Where is Heaven?
Genesis Study: Lesson 5
This lesson takes us on a journey to find heaven. We'll journey beyond Earth, up through the clouds, high into the sky and out into space and beyond. On our walk through the Book of Genesis we'll only get as far as the end of Day 2.
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In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Our study of just the first few verses of Genesis revealed that time as we know and understand it did not exist until God first separated light from darkness. That act of God, creating for us a measure of time between evening and morning that God called a day, 'And God called the light Day and the darkness he called Night and the evening and the morning were the first day' (Gen 1:5 KJV). We could maybe say that, God first created the concept of time and then proceeded to create the elements we associate with time. God created time and then shaped heaven and earth to conform to His created timeframe.
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In the previous lesson we discovered that God created light before He created the sun and the moon. It becomes more logical when you consider that God has not yet created a location for the sun, moon or stars to exist in. On day two God creates Heaven, He creates a place for all Heavenly objects to exist in. Let's take a walk through scripture to learn more about Heaven and on this journey, I'm confident we will have a much clearer view of what God created on Day 2.
What does Heaven mean in the Bible?
The term Heaven is used frequently throughout the Old and New Testament but it has different meanings, it's used to describe a place where God resides but also is used to describe the sky and outer space. The Heaven where God is described as residing is a mystery to us because we don't physically have access to it. It can't be found with a telescope, it is beyond our physical realm of existence. It predates time and space as we know and understand it. Mysteriously, it is home to heavenly hosts, such as Angels who also mysteriously predate the creation of the physical universe described in Genesis. Genesis records the creation of the physical universe that we inhabit and physically experience.
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Heaven in Scripture
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​​We can get an idea of how the term heaven is used to describe different concepts by browsing the following verses. Here in Jeremiah, the Lord proclaims His boundless nature by clarifying that He fills both heaven and earth. The verse is describing the physical world of man because it is describing a physical act, in this case 'man hiding himself'. It's therefore fairly clear that God is describing the heaven and earth that man has a physical relationship with.
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Jeremiah 23:24 (ESV)u
"Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord."
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In this verse we see an example of a Heaven that is not part of our current physical universe. Helpfully we have a clear distinction between the physical world where we may encounter physical elements such as moths and rust. In contrast 'heaven' is described as a place that is not subject to the physical elements of the world we currently inhabit.
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Matthew 6:19-20 (ESV)
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
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In Daniel we have the term 'heaven' used to describe the air. Again, we are in the physical world othat is home the physical animals, here the actions of birds is being described. Note that the NIV version translates 'heaven' to 'air'. Whilst this is very helpful NIV isn't consistent in this and you'll note that the term 'heaven' is used in Genesis. This is because 'heaven' in Genesis describes the sky and outer space. It takes a careful reading of whichever translation you are in to understand the context of the particular heaven being described.
Daniel 2:38 (KJV)
"And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold.
Daniel 2:38 (NIV)
38 in your hands he has placed all mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds in the sky. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold.
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