Heaven, God's dwelling place

Isaiah 66:1-2 NASB
         Thus says the LORD,
   “Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool.
   Where then is a house you could build for Me?
   And where is a place that I may rest?
   2       “For My hand made all these things,
   Thus all these things came into being,” declares the LORD.
   “But to this one I will look,
   To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.

 1 Kings 8:27 NASB

      “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You, how much less this house which I have built!

Isaiah 40:12 NASB
   Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand,
   And marked off the heavens by the span,
   And calculated the dust of the earth by the measure,
   And weighed the mountains in a balance
   And the hills in a pair of scales?

After considering the magnitude of God's being, person, and the infinitude of His power, essence and existence, we consider heaven.

We know that God was existent before the heavens and earth, and all that we know came into existence. He spoke and all of these things came into existence. The created thing sprang into existence from nothing at the word of God. This demands our attention. God is able to cause something to spring from nothing.  Not just something, God is able to cause all of the universe with all of the intricate detail of the molecular composition to spring into existence.

So, where is heaven, the abode of God? From what the Bible says, there must be some place. It exists outside of the scope of man's understanding and spacial experience.


This is not an attempt to supply the concise demographic, geophysical, or terrestrial description of God's abode, but to challenge our thinking to see that God is greater than we first supposed and that His throne and dwelling place is great.

We began to consider this to bring solace to our souls that God has prepared a place for us to abide with Him. It is my contention that the descriptions we have are inadequate. For God is greater than we can conceive and thus, His abode must necessitate a place that is greater than what our limited understanding can imagine.

1 Corinthians 2:9 NKJV
    “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
          Nor have entered into the heart of man
          The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
[Is. 64:4; 65:17]

Keep on digging into this.

Great is our God!!

God is Indescribable

Heaven 3

I want to challenge and expand your thinking about God and heaven. The reason for my challenge is to help expand and deepen your thinking about God, His being, His dwelling place and our participation in that with Him.

Most often when we humans think about God and heaven, we think in relation to time and space. We do this because we relate everything to what we see and know here on earth. Everything we know in this life is related to time and space, the here and now. Due to our human limitations we think of the abode of God, heaven in relation to what we know in this world. “God is in heaven.” A place. Just like we are here on earth. A place.

We also think about a time when we will be with God in heaven.

Here is the challenge.

Read the questions and then before you answer them, read the scriptures below.

God is omnipresent(everywhere present). He is immense (unmeasurable).

If God cannot be measured, and if He is everywhere present, how can there be a dwelling place for God known as heaven?

If there is a heaven (and I know there is):

What is it like?

          How large?

          Where is it?

Deuteronomy 4:19 (NASB95)

¹⁹“And beware not to lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, and be drawn away and worship them and serve them, those which the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven.

2 Kings 2:1 (NASB95)

¹And it came about when the Lord was about to take up Elijah by a whirlwind to heaven, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal.

2 Kings 2:10–14 (NASB95)

¹⁰He said, “You have asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, it shall not be so.”

¹¹As they were going along and talking, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire which separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind to heaven.

¹²Elisha saw it and cried out, “My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” And he saw Elijah no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.

¹³He also took up the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and returned and stood by the bank of the Jordan.

¹⁴He took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and struck the waters and said, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” And when he also had struck the waters, they were divided here and there; and Elisha crossed over.

1 Chronicles 21:16 (NASB95)

¹⁶Then David lifted up his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and heaven, with his drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, covered with sackcloth, fell on their faces.

Job 11:7–10 (NASB95)

⁷“Can you discover the depths of God? Can you discover the limits of the Almighty?

⁸“They are high as the heavens, what can you do? Deeper than Sheol, what can you know?

⁹“Its measure is longer than the earth And broader than the sea.

¹⁰“If He passes by or shuts up, Or calls an assembly, who can restrain Him?

Psalm 14:2 (NIV84)

²The Lord looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.

Psalm 33:6 (NIV84)

⁶By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.

Psalm 102:19 (NIV84)

¹⁹“The Lord looked down from his sanctuary on high, from heaven he viewed the earth,

Psalm 113:4–5 (NIV84)

⁴The Lord is exalted over all the nations, his glory above the heavens.

⁵Who is like the Lord our God, the One who sits enthroned on high,

Isaiah 66:1–2 (NIV84)

¹This 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?

²Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?” declares the Lord. “This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.

The wonder, amazement, and phenomena is that God has chosen us to know Him, dwell in His presence, and ultimately abide with Him in His home.

John 14:2 (NKJV)

²In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

As you study this, may the magnitude, power, and awesomeness of God be shown to you.

Heaven 2

A few more things about the levels of heaven.

When I consider the heavens, I think much of the questions we have about the number of heavens has to do with our own human limitations.

I think the idea of the firmament being the first heaven, and the starry host (universe) being the second heaven helps us to see three heavens.

If we accept that; then the next part is harder for us to understand because we have not seen, known or been told specifically in the Bible about the secret and hidden things that have yet to be revealed to us.

From my understanding once one gets into the “heavenly abode of God,” we see that there are specific places where certain things happen or are held.

1.     There is the place where the spirits/soul of the righteous dead are held until the day of Christ when the body and soul is reunited.

2.     There is the place where the Cherubim are below the throne of God.

3.     The throne of God is represented as being surrounded by the Angels of God

4.     There is the place where the Seraphim are above the throne.

5.     There must also be a place above where the Seraphim are.

The complications we have is with understanding the placement of things in heaven.

God gave us representation of God’s abiding place with the Tabernacle of the wilderness.

1.     There was some space between where the congregation lived in their tents and where the tabernacle proper was set up.

2.     The outer curtain separates what is holy from what is not holy.

3.     The area between the curtain and the tabernacle was the court.

4.     The tabernacle had two chambers.

a.      The holy place

b.     The most holy place

5.     Within the holy place there was the ark of the covenant

a.      The ark of the covenant was the place where the presence of God was represented

b.     The two Cherubim were over the ark.

Look at this in relation to the abode of God, in heaven.

Heaven

There are indicators both in Scripture and tradition that there are various degrees or levels of Heaven.

Ephesians 4:10 ascended up far above all heavens. The word for heaven is {huperano} and means greatly higher, above upward, far above, over.

Genesis 1:1 (NIV84)

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

Genesis 1:1 (NKJV)

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

Genesis 1:1 (NASB95)

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

The King James Version says "God created the heaven."

Hebrews 7:26 (NASB95)

²⁶For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens;

Hebrews 4:14 (NASB95)

¹⁴Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

He has passed through the atmospheric heaven and the starry heaven to the third heaven, the dwelling place of God. This speaks of Christ's ascension and glorification at the Father’s right hand.

Acts 1:11 (NASB95)

¹¹They also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”

Revelation 12:7 (NIV) ⁷And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.

The word "heaven" here is ouranos- it means sky, heaven, air.

Satan is called the prince of the power of the air.

Ephesians 2:1–2 (NASB95) ¹And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, ²in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.

Revelation 12:8–10 (NASB95)

⁸and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven.

⁹And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

¹⁰Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night.

God is seen sitting on the throne and the Seraphim are seen above the throne.

Isaiah 6:1-8 (NIV) ¹In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple.

²Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. ³And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” ⁴At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. ⁵...

These angels are expressive of the holiness which demands cleansing before serving.

While the Cherubim are below the Throne of God .

2 Kings 19:15 (NASB95)

¹⁵Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said, “O Lord, the God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.

Jewish Tradition said there was seven heavens.

1.         The Firmament – the area directly above earth where the clouds and earth's rain comes down from.

2.         The area between the firmament and the abode of God, this is probably the area of the stars

3.         The third heaven is the abode of the righteous dead who are awaiting the resurrection of their bodies.

4.         The forth Heaven would be the area below the throne (Seraphim are seen above the throne.)

5.         The Fifth heaven would be the throne area

6.         The Sixth heaven would be the area directly above the throne (Cherubim are below the throne of God).

7.         The Seventh heaven is the highest heaven.

2 Corinthians 12:2 plainly says there was a man caught up into the third heaven.

Hebrews 4:14 says that Christ passed through the heavens.

Another view which is noteworthy is that there are three degrees of heaven:

1.                  The Firmament

2.                  The Stars

3.                  God's abode

A Third view is there are five degrees of heaven:

1.                  The firmament – area above the earth, clouds, etc.

2.                  The stars

3.                  The Altar area (where the souls of the righteous dead remain until the resurrection)

4.                  The throne area

5.                  The Highest heaven