What Happened on the Cross. Nick Peros

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СКАЧАТЬ “Heaven,” is specifically referred to by Paul as the “third heaven” in 2 Corinthians 12:2, “I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven” (NIV). The third heaven, referred to here by Paul, is the same heaven where God has established his throne. Paul’s use of the term “third heaven” affirms the Bible’s description of three different types of heaven—the earthly sky, outer space, and Heaven—with the three different types of heaven collectively referred to in Genesis 1:1 by the term “the heavens.” As a result, when Genesis 1:1 tells us God created the “heavens,” this plural term is referring to, and includes, all three aspects of that term: it includes the creation of Heaven, the place where God has established his throne within his creation, and which is the home of God’s holy angels; it includes what we call outer space, the place where the sun, moon, stars, and galaxies reside; and it includes the earthly sky, or the atmosphere around the earth. All of this is included in the term “heavens,” and it was all created in Genesis 1:1.

      The Third Heaven—The Seat of God’s Throne

      From the perspective of standing on Earth, when we look up at the sky, we see first the earthly sky, the first heaven, and then we see outer space, the second heaven, and then, from our perspective, the third heaven is beyond that. However, from God’s perspective, this order is reversed, and when Genesis 1:1 tells us God created the “heavens,” God in fact created the heavens in that reversed order. What we call the third heaven, the place where God established his throne within the creation, was actually the first of the heavens God created, and what we call the second heaven (outer space) was created second, and what we call the first heaven, the earthly sky, was created third, created in conjunction with the earth.

      As a result, after God created time and space—the foundational fabric of creation upon which he would create the entire universe—the next thing God created was Heaven, where God would establish his throne within his creation.

      Too often we think of God’s Heaven, the place of his throne, as some sort of preexisting, eternal abode of God, that it has always been and that, like God, it is eternal and uncreated. This is not true. Heaven, the place where God decided to temporarily establish his throne, is a created place within creation and is as much a part of God’s physical creation as is the sun or the moon. Like all of God’s creation, Heaven had a beginning. As a created place, Heaven is also subject to—and was created both within and upon—time and space. In fact, Heaven is just as physical as everything else in creation.

      The Physicality of Heaven

      Time and space are physical elements, and together they define the nature of God’s creation—all of God’s creation is physical, since all of God’s creation is subject to time and space, for the very definition of “physical” means to be subject to time and space. Heaven is a created place within God’s creation, created as one of the heavens in Genesis 1:1, in “the beginning” and is therefore subject to time and space. As a created place within time and space, Heaven is just as physical as is all the rest of God’s creation, no less physical than Earth, and as a part of God’s physical creation Heaven itself has a physical location within the universe.

      The Physical Location of Heaven

      Hebrews 4:14 testifies to the fact that Heaven has a physical location within God’s creation when it tells us of Jesus Christ’s ascension to Heaven: “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens . . .” (NASB). Hebrews 4:14 describes the ascension of the resurrected Jesus Christ to (the third) heaven, to take his seat at the right hand of God the Father. We are told here that as Jesus ascended to Heaven, he did so by first passing through the heavens. Once again, the word “heavens” here is plural. “Heavens” refers to the fact that, in order for Jesus to ascend from Earth to reach the third heaven, the seat of God’s throne, Jesus had to first pass through the other two heavens, having to pass through the earthly sky (the first heaven), and then the rest of space (the second heaven) before reaching Heaven (the third heaven)—the earthly sky and outer space are the heavens through which Jesus Christ passed as he ascended to the third heaven. Just as the first heaven and the second heaven are unquestionably physical, and have measurable locations, and since Jesus had to pass through those two physical heavens in order to reach the third heaven, this tells us the third heaven—Heaven itself—is also just as physical as the other two heavens and, as a result, also has a measurable location in the universe. In fact, based on Hebrews 4:14, we can understand the physical location of Heaven as being just past, or outside, the edge of the universe (that is, just past the second heaven—outer space—since Jesus had to pass through the second heaven in order to reach the third heaven).

      In addition, there are numerous verses that further describe the location of Heaven, describing it as being physically beyond, or above, the first and the second heavens:

      Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth. (Ps 57:5 NIV)

      The Lord is exalted over all the nations, his glory above the heavens. (Ps 113:4 NIV)

      Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted; his splendor is above the earth and the heavens. (Ps 148:13 NIV)

      Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. (Heb 7:26 NIV)

      In each of these verses, God’s glory and splendor are referred to as being “above the heavens.” This is not just a metaphorical statement of exaltation, rather it is an actual description of physical reality. The term “the heavens” here refers again to the first and second heavens, which are the same heavens through which Jesus Christ passed as he ascended to Heaven to take his seat at the right hand of the Father in Hebrews 4:14. Just as Hebrews 4:14 implicitly tells us the third heaven—the place where God has established his throne—is beyond the first and second heavens through which Jesus ascended, likewise the verses in Psalms further affirm this when they describe God’s glory and exaltation as being located “above the heavens.” This is a description of physicality, a description of location, and again affirms the third heaven has a physical location in the universe. According to the verses in Psalms, this third heaven is not only located at the edge of the created universe, but is also located in an upward direction, or above the earth, beyond the other two heavens (Ps 148:13). All of this testifies to the physicality of the created heaven.

      God’s Throne Established

      Further affirmation that Heaven is a created place—rather than an eternal, uncreated place—is found in the numerous Scriptures that describe God as establishing his throne in Heaven:

      The Lord reigns forever; he has established his throne for judgment. (Ps 9:7 NIV)

      Your throne was established long ago; you are from all eternity. (Ps 93:2 NIV)

      The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all. (Ps 103:19 NIV)

      To establish something means to set it up, or to create it, as seen in these alternative examples:

      But I will establish my covenant with you. (Gen 6:18 NIV)

      Then David knew that the Lord had established him as king over Israel and had exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel. (2 Sam 5:12 NIV)

      These are the decrees, the laws and the regulations that the Lord established at Mount Sinai between himself and the Israelites through Moses. (Lev 26:46 NIV)

      To establish something means to bring it into being, which means that until a thing is established, it does not exist. The various Scriptures quoted above all affirm this truth. For example, in Genesis 6:18, God establishes, СКАЧАТЬ