The "First" And "Second" Heavens

Biblegems # 286

Question: Are there a “First” and “Second” heavens? If so, what are they?

Gen. 1:1  In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

The Hebrew word “heavens” (Heb. shamayim) is a plural noun. The Bible pictures “the heavens” as one complex reality comprised of three components: the sky (Gen. 1:6-8) and space (Gen. 1:14-17) in the visible creation, and the environment God created for the angels (Matt. 18:20; 24:26) and for His “throne” in the spiritual realm (Gen. 28:17).

Is. 66:1   This is what the LORD says: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be?  

The Scripture calls this “heavens” beyond sky and space as the “highest” form of heaven:

Ps. 148:4 Praise him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies.

The first heaven is the visible sky of earth’s atmosphere, even though the Bible does not specifically use the term.

         Gen. 1:6-8   And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

The second heaven, space, is an extension of the first heaven. God began with the “vault” of earth’s sky (v. 6), including a vast envelope of water, and stretched it to the outer limits of the universe on the fourth day of creation.

         Gen. 1:14-18   And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness.  

When Jesus as ascended “into heaven” from the Mount of Olives (Acts 1: 11), His followers witnessed the first part of that journey as Jesus “passed through” the first and second heavens:

         Hebrews 4:14  “Therefore, since we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us cling to the faith we confess…” (translation mine).

God’s incredible creation is full of mystery, especially when it comes to the interweaving of the spiritual and physical heavens. The “third heaven” is “above” the physical heavens (Ps. 148:4), not in a geographical sense of location, but “above” even as the name of Jesus is “above” every other name (Phil. 2:9), so that God is present everywhere.

         Acts 17:28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’

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.