Third in a Series of Messages
N two previous articles I have at tempted to make it clear from the Scriptures how we may know for certain that there is a life after death and a heavenly home a/waiting believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not an unexplored country for our Lord Jesus Christ was there from eternity, then came to earth, and has returned to His place at the right hand of the throne of God. The apostle Paul by his own testi mony was “ caught up to the third heav en . . . into paradise” where he heard “unspeakable words.” And the apostle John, on the Isle of Patmos, had a clear vision of that land of glory. That it is a real place and that it is to be the eternal home of the Lord’s own is one of the best attested teachings of the Word of God. Now we consider a most interesting aspect of the subject: Where Is Heaven? The Scriptures proclaim the existence of three heavens, and the context of each passage determines which one is in the mind of the writer. First of all, there is the aerial heaven, where birds fly, the winds blow, and the rain is formed. Satan, as the prince of the power of the air, has his abode somewhere in this area.
By Louis T. Talbot, D.D.
Then we have the second or planetary heavens wherein the sun, moon, and stars are set. And it is these heavens that “ declare the glory of God,” as the psalmist affirms. Last of all, we have the heaven of heavens, the third heaven, God’s resi dence and the dwelling place of angels and of the redeemed. This sacred pre cinct of light and joy is “ the habitation of his holiness, the place where his honor dwelleth.” It is different from the other two localities in that it is entirely separated from the impurities and im perfections, the alterations and changes, of the lower realms. Ultimately, the redeemed of all ages will, by the grace of God, have their habitation in His holy presence. The Old Testament saints will be there. Prior to Calvary, the spirits of the righteous dead went to Paradise (or Sheol) which was one division of “the place of the de parted spirits.” Hades (or hell) was the other section. But sometimes the word
translated “hell” is used loosely to mean both sections, as in Psalm 16:10 and Acts 2:27. Paradise, in the Old Testa ment times, was not identical with Heaven, though it has been since the resurrection and ascension of our Lord. When the Lord Jesus died on Calvary, His body rested in Joseph’s new tomb for three days and three nights, while His spirit went to the abode of the righteous dead who had lived from the time of Adam to the time of Christ. Through His death on the cross, Christ opened the way for believers to enter Heaven, God’s dwelling place. And there by He made it possible for the redeemed of the Old Testament days who were in Paradise, a waiting place, to ascend with Him into the presence of the Father. Because all believers are identified with Christ by faith, and because death could not in any way hold Him, it follows that every believer—whether living before Calvary or after it—is assured of eternal residence in the Saviour’s presence. Looking ahead, now, to that time of the complete ingathering of all those who are and shall have been redeemed in all the ages, and to that place of their permanent residence, we turn our at tention to the eternal city and seek the enlightenment of God’s Word concern ing it. The Scripture always speaks of Heaven as “ up” from the earth. We read that “ Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven” (2 Kings 2:11). Again, “when he [Christ] had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight” (Acts 1:9). And again, “then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds. (I Thess. 4:17). But which way is “up” ? If we say it is in the direction at right angles with the earth’s surface wherever one may happen to be, then it would follow that “up” would be in a somewhat different direction from every part of the globe. The earth is round, and if a command were given for everybody to look up, broadly speaking every person on earth would look in a different direction from every other person. If Heaven is just “ up,” then Heaven is everywhere in general and nowhere in particular. But this is not what the Word of God teaches. When the Lord ascended, He went somewhere in particular and not everywhere in general. T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
Sunset and Evening Star And one clear call for me, And may there be no moaning at the bar When I put out to sea. —Tennyson
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