HOW MANY HEAVENS ARE THERE

HOW MANY HEAVENS ARE THERE

Stes de Necker

Introduction

In the post-modern age in which we live everything must be explained by science otherwise it is simply not acceptable. If something cannot be explained by science, as theoretical science may be, it is simply rejected.

As a result of this, many of the information contained in the Old Testament are made suspicious and the credibility thereof is being questioned more and more.   

This suspicion has even resulted in believers starting to have doubts about the existence of heaven and hell. There are even theories today that heaven as merely a "state of glory" while hell on the other hand is merely as of "state of pain and suffering".

The Bible teaches us that heaven and hell are not just mere conditions of glory or suffering. Heaven and hell are both very specific places, albeit in the Universe or elsewhere, where human beings will find themselves after their resurrection.

For the believers heaven will be the place where they will experience eternal glory, while hell will be the place where the condemned will experience eternal torture.  

For the Christian believer, heaven, whether visible or not, is the place where we will be going on the day of judgement.  Even though we cannot see heaven during our earthly existence, or know the content scope thereof, we know that heaven is a reality, just as earth is a reality.  

If we as Christians don’t believe that, we can just as well have the Book Revelations removed from our Bibles, because it is in Revelations where Jesus showed the Apostle John what heaven and hell look like.

The apocryphal books, "The Revelation of St. Paul" and "The Apocalypse of Peter" deals specifically with the visions of heaven and hell as Jesus revealed it to Paul and Peter.

Weather heaven is "above" and hell is "under"  remains an open question. Since the time of Galileo and Copernicus, it is known that the universe has no top or a bottom. It all depends where you are situated in it.

A Biblical perspective

The Bible teaches us that ‘heaven’ only existed from creation. God created both the earth and the sky. Gen. 1: 1 "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."

We often hear the phrase, "He / she is in the seventh heaven"  - when someone is very happy.  

So the question is, then how many heavens are there?

As I have indicated, we find the first reference to "heaven" in Genesis 1: 1, God created the heaven and the earth.  In the English translation of the Bible, heaven is referred to in the singular.

In Hebrew, however, we will henceforth refer to heaven as "shamayim" or rather a plurality of heaven.

In the early Hebrew writings we even find mention of seven heavens. For example, there was the heaven that had covered the light at night.

"Another was to keep the rain and snow.

Yet another sky was there to hold the stars and planets.

There was one that would accommodate the souls of the rightsious and unborn.

The sixth heaven was where the angels and the heavenly beings lived and

finally, the Seventh Heaven, where the throne of God.

This heaven was considered palaces, "heikhalot" and according to the Hebrew theology it was the calling of man to, as far as possible, progress to a higher level, until you reach the highest level, at the throne of God.  

There are however no reference in the Bible to confirm this hierarchy of heaven. In the Reformed faith, we believe that only one, invisible heaven (or paradise) exist, which every believer will go after his/her death

So why does Paul then speak of a ‘third heaven’?

In 2 Corinthians 12: 2 Paul writes: "I know a man is in Christ. Fourteen years ago, he was caught up to the third heaven. "

In Biblical times, this "sky" was viewed as two parts. Where we are, within the Earth's atmosphere, was regarded as the "first" heaven. In other words, the part where the birds fly (the skies). Gen. 1: 28 "have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air ..."

The "second" heaven refers to that part where the stars are. The cosmos outside the earth's atmosphere or as the Bible describes it, the "heavens".

Gen. 1: 14 says: "And God said: Let there be lights in the firmament to divide the day and night from one another." And in verse 17: "God placed them in the heavens to give light upon the earth ... "

The "third" heaven is what we believe our future home will be, Paradise. The ‘home’ of God.

In Psalm 11: 4 says David, "The Lord is in His holy temple; God is on His throne in heaven. "For the sinner on the cross, Jesus said," Today you will be with me in Paradise. "

When Paul then speaks of the "third heaven", he refers to the spirit world where heaven and hell exist. The "man" of whom Paul speaks is in fact himself.

In a previous article I wrote about the apocryphal book "The Revelation of St. Paul". What Jesus revealed to Paul, was to him so horrific that he was not prepared to speak of himself in the first person when he wrote 2 Cor. 12. He referred instead to a "man" he knows. Within this third heaven, Jesus revealed both heaven and hell to Paul. 

Perhaps you may now ask: But where in this universe is heaven then?

The answer is simple: Nobody knows! God's Word doesn’t reveal it to us.

All the theories of heaven as a so-called parallel universe, or heaven actually in and around us, are mere speculation for which there exists no scientific basis.  Most of these theories have their origin in quantum physics where it is said that humans may be simultaneously in two different places

We are not meant to know everything in this life. 1 Cor. 13: 12 Paul says, "Now we are still in a dim mirror and see an enigmatic image, but then we will see everything as it really is."

So as to the reality of the existence of heaven, (and at the same time Hell), we must take God at His Word.

Conclusion

For those who do not believe in the existence of a heaven or a hell, I have only one answer:

If you do not believe in the existence of a heaven or hell, and you were right all along, there is in fact not much that can happen to you, now is there?

But what if you’re wrong ...........?