(The Truth of Heaven and Hell)
So, what does the Bible say about Heaven? Like Hell, the Bible does talk about heaven pretty often:
Genesis 19:24(KJV)
“Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur…out of the heavens.”
Psalm 8:3(KJV)
“When I consider your heavens,…”
Daniel 5:23(KJV)
“...the Lord of heaven.”
Acts 1:10(KJV)
“...they looked stedfastly toward heaven…”
Mark 13:25(KJV)
“...the stars of heaven…”
Matthew 16:15-17(KJV)
“…My Father who is in heaven ”
These are just a few examples of the many examples of Heaven found in the Bible.
However, like hell, heaven is sometimes translated as “the sky”:
So, In the King James version this verse talks about Heaven:
Acts 1:10(KJV)
“...they looked stedfastly toward heaven…”
But in this New International Version, Heaven is now translated as “the sky”:
Acts 1:10
“...They were looking intently…into the sky…”
So this is a little confusing: is it taking about Heaven or the sky or is it all the same thing? A strong hint is given in the direction Heaven is described as being:
Heaven is described as being in an upward direction
In an exact opposite direction of Hell, Heaven is described as being up or in an upward direction from the ground
Psalm 139:8
“If I go up to the heavens,…”
Matthew 11:23
“...Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens,…”
Matthew 14:19
“...looking up to heaven,…”
Mark 16:19
“…was received up into heaven,…”
Acts 1:10
“They were looking intently up into the sky…”
So, heaven is described as being located up off the ground: so, we have Biblical confirmation that heaven is a place above the earth and really is the exact opposite of Hell as commonly though in the traditional views of heaven and hell: however, Heaven is usually exclusively defined as a place where the loyal Angles of God, Loyal Souls of Humans, and God himself lives. But is this what heaven actually is? What is Heaven Defined as?
Heaven has a much simpler meaning than this:
Heaven in the most basic sense is defined to simply mean “The Sky” [1]
In fact, heaven is an English word that comes from the Old English word “ᚻᛖᚩᚠᛇᚾ”/“heofaen”(He-yo-fun) which literally meant THE SKY! [2] so therefore “heaven” did not necessarily originally mean where God lives, but simply meant the sky.
In contrast to being under the ground, anything above the ground upward is defined as “Heaven”, the Bible also confirms that the sky is what is meant by Heaven:
Heaven is where rain and snow (precipitation) fall down from:
Isaiah 55:10
“the rain and the snow come down from heaven…”
Deuteronomy 11:11
“...rain from heaven.”
Its where birds fly:
Genesis 2:19
“...the birds in the sky(heaven).”[3]
Matthew 6:26
“…the birds of the air (heaven):…”[3]
Where clouds are at:
Matthew 26:64
“…the clouds of heaven.”
All this happens/comes from the sky above, so therefore the Bible confirms that heaven is the sky. So, if you want to see heaven, you don’t have to wait until you die: go outside and look up (preferably on a sunny day): there’s heaven!
So, since the sky is heaven, does this mean God really does live up in the clouds with his holy angels and souls of loyal humans? Why it might make sense to come to this answer seeing Heaven is the sky, this is not exactly true:
More than one Heaven
While it's true that heaven does mean the sky, if your read the Bible closely it reveals there is more than just one heaven:
Because the original Hebrew word translated “Heaven” is “שָׁמַ֫יִם” (shaw-mah'-yim) means Heavens [4]. meaning there is more than one heaven being referred to.
However, all of them are referred to by the same word “heaven”. This makes it hard to differentiate between the different heavens, along with the Bible being vague about how many heavens there are and what exactly these different heavens have in them. Eventually, the Bible reveals that there are at least three different heavens:
2 Corinthians 12:2
“I know a man in Christ who…was caught up to the third heaven.”
Though in this particular verse, the author (Paul) is telling about someone who went to this third heaven: by logically we can conclude, if there is a third heaven (like the Bible says there is) then there must be a second and first heaven as well.
In an even closer look at heaven, the Bible also seems to vaguely say that these three different heavens are like layers:
Nehemiah 9:6
“... the highest heavens, …”
We see some Heavens are ‘higher’ or ‘greater’ than others, they seem to be described as being on ‘top’ of one another, in a sense.
So, what exactly are these three different heavens? It might be a little challenging to find out, but with close examination we can find out what these three different heavens are:
Biblical Heaven section guide:
(Can be used to 'bookmark' a section of this article and come back to a specific section later)
The first Heaven: The Sky (Earth's atmosphere)
The Second Heaven: The 'mystery' heaven
The Third Heaven: God's heaven
The first Heaven: The Sky (Earth’s atmosphere)
As covered before, Heaven does mean the sky and the Bible confirms this: this is the heaven where birds fly, where cloud float, and where rain falls from. Though there is more than one heaven, it seems like the sky (that is the Earth’s atmosphere) [5] is a heaven of its own:
We find even more confirmation for this in the creation week, that God created a firmament (basically defined as an expanse) by dividing two waters above and below earth and he called this firmament (space between the Earth: Ground to the other water above) is considered a heaven too:
Genesis 1:8
“And God called the firmament Heaven…”
This space between the ground and water above (atmospheric gas?) today is called “the sky” or more precisely “the Earth’s atmosphere.” According to this passage, this is a specific heaven that God created on creation week. And from the ground (a human’s perspective: especially during the day) this is the first heaven usually encountered/seen: the sky-blue color from the gases in the atmosphere, the clouds floating, and birds flying around: this is the first heaven that is seen from the ground level on Earth.
So now that we know the first heaven is the Earth’s atmosphere then what is the second heaven?
The second heaven: the “mystery” Heaven
The second heaven could be described as the “mystery” heaven out of the three, because it is not as clearly seen/described in the Bible as clearly as the first heaven (the sky) and third heavens are, but out of all the descriptions of the heavens in the Bible we find there is a unique heaven described that does not fit the description of the other two better known heavens:
Psalm 8:3
“... I consider your heavens,
…the moon and the stars,…”
Psalm 33:6
“…the heavens…their starry host [the stars]…”
Genesis 15:5
“Look now toward heaven, and count the stars…”
While during the day, the main sky (that is what can be seen without clouds or other objects covering it) is a bright blue with a bright shining ball of light called the sun moving on it. But as that ball sets beyond the horizon and disappears, the sky now changes from a bright blue to a pitch-black dark dotted with little lights all over, with a bigger ball of glowing light moving across the sky called the moon.
This is a drastic change from the sky of the day, but since this night sky is also up from the ground this sky is also considered heaven as well. However, the Bible is not clear as to which heaven this different sky is considered:
for many humans in the ancient world, this night sky was considered a part of the first heaven (that is, the Earth’s atmosphere) because even though it was different from the day sky the objects in the sky (Moon and stars) are in the same place as the blue of the day sky along with the sun. While this is described as being the case sometimes in the Bible too, the Bible at the same time, reveals there is more than on Heaven (there is more than just the sky or the Earth’s atmosphere in the upward direction) and this night sky is the only other heaven distinctly different from both the other well described heavens in the Bible: therefore, by logic, this must be the second heaven referred to in the Bible.
Today, Humans know much much more about this distinct second “mystery” heaven because of telescopes, satellites and rockets: this heaven is called "outer space" or just "space" and it truly is a separate heaven all its own. [6]
Going past the Earth’s atmosphere (the first heaven) you will enter into the second heaven or space: come to find out this night sky is not just some dots pasted onto a 2-D dome above in the sky (as it might seem from an Earthly perspective) but in fact, a clear view of a whole other place way above Earth where you can see Earth and the first heaven (as well as the sun and moon) for what they are: the Earth turns out to be a ball of floating rock called a planet with a gas atmosphere, the moon turns out to be a smaller floating rock beside Earth, and the sun appears as a giant bright ball of gas which turns out to be a star too. But that's not the most breathtaking thing about this second heaven: that would be the “space” (hence the name space) in it! For billions and billions of miles away from Earth there is absolutely nothing in between, but this place is not empty: spread far apart are other planets close to Earth orbiting the sun as well as trillions and trillions of other stars far away just like the local sun with trillions and trillions of other planet with who knows what on them![7] This second heaven is truly beyond words to describe; it is so much more than any human looking on earth could have imagined!
This being the next new place above the firmament of earth’s atmosphere must be the second heaven today known as outer space that is a “layer” above the first heaven or Earth’s atmosphere.
Moving onto the final heaven: the third Heaven
The third heaven: God’s Heaven
Above even the unimaginable vastness of the second heaven is yet another heaven, and the final heaven known to exists: the third heaven; and this is the heaven that many Christians (humans) think about when taking about the place Heaven:
Even the author originally talking about the third heaven (which is Paul) says that this is the heaven where God is, calling it paradise:
2 Corinthians 12:2-4
“ I know a man in Christ…was caught up to the third heaven…was caught up to paradise…”
This heaven is also more often known in the Bible as “The Highest Heavens” (or in the original Hebrew “וּשְׁמֵ֣י הַשָּׁמָ֑יִם” (ooh-shay-mei hash-shah-mah-yim) or “ הַשָּׁמַ֜יִם שְׁמֵ֨י” (She-mei Hash-shah-mah-yim) both literally meaning “The Heaven of Heavens” [8]) is described in the Bible as a very special Heaven separated from the other two and “above” or “higher” than the other two:
Deuteronomy 10:14
“To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens,…”
Nehemiah 9:6
“You alone are the Lord. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their host(Angels),…and the multitudes of heaven(Angels) worship you.”
Psalm 115:15-16
“…the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. The highest heavens belong to the Lord,…”
Psalm 68:33
“to him who rides across the highest heavens, the ancient heavens,…”
In Luke, the Angles sing:
Luke 2:14
“Glory to God in the highest Heaven,…”[9]
So, this highest heaven (The Heaven of Heavens) is where the “Host” (angels) are that worship God, it is also where God is or walks, and is a very ancient place (possibly the very first heaven ever created even before the universe was). So, we see confirmation that that there is a heaven as imagined by Christians where God lives, and rules and his loyal angels live: but the key is this is heaven but it’s not in the first heaven (the earth's atmosphere) or the second heaven (the universe/ outer space) but is a whole other heaven/place higher than both.
This is where God himself lives:
2 Chronicles 6:30
“...heaven Your dwelling place (where he lives),”
Matthew 5:34
“…heaven; for it is God's throne(where he rules):…”
“The God of heaven”
A lot of times God is called “the God of heaven” because humans knew God was somewhere upwards in heaven. Later in the Bible, we learn he is in a Specific heaven: the third heaven. This is how many people in the Old Testament addressed him:
Genesis 24:3
“… I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven…”
Jonah 1:9
"I am a Hebrew (Israelite), and I fear the LORD God of heaven…”
Joshua 2:11
“...the Lord your God is God in heaven above…”
Where is the third heaven?
Unlike the first and second heavens, this heaven seems to not be seeable from earth’s sky so it is different in that way from the other two, but logic would be that the third heaven would be past the universe. However, since the universe is so massive in space, the end has not been found so it’s unclear how or where this third heaven is on top of the second heaven. But we get a faint hint of what it might be like In comparison to leaving the first heaven for the second one:
Leaving the first heaven is quite a challenge: it requires a massive amount of energy to overpower the pull of gravity and protection to not be burnt up by the Mesosphere.[10] In a sense, going to the second heaven is a massive “jump” from the first one, but once there, a whole other world is seen: like said before, the first heaven and earth as well as moon and sun can be seen for what they actually are as well as the reality of the stars being whole other places very very far away. So, this might mean in order to go to the third heaven another, even more massive, jump might need to be made from the entire physical universe.
But what would be even bigger than that?
While nothing as of now is truly know about what is bigger than the entire physical universe, the next step from leaving the entire universe might be to cross into a different universe/dimension separate from this one. Unlike the second heaven this is still not been fully proven by science to exists but is only a theory, the Bible seems to sort of strongly hint this is the case, by saying there is an even greater place beyond the second heaven (which is outer space: the rest of the physical universe).[11] If this is the case, then this third heaven could very well be a whole other universe/dimension. And once there, it will be a whole other place, where possibly, even the entire physical universe can be seen for what it is.
Heaven is based primarily on a human perspective
If you haven’t noticed, heaven in the Bible is largely based on a human perspective particularly from the earth's surface. To a human on earth, all these places are in a upward direction, but we know today this is leaving the planet and going to outer space. Back in ancient times, however, many humans only knew to point up to the sky (heaven): they knew there was more than one heaven up in that direction and in that direction is where the “god/s” lived (and is also confirmed by the Bible). But the first heaven (the sky) was all they could really see, and that is why the phrase “Heaven” is so confusing: often times these three different places are just lumped up as one:
the Bible lumps them up as “The Heavens”:
Matthew 11:23
“...Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens,…”
Psalm 139:8
“If I go up to the heavens,…”
In this sense, heaven is defined as anything located in an upward direction from earth’s surface even though there is more than one distinct place besides the sky.
There is also another whole other type of “heaven” found in the New Testament different from all the rest: this heaven is called the kingdom of heaven/God (or even just simply “the kingdom”)
John the Baptist first mentions the kingdom of God in the New Testament:
Matthew 3:1-2
“In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!’”
Unlike the other three, this “kingdom of Heaven” has no true known location (besides the name) but is a massive theme of the New Testament and even Jesus's ministry:
Matthew 4:17
“From that time Jesus began to preach (he started his ministry) and to say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand’”
But what is this kingdom of heaven? Is it the kingdom of the third heaven?
Many people think that’s what Jesus meant by the kingdom of heaven: he is talking about the third heaven (this makes sense, after all, it’s the kingdom of heaven which is where the third heaven is). This is further proven that Jesus said this kingdom (his kingdom) is not of this world (not on planet Earth):
John 18:36
“Jesus said, ‘My kingdom is not of this world[not on Planet Earth]. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now(as of 31 A.D.) my kingdom is from another place(Not on Earth).’ ”
But, when we look at other descriptions of This Kingdom of Heaven/God, we see even though this kingdom might have begun in the third heaven (where Jesus is presently king:
Philippians 2:9-10
“…God exalted him (Jesus) to the highest place (highest authority)...that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven…”
The Bible also reveals it will not just remain there: eventually it will come to Earth as well, along with Jesus’s second return:
Revelation 5:10
“The kingdom of the world (Human nations of the Earth) has become
the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah,
and he will reign [over them] for ever and ever.”
Revelation 21:2
“...I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem (the capitol of this kingdom) , coming down out of heaven from God,…”
Revelation 21:3
“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people (human beings: on Earth) , and he will live with them.’”
So, Jesus is not necessarily talking about the kingdom of the third heaven, though that could be referring to it; he ultimately talking about the future kingdom to be set up on Earth where he will be king!
But then why is it called the kingdom of heaven?
It’s called that because this kingdom does come from heaven (from the authority of God in the third heaven as well as things/beings from there literally coming down from the sky to earth's ground).
So, a place called Heaven where God and his angels live does definitely exist according to the Bible. That does not mean the place where God and his angels live is in the sky (the first heaven) in the clouds somewhere as traditionally though by many Christians, nor does it seem to be described as being in outer space on a planet somewhere (the second heaven): it seems to be described as being in a whole other place apart from the other two heavens like another universe/dimension.
So, now that we know there is a heaven where God and angels live, another important question should be asked:
Do human souls go to this third heaven after death?
Sources:
[1]
“Heaven.” The Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster Inc.,
Website:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/heaven.
[2]
[A] “Online Etymology Dictionary” Heaven
Website:
https://www.etymonline.com/word/heaven
[B] VALHYR “Rune Coverter” “Heofaen” by Renet and Rea
Website:
https://valhyr.com/pages/rune-converter
[3]
[A] the Same original words that are translated as heaven are translated sky here so it's referring to all the same thing (those original words are “שָׁמַ֫יִם ” [shaw-mah'-yim] and “Οὐρανός” [oo-ran-os'] )
[B] Strong’s Hebrew 8064. "שָׁמַיִם" ((shaw-mah'-yim)--heaven, sky by Biblehub
Website:
https://biblehub.com/hebrew/8064.htm
[C] Strong’s Greek 3772. "οὐρανός" (oo-ran-os')--heaven, (a) the visible heavens: the atmosphere, the sky, the starry heavens, (b) the spiritual heavens. By Biblehub
Website:
https://biblehub.com/greek/3772.htm
[4]
[A] the word “שָׁמַ֫יִם” is plural in Hebrew because it ends (and in Hebrew, words end on the left) with "ם’" [yim] which is the English equivalent of putting a “s” at the end of a word to show there is more than one being referred to: like Words, Clouds etc.
[B] Hebrew for Christians Lesson 4.4 “plural nouns” by John J. Parsons
Website:
https://hebrew4christians.com/Grammar/Unit_Four/Plural_Nouns/plural_nouns.html
[5]
Wikipedia "Atmosphere of Earth"
Website:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmosphere_of_Earth
[6]
Wikipedia "Outer space"
website:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outer_space
[7]
NASA "How Big is Our Universe?" by Shelley Canright on July 15 2004
Website:
https://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/5-8/features/F_How_Big_is_Our_Universe.html
[8]
[A] Deuteronomy 10:14 Hebrew interlinear by Biblehub
Website
https://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/5-8/features/F_How_Big_is_Our_Universe.html
[B] Nehemiah 9:6 Hebrew interlinear by Biblehub
Website:
https://biblehub.com/text/nehemiah/9-6.htm
[C] Strong’s Hebrew 8064 ū·šə·mê occurrences By Biblehub
Website:
https://biblehub.com/hebrew/ushemei_8064.htm
[9]
[A] the words “Highest Heaven” are not in the original Greek just the word “ὑψίστοις”(hoop'-sis-tos) is used, which just means “high” and could refer to either actual physical height or something greater in honor or power. Why these angels could have been saying they want to give God all the glory it could also possibly be true that they are giving glory to God where he is: in the highest (third) heaven.
[B] Luke 2:14 Greek interlinear by Bible hub
Website:
https://biblehub.com/text/luke/2-14.htm
[C] Strong’s Greek 5210. "ὕψιστος" (hoop'-sis-tos)--highest, most high by Biblehub
Website:
https://biblehub.com/greek/5310.htm
[10]
The nine planets "How to get into Outer Space"
Website:
https://nineplanets.org/questions/how-to-get-into-outer-space/