Question:
What is the third heaven spoken of in 2 Corinthians 12:2? I had always supposed that there was but one heaven. What are the other two?
Answer:
2 Corinthians 12:2-4 makes clear that the third heaven is the place where God dwells. The apostle was caught up to the third heaven; giving further explanation of it, he says that he was caught up to Paradise and heard words which it is not possible (margin) for a man to utter. In Revelation 2:7, we are told the tree of life is in the midst of the Paradise of God; and in the twenty-second chapter of Revelation, we are told that the river of life proceeds from the throne of God and that on either side of the river is the tree of life. Putting these texts together, we learn that Paradise is where the tree of life is and that the tree of life is on either side of the river of life, which proceeds from the throne of God. So it would seem very plain, from these scriptures, that the third heaven, or the Paradise of God, is the place where God Himself dwells.
There have been a great many speculations concerning the heavens. Judaism, Islam, and some sects of Christianity have a list of seven heavens. The Scriptures, as shown in the preceding, are pretty clear in telling that the third heaven is where the throne of God is, but they do not mention anything beyond that. Nor do they make mention of a first and second heaven, and therefore they do not specifically tell what God regards the first and the second heaven to be. But in the first chapter of Genesis, it is stated that “in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth,” also that He made the firmament. It has been usually considered, by Bible students, that passages of this character refer to the first and the second heaven, or to the atmosphere that surrounds this earth, as the first heaven, and then the planets of our system, and possibly the nearer stars, as forming the second heaven, while the third heaven is the place in His great universe where God Himself dwells. This distinction, however, cannot be based upon definite Scripture statements which say in just so many words what the first and the second heaven are; but we do have the previous clear Scripture teaching as to what the third heaven is. What God has so clearly revealed is the thing that we should accept and dwell upon, and there may not be particular value in speculating upon what He has not revealed.
Men have brought endless and useless discussions and strifes into the Christian world by trying to teach doctrines that could not be found plainly revealed in the sacred Book.
