WHERE IS HEAVEN?

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In Ac 1:9-11 the Lord Jesus Christ went up into heaven. He was in a physical body (Lk 24:39) so He went to an actual, physical place. Let’s examine what God’s word says about His destination.

 

In Ac 1:9-11 we see that the direction to heaven is “up.” In Is 57:15 we see that this place is in “eternity” and it is “high.” In Ps 29:10 we see that He “sitteth upon the flood” which in v.3 is called “the waters.” In Ge 1:2 we find Him again upon “the waters” which are also in the same verse called “the deep.”

 

All of this brings to mind the “rain from heaven” also called the “fountains of the deep” (Ge 8:2), which were “waters” brought upon the earth to flood it (Ge 6:17). And since the entire universe is encased in a vast ocean sphere or bubble called the Deep, it’s beginning to look like heaven is a place on top of the Deep where God “sitteth upon the flood.” (Obviously, the subject of this chapter builds upon the information and illustrations in the previous chapter, D2, Noah’s Flood.)

 

There are three heavens. The first heaven is the lowest; it is our atmosphere where, for example, the birds fly (Je 8:7). The second heaven is outer space (Ge 1:6-17). The third heaven is the highest heaven and is also called “paradise” (2 Co 12:2-4).

 

The waters of the Deep are above the two lower heavens (Ps 148:4), and God lives above these two heavens (Ps 113:4,5) on top of the waters of the Deep. So the Deep is a boundary: Beneath the Deep are two heavens, outer space and our atmosphere; above or on top of the Deep is heaven, the third heaven, paradise.

 

The face of the Deep is covered with ice (Jb 38:30), which explains the “sea of glass like unto crystal” before the throne of God in heaven (Re 4:6). And it is upon this frozen sea of glass in heaven that the saints stand with the harps of God (Re 15:2).

 

God says nature can teach us things (1 Co 11:14) because He created things on earth according to a pattern of heavenly things (He 8:1-5). This spherical earth is covered with watery oceans. The North Pole was once thought to be ice on top of land like Antarctica. But there is no earth there, just the polar ice cap, the frozen surface of the Arctic Ocean.

 

This spherical universe is also covered with a vast ocean – called the Deep. The surface of the Deep is frozen where God’s throne is. But where is that?

 

God made all compasses point north. All compasses point toward the polar ice cap, toward the frozen surface of the Deep. On all maps and globes north is up, and we’ve already seen the Bible says Jesus went up to heaven, but is God’s throne also north?

 

God and north are associated in Jb 37:22. In Ps 75:6,7 “God” is substituted for “north.” The city of God is now in “heaven” (Re 3:12) on the sides of the “north” (Ps 48:2). The city of God is “in eternity” (Is 57:15) because it is outside the realm of time. Under the Deep in the firmament God put the sun, moon, and stars. From the movement of these we determine time. In Scripture see Ge 1:14-18; Ga 4:10; in the dictionary see “sidereal.” (It is well known that we can tell time in the day by the sun. Many people also know we can tell the seasons as well as the time at night by the stars. Less well known is the fact that we can also tell time – fairly accurately – at night by the moon. Click the moon on my web site to learn how.) Above the Deep – beyond the universe – is another realm not governed by sidereal movement, by time. It is therefore called eternity. Someday Re 21:1 will happen which will result in Re 21:23; 22:5, and Is 60:19,20. That means no more sidereal movement, which means no more time (Re 10:6) – which is eternity.

 

Now, getting back to north. God is the beginning and the ending (Re 1:8). The compass begins and ends with north. God’s Book is our compass to point our way through the wilderness toward Him. The Hebrews learned that an exodus from Egypt (the world) required that they go north to enter the Promised Land through the waters of the deep Red Sea.

 

God sits on His throne in heaven on the frozen northern surface of the Deep. And appropriately located beneath His feet, encased by the Deep, is the realm He created in six days.