Heaven Knows

[dave c]

HEALING SHELTER MINISTRIES #132f, Written 12AUG09

The Disciples’ Prayer—Part Six: Heaven Knows

by rev dave c

Mt 6:9 "This, then, is how you should pray: "`Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one' (NIV).

I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know--God knows. And I know that this man--whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows--was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell (2Co 12:2-4; NIV). When asked, “Where is heaven?”, I’m pretty sure most of us who are over the age of five will point skyward. Does this mean that we (as adults) actually think that the direction of travel to reach heaven is “up”? No, of course not—no more than pointing downward means that we really believe that hell is somewhere toward the middle of our planet. Firstly, there is no “up” in space; and secondly, no matter how far we project into this universe we will not geographically arrive at the abode of God and His angels. We also talk about the sun rising and setting even though we know that it is an illusion created by the earth rotating on its axis as it revolves around the sun. These are simplistic expressions by which we relate complex ideas.

So, where is heaven if it isn’t “up”? Heaven is outside time and space. Heaven is not subject to the laws of physics, chemistry, biology, or geology. Heaven is the spiritual realm where spirit beings reside. It is where God lives. We cannot direct our neighbor toward heaven by pointing north, south, east, west, up, or down because those terms become meaningless when divorced from this world of materials, energies, and the phenomena of temporal events. Heaven transcends life as we experience it in our day to day routines. It is this matter of transcendence that makes “Our Father in heaven” such a significant address. Our Father in heaven means that He transcends all power, all knowledge, all emotions, all endeavors, and all of everything else that exists within the confines of what it means to be human.

Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord (2Co 5:5-8; NIV). Is heaven a realm that is parallel to our own? Is our world “contained” within the spiritual world? Is there some sense of distance between the material and the spiritual? Are there points of intersect between these two existences? Maybe. The Bible is neither clear, nor specific with details. As a wise pastor once told me, “I’m not exactly sure what’s going to happen when I die, but I know that I’m going to be with Jesus—and wherever He is, that’s a good place to be.”

I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you (Lu 18:15; NIV). Throughout the Old Testament and the New, the term “heaven” is frequently used to represent God, the heavenly host, and all that is held to be good and righteous. To pray to heaven, to look toward heaven, to sin against heaven is to pray to, to look toward, to sin against God and His Kingdom. For this reason we should be just as cautious to guard our tongue and our ears against the misuse of the word “heaven” as we are when using the names of the Lord. If we cannot substitute the name of God in any phrase, or story, or comment involving “heaven” without feeling convicted of levity or course jesting, then we should not be involved in that conversation.

It has occurred to me that I have heard no argument regarding “the first heaven” being the atmosphere that surrounds our planet. As such, it is representative of our material existence. Equally, I have heard no arguments with “the third heaven” being the realm of the spiritual. There is Scriptural evidence for both. Whether you believe that we are dichotomous (two part people), or trichotomous (three part people), as a Bible reading and believing Christian you should agree that we are submerged in/experience three aspects of reality as being material, rational, and spiritual. Given this triadic reality, is it possible that “the second heaven” could (at the least, symbolically) represent the full range of our rational/cognitive existence? I pose this question only as something to ponder. A brother in the faith recently sent me this: ‘David H. Stern in his Jewish New Testament Commentary, only says of the third heaven, "The third heaven is not the air (the first heaven) or the sky where the stars are (the second heaven), but the "place" where God is, a spiritual realm. Other explanations are possible" (emphasis his)’. In my reading so far, it seems that the second heaven is regarded as the space where the stars reside as a matter of traditional acceptance, not as Biblically founded. Perhaps “other explanations are possible” is worth exploring. Regardless, there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries (Da 2:28; NIV); and, Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other (De 4:39; NIV). Amen.