[09/18/19]
With these things in view, perhaps I can make a start on considering the whole matter of creation. As a start, I should think we must first consider just what it is we have in view when we speak of creation. The simplest definition would have to be that the creation encompasses the whole of the created order. That, even more simply put, indicates that the creation consists in everything that isn’t God, for God alone fully and singularly populates the uncreated order. Thus the created order encompasses more than the visible universe. It encompasses not just the physical realm, but also the spiritual. It encompasses not just plants and animals and the places wherein they grow and live. It encompasses as well the angels, faithful and fallen alike, in whatever sorts of genus and phylum that may pertain to them, and to those regions in which they dwell, however those may be defined. In sum, as God is God of all the heavens and all the earth, so the creation consists in all over which God reigns.
For my purposes, I shall propose four primary subdivisions of creation. These I shall term the heavenly realms, being that to which Jesus ascended, and from whence He came, though I must be very careful to observe that Jesus though He makes His abode in these heavenly realms, is not of the created order, as re those other denizens of that region. This is, at least from our perspective, a spiritual realm with no material composition that we might recognize as such. In fairness, I think there is a material aspect to it, for we are told we shall have bodies there, and physical structures and beings are described to us. It’s just that the nature of that material aspect so differs from our current conditions as to be not merely unrecognizable to us, but effectively invisible to us.
Next, we may consider the heavens. Scripture, it seems to me, uses the term heavens in two significations, the first being what we might find some translations calling the heavenlies, and which I have chosen to identify as the heavenly realms, that ethereal region of God and His angels. But, there is a lower, physical-realm application as well, which we might more readily equate with our concepts of space. This encompasses the universe and, if current theories of a multiverse should prove accurate, the entire set of universes. It encompasses the whole of the material realm, then, outside of Earth proper. In fairness, we should properly recognize the Earth as included in the scope of the heavens, but we being rather Earth-centric for obvious reasons, the Scriptures tend to set the Earth apart. There is a division present between that upon which we stand and that up to which we look in wonder. So, then, the stars, the planets, the galaxies and nebulae and so on that so capture our imaginations and instill in us this strong sense of wonder we shall categorize, along with Scripture, as the heavens.
That leaves the next layer to be considered the Earth. This is the most obvious, the most concrete and concretely understood portion of Creation for us, for it is the visceral, tangible stuff of our daily existence. The Earth, to the degree that we can be said to understand much of anything, is the bit we understand. We have it pretty well classified as to its components and its occupants, even such occupants as, to the best of our knowledge, no longer occupy. We have a pretty good idea as to its composition and layout. We can visit its varied locales, taste its varied produce, meet its varied denizens. It is entirely material, entirely physical, and, per Scripture, entirely temporary, for all that it seems to us the most solid and permanent of the regions of Creation.
Finally, we have a fourth order or realm of Creation, one which we most often prefer not to consider, and that realm would be what Scripture describes to us as Hades. It is the place of the damned, the place of demons and of unrepentant humanity, having died still under the condemnation of sin. This region, like the heavenly realms, consists from our perspective in a purely spiritual, non-physical existence. There is no place to which we can point and say, “There! That’s where Hades is.” We may speak of it, after the Greek fashion, as the underworld, but that must be recognized as being a wholly figurative depiction. The underground world, such as we see of it, tends to be for us a place of dread. It is dark and devoid of anything by which we might sustain life. It is, with admitted exceptions, a dead place. It’s no wonder that such foreboding and cavernous spaces came to be associated with the condemned dead. But, the reality is something far more dreadful than a mere cave.
I observe that even in trying to declare and arrange these four divisions, my thoughts naturally tend to organize them in layers from highest to lowest. Yet it would be impossible for me to properly assign any sort of physical height or depth to those spiritual realms of heaven and hell. They are, so far as I can tell, outside the physical order that we know, perhaps interwoven or overlaid upon that physical order, but in a way that leaves them quite separate and invisible, though discernable. Perhaps, returning to that theory of the multiverse, heaven and hell are in fact alternate universes within the multiverse, but I don’t think so. That seems too small a concept to properly accommodate either, if one can classify considerations of a universe a small.
What, then, has determined my choice of order? As concerns the spiritual realms, I must accept a certain ranking. The good realm of heaven gets primacy of place, and the vile realm of hell falls to the bottom of the order. Does this order continue to hold for the heavens and the earth? Well, certainly both are to be ranked lower than heaven in their relative goodness, and yet higher than hell, where all goodness has been removed. That being said, I’m not sure whether or not I should account the heavens as containing more good than the earth. I suppose in terms of sheer volume, even were the heavens to be fully colonized and populated by man, yet they would contain more good then the earth just on the weight of numbers. But, given the absence of man and, so far as we know anyway, the absence of any similar race of beings to whom God might have revealed Himself, it becomes a harder calculation. Does man’s absence indicate an absence of sin off earth? I see no cause to think so. Sin came into the world, yes, but is it at all conceivable that there might, even in all the expanse of this universe, exist a being of God’s creation which has not sinned, has not fallen short of the glory of God? Does there, could there exist such a race as did not find itself in dire need of a Savior? And, if there does exist such a race, what are we to say to the culmination of the Trinity’s work in creation, when the heavens and the earth are brought to an end and a new creation begun?
I should think we must accept one of two possibilities. Either there exists intelligent life on other planets, but that life, like our own, is marred by sin, has need of a Savior, and is quite properly subject to the full penalty of God’s justice apart from such a Savior, or we alone fit that definition. If it is the former, then it must be supposed as well that God has revealed Himself to them, His Son has been to them and been revealed their Savior as well, and in the new order to come, they, too shall have representation both in heaven and in hell. My inclination, in spite of my love of science fiction, is to lean toward the latter. For all that we may dream of or dread the idea of encountering an utterly alien culture from the stars, it seems unlikely from the testimony of God’s revelation. If Adam and Eve were indeed at the beginning, and the source of all human life, and I have no reason to believe otherwise, then are we to suppose another set, an Adam and Eve equivalent for each such planet upon which intelligent life has evolved? Did the Son need to come to each such planet in turn, live out life of perfect obedience in the physical form of said planet’s occupants, and die bearing all their sins? I suppose it’s not entirely outside the realm of possibility, but it does seem as though, were this the case, we might have some mention of it in what God has revealed, for surely He would have foreseen the inevitable meeting of such beings. But, here we are firmly into speculative territory, and it is a good place to stop for today.
[09/19/19]
A. Heavenly Realms
I have to say that this study is proving to be somewhat of a challenge and a stress to me. This, I have to recognize, is primarily because it doesn’t have the order and structure to which I have become accustomed. One joyous impact of doing book studies is that there is a very definite structure to the effort. There are steps to be taken, clear means by which to get at the subject matter and gain understanding. Here, each day, each step is effectively a blank slate, or nearly blank. There is the heading written, the germ of an idea at best, but there remains the great question of what is to be said with accuracy, and whereupon any such observation finds its basis. After all, my goal here is not merely to spout opinions. I can do that readily enough without the time invested here. No, my goal is to discover where those opinions have sound underpinning and, where necessary, to allow the consideration of those underpinnings to shift my opinions from error nearer to the truth.
So, yes, it is a bit of a stressor to be working through this effort with effectively no safety rails, no significant feedback to confirm or reject my conclusions. And then, of course, my propensity for wandering in mental circles and chasing down mental cow paths. I saw, for example, that in considering the Holy Spirit, my concluding section was largely a rerun of the opening section, which could leave one to wonder why I bothered with anything in the middle. Oh well. But, I see I am in part trying to distract myself from the challenge before me: What is to be said in regard to heaven?
I could think of any number of popular songs that posit their own views. “I can only imagine what it would be like…” “Heaven is a place where nothing ever happens.” “There is no place closer to heaven than here with you tonight.” But, none of these really give us much to go on, and in some cases, they rather purposefully seek to turn us away from the matter. For my part, I shall take heed to Augustine’s fine advice to remain mindful that where God refuses answer, it is sinful to pry. I paraphrase, and no doubt quite poorly, but the point is there. Heaven is a place about which we can only speak with any sort of confidence where God has spoken. Where He remains silent, such conjectures as one might put forth are surely at great risk of proving sinful.
In this effort, it is made that much more difficult in that Moses sees fit to speak of heaven when considering the heavens as well as when considering the angels’ abode. This leaves us having to discern from the immediate context which thought he has in mind. For instance, when Moses writes, “This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made earth and heaven” (Ge 2:4), are we considering two of my proposed divisions or three? Does he speak of heaven as immediate parallel to the heavens, or do we have three distinct acts of creation in that day: Heaven, the heavens, and earth? I think we are pretty safe in saying there are but two, but you see the issue.
Heaven, what I am terming the heavenly realms, although I find myself swapping freely between the two forms of reference, is a created place, near as I can tell. Its populace, while equipped for eternity, remain of the created order. Unlike God, while they may not have an end, they do have a beginning. In this, they are like us. We, too, have a clear beginning. We are conceived, and life starts. There’s an argument to raise hackles these days, and yet it is quite evidently true. What we fail to recognize with proper clarity is that the grave does not mark the end, only a transition. It is, in its fashion, more like the cocoon of a butterfly. What emerges may bear little resemblance to what entered in, but it is in fact the same being; in our case, now fit for eternity, whatever that eternity might hold. But, there I venture into topics more suited to a different head.
I need to do more here, however, than look at uses of the term ‘heaven’ and offer opinion on each use, as to whether it speaks of the heavenly realms or of the heavens. How’s that for a confusing array of terms? I will say this. It is not at all clear to me that Moses had any conception of there being a distinction between the two, and that may be part of our linguistic challenge here. “For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. It is not in heaven that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’” (Dt 30:11-12). Yet, he also relays the word of the LORD, writing, “Thus you shall sy to the sons of Israel, ‘You yourselves have seen that I have spoken to you from heaven’” (Ex 20:22). That clearly refers to events at Mount Sinai, but did heaven, in that instance speak simply of high elevation, or something otherworldly? I think, particularly given the clear propensity for associating high places with worship, that it was probably a bit of both.
The heavens, even in their lowest regions of sky, presented man with the unattainable. It was the stuff of dreams, to be able to take wing as a bird and fly the heights. It is thus that we are presented with the effort at Babel. The people of the earth gathered and said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name; lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth” (Ge 11:4). Compare and contrast. Jacob would later have a dream, a vision, and he would see a ladder, “with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it” (Ge 28:12). So, on the one hand, we have mankind seeking to impose their dreams on God, and on the other, God showing, in a dream, the reality of His own provision for that dream. Yes, Jacob, there is a way between earth and heaven, but it is not to be found in any tower made by man, nor on any high hill or mountain that may get man’s attention. Of course, even Jacob arguably confused the point, becoming convinced that it was the particular place where this vision occurred that was special. “Surely this is the gate of heaven” (Ge 28:17). No. Bethel was not a place of unique closeness to God. God is uniquely close to His people, wherever they may be, for heaven is always near us.
That, I suppose, presents me with the first thing I actually have to say in regard to the heavenly realms, and that is that they are not defined by physical remoteness, although they are utterly unreachable in our own power. The heavenly realms are ever and always near us. Consider the words of heaven’s Lord. “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Mt 28:20). Yes, He abides in us, and yet, at the same time, His abode is in heaven. Does this not give us some indication of the nearness of heaven to us at all times? This is, I would insist, a far cry from suggesting that heaven is here on earth. That would require some pretty significant blinders to accept, for the evidence of sin’s corrupting influence is far too evident, however much the beauty of God’s handiwork continues to win through.
No, heaven is not something we obtain on earth, for heaven remains a spiritual realm, not physical in the sense that we measure physicality. It is not tangible, cannot be touched and handled, although we are in truth given foretaste of its wonders. We are given, if in second hand fashion, glimpses into that realm, but we’re not going to find those in the writings of Moses. His conception of heaven is too full of the heavens to clearly discern the heavenly realms. I do not write this as disparaging Moses nor as detracting from his part in revealing God to man. I write it merely as acknowledging, if you will, the reality on the ground. We, too, suffer from the propensity to equate the two, although we now have significantly greater experience and knowledge of the heavens. They remain to us the stuff of dreams, the unreachable, although our tools allow us greater ability to see off into unimaginable distances. For all that, our sight has still not found the ability to penetrate into the heavenly realms, nor is there reason to suppose it ever shall.
[09/20/19]
It is rare that we are given any sort of a glimpse of heaven, but we do have the occasional account from the prophets. Isaiah’s recounting of his calling to that office stands as a prime example. “In the year of King Uzziah’s death, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings; with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory.’ And the foundations of the threshold trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filled with smoke” (Isa 6:1-4). We may take it, from this, that the tabernacle, in its various incarnations, was intended to reflect that which is in heaven. There is a true temple in heaven, as is at least hinted at in Hebrews. “Therefore it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these” (Heb 9:23). That verse ought properly to stun us with what it reveals. The stunning part is not this confirmation of a heavenly temple, but that the heavenly temple required a cleansing sacrifice.
We think of heaven as a perfect place, devoid of sin, but if that were the case, we should have to ask how it is that Satan, originally a creature of heaven, fell, and how it is that so many of the angelic host joined him in that fall. I do believe heaven is to be made a perfect place when there is made a new heaven and a new earth, but in its present situation, no. It, too, has been stained by sin, although I don’t think it is that sin which traces its origins back to Adam. Under the circumstances, it would rather have to trace back to some earlier point, that point in which Satan’s sin finds its origins. So, then, heaven is a place in which we find the true temple of God, filled with His presence and centered on His throne. But, it is not yet perfected, as our own plane of existence is not yet perfected.
This is also evident in the very behavior of those seraphim Isaiah spoke of seeing. Note that they have eyes and feet covered in the presence of holy God. They can no more withstand the sight of His purity than could we. God had told Moses, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!” (Ex 33:20). The reason for this is that God is perfectly holy, and man is not, and God’s holiness cannot and will not tolerate even the presence of sin. How this holds when we see Him seated in a temple in need of cleansing, before seraphim sufficiently unclean as to require their eyes and feet to be covered in His presence, or how He can abide in the likes of you or me in our quite evidently sinful estate, is something of a mystery. I think we must find the key to that mystery in the matter of covering. It’s there in the encounter with Moses. “While My glory is passing by, I will cover you with My hand until I have passed by” (Ex 33:22). I elide the matter of the cleft in the rock, because rock is not going to be of value in keeping our sinfulness separate from His holy face. But, His hand is. The wings of the seraphim likewise provide a covering, lest their sinfulness be exposed to His holiness and destroy them utterly. Then, for our case, we have the righteousness of the Son, by whom we are purchased and redeemed.
Always, there is a covering imposed, and always for the same cause: That perfect holiness which seems particularly to be associated with the full-on face of God is for sin a force of certain destruction, and not just destruction, but utter eradication, annihilation, leaving no trace of sin behind. “So it will happen in that day that the LORD will punish the host of heaven, on high, and the kings of the earth, on earth. And they will be gathered together like prisoners in the dungeon, and will be confined in prison; and after many days they will be punished” (Isa 24:21-22). Justice requires it. As it is in heaven, so on earth, and as it is on earth, so in heaven. The perfect Justice of God extends through all that He has created, the heavenlies and the earthly alike. It must be that there is, for the heavenly host, a sacrifice for sins in the Son, as the author of Hebrews seems to indicate, although the means of their redemption almost certainly varies in the details. Or, perhaps it does not. Perhaps even the sins of the angels were addressed there on the cross, but on that matter, I have only speculation, and speculation is hardly to be thought reliable in such matters.
Towards the end of his writings, Isaiah records this from our 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? For My hand made all these things, thus all these things came into being” (Isa 66:1-2a). I observe this, albeit in vagueness: Heaven is both temple and throne room. Further, in heaven, these two are one. You may recall from Isaiah’s earlier vision that he saw God on the throne in the temple. This would be unheard of in Israel, for the royal house and the holy house, while kept close by one another, were very purposefully kept separate. Recall, for example, that the final breach for king Saul was that he took it upon himself to perform priestly duties. So severely were these two branches of governance separated that those fit for holy office came from one tribe, and those for royal office from another. There was to be no confusion of office. Yet, there was to be a joining of those offices in Messiah, as we have seen. Until that time, however, no. Now, we are seeing some part of the basis for this expectation in Messiah, for in heaven, it is already thus. Throne and temple are one. I will posit, though weakly, that it may well be that the entirety of heaven consists in this temple throne room. Why would it not? I would expect that, as with the earthly model, there are distinct areas in the heavenly temple, to whatever degree concepts of area may apply there. There is in heaven, as in the earthly copy, a Holy of Holies, and that in particular may be what Isaiah saw at his commissioning. But, there would also be the Holy Place, and the courtyards that surround it, in some fashion. That is to say, there is room within the temple to accommodate all who make heaven their home.
Before I leave Isaiah’s texts on this matter, however, there is one last verse I would look at. “For behold, I create a new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind” (Isa 65:17). Here it is that we are told that wolf and lamb shall graze together, and lions eat straw just like an ox would (Isa 65:25). Observe: That place does not as yet exist. It is the new order, that which comes about when all is said and done. In that new order, all is made new, and all of sin’s effects and origins are eliminated. But, as I say, that place is not yet, at least not as we measure time. Now, I cannot with confidence state whether God is indicating a recreated heavenly realm, or a recreated heavens, or both, but my inclination is toward accepting that it is both. The whole of the created order has been impacted by sin, however it is that this has come about, and therefore, the whole of the created order requires not merely cleansing from sin, although that is most needful if things are to proceed, but also the elimination of the very root and germ of sin. I see cause to expect that the new heavens and new earth will sufficiently resemble the current as to be recognizable, and yet, they will be recognizably different, even as we shall be recognizably different in our resurrection bodies.
[09/21/19]
The next major glimpse of heaven we obtain is through Ezekiel, as he prophesied amongst the exiles in Babylon. “Now it came about in the thirtieth year, on the fifth day of the fourth month, while I was by the river Chebar among the exiles, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God” (Eze 1:1). He relays a vision of four living beings riding in a storm wind, ‘a great cloud with fire flashing forth continually and a bright light around it, and in its midst something like glowing metal in the midst of the fire’ (Eze 1:4). These four beings have four faces and four wings, with feet like bronze calf’s hooves, but four human arms, one under each of their four wings. They each had four faces, those of man, lion, bull, and eagle, and these four flew together in box formation, it would seem. But, only two wings had apparent purpose in flight, and the other two were a covering for the body (Eze 1:5-11). Add to this, the wheel within a wheel, their rims filled with eyes, that moved as one with the four beings, ‘for the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels’ (Eze 1:15-20).
Next the vision looks above these beings, and observes an expanse of some crystal-like appearance from whence a voice, and upon which a throne, and upon the throne, one like a man as to his appearance. That throne had the appearance of lapis lazuli, deep blue shot through with veins of gold, and the man upon the throne had a radiance like glowing metal, or like a rainbow, and then the voice spoke to him (Eze 1:22-28).
Does this reflect a sight of heaven, or is it purely symbolic? That’s a hard question to answer, as it always is when dealing with things of this nature. I would observe, however, that these beings and the throne make another appearance (Eze 10), and this assemblage comes to a stop to the right of the temple, and the cloud of God’s glory filled the inner court. The LORD went up to the cloud-filled temple, ‘and the court was filled with the brightness of the glory of the LORD’ (Eze 10:4), and those four beings are referred to as cherubim, and lest there be any doubt, Ezekiel makes it explicit. “Then the cherubim rose up. They are the living beings that I saw by the river Chebar” (Eze 10:15). The impact these had on Ezekiel is telling in that he finds cause to describe them three times, once at the opening and twice more in this chapter. Now, it has to be observed that at the time of this event, there would have been no temple by which to stand, for Israel was in exile, and the temple lay in ruins. It is, then, vision and not an event physically experienced. Further, much of the vision, in both cases, consists of events that are clearly transpiring on earth, even though they involve these denizens of heaven.
If, then, the vision speaks to us of the nature of heaven at all, I think it must be in the matter of the throne and its occupant. Fast forward to John’s revelation. “Behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and One sitting on the throne. And He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance. And around the throne were twenty-four thrones; and upon the thrones, twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments, and golden crowns on their heads. And from the throne proceed flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God; and before the throne there was, as it were, a sea of glass like crystal; and in the center and around the throne, four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind. And the first creature was like a lion, and the second creature like a calf, and the third creature had a face like that of a man, and the fourth creature was like a flying eagle. And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, ‘Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD GOD, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come’” (Rev 4:2-8).
It would be difficult to miss the parallels to Ezekiel’s vision here, although there are differences. The fundamentals are there: The four living creatures, the six wings of Isaiah’s recollection, the throne with its rainbow aura, and the sea of glass. That the imagery is so clearly repeated to these two men, centuries apart, suggests to me that it’s more than mere imagery, but is in fact a depiction of heavenly realities. They may not be perfect in detail, being fitted to the limited understanding of man, but there is something here that we ought to recognize as truly being a glimpse of heaven. It is a glorious place, and the holiness of God is central. As I said previously, it seems that temple and throne room are as one in this glorious place, and it may very well be that the whole of heaven consists in that temple in which is the throne room of God Himself.
From Daniel we learn of angels sent from heaven on specific missions at God’s command, and those missions may very well involve punishments meted out upon those who have opposed themselves to God, or those who are in need of disciplining. This is not the first we have seen of angels, mind you. We saw them much earlier with Jacob and his vision of the ladder. But, the sum of the matter for Daniel is this: “Heaven rules” (Dan 4:26). The most powerful of men must come to grips with this reality. Heaven rules, you don’t. The best advice is given: Recognize this. But this, I confess, tells us more about God than about heaven itself. Heaven rules because it is God who rules, and heaven is His throne, the earth, His footstool.
Haggai passes along word from God that, “Once more in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea also and the dry land. And I will shake the nations; and they will come with the wealth of all nations; and I will fill this house with glory” (Hag 2:6). Whether or not this shaking includes heaven, and not merely the cosmos is an open question. But, I continue to hold out at least the possibility that heaven in part requires reformation and renewal just as does the rest of creation.
I suppose I might posit that there exists some portion of heaven that is, as it were, outside of creation, that portion which constitutes the Holy of Holies, the throne room of God. But, I am not truly convinced of this. God is eternal, having no beginning and no end. But, as glorious as that throne room appears to be from our brief glimpses of it, it remains the stuff of creation, albeit creation on a higher order perhaps. So, no, while I must leave room for correction, certainly, I think I must hold that heaven is as much of the created order as is the earth, and that holds right on up to the feet of God.
Interestingly, it is not until we arrive at the New Testament writings that we hear news of a kingdom of heaven. There are hints of it, I think. King Darius, for example, issues a decree to his nation to worship Daniel’s God. “For He is the living God and enduring forever, and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed, and His dominion will be forever” (Dan 6:26). I think we get that same sense from many of the Messianic passages. But, with the coming of John the Baptist, it becomes an explicit declaration. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mt 3:2). Now, there had to be some idea of this preceding John’s announcement, else his announcement would have had little weight to it. Clearly, that prior understanding is tied back to those Messianic passages, and Messiah Himself, as He launches His own period of ministry, comes with the self-same message. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mt 4:17), and He walked by the Sea of Galilee.
Forgive me a brief flight of fancy here, but here is the King before a Sea, albeit not one of glass, not by a long shot. Yet, it was a sea of provision, was it not? It was a place from which many drew sustenance and made their living, and as He took to the mountainside there by the sea, is there not something of ascending to His throne in the imagery?
[09/22/19]
Now, as concerns my view of heaven as requiring the cleansing work of redemption even as we require it, we have much evidence of battle in the heavens, clashes between spiritual forces. Those clashes would not occur but there be opposing forces, and what could oppose itself to God Who Is Good, but that which is evil? Paul points us to this truth. “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph 6:12). Observe: The spiritual battle concerns both heaven and earth, and we are involved at some level on both fronts. There are world forces of darkness and spiritual forces of wickedness. I think Paul is using a touch of parallelism here, in that it is the same spiritual forces that area in view, but the arena in which they cause their trouble shifts from earth to heaven.
These spiritual forces, then, are indeed all around us as we live our physical lives. This, however, is not a nearness of heaven, but an expansion of the war that rages therein, albeit a war with assured outcome. Our struggle is against these spiritual beings that oppose God and His own. They may have their earthly agents, men such as ourselves, who have given themselves over to darkness. Actually, there’s no question. They do have their earthy agents, both witting and unwitting. And it is for that cause that Paul has felt it necessary to remind us that those agents aren’t the opponent we must be concerned with, but rather those spiritual forces that have corrupted these ones who are made in the image of God. We, too, were once of their number, for to a man we are born into that sorry state. But, we have been redeemed, and we know not but what these, also, may be among the redeemed. That decision is for God alone to make. In the meantime, we are to be arrayed for battle, having taken up the full armor of God, standing against these spiritual powers. And where is the battle raging? In heavenly places.
I have already, to some degree, considered the depiction of heaven that we receive in the Revelation of John, and seen that it aligns rather well with those visions Ezekiel saw. And here, too, we see the need of heaven’s redemption. “There was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. And the dragon and his angels waged war, and they were not strong enough, and there was no long a place found for them in heaven” (Rev 12:7-8). At swift glance, I could almost take this to depict the coming of sin into the world, and I suppose, given the vague applicability of time to the scene, it could very well be the case. But, however that may be, we have Satan, ‘the serpent of old […] who deceives the whole world’ cast down to earth along with his angels, and in heaven, an announcement: “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, who accuses them before God day and night. And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even to death. For this reason, rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time” (Rev 12:9-12).
You know, the more I look at this, the more I think this scene precedes even the fall of Adam. Again, this is not a text with which I’ve wrestled in study, but it fits. There is the earth swallowing a river flood, which might suggest the flood that covered the earth in the days of Noah, and there is the ongoing war between the devil and the offspring of the woman, who keep God’s commandments (Rev 12:15-17). I am not as yet committed to this view, but it seems at least plausible that what we are seeing in this chapter is not something involved with the vindication of the saints directly, but rather with the vindication of the heavenly realms; the cleansing of that temple. If so, it would appear that this effort, like its earthly counterpart, has its focal point in the redemptive work of the Lamb. “They overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb…” Indeed, there is power in the blood; power such as exceeds our wildest estimates! We perceive in it a power to redeem the elect, and this is certain. Some would extend this to encompass the whole of humanity, and think that this then presented a sufficiently expansive sense of that power. But, if I am seeing things right here, and I admit that this is an open question, then His blood is sufficient not only to the redemption of man, whether one holds to limited or unlimited atonement, but it is sufficient to the cleansing of heaven itself.
So then, what have we of an image of heaven? Very little apart from the throne of God and its surrounding temple. Even there, we have but the slightest glimpse of a glassy sea and the throne thereupon. We see some very few of those who are arrayed around that throne, but it is rather telling, I think, that God does not see fit to tell us more of this place. Heaven, for all its wonders, is not to be our focus, but rather, the God of heaven and His kingdom. His kingdom, as we see with the proclamation of Jesus at the dawn of His ministry, encompasses not only heaven, but all creation. It has remained largely invisible, and still does, for we remain material beings not yet fit for eternity. Heaven is our home, yes, but heaven as it stands now, as with earth, is due for a remodeling. It is He who makes the heavens, the earth, the heavenly realms and the abyss, upon Whom we are to keep our attention, and to Whom we are to give our worship, our adoration, and our obedience. To Him be the glory, forever and ever. Amen!
[09/23/19]
As a point of transition, I want to start by looking at the strange way in which Paul recounts his own experience of revelation. “I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago – whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows – such a man was caught up to the third heaven” (2Co 12:2). There are many questions that might be raised by this, such as why Paul, for this one brief verse, speaks of himself in the third person; the question. But, I am more curious as to the third heaven, because it seems to me that quite a bit of speculation centers in this phrase. Is Paul telling us there are multiple heavens, or divisions of the heavenly realm? While the idea of a seventh heaven is sufficiently prevalent that I’ve even thought to name a song after it, there is nothing biblical about the term. The nearest you could get is some idea of perfection, seven being the number of perfection, and heaven the realm of perfection. In fact, per a brief search, the concept of the seventh heaven has more to do with Muslim and kabbalist thinking. That latter makes complete sense, given their general interest in numeric symbolisms. This they suppose the highest heaven where God and His angels dwell.
But, again, I have to stress that there is no biblical basis for this. What we do have is a third heaven. But, what is it? That it is Paradise is clear enough from the next few verses. But, what are the other two? I will suggest to you that the simple answer, and one consistent with the vagaries of usage evident in biblical references to the heavens, is that this encompasses not just the realm of God and angels, but also the cosmos, and that thin slip of atmosphere that surrounds the earth. If this is correct, then the first heaven would be that which we experience most directly; the dwelling place of birds and clouds, from whence the rains and hail and so on. The second would consist in the rest of the universe.
