fowls of heaven" fly (Ge 1:26, compare Ge 1:20); from whence the rain and hail fall (De 11:11). "I will make your heaven as iron," i.e. your sky hard and yielding no rain (Le 26:19). "The four quarters of heaven" (Jer 49:36) and "the circuit of heaven" (Job 22:14) refer to the atmospheric heaven. By metaphor it is represented as a building with foundations and pillars (2Sa 22:8; Job 26:11), with an entrance gate (Ge 28:17) and windows opened to pour down rain (Ge 7:11, compare 2Ki 7:2; Mal 3:10). Job 37:18, "spread out the sky ... strong ... as a molten looking glass," not solid as "firmament" would imply, whereas the "expanse" is the true meaning (Ge 1:6; Isa 44:24), but phenomenally like one of the ancient mirrors made of firm molten polished metal.
Matthew, who is most Hebraistic in style, uses the plural, the Hebrew term for heaven being always so. "The heaven of heavens" (De 10:14) is a Hebraism for the highest heavens. Paul's "third heaven" (2Co 12:2) to which he was caught up implies this superlatively high heaven, which he reached after passing through the first heaven the air, and the second the sky of the stars (Eph 4:10). Heb 7:26, "made higher than the heavens," for Christ "passed through the heavens" (Heb 4:14, Greek), namely, the aerial heaven and the starry heaven, the veil through which our High Priest passed into the heaven of heavens, the immediate presence of God, as the Levitical high priest passed through the veil into the holy of belies. The visible heavens shall pass away to give place to the abiding new heaven and earth wherein shall dwell righteousness (Ps 102:25-27; Isa 65:17; 66:22; 2Pe 3:7,13; Re 21:1; Heb 12:26-28).
The kingdom of the heavens in Matthew, for "the kingdom of God" in Mark and Luke, is drawn from Da 4:26, "the heavens do rule," (Da 2:44) "the God of heaven shall set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed." It consists of many stages and phases, issuing at last in heaven being brought down fully to earth, and the tabernacle of God being with men (Re 21:2-3,10, etc.). The plurality of the phases is expressed by "the kingdom of the heavens." The Bible is distinguished from the sacred books of false religions in not having minute details of heavenly bliss such as men's curiosity would crave. The grand feature of its blessedness is represented as consisting in holy personal union and immediate face to face communion with God and the Lamb; secondarily, that the saints are led by the Lamb to living fountains of water, and fed with the fruit of the tree of life in the midst of the paradise of God, the antitype of the former Adamic paradise.
It is no longer merely a garden as Eden, but a heavenly "city" and garden combined, nature and art no longer mutually destructive, but enhancing each the charm of the other, individuality and society realized perfectly (Revelation 2-3, 7, 21-22). No separate temple, but the whole forming one vast "temple," finding its center in the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb, who are the temple to each and all the king-priests reigning and serving there. This was the model Moses was shown on Sinai (Heb 7:1-6). The earthly tabernacle was its pattern and figure (Heb 9:23-24). The "altar" (Re 6:9) and the "censer," etc. (Re 8:3), the "temple" in heaven (Re 11:19; 14:17; 15:5,8), are preliminary to the final state when there shall be "no temple therein" (Re 21:22), for the whole shall be perfectly consecrated to God.
Negatives of present provisional conditions and evils form a large part of the subordinate description of heaven's bliss: no marriage (Lu 20:34-36), no meats for the belly (1Co 6:13), no death, no sorrow, crying, pain; no defilement, no curse, no night, no candle, no light of the sun, for the Lord God giveth them light (Re 21:4,27; 22:3,5). Heaven is not merely a state but a place. For it is the place where Christ's glorifed body now is; "the heaven must receive Him until the times of restitution of all things" (Ac 3:21).
Thither He will "receive His people to Himself" after He hath "prepared a place for them" (Joh 14:2-4), that where He is there His servants may be (Joh 12:26). From heaven, which is God's court, angels are sent down to this earth, as the multitude of the heavenly host (distinct from the host of heaven," Ac 7:42), and to which they return (Lu 2:13-15; 22:43). God Himself is addressed "Our Father who art in heaven." His home is the parent home, the sacred hearth of the universe.
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And God said, Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it be a division between waters and waters.
And God said, Let the waters swarm with swarms of living souls, and let fowl fly above the earth in the expanse of the heavens.
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over the whole earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth on the earth.
In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that same day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.
and I will break the arrogance of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as bronze,
Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens belong to Jehovah thy God; the earth and all that is therein.
but the land, whereunto ye are passing over to possess it, is a land of mountains and valleys, which drinketh water of the rain of heaven,
Then the earth shook, and quaked; The foundations of the heavens trembled And shook because he was wroth.
And the captain on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God and said, Behold, if Jehovah should make windows in the heavens, would this thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.
Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not; and he walketh on the vault of the heavens.
The pillars of the heavens tremble and are astonished at his rebuke.
Hast thou with him spread out the sky, firm, like a molten mirror?
Of old hast thou founded the earth, and the heavens are the work of thy hands: They shall perish, but thou continuest; and all of them shall grow old as a garment: as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed. read more. But thou art the Same, and thy years shall have no end.
Hallelujah! Praise Jehovah from the heavens; praise him in the heights.
Thus saith Jehovah, thy Redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb: I am Jehovah, the maker of all things; who alone stretched out the heavens, who did spread forth the earth by myself;
For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before me, saith Jehovah, so shall your seed and your name remain.
And upon Elam will I bring the four winds, from the four ends of the heavens, and I will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come.
And in the days of these kings shall the God of the heavens set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the sovereignty thereof shall not be left to another people: it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, but itself shall stand for ever.
And whereas it was commanded to leave the stump of the roots of the tree; thy kingdom shall remain unto thee, after that thou shalt know that the heavens do rule.
Bring the whole tithe into the treasure-house, that there may be food in my house, and prove me now herewith, saith Jehovah of hosts, if I open not to you the windows of the heavens, and pour you out a blessing, till there be no place for it.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good pleasure in men. read more. And it came to pass, as the angels departed from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, Let us make our way then now as far as Bethlehem, and let us see this thing that is come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.
And Jesus said to them, The sons of this world marry and are given in marriage, but they who are counted worthy to have part in that world, and the resurrection from among the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; read more. for neither can they die any more, for they are equal to angels, and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.
And an angel appeared to him from heaven strengthening him.
If any one serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there also shall be my servant. And if any one serve me, him shall the Father honour.
In my Father's house there are many abodes; were it not so, I had told you: for I go to prepare you a place; and if I go and shall prepare you a place, I am coming again and shall receive you to myself, that where I am ye also may be. read more. And ye know where I go, and ye know the way.
whom heaven indeed must receive till the times of the restoring of all things, of which God has spoken by the mouth of his holy prophets since time began.
But God turned and delivered them up to serve the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, Have ye offered me victims and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats; but God will bring to nothing both it and them: but the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
I know a man in Christ, fourteen years ago, (whether in the body I know not, or out of the body I know not, God knows;) such a one caught up to the third heaven.
He that descended is the same who has also ascended up above all the heavens, that he might fill all things;
Having therefore a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast the confession.
For this Melchisedec, King of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from smiting the kings, and blessed him; to whom Abraham gave also the tenth portion of all; first being interpreted King of righteousness, and then also King of Salem, which is King of peace; read more. without father, without mother, without genealogy; having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but assimilated to the Son of God, abides a priest continually. Now consider how great this personage was, to whom even the patriarch Abraham gave a tenth out of the spoils. And they indeed from among the sons of Levi, who receive the priesthood, have commandment to take tithes from the people according to the law, that is from their brethren, though these are come out of the loins of Abraham: but he who has no genealogy from them has tithed Abraham, and blessed him who had the promises.
For such a high priest became us, holy, harmless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and become higher than the heavens:
It was necessary then that the figurative representations of the things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with sacrifices better than these. For the Christ is not entered into holy places made with hand, figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear before the face of God for us:
whose voice then shook the earth; but now he has promised, saying, Yet once will I shake not only the earth, but also the heaven. But this Yet once, signifies the removing of what is shaken, as being made, that what is not shaken may remain. read more. Wherefore let us, receiving a kingdom not to be shaken, have grace, by which let us serve God acceptably with reverence and fear.
And when it opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of them that had been slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held;
And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, that he might give efficacy to the prayers of all saints at the golden altar which was before the throne.
And the temple of God in the heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen in his temple: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunders, and an earthquake, and great hail.
And another angel came out of the temple which is in the heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.
And after these things I saw, and the temple of the tabernacle of witness in the heaven was opened;
And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power: and no one could enter into the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea exists no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of the heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. read more. And I heard a loud voice out of the heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he shall tabernacle with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, their God. And he shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall not exist any more, nor grief, nor cry, nor distress shall exist any more, for the former things have passed away.
And he carried me away in the Spirit, and set me on a great and high mountain, and shewed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of the heaven from God,
And I saw no temple in it; for the Lord God Almighty is its temple, and the Lamb.
And nothing common, nor that maketh an abomination and a lie, shall at all enter into it; but those only who are written in the book of life of the Lamb.
And no curse shall be any more; and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him,
And night shall not be any more, and no need of a lamp, and light of the sun; for the Lord God shall shine upon them, and they shall reign to the ages of ages.
Hastings
In the cosmic theory of the ancient world, and of the Hebrews in particular, the earth was flat, lying between a great pit into which the shades of the dead departed, and the heavens above in which God and the angels dwelt, and to which it came to be thought the righteous went, after having been raised from the dead to live for ever. It was natural to think of the heavens as concave above the earth, and resting on some foundation, possibly of pillars, set at the extreme horizon (2Sa 22:9; Pr 8:27-29).
The Hebrews, like other ancient peoples, believed in a plurality of heavens (De 10:14), and the literature of Judaism speaks of seven. In the highest, or Aravoth, was the throne of God. Although the descriptions of these heavens varied, it would seem that it was not unusual to regard the third heaven as Paradise. It was to this that St. Paul said he bad been caught up (2Co 12:2).
This series of superimposed heavens was regarded as filled by different sorts of superhuman beings. The second heaven in later Jewish thought was regarded as the abode of evil spirits and angels awaiting punishment. The NT, however, does not commit itself to these precise speculations, although in Eph 6:12 it speaks of spiritual hosts of wickedness who dwell in heavenly places (cf. Eph 2:2). This conception of heaven as being above a flat earth underlies many religious expressions which are still current. There have been various attempts to locate heaven, as, for example, in Sirius as the central sun of our system. Similarly, there have been innumerable speculations endeavouring to set forth in sensuous form the sort of life which is to be lived in heaven. All such speculations, however, lie outside of the region of positive knowledge, and rest ultimately on the cosmogony of pre-scientific times. They may be of value in cultivating religious emotion, but they belong to the region of speculation. The Biblical descriptions of heaven are not scientific, but symbolical. Practically all these are to be found in the Johannine Apocalypse. It was undoubtedly conceived of eschatologically by the NT writers, but they maintained a great reserve in all their descriptions of the life of the redeemed. It is, however, possible to state definitely that, while they conceived of the heavenly condition as involving social relations, they did not regard it as one in which the physical organism survived. The sensuous descriptions of heaven to be found in the Jewish apocalypses and in Mohammedanism are altogether excluded by the sayings of Jesus relative to marriage in the new age (Mr 12:25|), and those of St. Paul relative to the 'spiritual body.' The prevailing tendency at the present time among theologians, to regard heaven as a state of the soul rather than a place, belongs likewise to the region of opinion. The degree of its probability will be determined by one's general view as to the nature of immortality.
Shailer Mathews.
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Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens belong to Jehovah thy God; the earth and all that is therein.
There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, And fire out of his mouth devoured: Coals burned forth from it.
When he prepared the heavens I was there; when he ordained the circle upon the face of the deep; when he established the skies above, when the fountains of the deep became strong; read more. when he imposed on the sea his decree that the waters should not pass his commandment, when he appointed the foundations of the earth:
For when they rise from among the dead they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as angels who are in the heavens.
I know a man in Christ, fourteen years ago, (whether in the body I know not, or out of the body I know not, God knows;) such a one caught up to the third heaven.
in which ye once walked according to the age of this world, according to the ruler of the authority of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience:
because our struggle is not against blood and flesh, but against principalities, against authorities, against the universal lords of this darkness, against spiritual power of wickedness in the heavenlies.
Morish
The principal words so translated are shamayim, from 'the heights,' and ???????. They are used in a variety of senses: as
1. The atmosphere in which the birds fly, and the lightning appears, and from whence the rain descends. Ge 7:23; De 11:11; Da 4:21; Lu 17:24. It will pass away. 2Pe 3:10,12.
2. The firmament or wide expanse in which are seen the sun, moon, and stars. Ge 1:14-15,17.
3. The abode of God, where His throne is. Ps 2:4; 11:4; Mt 5:34. Whence the Lord descended and to which He ascended, and where He was seen by Stephen. Mr 16:19; Ac 7:55; 1Co 15:47.
4. The abode of angels. Mt 22:30; 24:36; Ga 1:8.
It is important to see that, in forming the present system of this world, God made a heaven to this earth, so that the earth should be ruled from heaven. The blessing of the earth, either materially or morally, depends upon its connection with heaven. This blessing will be full when the kingdom of the heavens is established in the Son of man, and He will come in the clouds of heaven. Ps 68:32,35. It is the place of angelic power, 'the principalities and powers in the heavenly places' being angelic, Satan and his angels, though fallen, still being among them. Job 1:6; 2:1; Re 12:7-9.
That there are various heavens is evident; Satan cannot have entrance into the glory, and Paul speaks of being caught up into the third heavens, 2Co 12:2; and the Lord Jesus passed through the heavens, and we read of 'the heaven of heavens.' De 10:14; 1Ki 8:27. Very little is said of the saints going to heaven, though their citizenship is there now, Phi . 3:20; but they are to be where Jesus is, and He went to heaven, and prepared a place for them. In the Revelation the four and twenty elders are seen in heaven sitting on 'thrones.' To Him that sitteth on the throne, and to the Lamb be glory for ever and ever. Amen. Believers "look for NEW HEAVENS and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." 2Pe 3:13; Re 21:1.
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And God said, Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens, to divide between the day and the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens, to give light on the earth. And it was so.
And God set them in the expanse of the heavens, to give light on the earth,
And every living being was destroyed that was on the ground, both man, and cattle, and creeping things, and fowl of the heavens; and they were destroyed from the earth. And Noah alone remained, and what was with him in the ark.
Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens belong to Jehovah thy God; the earth and all that is therein.
but the land, whereunto ye are passing over to possess it, is a land of mountains and valleys, which drinketh water of the rain of heaven,
And there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before Jehovah; and Satan came also among them.
And there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before Jehovah, and Satan also came among them to present himself before Jehovah.
He that dwelleth in the heavens shall laugh, the Lord shall have them in derision.
Jehovah is in the temple of his holiness; Jehovah, his throne is in the heavens: his eyes behold, his eyelids try the children of men.
Ye kingdoms of the earth, sing unto God; sing psalms of the Lord, (Selah,)
Terrible art thou, O God, out of thy sanctuaries, the God of Israel! He it is that giveth strength and might unto the people. Blessed be God!
whose leaves were beautiful, and its fruit abundant, and in it was food for all; under which the beasts of the field dwelt, and in whose branches the birds of the heavens had their habitation:
But I say unto you, Do not swear at all; neither by the heaven, because it is the throne of God;
For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as angels of God in heaven.
But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of the heavens, but my Father alone.
The Lord therefore, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sat at the right hand of God.
For as the lightning shines which lightens from one end under heaven to the other end under heaven, thus shall the Son of man be in his day.
But being full of the Holy Spirit, having fixed his eyes on heaven, he saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God,
I know a man in Christ, fourteen years ago, (whether in the body I know not, or out of the body I know not, God knows;) such a one caught up to the third heaven.
But if even we or an angel out of heaven announce as glad tidings to you anything besides what we have announced as glad tidings to you, let him be accursed.
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a rushing noise, and the elements, burning with heat, shall be dissolved, and the earth and the works in it shall be burnt up.
waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, by reason of which the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements, burning with heat, shall melt? But, according to his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness.
And there was war in the heaven: Michael and his angels went to war with the dragon. And the dragon fought, and his angels; and he prevailed not, nor was their place found any more in the heaven. read more. And the great dragon was cast out, the ancient serpent, he who is called Devil and Satan, he who deceives the whole habitable world, he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea exists no more.
Smith
Heaven.
There are four Hebrew words thus rendered in the Old Testament which we may briefly notice.
1. Raki'a, Authorized Version, firmament. [FIRMAMENT]
See Firmament
2. Shamayim. This is the word used in the expression "the heaven and the earth," or "the upper and lower regions."
3. Marom, used for heaven in
Ps 18:16; Isa 24:18; Jer 25:30
. Properly speaking it means a mountain as in
4. Shechakim, "expanses," with reference to the extent of heaven.
De 33:26; Job 35:5
St. Paul's expression "third heaven,"
had led to much conjecture. Grotius said that the Jews divided the heaven into three parts, viz.,
1. The air or atmosphere, where clouds gather;
2. The firmament, in which the sun, moon and stars are fixed;
3. The upper heaven, the abode of God and his angels, the invisible realm of holiness and happiness the home of the children of God.
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And there was evening, and there was morning a third day.
There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, Who rideth upon the heavens to thy help, And in his majesty, upon the clouds.
Look unto the heavens and see; and survey the skies: they are higher than thou.
He reached forth from above, he took me, he drew me out of great waters:
For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from the heavens hath Jehovah beheld the earth,
And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the sound of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare; for the windows on high are open, and the foundations of the earth shake.
And thou, prophesy unto them all these words, and say unto them, Jehovah will roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he will mightily roar upon his dwelling-place, he will give a shout, as they that tread the vintage, against all the inhabitants of the earth.
upon the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it; and it shall bring forth branches, and bear fruit, and become a noble cedar; and under it shall dwell all birds of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell.
I know a man in Christ, fourteen years ago, (whether in the body I know not, or out of the body I know not, God knows;) such a one caught up to the third heaven.
Watsons
HEAVEN, the place of the more immediate residence of the Most High, Ge 14:19. The Jews enumerated three heavens: the first was the region of the air, where the birds fly, and which are therefore called "the fowls of heaven," Job 35:11. It is in this sense also that we read of the dew of heaven, the clouds of heaven, and the wind of heaven. The second is that part of space in which are fixed the heavenly luminaries, the sun, moon, and stars, and which Moses was instructed to call "the firmament or expanse of heaven," Ge 1:8. The third heaven is the seat of God and of the holy angels; the place into which Christ ascended after his resurrection, and into which St. Paul was caught up, though it is not like the other heavens perceptible to mortal view.
2. It is an opinion not destitute of probability, that the construction of the tabernacle, in which Jehovah dwelt by a visible symbol, termed "the cloud of glory," was intended to be a type of heaven. In the holiest place of the tabernacle, "the glory of the Lord," or visible emblem of his presence, rested between the cherubims; by the figures of which, the angelic host surrounding the throne of God in heaven was typified; and as that holiest part of the tabernacle was, by a thick vail, concealed from the sight of those who frequented it for the purposes of worship, so heaven, the habitation of God, is, by the vail of flesh, hidden from mortal eyes. Admitting the whole tabernacle, therefore, in which the worship of God was performed according to a ritual of divine appointment, to be a representation of the universe, we are taught by it this beautiful lesson, that the whole universe is the temple of God; but that in this vast temple there is "a most holy place," where the Deity resides and manifests his presence to the angelic hosts and redeemed company who surround him. This view appears to be borne out by the clear and uniform testimony of Scripture,; and it is an interesting circumstance, that heaven, as represented by "the holiest of all," is heaven as it is presented to the eye of Christian faith, the place where our Lord ministers as priest, to which believers now come in spirit, and where they are gathered together in the disembodied state. Thus, for instance, St. Paul tells the believing Hebrews, "Ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first-born, which are written," or are enrolled, "in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than the blood of Abel," Heb 12:22-24. Here we are presented with the antitype of almost every leading circumstance of the Mosaic dispensation. Instead of the land of Canaan, we have heaven; for the earthly Jerusalem, we have the heavenly, the city of the living God; in place of the congregation of Israel after the flesh, we have the general assembly and church of the first-born, that is, all true believers "made perfect;" for just men in the imperfect state of the old dispensation, we have just men made perfect in evangelical knowledge and holiness; instead of Moses, the mediator of the old covenant, we have Jesus the Mediator of the new and everlasting covenant; and instead of the blood of slaughtered animals, which was sprinkled upon the Israelites, the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the sanctuary, to make a typical atonement, we have the blood of the Son of God, which was shed for the remission of the sins of the whole world; that blood which doth not, like the blood of Abel, call for vengeance but for mercy, which hath made peace between heaven and earth, effected the true and complete atonement for sin, and which therefore communicates peace to the conscience of every sinner that believes the Gospel.
3. Among the numerous refinements of modern times, that is one of the most remarkable which goes to deny the locality of heaven. "It is a state," say many, "not a place." But if that be the case, the very language of the Scriptures, in regard to this point, is calculated to mislead us. For that God resides in a particular part of the universe, where he makes his presence known to his intelligent creatures by some transcendent, visible glory, is an opinion that has prevailed among Jews and Christians, Greeks and Romans, yea, in every nation, civilized or savage, and in every age; and, since it is confirmed by revelation, why should it be doubted? Into this most holy place, the habitation of the Deity, Jesus, after his resurrection, ascended; and there, presenting his crucified body before the manifestation of the divine presence, which is called "the throne of the Majesty in the heavens," he offered unto God the sacrifice of himself, and made atonement for the sins of his people. There he is sat down upon his throne, crowned with glory and honour, as king upon his holy hill of Zion, and continually officiates as our great High Priest, Advocate, and Intercessor, within the vail. There is his Father's house, into which he is gone before, to prepare mansions of bliss for his disciples; it is the kingdom conferred upon him as the reward of his righteousness, and of which he has taken possession as their forerunner, Ac 1:11; Heb 6:19-20.
4. Some of the ancients imagined that the habitation of good men, after the resurrection, would be the sun; grounding this fanciful opinion on a mistaken interpretation of Ps 19:4, which they rendered, with the LXX and Vulgate, "He has set his tabernacle in the sun." Others, again, have thought it to lie beyond the starry firmament, a notion less improbable than the former. Mr. Whiston supposes the air to be the mansion of the blessed, at least for the present; and he imagines that Christ is at the top of the atmosphere, and other spirits nearer to or more remote from him according to the degree of their moral purity, to which he conceives the specific gravity of their inseparable vehicles to be proportionable. Mr. Hallet has endeavoured to prove that they will dwell upon earth, when it shall be restored to its paradisaical state. The passages of Scripture, however, on which he grounds his hypothesis, are capable of another and very different interpretation. After all, we may observe, that the place of the blessed is a question of comparatively little importance; and we may cheerfully expect and pursue it, though we cannot answer a multitude of curious questions, relating to various circumstances that pertain to it. We have reason to believe that heaven will be a social state, and that its happiness will, in some measure, arise from mutual communion and converse, and the expressions and exercises of mutual benevolence. All the views presented to us of this eternal residence of good men are pure and noble; and form a striking contrast to the low hopes, and the gross and sensual conceptions of a future state, which distinguish the Pagan and Mohammedan systems. The Christian heaven may be described to be a state of eternal communion with God, and consecration to hallowed devotional and active services; from which will result an uninterrupted increase of knowledge, holiness, and joy, to the glorified and immortalized assembly of the redeemed.
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And God called the expanse Heavens. And there was evening, and there was morning a second day.
And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the Most High God, possessor of heavens and earth.
Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, and maketh us wiser than the fowl of the heavens?
Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their language to the extremity of the world. In them hath he set a tent for the sun,
who also said, Men of Galilee, why do ye stand looking into heaven? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven, shall thus come in the manner in which ye have beheld him going into heaven.
which we have as anchor of the soul, both secure and firm, and entering into that within the veil, where Jesus is entered as forerunner for us, become for ever a high priest according to the order of Melchisedec.
but ye have come to mount Zion; and to the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem; and to myriads of angels, the universal gathering; and to the assembly of the firstborn who are registered in heaven; and to God, judge of all; and to the spirits of just men made perfect; read more. and to Jesus, mediator of a new covenant; and to the blood of sprinkling, speaking better than Abel.