Levels Of Heaven?

Question: 2Corinthians 12:2 says, “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.” What does this mean? Are there three heavens?

Here’s my take on it. It’s a little bit lengthy, but since I don’t think it’s an easy question, I don’t think there’s a short answer. Some commentators argue the Israelites/Jews believed in three levels of Heaven–the air or atmosphere (Genesis 2:1, 19), the sun, moon, and stars (Deuteronomy 18:3, Matthew 24:29), and the place where God resides (Matthew 5:12, 16, 45, 48). We can debate the three-tiered belief among the Israelites, but one thing is clear, Paul wasn’t very clear about what happened, where this acquaintance went, or what the structure of the universe was really like.

The Bible provides a couple of similar examples to 2Corinthians 12:2. Ezekiel 8:3 says, “He stretched out what looked like a hand and took me by the hair of my head. The Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and in visions of God he took me to Jerusalem, to the entrance to the north gate of the inner court, where the idol that provokes to jealousy stood.” While Ezekiel recounts an experience somewhat similar to the one in 2Corinthians 12:2, it adds little to our understanding of the structure of the universe. Acts 8:39 says, “When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing.” Once again someone is caught up or taken away and we’re left with scant description of what actually happened other than they disappeared.

Rather than thinking of the universe in terms of a pancake with layers stacked on top of each other, I think of the spiritual and physical realm as occupying the same “space.” While we’re living, we normally only see the physical realm. However, sometimes God reveals the spiritual realm to those living in the physical world, just as we read about in 2Corinthians 12:2, Ezekiel 8:3, and Acts 8:39. I’m not sure we’ll really understand things here until we’re there, wherever there is.

HH&A Questions

Although my current sermon series on Heaven, Hell, and the Afterlife has been extremely enjoyable, it’s also been quite challenging. It has raised some challenging questions in my own mind, and a few from my kids as well. I think it’s so challenging because it’s very important to us, but we don’t have any first hand experience of it, and can’t, until we’ve gone through it. It would be so much easier if we had a step by step introduction to what happened so that we could know we were prepared, maybe something like what we try to do for our kids when they first start school. “First, you’ll go to this room and you’ll meet so and so and they will ask you to…and then you’ll go to this room, etc.” That would be nice.

Anyway, one goal of this series was not only to address the most basic questions about eternity from a biblical perspective, but also to entertain questions people might have about eternity. So I’d like to invite people to post comments here, or on my Facebook page, related to the topic of eternity. What questions do you have? What doesn’t make sense? What do you think?

Heaven, Hell, and the Afterlife

New Atheists have an old list of “abusive” doctrines they feel compelled to attack. One of those, the doctrine of heaven and hell, has a special place on the list. That a loving God would judge and punish those who do not serve him, even though, all in all, they live a decent life, seems terribly oppressive and so last century. However, the New Atheists are hardly the first atheists to complain about the doctrine they see as a way for church leaders to coerce their flock into doing what they want.

This renewed pressure concerning the biblical doctrines of heaven and hell has led to several responses by the church. For some, restating the traditional teaching of the church is enough. Some do so with contempt, others with stoic resolve. Still others argue that eternal punishment is not eternal–those God condemns are destroyed in the fire and cease to exist. Others suggest that God is much bigger than the name given to him by one particular religion. As such, like the spokes of a wheel, multiple approaches, followed sincerely, will get you to “God.”

How is a Christian to respond to all this wrangling and turmoil? The single most important thing we can do is to search the Bible for our answers. What I can or cannot believe God is like makes very little difference. What you can or cannot believe God would do also makes very little difference. After all, as Scripture attests, there is a God, and it’s not me. We certainly have the option to believe that God is what we hope He is, but that’s risky business, especially considering the eternal implications. Instead, we must search Scripture for God’s revealed truth and then determine whether we will submit to what it says, or choose to take a less radical approach.

Over the next month and a half I want to explore this hot (sorry) topic with you. If you have questions related to the topic, please post them to this blog, and I will try to get to them in the series.

Save The Date!

In a recent article, which both captured my interest and left me depressed at the same time, the Washington Post wrote about Allison Warden of Raleigh, North Carolina, who turned her white Subaru into a moving billboard announcing that Jesus will return on May 21, 2011 (you can read the full article here). Even more interesting than that, Allison believes in predestination, so she doesn’t necessarily believe there’s anything anyone can do about the return of Christ. Normally those two approaches to Christianity don’t go together. Just when I think I’ve seen it all, there you go.