Heavens

 

Three Havens: As per the doctrine of bible, there have three heavens. Though we think generally that there is one haven but as the concern of biblical there have three heavens. In Genesis 1:1, ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth’, there have written, in the beginning God created the ‘heavens’ where ‘heavens’ is a plural number. As it is plural so it indicates that there are many heavens. In the bible atlas there are 3 heavens. Paul visited the Third Heaven in AD-41. In 2Corinthians 12:2, we see “I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven.” From this verse we learn that Paul was caught up to the Third Heaven. Then there must have a first and second heaven.  The creator God dwells in the Third Heaven and we do not know from how long. It is eternal community. Even we do not know after how many years the creation of Genesis 1:1 started. As Genesis 1:1 the Creator God Created the Heavens which means the Second Heaven and the First Heaven. Also we consider the place as Paradise. In which Christians stay after their death.

 

The first heaven is almost 100 kilometers from the earth surface and is the lowest heaven on our earth. In bible it calls Air (Example: Look at the birds of the air, they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable then they? Matthew 6:26). In this arena there have oxygen. In science, it is called Troposphere. We can measure the distance of this place in kilometer.

 

Second heaven is above this first heaven and it is unlimited distance. The second heaven is the place that in which we can seen the stars, the moon and the planets at night. (Example: When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place. Psalm 8:3). We call it universe where zillions of stars located. This is the stellar universe with its entire billion of stars and galaxies. We do not know the area of this zone as no space scientist can measure it. The basic measuring unit of this zone is not by kilometer but to measuring the distance of this place scientists use Light-year as unit. Light-year means how far light goes per year. It clearly tells us the universe is very big to imagine.

 

After the universal the Second heaven the third heaven locates. In the third heaven there is Gods Thorn where God and the angelic forces are dwelling. In human eye we cannot see the third heaven. The third heaven only can be seen through the eyes of faith. It is the place where God the Father manifests His presence in a special way (Example: …Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Matthew 6:9).

 

This is the Throne of God. It is the Angelic world. Jesus also has been in the third heaven now (Hebrews 8:1, “Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such a high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens” and, Hebrews 9:24, “For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us”).

 

During the Old Testament there are some God’s people visited the third heaven.

 

As Isaiah 6:1-13:

6:1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple.

6:2 Above him stood the seraphim: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.

6:3 And one cried to another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is Yahweh of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.

6:4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

6:5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for my eyes have seen the King, Yahweh of hosts.

6:6 Then flew one of the seraphim to me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:

6:7 and he touched my mouth with it, and said, Lo, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin forgiven.

6:8 And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then I said, Here am I; send me.

6:9 And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.

6:10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they sea with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed.

6:11 Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until cities be waste without inhabitant, and houses without man, and the land become utterly waste,

6:12 and Yahweh have removed men far away, and the forsaken places be many in the midst of the land.

6:13 And if there be yet a tenth in it, it also shall in turn be eaten up: as a terebinth, and as an oak, whose stock remains, when they are felled; so the holy seed is the stock thereof.

 

And Also Ezekiel 1:1-14:

1:1 Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.

1:2 In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin's captivity,

1:3 the word of Yahweh came expressly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of Yahweh was there upon him.

1:4 And I looked, and, behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, a great cloud, with a fire infolding itself, and a brightness round about it, and out of the midst thereof as it were glowing metal, out of the midst of the fire.

1:5 And out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had the likeness of a man.

1:6 And every one had four faces, and every one of them had four wings.

1:7 And their feet were straight feet; and the soles of their feet were like the soles of a calf's feet; and they sparkled like burnished brass.

1:8 And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings thus:

1:9 their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward.

1:10 As for the likeness of their faces, they had the face of a man; and they four had the face of a lion on the right side; and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four had also the face of an eagle.

1:11 And their faces and their wings were separate above; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies.

1:12 And they went every one straight forward: whither the spirit was to go, they went; they turned not when they went.

1:13 As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches: the fire went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning.

1:14 And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.

1:15 Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold, one wheel upon the earth beside the living creatures, for each of the four faces thereof.

 

They visited the third heaven. They saw the thrown of God and Cherubim and Seraphim. Cherubim are the highest ranking angelic forces. Therefore they were stationing very near the thorn and surrounding around the thorn. There are many cherubim but the highest we call Lucifer. Later who fallen and become Satan. The second group of angel was seraphim. Isaiah and Ezekiel saw them around the thorn. Later John in AD-95 also visited the third heaven.

 

In Revelation 4:1-11:

4:1 After these things I looked, and behold, an open door in heaven, and a voice speaking with me, the voice like a trumpet I had heard at first; and it was saying, "Come up here, and I will show you what things must take place after this."

4:2 Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, there was situated in heaven a throne, and on the throne someone sitting,

4:3 like jasper stone and carnelian in appearance. And an aura encircles the throne, like emerald in appearance.

4:4 And in a circle around the throne are twenty-four thrones, and on those thrones, twenty-four elders dressed in white, and on their heads crowns of gold.

4:5 And from the throne come flashes and sounds and thundering. And there are seven flaming torches burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God,

4:6 and in front of the throne is like a sea of glass, like crystal. And in between the throne and the circle around the throne are four living beings, full of eyes, front and back.

4:7 And the first being is like a lion, and the second being like an ox, and the third being has a human face, and the fourth being is like an eagle in flight.

4:8 And the four beings, every one of them has six wings each, which are covered completely around with eyes, even inward. And they take no rest day or night, continually saying, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come."

4:9 And whenever the beings give glory and honor and thanks to the One sitting on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever,

4:10 the twenty-four elders will fall down before the One sitting on the throne, and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and they will place their crowns before the throne, saying,

4:11 "You are worthy, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and for your purpose they exist and were created."

 

He also meets with those Cherubim and Seraphim. He also saw 24 elders knelling down before the thorn on the Golden Crown. They were worshiping, praising and honoring the Lord Jesus. Because He was the creator of all things. As Jesus is the creator we have to honor and worship him. The third heaven also is called the angelic society. Because, there have numerous of angels in this place.

 

So the Third Heaven has existence before the creation and the Second and First Heaven all this are the border territory of the Kingdom of God. God created creature after His creation of the Second Heaven and the First Heaven. As Genesis 1:2, “And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters”, the First and Second Heaven became dark, void and formless. That indicates the fall of Lucifer. No human being was created at that time.

 

Some Witnesses that Saw the Three Haven:

 

Almost 40-45 years ago a doctor of United State wrote a book interviewing some witnesses who faced death very closely. Doctor declared them clinically dead. But later they were found alive. All of them were same in one point that their spirits came out from their bodies like balloon and they saw the stars, space and the angels. In the history of bible very few had the opportunity to visit heaven_ Isaiah, Ezekiel, Paul and John.