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 from east and west shall come and recline (at meat) with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the reign of the heavens,
and lo, appear to them did Moses and Elijah, talking together with him. And Peter answering said to Jesus, 'Sir, it is good to us to be here; if thou wilt, we may make here three booths -- for thee one, and for Moses one, and one for Elijah.'
he who went down is the same also who went up far above all the heavens, that He may fill all things --
And the sum concerning the things spoken of is: we have such a chief priest, who did sit down at the right hand of the throne of the greatness in the heavens,
for not into holy places made with hands did the Christ enter -- figures of the true -- but into the heaven itself, now to be manifested in the presence of God for us; nor that he may many times offer himself, even as the chief priest doth enter into the holy places every year with blood of others; read more. since it had behoved him many times to suffer from the foundation of the world, but now once, at the full end of the ages, for putting away of sin through his sacrifice, he hath been manifested; and as it is laid up to men once to die, and after this -- judgment, so also the Christ, once having been offered to bear the sins of many, a second time, apart from a sin-offering, shall appear, to those waiting for him -- to 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 of God's preparing the heavens and the earth
In the beginning of God's preparing the heavens and the earth
And God saith, 'Let an expanse be in the midst of the waters, and let it be separating between waters and waters.'
And the heavens and the earth are completed, and all their host;
And Jehovah God formeth from the ground every beast of the field, and every fowl of the heavens, and bringeth in unto the man, to see what he doth call it; and whatever the man calleth a living creature, that is its name.
also, of fowl of the heavens seven pairs, a male and a female, to keep alive seed on the face of all the earth;
And wiped away is all the substance that is on the face of the ground, from man unto beast, unto creeping thing, and unto fowl of the heavens; yea, they are wiped away from the earth, and only Noah is left, and those who are with him in the ark;
Lo, to Jehovah thy God are the heavens and the heavens of the heavens, the earth and all that is in it;
and he doth go and serve other gods, and doth bow himself to them, and to the sun, or to the moon, or to any of the host of the heavens, which I have not commanded --
There is none like the God of Jeshurun, Riding the heavens in thy help, And in His excellency the skies.
There is none like the God of Jeshurun, Riding the heavens in thy help, And in His excellency the skies.
And it cometh to pass, at the end of three days, that the authorities pass over into the midst of the camp,
'In the heavens being restrained, and there is no rain, because they sin against Thee, and they have prayed towards this place, and confessed Thy name, and from their sin turn back, for Thou dost afflict them,
and David lifteth up his eyes, and seeth the messenger of Jehovah standing between the earth and the heavens, and his sword drawn in his hand, stretched out over Jerusalem, and David falleth, and the elders, covered with sackcloth, on their faces.
Behold attentively the heavens -- and see, And behold the clouds, They have been higher than thou.
Which clouds do drop, They distil on man abundantly.
Thou hast made an expanse with Him For the clouds -- strong as a hard mirror!
Bird of the heavens, and fish of the sea, Passing through the paths of the seas!
He maketh darkness His secret place, Round about Him His tabernacle, Darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies.
Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast taken captive captivity, Thou hast taken gifts for men, That even the refractory may rest, O Jah God.
Ascribe ye strength to God, Over Israel is His excellency, and His strength in the clouds.
The voice of Thy thunder is in the spheres, Lightnings have lightened the world, The earth hath trembled, yea, it shaketh.
And He commandeth clouds from above, Yea, doors of the heavens He hath opened.
Than the voices of many mighty waters, Breakers of a sea, mighty on high is Jehovah,
For He hath looked From the high place of His sanctuary. Jehovah from heaven unto earth looked attentively,
The heavens -- the heavens are Jehovah's, And the earth He hath given to sons of men,
And thou saidst in thy heart: the heavens I go up, Above stars of God I raise my throne, And I sit in the mount of meeting in the sides of the north. I go up above the heights of a thick cloud, I am like to the Most High.
And have spread them to sun, and to moon, And to all the host of the heavens, that they have loved, And that they have served, And that they have walked after, And that they have sought, And to which they have bowed themselves, They are not gathered, nor buried, They are for dung on the face of the ground.
Is any one hidden in secret places, And I see him not? an affirmation of Jehovah, Do not I fill the heavens and the earth? An affirmation of Jehovah.
Swifter have been our pursuers, Than the eagles of the heavens, On the mountains they have burned after us, In the wilderness they have laid wait for us.
And it cometh to pass, in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth of the month, and I am in the midst of the Removed by the river Chebar, the heavens have been opened, and I see visions of God.
and I say to you, that many from east and west shall come and recline (at meat) with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the reign of the heavens,
'And immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from the heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken;
'Then shall the reign of the heavens be likened to ten virgins, who, having taken their lamps, went forth to meet the bridegroom;
And it came to pass, that the poor man died, and that he was carried away by the messengers to the bosom of Abraham -- and the rich man also died, and was buried;
for neither are they able to die any more -- for they are like messengers -- and they are sons of God, being sons of the rising again.
and Jesus said to him, 'Verily I say to thee, To-day with me thou shalt be in the paradise.'
in the house of my Father are many mansions; and if not, I would have told you; I go on to prepare a place for you;
in the house of my Father are many mansions; and if not, I would have told you; I go on to prepare a place for you;
'God, who did make the world, and all things in it, this One, of heaven and of earth being Lord, in temples made with hands doth not dwell,
for the momentary light matter of our tribulation, more and more exceedingly an age-during weight of glory doth work out for us --
For we have known that if our earthly house of the tabernacle may be thrown down, a building from God we have, an house not made with hands -- age-during -- in the heavens, for also in this we groan, with our dwelling that is from heaven earnestly desiring to clothe ourselves,
And I say, so long time as the heir is a babe, he differeth nothing from a servant -- being lord of all,
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is with your spirit, brethren! Amen.
and when the epistle may be read with you, cause that also in the assembly of the Laodiceans it may be read, and the epistle from Laodicea that ye also may read;
The salutation by the hand of me, Paul; remember my bonds; the grace is with you. Amen.
if we do endure together -- we shall also reign together; if we deny him, he also shall deny us;
and the Lord shall free me from every evil work, and shall save me -- to his heavenly kingdom; to whom is the glory to the ages of the ages! Amen.
And because of this, of a new covenant he is mediator, that, death having come, for redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, those called may receive the promise of the age-during inheritance,
for those saying such things make manifest that they seek a country;
but now they long for a better, that is, an heavenly, wherefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God, for He did prepare for them a city.
But, ye came to Mount Zion, and to a city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of messengers,
Hearken, my brethren beloved, did not God choose the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the reign that He promised to those loving Him?
to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and unfading, reserved in the heavens for you,
for so, richly shall be superadded to you the entrance into the age-during reign of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
He who is having an ear -- let him hear what the Spirit saith to the assemblies: To him who is overcoming -- I will give to him to eat of the tree of life that is in the midst of the paradise of God.
He who is overcoming -- I will make him a pillar in the sanctuary of my God, and without he may not go any more, and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, that doth come down out of the heaven from my God -- also 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 saith, 'Let an expanse be in the midst of the waters, and let it be separating between waters and waters.'
And God saith, 'Let the waters teem with the teeming living creature, and fowl let fly on the earth on the face of the expanse of the heavens.'
And God saith, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness, and let them rule over fish of the sea, and over fowl of the heavens, and over cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that is creeping on the earth.'
In the six hundredth year of the life of Noah, in the second month, in the seventeenth day of the month, in this day have been broken up all fountains of the great deep, and the net-work of the heavens hath been opened,
and he feareth, and saith, 'How fearful is this place; this is nothing but a house of God, and this a gate of the heavens.'
and I have broken the pride of your strength, and have made your heavens as iron, and your earth as brass;
Lo, to Jehovah thy God are the heavens and the heavens of the heavens, the earth and all that is in it;
but the land whither ye are passing over to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys; of the rain of the heavens it drinketh water;
And shake and tremble doth the earth, Foundations of the heavens are troubled, And are shaken, for He hath wrath!
And the captain whom the king hath, by whose hand he hath been supported, answereth the man of God and saith, 'Lo, Jehovah is making windows in the heavens -- shall this thing be?' and he saith, 'Lo, thou art seeing it with thine eyes, and thereof thou dost not eat.'
Thick clouds are a secret place to Him, And He doth not see;' And the circle of the heavens He walketh habitually,
Pillars of the heavens do tremble, And they wonder because of His rebuke.
Thou hast made an expanse with Him For the clouds -- strong as a hard mirror!
Beforetime the earth Thou didst found, And the work of Thy hands are the heavens. They -- They perish, and Thou remainest, And all of them as a garment become old, As clothing Thou changest them, And they are changed. read more. And Thou art the same, and Thine years are not finished.
Praise ye Jah! Praise ye Jehovah from the heavens, Praise ye Him in high places.
Thus said Jehovah, thy redeemer, And thy framer from the womb: 'I am Jehovah, doing all things, Stretching out the heavens by Myself, Spreading out the earth -- who is with Me?
For, lo, I am creating new heavens, and a new earth, And the former things are not remembered, Nor do they ascend on the heart.
For, as the new heavens and the new earth that I am making, Are standing before Me, An affirmation of Jehovah! So remain doth your seed and your name.
And I have brought in to Elam four winds, From the four ends of the heavens, And have scattered them to all these winds, And there is no nation whither outcasts of Elam come not in.
And in the days of these kings raise up doth the God of the heavens a kingdom that is not destroyed -- to the age, and its kingdom to another people is not left: it beateth small and endeth all these kingdoms, and it standeth to the age.
And that which they said -- to leave the stump of the roots of the tree; thy kingdom for thee abideth, after that thou knowest that the heavens are ruling.
Bring in all the tithe unto the treasure-house, And there is food in My house; When ye have tried Me, now, with this, Said Jehovah of Hosts, Do not I open to you the windows of heaven? Yea, I have emptied on you a blessing till there is no space.
And suddenly there came with the messenger a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, Glory in the highest to God, and upon earth peace, among men -- good will.' read more. And it came to pass, when the messengers were gone away from them to the heavens, that the men, the shepherds, said unto one another, 'We may go over indeed unto Bethlehem, and see this thing that hath come to pass, that the Lord did make known to us.'
And Jesus answering said to them, 'The sons of this age do marry and are given in marriage, but those accounted worthy to obtain that age, and the rising again that is out of the dead, neither marry, nor are they given in marriage; read more. for neither are they able to die any more -- for they are like messengers -- and they are sons of God, being sons of the rising again.
And there appeared to him a messenger from heaven strengthening him;
if any one may minister to me, let him follow me, and where I am, there also my ministrant shall be; and if any one may minister to me -- honour him will the Father.
in the house of my Father are many mansions; and if not, I would have told you; I go on to prepare a place for you; and if I go on and prepare for you a place, again do I come, and will receive you unto myself, that where I am ye also may be; read more. and whither I go away ye have known, and the way ye have known.'
whom it behoveth heaven, indeed, to receive till times of a restitution of all things, of which God spake through the mouth of all His holy prophets from the age.
and God did turn, and did give them up to do service to the host of the heaven, according as it hath been written in the scroll of the prophets: Slain beasts and sacrifices did ye offer to Me forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
the meats are for the belly, and the belly for the meats. And God both this and these shall make useless; and the body is not for whoredom, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body;
I have known a man in Christ, fourteen years ago -- whether in the body I have not known, whether out of the body I have not known, God hath known -- such an one being caught away unto the third heaven;
he who went down is the same also who went up far above all the heavens, that He may fill all things --
Having, then, a great chief priest passed through the heavens -- Jesus the Son of God -- may we hold fast the profession,
For this Melchisedek, king of Salem, priest of God Most High, who did meet Abraham turning back from the smiting of the kings, and did bless him, to whom also a tenth of all did Abraham divide, (first, indeed, 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, and being made like to the Son of God, doth remain a priest continually. And see how great this one is, to whom also a tenth Abraham the patriarch did give out of the best of the spoils, and those, indeed, out of the sons of Levi receiving the priesthood, a command have to take tithes from the people according to the law, that is, their brethren, even though they came forth out of the loins of Abraham; and he who was not reckoned by genealogy of them, received tithes from Abraham, and him having the promises he hath blessed,
For such a chief priest did become us -- kind, harmless, undefiled, separate from the sinners, and become higher than the heavens,
It is necessary, therefore, the pattern indeed of the things in the heavens to be purified with these, and the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these; for not into holy places made with hands did the Christ enter -- figures of the true -- but into the heaven itself, now to be manifested in the presence of God for us;
whose voice the earth shook then, and now hath he promised, saying, 'Yet once -- I shake not only the earth, but also the heaven;' and this -- 'Yet once' -- doth make evident the removal of the things shaken, as of things having been made, that the things not shaken may remain; read more. wherefore, a kingdom that cannot be shaken receiving, may we have grace, through which we may serve God well-pleasingly, with reverence and religious fear;
And when he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony that they held,
and another messenger did come, and he stood at the altar, having a golden censer, and there was given to him much perfume, that he may give it to the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar that is before the throne,
And opened was the sanctuary of God in the heaven, and there was seen the ark of His covenant in His sanctuary, and there did come lightnings, and voices, and thunders, and an earthquake, and great hail.
And another messenger did come forth out of the sanctuary that is in the heaven, having -- he also -- a sharp sickle,
And after these things I saw, and lo, opened was the sanctuary of the tabernacle of the testimony in the heaven;
and filled was the sanctuary with smoke from the glory of God, and from His power, and no one was able to enter into the sanctuary till the seven plagues of the seven messengers may be finished.
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth did pass away, and the sea is not any more; and I, John, saw the holy city -- new Jerusalem -- coming down from God out of the heaven, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband; read more. and I heard a great voice out of the heaven, saying, 'Lo, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will tabernacle with them, and they shall be His peoples, and God Himself shall be with them -- their God, and God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes, and the death shall not be any more, nor sorrow, nor crying, nor shall there be any more pain, because the first things did go away.'
and he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and did shew to me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, coming down out of the heaven from God,
And a sanctuary I did not see in it, for the Lord God, the Almighty, is its sanctuary, and the Lamb,
and there may not at all enter into it any thing defiling and doing abomination, and a lie, but -- those written in the scroll of the life of the Lamb.
and any curse there shall not 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 there, and they have no need of a lamp and light of a sun, because the Lord God doth give them light, and they shall reign -- to the ages of the 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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Lo, to Jehovah thy God are the heavens and the heavens of the heavens, the earth and all that is in it;
Gone up hath smoke by His nostrils. And fire from His mouth devoureth, Brands have been kindled by it.
In His preparing the heavens I am there, In His decreeing a circle on the face of the deep, In His strengthening clouds above, In His making strong fountains of the deep, read more. In His setting for the sea its limit, And the waters transgress not His command, In His decreeing the foundations of earth,
for when they may rise out of the dead, they neither marry nor are they given in marriage, but are as messengers who are in the heavens.
I have known a man in Christ, fourteen years ago -- whether in the body I have not known, whether out of the body I have not known, God hath known -- such an one being caught away unto the third heaven;
in which once ye did walk according to the age of this world, according to the ruler of the authority of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience,
because we have not the wrestling with blood and flesh, but with the principalities, with the authorities, with the world-rulers of the darkness of this age, with the spiritual things of the evil in the heavenly places;
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 saith, 'Let luminaries be in the expanse of the heavens, to make a separation between the day and the night, then they have been for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years, and they have been for luminaries in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth:' and it is so.
and God giveth them in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth,
And wiped away is all the substance that is on the face of the ground, from man unto beast, unto creeping thing, and unto fowl of the heavens; yea, they are wiped away from the earth, and only Noah is left, and those who are with him in the ark;
Lo, to Jehovah thy God are the heavens and the heavens of the heavens, the earth and all that is in it;
but the land whither ye are passing over to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys; of the rain of the heavens it drinketh water;
And the day is, that sons of God come in to station themselves by Jehovah, and there doth come also the Adversary in their midst.
And the day is, that sons of God come in to station themselves by Jehovah, and there doth come also the Adversary in their midst to station himself by Jehovah.
He who is sitting in the heavens doth laugh, The Lord doth mock at them.
Jehovah is in his holy temple: Jehovah -- in the heavens is His throne. His eyes see -- His eyelids try the sons of men.
Kingdoms of the earth, sing ye to God, Praise ye the Lord. Selah.
Fearful, O God, out of Thy sanctuaries, The God of Israel Himself, Giving strength and might to the people. Blessed is God!
and its leaves are fair, and its budding great, and food for all is in it, under it dwell doth the beast of the field, and on its boughs sit do the birds of the heavens.
but I -- I say to you, not to swear at all; neither by the heaven, because it is the throne of God,
for in the rising again they do not marry, nor are they given in marriage, but are as messengers of God in heaven.
And concerning that day and the hour no one hath known -- not even the messengers of the heavens -- except my Father only;
The Lord, then, indeed, after speaking to them, was received up to the heaven, and sat on the right hand of God;
for as the lightning that is lightening out of the one part under heaven, to the other part under heaven doth shine, so shall be also the Son of Man in his day;
and being full of the Holy Spirit, having looked stedfastly to the heaven, he saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,
I have known a man in Christ, fourteen years ago -- whether in the body I have not known, whether out of the body I have not known, God hath known -- such an one being caught away unto the third heaven;
but even if we or a messenger out of heaven may proclaim good news to you different from what we did proclaim to you -- anathema let him be!
and it will come -- the day of the Lord -- as a thief in the night, in which the heavens with a rushing noise will pass away, and the elements with burning heat be dissolved, and earth and the works in it shall be burnt up.
waiting for and hasting to the presence of the day of God, by which the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements with burning heat shall melt; and for new heavens and a new earth according to His promise we do wait, in which righteousness doth dwell;
And there came war in the heaven; Michael and his messengers did war against the dragon, and the dragon did war, and his messengers, and they did not prevail, nor was their place found any more in the heaven; read more. and the great dragon was cast forth -- the old serpent, who is called 'Devil,' and 'the Adversary,' who is leading astray the whole world -- he was cast forth to the earth, and his messengers were cast forth with him.
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth did pass away, and the sea is not any 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 is an evening, and there is a morning -- day third.
There is none like the God of Jeshurun, Riding the heavens in thy help, And in His excellency the skies.
Behold attentively the heavens -- and see, And behold the clouds, They have been higher than thou.
He sendeth from above -- He taketh me, He draweth me out of many waters.
For He hath looked From the high place of His sanctuary. Jehovah from heaven unto earth looked attentively,
And it hath come to pass, He who is fleeing from the noise of the fear Doth fall into the snare, And he who is coming up from the midst of the snare, Is captured by the gin, For windows on high have been opened, And shaken are foundations of the land.
And thou, thou dost prophesy unto them all these words, and hast said unto them: Jehovah from the high place doth roar, And from His holy habitation giveth forth His voice, He surely roareth for His habitation, A shout as of treaders down, God answereth all the inhabitants of the land,
In a mountain -- the high place of Israel, I plant it, And it hath borne boughs, and yielded fruit, And become a goodly cedar, And dwelt under it have all birds of every wing, In the shade of its thin shoots they dwell.
I have known a man in Christ, fourteen years ago -- whether in the body I have not known, whether out of the body I have not known, God hath known -- such an one being caught away unto 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 calleth to the expanse 'Heavens;' and there is an evening, and there is a morning -- day second.
and he blesseth him, and saith, 'Blessed is Abram to God Most High, possessing heaven and earth;
Teaching us more than the beasts of the earth, Yea, than the fowl of the heavens He maketh us wiser.'
Into all the earth hath their line gone forth, And to the end of the world their sayings, For the sun He placed a tent in them,
who also said, 'Men, Galileans, why do ye stand gazing into the heaven? this Jesus who was received up from you into the heaven, shall so come in what manner ye saw him going on to the heaven.'
which we have, as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and entering into that within the vail, whither a forerunner for us did enter -- Jesus, after the order of Melchisedek chief priest having become -- to the age.
But, ye came to Mount Zion, and to a city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of messengers, to the company and assembly of the first-born in heaven enrolled, and to God the judge of all, and to spirits of righteous men made perfect, read more. and to a mediator of a new covenant -- Jesus, and to blood of sprinkling, speaking better things than that of Abel!