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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And I say to you, That many shall come from the sunrising and the descents, and shall recline with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of the heavens.
And, behold, Moses and Elias were seen to them, conversing with him. And Peter, having answered, said to Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: let us make here three tents; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.
He having descended is the same having ascended above all the heavens, that he might fill up all things.)
And the summary to the things spoken: We have such a chief priest, who sat on the throne of the Majesty in the heavens;
For Christ came not into the holy places made with hands, the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to be shown clearly to the face of God for us: Neither that he should offer himself many times, as the chief priest comes in to the holy places yearly with blood pertaining to others; read more. (Since he must have suffered many times from the foundation of the world:) but now once at the termination of the times for the annulling of sin by the sacrifice of himself has he been shown clearly. And inasmuch as it is reserved to men once to die, and after this the judgment: So Christ, once offered to have borne the sins of many, of the second time, without sin, shall be seen to them expecting him 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 formed the heavens and the earth.
In the beginning God formed the heavens and the earth.
And God will say there shall be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and there shall be a separating between waters to waters.
AND the heavens and the earth shall be completed and all their army.
And Jehovah God will form out of the earth every living thing of the field, and all the birds of the heavens, and he will bring in to the man to see what he will call to it; and all which the man will call it to the living soul, that its name.
Also of birds of the heavens, seven: seven male and female, to preserve alive seed upon the face of all the earth.
And every living thing shall be wiped off which upon the face of the earth, from man even to cattle, even to the creeping thing, and even to the birds of the heavens; and they shall be wiped out from the earth, and Noah only shall remain and they which with him in the ark.
Behold, to Jehovah thy God the heavens, and the heavens of the heavens, the earth and all which is in it
And he will go and serve other gods and will worship to them, and to the sun or to the moon, or to any of the army of the heavens, which I commanded not;
None as the God of Jeshurun, riding the heavens in thy help and in his lifting up the choirs.
None as the God of Jeshurun, riding the heavens in thy help and in his lifting up the choirs.
And it will be from the end of three days and the scribes will pass through in the midst of the camp.
In the heavens being shut up and there will be no rain when they shall sin against thee; and they pray to this place and profess thy name, and they turn back from their sin when thou shalt humble them:
And David will lift up his eyes and see the messenger of Jehovah standing between the earth and between the heavens, and his sword drawn in his hand stretched forth over Jerusalem. And David will fall, and the old men being covered with sackcloth, upon their face.
Look upon the heavens and see; behold the clouds, they were high above thee.
Which the clouds will shake out; they will drop an abundance upon man.
Wilt thou spread out with him to the clouds, strong as the sight of a melted mass?
And the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, passing through the paths of the seas.
He will set darkness his covering; his tent round about him darknesses of waters, thick clouds.
Thou didst go up to height, thou didst take captive captivity: thou didst receive gifts in man, also those turning away, for Jehovah God to dwell.
Ye shall give strength to God: upon Israel is his majesty, and his strength in the clouds.
The voice of thy thunder in the wheel: the lightnings lightened the habitable globe: the earth moved and it will shake.
And he commanded the clouds from above, and he opened the doors of the heavens.
Jehovah on high is great above the voices of many waters, the mighty breakers of the sea.
For be looked forth from the height of his holy place; from the heavens Jehovah looked upon the earth;
The heavens of heavens to Jehovah, and he gave the earth to the sons of man.
And thou saidst in thy heart, I will go up to the heavens; from above to the stars of God I will lift up my throne, and I will sit upon the mountain of appointment in the thighs of the north. I will go up upon the heights of the cloud: I will become like the Most High.
And they spread them to the sun and to the moon, and to all the army of the heavens which they loved, and which they served, and which they, went after, and which they sought and which they worshiped to them: they shall not be gathered and they shall not be buried; they shall be for dung upon the face of the earth.
If a man shall hide in secret places and I shall not see him, says Jehovah. Do I not fill the heavens and the earth? says Jehovah.
They pursuing us were swift above the eagle of the heavens: they burned after us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the desert
And it will be in the thirtieth year, in the fourth, in the fifth to the month, and I in the midst of the captivity by the river Chebar, the heavens were opened and I shall see visions of God.
And I say to you, That many shall come from the sunrising and the descents, and shall recline with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of the heavens.
And quickly after the pressure of those days, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from the heavens, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken;
Then shall the kingdom of the heavens be likened to ten virgins, who having taken their lanterns, went forth to the meeting of the bridegroom.
And it was, the beggar died, and was carried by messengers into Abraham's bosom: and the rich one died also, and was buried;
For neither can they die any more: for they are like to messengers; and are sons of God, being the sons of the rising up.
And Jesus said to him, Truly I say to you, This day shalt thou be with me in paradise.
In my Father's house are many dwellings: and if not, I had said to you. I go to prepare a place for you.
In my Father's house are many dwellings: and if not, I had said to you. I go to prepare a place for you.
God having made the world and all things in it, he being Lord of heaven and earth, dwells not in temples made by hands;
For the present moment the lightness of our pressure works to us an eternal weight of glory, as eminence upon eminence;
For we know that if our earthly house of the tent were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For also in this we groan, longing to have our dwelling from heaven put on:
And I say, for as long time as the heir is a child, he differs nothing from a servant, being lord of all;
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ with your spirit, brethren. Amen.
And when the epistle shall be read among you, make that also it be read to the church in Laodicea; and that ye also read that from Laodicea.
The greeting of Paul by my hand. Remember my bonds. Grace with you. Amen.
If we endure, we shall also reign together: if we deny, he will also deny us:
And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work, and save for his heavenly kingdom: to whom the glory for the times of times. Amen.
And for this he is mediator of a new covenant, that death having been, for redemption of the transgressions for the first covenant, the called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
For they saying such things show clearly that they seek a country.
And now they feel an ardent desire for a better, that is, a heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed of them to be called their God: for he prepared for them a city.
But ye have come to mount Sion, and to the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels,
Hear, my dearly beloved brethren, Has not God chosen the beggars of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he has promised to them loving him?
To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and unfading, kept in the heavens for us,
For so shall an entrance be furnished richly to you in addition into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
He having ears, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches; To him conquering I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the pleasure garden of God.
He conquering, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and without shall he no more come forth: 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 from 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 will say there shall be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and there shall be a separating between waters to waters.
And God will say the waters shall breed abundantly creeping things, the living soul, and birds shall fly over the earth, over the face of the firmament of the heavens.
And God will say, We will make man in our image according to our likeness, and they shall rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and every. creeping thing creeping upon the earth.
In the year of six hundred years of Noah's life, in the second month, in the seventeenth day of the month, in the same day all the fountains of the great deep were divided and the sluices of the heavens were opened.
And he will be afraid, and will Say, How terrible this place is not this but the house of God, and this the gate of the heavens?
And I broke the pride of your strength: and I gave your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass:
Behold, to Jehovah thy God the heavens, and the heavens of the heavens, the earth and all which is in it
And the land where ye are passing over there to possess it, a land of mountains and valleys; according to the rain of the heavens it will drink water.
And the earth will shake and tremble, The foundation of the heavens will be disturbed, And they will shake, for it kindled to him.
And the third, which was to the king leaning upon his hand, will answer the man of God, and say, Behold, Jehovah making lattices in the heavens, will this word be? and he will say, Behold thee seeing with thine eyes, and from thence thou shalt not eat
Clouds a covering to him, and he will not see; and he will go about the circle of the heavens.
The pillars of the heavens shall be shaken, and be astonished from his reproof.
Wilt thou spread out with him to the clouds, strong as the sight of a melted mass?
Before time thou didst found the earth, and the heavens the work of thy hands. They shall perish and thou shalt stand. And all they shall fall away as a garment; as clothing thou shalt change them, and they shall be changed. read more. And thou the same, and thy years shall not finish.
Praise ye Jah. Praise ye Jehovah from the heavens: praise him in the heights.
Thus said Jehovah redeeming thee, and forming thee from the belly, I am Jehovah making all; stretching forth the heavens alone; spreading out the earth from myself:
For behold me creating new heavens and a new earth: and the former things shall not be remembered, and they shall not come upon the heart
For as the new heavens and the new earth which I made, standing before me, says Jehovah, so shall stand your seed and your name.
And I brought upon Elam the four winds from the four ends of the heavens, and I scattered them to all these winds; and there shall not be a nation where the outcasts of Elam shall not come there.
And in their days that they are kings, the God of the heavens shall set up a kingdom that shall not be destroyed forever: and its kingdom shall be left to another people; it shall beat small and destroy all these kingdoms, and this shall stand forever.
And that they said to leave the stump of the roots of the tree; thy kingdom being sure to thee, from when thou shalt know that the heavens rule.
Bring ye all the tenths to the house of treasure, and food shall be in my house, and try me now in this, said Jehovah of armies, if I will not open to you the lattices of the heavens, and empty out to you a blessing, even is it not a sufficiency.
And suddenly was there a multitude with the messenger of the heavenly army praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest ones, and upon earth peace, benevolence in men. read more. And it was when the messenger departed from them into heaven, and the men, the shepherds, said to one another, Let us pass through now to Bethlehem, and see this word done,which the Lord made known to us.
And Jesus having answered, said to them, The sons of this life marry, and are given in marriage And they having been deemed worthy to obtain that life, and the rising up of the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: read more. For neither can they die any more: for they are like to messengers; and are sons of God, being the sons of the rising up.
And a messenger was seen to him from heaven, strengthening him.
If any one would serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there also shall be my servant: and if any one serve me, him will the Father honour.
In my Father's house are many dwellings: and if not, I had said to you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, again I come, and I will receive you to myself; that where I am, ye might be also. read more. And where I retire ye know, and the way ye know.
Whom heaven must truly receive till time of restoration of all which God spake by the mouth of all his holy prophets from forever.
And God turned, and delivered them up to serve the army of heaven; as it has been written in the book of the prophets, Slain victims and sacrifices brought ye not to me forty years in the desert, O house of Israel,
Foods for the belly, and the belly for foods: and God will also leave unemployed this and them. And the body not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.
I knew a man in Christ before fourteen years, (whether in the body, I know not; whether out of the body, I know not: God knows;) such a one having been carried off even to the third heaven.
He having descended is the same having ascended above all the heavens, that he might fill up all things.)
Having therefore a great chief priest, passed to the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, we should hold firmly the assent.
For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, having met Abraham returning from the cutting off of the kings, and praised him; To whom also Abraham divided a tenth from all; (first truly interpreted King of justice, and then also King of Salem, which is, King of peace; read more. Without father, without mother, of unknown origin, neither having beginning of days, nor end of life; and likened to the Son of God;) remains a priest perpetually. And behold how great this one, to whom also Abraham the patriarch gave the tenth of the first fruits. And they truly of the sons of Levi, receiving the office of priest, have a command to take a tenth part from the people according to the law, that is, from their brethren, although having come out of the loins of Abraham: And he not having his descent traced from them received a tenth from Abraham, and praised him having the promises.
For such a chief priest became us, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and being higher than the heavens;
Therefore truly a necessity for the patterns of things in the heavens to be purified with these; and the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ came not into the holy places made with hands, the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to be shown clearly to the face of God for us:
Whose voice then shook the earth: and now he has proclaimed, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also the heaven. And the Yet once more, makes manifest the transferring the things shaken, as of things made, that the things not being shaken might remain. read more. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom unmoved; we should have grace by which we might serve God acceptably, with reverence and circumspection:
And when he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of the slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they had:
And another angel came and was placed by the altar, having a golden censer; and many perfumes were given him, that he might give to the prayers of the holy upon the golden altar before the throne.
And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of his covenant was seen in his temple: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunders, and shakings, and great hail.
And another angel came forth out of the temple which in heaven, the same also having a sharp sickle.
And after these things I saw, and behold, the temple of the tent of testimony was opened in heaven:
And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and none could come into the temple, till the seven blows of the seven angels were finished.
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and first earth passed away; and the sea was no more. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. read more. And I heard a great voice from heaven saying, Behold the tent of God with men, and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, their God. And God shall wipe out every tear from their eyes; and death be no more, neither grief, neither crying, nor trouble shall be more: for the first things departed.
And he brought me away in the spirit upon a mountain great and high, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,
And a temple saw I not in her: for the Lord God, the Omnipotent Ruler, is the temple and the Lamb
And there came not into her anything common, and any doing abomination, and a lie: but they written in the book of life of the Lamb.
And there shall be no more curse: and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in her; and his servants shall serve him:
And night shall not be there; and they have no need of a lamp, and the light of the sun; for the Lord God shall enlighten them: and they shall reign for ever and ever.
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, to Jehovah thy God the heavens, and the heavens of the heavens, the earth and all which is in it
Smoke went up in his anger, And fire from his mouth shall consume: Coals were kindled from it
In his preparing the heavens I was there: in his inscribing a circle upon the face of the deep: In his making firm the clouds from above: in his strengthening the fountains of the deep: read more. In his setting his law to the sea, and the waters shall not pass by his mouth; in his making firm the foundations of the earth:
For when they arise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the messengers which in the heavens.
I knew a man in Christ before fourteen years, (whether in the body, I know not; whether out of the body, I know not: God knows;) such a one having been carried off even to the third heaven.
In which when ye walked according to the life of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, of the spirit now energetic in the sons of disobedience:
For the wrestling is not to us against blood and flesh, but against beginnings, against powers, against the chiefs of the world of darkness of this life, against spiritual things of wickedness in heavenly things.
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 will say there shall be lights in the firmament of the heavens to separate between the day and between the night: and they shall be for signs and for set times, and for days and for years. And they shall be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth: and it shall be so.
And God will give them in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth.
And every living thing shall be wiped off which upon the face of the earth, from man even to cattle, even to the creeping thing, and even to the birds of the heavens; and they shall be wiped out from the earth, and Noah only shall remain and they which with him in the ark.
Behold, to Jehovah thy God the heavens, and the heavens of the heavens, the earth and all which is in it
And the land where ye are passing over there to possess it, a land of mountains and valleys; according to the rain of the heavens it will drink water.
And the day will be and the sons of God will come to stand before God, and also the adversary will come in the midst of them.
And the day will be and the sons of God will come to stand before Jehovah, and the adversary also will come in the midst of them to stand before Jehovah.
He dwelling in the heavens shall laugh: Jehovah shall deride to them.
Jehovah is in his holy temple; Jehovah, in the heavens his throne: his eyes will behold, his eyelashes will try the sons of man.
Ye kingdoms of the earth, sing to God; play on the harp to Jehovah. Silence.
O God, being wonderful in thy holy things: the God of Israel, he gave strength and powers to the people. Praised be God.
And its foliage beautiful, and its fruit great, and food for all in it; under it the beast of the open field will dwell, and in its branches the birds of the heavens will dwell:
But I say to you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven, it is the throne of God:
For in the rising up they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the messengers of God in heaven.
And concerning that day and hour, none know, nor the messengers of the heavens, except my Father only.
Truly therefore the Lord, after ho had spoken to them, was taken up into the heavens, and sat on the right hand of God.
For as lightning, flashing out from that under heaven, shines to that under heaven; so also shall be the Son of man in his day.
And being full of the Holy Spirit, having looked intently to heaven, he saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God,
I knew a man in Christ before fourteen years, (whether in the body, I know not; whether out of the body, I know not: God knows;) such a one having been carried off even to the third heaven.
But also if we, or a messenger from heaven, announce good news to you, more than what: we have announced to you, let him be anathema.
And the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in which the heavens shall pass away with a loud noise, and the elements, suffering from excessive heat, shall be dissolved, and the earth and the works in it shall be burned down.
Expecting and seeking earnestly the presence of the day of God, during which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements going to be burned are melted away? But we expect new heavens and a new earth, according to promise, in which dwells justice.
And war was in heaven; and Michael and his angels waged war against the dragon; and the dragon waged war and his angels, And were not strong; nor was place more found for them in heaven. read more. And the great dragon was cast out, the old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, he deceiving the whole habitable globe: he was cast 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 first earth passed away; and the sea was 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 the evening shall be, and the morning shall be the third day.
None as the God of Jeshurun, riding the heavens in thy help and in his lifting up the choirs.
Look upon the heavens and see; behold the clouds, they were high above thee.
He will send forth from on high, he will take me, he will draw me out of many waters.
For be looked forth from the height of his holy place; from the heavens Jehovah looked upon the earth;
And it was he fleeing from the voice of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he coming up out of the midst of the pit, shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from the height were opened, and the foundations of the earth, will tremble.
And thou shalt prophesy to them all these words, and say to them; Jehovah shall roar from on high, and he will give his voice from his holy habitation; roaring, he will roar from his seat; he shall cry aloud as they treading, to all the inhabitants of the earth.
In the mountain of the height of Israel I will plant it: and it bare a branch, and it made fruit, and it was for a great cedar: and there dwelt under it all fowls of every wing; in the shadow of its branches shall they dwell.
I knew a man in Christ before fourteen years, (whether in the body, I know not; whether out of the body, I know not: God knows;) such a one having been carried off even 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 will call to the firmament the heavens: and the evening shall be, and the morning shall be the second day.
And he will bless him, and will say, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessing the heavens and the earth.
And who teacheth us from the cattle of the earth, and he will make us wise above the birds of the heavens?
Their line went forth into all the earth, and their words into the ends of the habitable globe. In them he set a tent for the sun.
And they said, Galilean men, why stand ye looking to heaven this Jesus, taken up from you to heaven, so shall he come which manner ye saw him going to heaven.
Which we have as an anchor of the soul, unshaken and firm, and entering into that further within the veil.; Where the forerunner, Jesus, went in for us, according to the order of Melchisedec, being a high priest forever.
But ye have come to mount Sion, and to the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, To the assembly of people, and church of the firstborn, transcribed in the heavens, and to God the Judge of all, and. to the spirits of the just perfected, read more. And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, speaking better things than Abel.