The Heavenly Realms — Revisited

Biblegems #274

Question: Are the “spiritual blessings” believers receive in “the heavenly realms” here on this earth those things that we are grateful for that God has provided to us, like happiness, love, joy...all the good things in the midst of all the bad?

( Note: This post is a follow-up of Biblegems # 78, published August 4, 2015, entitled, “What Are The Heavenly Realms?” I encourage readers to read that article first as a background to understanding my comments in this post. )

The phrase “heavenly realms” (NIV) may also be translated as  “heavenly places” (KJV, RSV, ESV). The underlined words are not found in the original Greek texts. They are added in our English Bibles to help readers understand Paul’s meaning. The Greek word epouranios, literally translates as “the heavenlies” in English (Eph. 1:3, 20; 2:6; 3:10; 6:12).

The apostle Paul consistently uses the terms “heaven” and “heavenlies” in the sense of a place. So when he writes in Ephesians 1:3 that Jesus “has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ,” he means that the spiritual blessing we experience as believers have their origin in heaven, where Christ is seated at God’s right hand (Eph. 3:20).

However, even though these blessings originate in heaven, it would be a mistake to think that they come down from heaven to us on earth. Rather, God has “raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:20):

         Rom. 8:9            You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you.

Not only are we with Him in the heavenly realms but we are in Him, and He is in us:

         Rom. 8:1  Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus…

What are these “spiritual blessings” we receive in the heavenly realms (Eph. 1:3)? The word “blessings” in its most general sense means “good things.” The New Testament puts these “spiritual blessings,” these spiritual ‘good things’—into two categories.

The first category of “spiritual blessings”—or ‘good things’—is spiritual power, the very same power God used “when he raised Christ from the dead” (Eph. 1:20). A primary role of the Holy Spirit in the believer’s life is to equip us and empower us with everything we need to live godly lives:

         2Pet. 1:3            His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

The second category of “spiritual blessings”—or ‘good things’—is our inheritance as Abraham’s children by faith:

         Gal. 3:14 He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

That promised inheritance is to reign with Christ in His Kingdom on this earth as kings and priests. This what Jesus referred to when He said:

         Matt. 5:5  Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

For at Christ’ Return in power and great glory there will be no more distinction between the earthly realm and the heavenly realm, for everything will be perfectly reconciled as one in Christ forevermore:

         Rev. 11:15b  “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever.”

What Angels Don’t Know

Biblegems #211

Question: The Bible says that angels long to understand the mystery of God’s plan of salvation. Was Gabriel’s announcement to Mary and Joseph of the Incarnation, and Jesus’ coming as earth’s Savior and future eternal king, unknown to the other angels?

Behind this question is this verse from 1 Peter:

         1Pet. 1:12 It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.

It is true that Gabriel apparently understood a great deal about Jesus’ divine nature and his role in God’s plan of salvation (Lk. 1:31-33; Matt. 1:20ff.). And it also appears that angels can learn from and exchange information with each other much as humans do:

         Dan. 8:13 Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to the one who spoke, “For how long is the vision concerning the regular burnt offering, the transgression that makes desolate, and the giving over of the sanctuary and host to be trampled underfoot?”

But the “things” Peter referred to “into which angels long to look” refers to something more than the basic outline of God’s plan of salvation. There is a knowledge based upon our experience in Christ that no angel can ever enter into. We know, for example, that a select group of people in heaven will have a song of praise unique to them:

         Rev. 14:3 …and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. 

In a similar way, the experience of true followers of Jesus is unique. It is so unique that no angel can ever identify with it, but only observe it with awe and wonder. Consider just this brief list:

·      No angel’s sins are forgiven by Jesus’ shed blood (Eph. 1:7).

·      No angel is ever made a new creature in Christ (2Cor. 5:17).

·      No angel is the “temple” of the indwelling Holy Spirit (1Cor. 6:19).

·      No angel will ever be resurrected from the dead (1Cor. 15:21).

·      No angel will be made like Christ when He Returns (1Jn. 3:2)

·      No angel will be among the children of God revealed in glory before all creation (Rom. 8:19).

Even though Gabriel is ranked very high among the other angels—the “rulers and authorities in heavenly places” (Eph. 3:10)—his announcement to Mary was that of a messenger. And one day, when Jesus is established on His throne over all creation with His people, the church, serving as kings and priests forever at His side, it will be the angels who will receive from us the full message of God’s wonderful grace—

Eph. 3:10 …so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

Who Has Ascended Into Heaven?

Biblegems #147

Question: Jesus says that no one has entered into heaven, yet in the Old Testament both Enoch and Elijah are said to have gone into heaven. Has anyone besides Jesus ascended into heaven, or not?

Here are the three references for the above question:

John 3:13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.

Gen. 5:24 Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.

2Kings 2:11 As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.

“Heaven” is a very broad term. Depending on the context, it can mean, “sky” (Gen. 7:11); “universe” (Ps. 33:6); the “spiritual realm” where we interact with God, angels and engage in spiritual warfare (Eph. 6:12); and our eternal residence as followers of Jesus Christ in God’s presence (Jn. 14:2).

In addition, the apostle Paul talks of being caught up into the “third heaven”:

         2Cor. 12:2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows.  

The third heaven was a familiar concept in Jewish literature in NT times that referred to Paradise (2Cor. 12:4), also known as “Abraham’s side” (Lk. 16:22). This was the realm of the righteous dead prior to the death and resurrection of Jesus. It would be here, the third heaven or Paradise that Jesus referred to when he said to the dying thief on the cross:

         Luke 23:43  Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.

For the sake of an earthly comparison, we could call the third heaven the anteroom or waiting room of heaven proper. All those who died as faithful believers in the one true God prior to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ would enter into Paradise. They entered heaven proper upon Jesus’ ascension (Rev. 4:4) awaiting the day when they would receive their resurrection bodies (1Thess. 4:14-17).

Paradise is the “heaven” where Enoch and Elijah, along with all the Old Testament saints such as Abraham, Moses, David and the prophets waited until the resurrection and ascension of Jesus to the right hand of God. So they are in heaven awaiting the Second Coming of Christ  for the resurrection of the body. And for those of us who are “in Christ” now, death takes us immediately into the presence of the Lord in heaven where we too will await the resurrection of the body at His glorious appearing:         

2Cor. 5:8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

So Jesus, our sole authority on heaven, is absolutely correct when He said that no one had gone into heaven (prior to His resurrection) other than Himself. His resurrection and ascension “parted the curtain,” so to speak, giving access to the very presence of God. Until then, God’s faithful people from the Old Testament era awaited their entrance into heaven in Paradise.

Evil In The Heavenly Realms?

Biblegems #143

Question: How can evil exist in the heavenly realms?

This question is a follow-up of Biblegems # 78: “What Are The Heavenly Realms?” 

The phrase “heavenly realms” is a term found only in Ephesians, and the word “realms” is actually not found in the Greek New Testament. The Greek word is e˙pourani÷oiß (Lit. “heavenlies”).  “The heavenlies” refers to the spiritual dimension of existence, not exclusively to heaven as a place. It might actually be better translated as “spiritual places” rather than heavenly realms.

This spiritual dimension refers to that unseen plane of reality where angels and demons are at war, a struggle in which followers of Christ are actively engaged in through our life in the Spirit, through prayer, and through the use of spiritual gifts:

         Eph. 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Christians have been given the ability through the Holy Spirit to function in this spiritual dimension because of our spiritual union with Christ:

         Eph. 1:3  Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

Spiritual experience, by definition, takes place in the spiritual dimension—“the heavenly realms.” Temptation is a spiritual experience, even though it has very tangible results in the “flesh and blood” plane of existence. Worship is also a spiritual experience that takes place in the spiritual dimension—“the heavenly realms”—even though it, too, has very obvious expression in the “flesh and blood world.”

It would be incorrect to think of the heavenly realms as being like a separate room from the earthly, material realm. The two realms are interwoven and they interact with one another. That’s why the apostle Paul could rightly say of the human interaction with God, “in him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).

Because that is true, Satan could confront God face to face and have conversation with Him without contaminating heaven in any way. Heaven is God’s Kingdom, where God reigns supreme. God does not have to hide from evil as if evil could somehow tarnish His holiness. Rather, God rebukes evil:

         Zech. 3:1-2 Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him. The LORD said to Satan, “The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?”

Evil exists in the heavenly (i.e., spiritual) realms because evil is at its essence a spiritual reality. But the day is soon coming when all evil will be purged from God’s creation, both on the earthly and on the spiritual plane:

         Rev. 21:27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.