Heaven

CAPTION: "Photo courtesy PDPhoto.org."

In the Bible the word "heaven" is used to describe three different levels of what we consider to be "the heavens." The first is a description of the sky where the birds soar. The second is the stellar heavens (or universe) where the moon, planets and stars reside. The "third heaven" is where God and the angels dwell. When the Apostle Paul talks about he "third heaven" he uses the term synonymously with "paradise" meaning that they are the same thing (2 Corinthians 12:1-4).

While hanging on the cross, Jesus tells the thief on the cross next to him that on that same day he will be with him in paradise (Luke 23:42-44). This implies to us that the moment we die (if we have received the gift of the Son) we will instantly be transported beyond time and space into the third heaven or paradise.

It will be a place where we will be able to commune with God and with those who are of the family of God in an intense and incredible way. A place that is indescribable, especially with human words.

Imagine a mother of a child, who cannot go outside and whose son never has been outside because she and her son are locked in a room with no windows, trying to explain what the sky or birds look like. She draws pictures of the moon and sky and birds and shows them to the boy hoping to depict them to him. After looking at the drawings he responds, "Mom are the birds and sky flat?" No explanation or design is capable of portraying what the boy would see and experience if he saw for himself the world with his own eyes. Heaven is the same way. It is so much better than what we can ever describe or imagine.

How fortunate we, the children of God, are to be given the gift of heaven! But this gift came at a price. Jesus laid down his life on the cross and died for our sins so that those who believe and accept him into their lives could recieve this precious gift of heaven. May we, who have taken the gift, always remember that we are citizens from another place, a heavenly place, and live in that reality as we spend our days on the earth.

"But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body." Philippians 3:20-21 (NIV)

"O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens." - Psalm 8:1 (NIV)