Heaven

HEAVEN

In the Bible, means primarily the region of the air and clouds, and of the planets and stars, but chiefly the world of holy bliss above the visible heavens. It is called “the third heaven,” “the highest heaven,” and “the heaven of heavens,” expressions nearly synonymous. There holy beings are to dwell, seeing all of God that it is possible for creatures to see. Thither Christ ascended, to intercede for his people and prepare for them a place where all shall at length be gathered, to go no more out forever, Zep 4:10 Heb 8:1 9:24-28.In this life we can know but little of the location and appearance of heaven, or of the employments and blessedness of its inhabitants. The Scriptures inform us that all sin, and every other evil, are forever excluded; no fruits of sin will be found there-no curse nor sorrow nor sighing, no tear, no death: the former things are passed away.They describe it figuratively, crowding together all the images which nature or art can supply to illustrate its happiness. It is a kingdom, an inheritance: there are rivers of pleasure, trees of life, glorious light, rapturous songs, robes, crowns, feasting, mirth, treasures, triumphs. They also give us positive representations: the righteous dwell in the presence of God; they appear with Christ in glory. Heaven is life, everlasting life: glory, an eternal weight of glory: salvation, repose, peace, fullness of joy, the joy of the Lord.There are different degrees in that glory, and never-ceasing advancement. It will be a social state, and its happiness, in some measure, will arise from mutual communion and converse, and the expressions and exercises mutual benevolence. It will include the perfect purity of every saint; delightful fellowship with those we have here loved in the Lord, Mat 8:11 17:3,4 1Th 2:19 4:13-18; the presence of Christ, and the consciousness that all is perfect and everlasting.We are taught that the body will share this bliss as well as the soul: the consummation of our bliss is subsequent to the resurrection of the body; for it is redeemed as well as the soul, and shall, at the resurrection of the just, be fashioned like unto Christ’s glorious body. By descending from heaven, and reascending thither, he proves to the doubting soul the reality of heaven; he opens it door for the guilty by his atoning sacrifice; and all who are admitted to it by his blood shall be made meet for it by his grace, and find their happiness for ever in his love. See KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.

Fuente: American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

Heaven

Introductory.-The subject of heaven is difficult to treat fully without diverging into the discussion of kindred subjects and trespassing on the province of other articles. The reader is referred to the articles Eschatology, Hades, Immortality, Paradise, Parousia, and Resurrection, in this and other Dictionaries for discussion of various matters which are relevant to the treatment of the conception of heaven.

Two broad general lines of development in things eschatological were already at work at the beginning of the Christian era. Palestinian Judaism on the whole tended towards literalism and more material conceptions of the Last Things, while Alexandrian Judaism was moving towards a spiritualization of the principal elements in the future hope. Both these tendencies are discernible in the development of Christian eschatology during the 1st century. But the most important element is the influence of the primitive apostolic beliefs concerning the Resurrection of Christ and His state of existence after death. Special attention is directed in this article to the influence of these beliefs on the development of the Christian conception of heaven.

1. Jewish apocalyptic

(a) Alexandrian.-The principal features or Alexandrian Jewish eschatology in relation to heaven are the view that the righteous enter at once into their perfected state of happiness after death, and the view that the resurrection of the righteous is of the spirit only. Hence the conception of heaven is wholly spiritualized, and the thought of it as an intermediate place of rest disappears. But it must not be supposed that a wholly consistent view can be found in the apocalyptic literature of the period, any more than in the NT writers. It was a time of change; new forces were at work modifying the older beliefs, and the above statement is simply a broad generalization of the trend of Alexandrian Judaism. When particular passages are examined the difficulty of constructing a homogeneous scheme of the Last Things becomes apparent at once. The principal difficulty is the recurrence of the idea of the earthly Messianic kingdom (cf. Wis 3:7 f. with Wis 5:17 f.), which is incompatible with a purely spiritual conception of resurrection and of heaven. The chief passages are: Wis 3:1-9; Wis 4:7-14; Wis 5:15-16; Wis 5:2 En. iii-xxii. (account of the ten heavens in order; Paradise is in the third heaven, and also the place of punishment for the wicked), Leviticus 2, lxvii, 2, 4Ma 13:16; 4Ma 5:37; 4Ma 18:23 (note the phrase Abrahams bosom used for the place of rest for the righteous after death).

(b) Palestinian.-The two important writings belonging to this period are Apoc. Baruch and 2 Esdras. For a full treatment of their critical analysis and eschatological system see Charles, Eschatology, ch. viii. also Box, The Ezra-Apocalypse, 1912, and the edition of both in Charles, Apoc. and Pseudepig. of the OT. The general view of heaven in Palestinian apocalyptic as illustrated by these two writings is as follows.

Heaven, also identified with Paradise, is the final abode of the righteous (Apoc. Bar. li., 2Es 7:36; 2Es 8:52). An intermediate place of rest for the righteous (Apoc. Bar. xxx. 2) is described as the treasuries, in which is preserved the number of the souls of the righteous (cf. also 2Es 4:41). Messiah comes from heaven to establish a temporary Messianic Kingdom, and returns to heaven at the close of it. The righteous in heaven are made like to the angels (Apoc. Bar. li. 10).

2. Pauline literature.-In dealing with any eschatological conception in the NT it is necessary to consider first of all how much is due to the Jewish background of thought; then, in the case of each writer, to see how for the conception belongs to the common stock of primitive Christian tradition, and how far it is peculiar to the writer under discussion. In dealing with St. Paul it is also necessary to examine the question of a possible development of thought. In general the orthodox Jewish view of heaven represented in the Synoptic Gospels forms the background and starting-point of all the NT writers. The principal points which call for examination in St. Pauls correspondence are the relation of the conception of heaven to Christ, and the conception of heaven as the future place of abode for believers.

(a) Heaven in relation to Christ.-Two main questions arise from St. Pauls treatment of this subject. First, the question of the pre-existent life of Christ; and second, the question of His present state of existence.

(1) For the first point the chief passages are 1Co 15:47, Rom 10:6, and possibly in this connexion Php 2:6 and Col 1:15-17. In 1Co 15:47, reading the second man is from heaven, it is quite possible to interpret the passage as referring to the Parousia rather than to the doctrine of a pre-existent Heavenly Man. Rom 10:6, an application of Deu 30:12-13, to Christ, may be referred to the present place of Christ; i.e. it is unnecessary to bring Christ down again after His Resurrection and Ascension. Php 2:6 is also capable of being interpreted as referring to Christs moral likeness to God. Thus St. Pauls testimony to the pre-existent life of Christ as in heaven is not clear, though it may be upheld on the ground of the above passages.

(2) The second point is far more vital to St. Pauls thought, and has largely influenced his view of heaven in relation to the future condition of believers. The words ascended into heaven clearly represent the consensus of primitive apostolic tradition. To the Jewish view of the transcendence of God, and of His dwelling in heaven as in contrast to earth, the primitive tradition added the doctrine of Christs present existence there with God. It is evident that St. Paul held the common Jewish views of heaven (cf. 2Co 12:2 : the third heaven, or Paradise, regarded as Gods dwelling-place; Php 2:10 : the division of the universe into things heavenly, earthly, and infernal; Gal 1:8 : an angel from heaven; Rom 1:18 : Gods wrath revealed from heaven, etc.). But it is still more evident that he had also thought deeply on the question of Christs Resurrection, its nature, His present state of existence, and the bearing of these questions on the future state of believers. This is not the place to discuss the possible conclusions at which St. Paul may have arrived. But we can see that his thinking on this point tends in the direction of a spiritualization of the whole conception of heaven. He conceives of Christs present existence as spiritual; Christ and the Spirit are identified; Christ is for the present hid in God (Col 3:3); the dead believers are at home with the Lord (2Co 5:8). It is generally conceded that Ephesians, even if not St. Pauls, is certainly Pauline. Hence we may use it here as evidence for the elaboration of the conception of a quasi-material, quasi-spiritual region, . Here Christ is seated at Gods right hand; believers have here their proper home and their characteristic blessings; and here is being waged the age-long conflict between the spiritual powers of good and evil (Eph 6:12).

Lastly, the link which connects this side of the subject with the more purely eschatological use of heaven as the future abode of believers is the passage in 2Co 5:1-2. Here we have the conception (possibly developed directly from St. Pauls view of our Lords Resurrection, although the conception of a body of light found in Jewish and Gnostic sources may have influenced his thought) of a spiritual body laid up in heaven for the believer. This body was evidently after the pattern of our Lords Resurrection body or mode of existence (cf. Php 3:20, 1Co 15:49). In thinking of it as laid up or reserved in heaven, St. Paul is no doubt using Rabbinical categories of thought. For example, the Rabbinical tradition could think of the Law, the Temple, and other central ideas of Judaism as laid up with God before the creation of the world.

(b) Heaven as the future abode of believers.-This conception is conspicuous by its absence from St. Pauls thought. The Parousia is always from heaven, alike in the earliest (1Th 1:10) and in the latest (Php 3:20) of St. Pauls letters. But when he speaks of the future place of existence of the Christian it is always with the Lord, with Christ, and apparently he has been chiefly occupied with the fresh question of the mode of the Christians future existence as determined by Christs existence. Possibly, also, he so takes it for granted that believers will have their place in a Messianic earthly kingdom that he does not think it necessary to mention it. The grief of survivors in 1Th 4:13 seems to imply this clearly, also the reference to the judgment executed by believers in 1Co 6:2. But what seems most evident is that St. Paul passed almost unconsciously from the traditional and more material view of the future state implied in 1Th 4:13 to the simpler and more spiritual conception of future likeness to Christ, and a blessed existence with Him. This takes the place of all sensuous joys of heaven.

3. Petrine literature.-If the Lucan record of St. Peters speeches may be taken as at least representing Petrine material, then we have one or two passages relating to Christs present place in heaven. Act 2:34-35 interprets Psa 110:1 of the Ascension of Christ, and Act 3:21 adds that it was necessary for the Messiah to return to heaven because the had not yet arrived. Both passages show that the belief in the Messiahs present existence in heaven was an essential part of primitive apostolic tradition, and also that the early tradition was very little occupied with heaven as a place of abode in the future, but rather as the place whence God would intervene by sending the Messiah again to establish the kingdom on earth. The few passages in the First Epistle which speak of heaven add nothing to this position. 1Pe 1:4 echoes Col 1:5 : heaven is the place where the inheritance incorruptible and undefiled is kept with care until the moment for the revelation of Messiah. 1Pe 3:22 re-affirms the doctrine of Eph 1:20; Eph 4:10, etc.: the Ascension of Christ to heaven and His Exaltation over all the spiritual powers in the heavenly sphere. Hence, as far as the literature attributed to St. Peter is concerned, we do not find anything peculiar to him, but only a confirmation of the two main elements of primitive Christian tradition-the present existence of Christ in heaven conceived of in a quasi-material way as a place or sphere contrasted with earth, and the revelation of Christ from heaven bringing the accomplishment of all hopes of blessing, all that is comprised in . The connexion of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven with the eschatological expectation of the early Church is also characteristic both of the speeches in Acts and of the Epistle (cf. Act 2:16-18, 1Pe 1:12). The same thought is frequent also in St. Paul (Rom 8:23, where the Spirit is the , an anticipatory guarantee of the blessings yet to come; and Eph 1:14, where the Spirit is the ).

4. Hebrews.-The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews contributes much of importance to our inquiry. Possibly be is the only one of the NT writers who shows clearly the influence of Alexandrian Judaism in his views on the Last Things. St. Peter represents the primitive Jewish Christian eschatology in its simplest form; even in the First Epistle, although Charles finds an advance on the eschatology of Acts, the hope is still rather for the kingdom on earth; the heavenly nature of the inheritance is not to be understood as referring to the place where it is enjoyed, but rather to the place from which it comes. Even in St. Pauls case, In spite of the clear advance towards a greater spiritualization of the eschatology, this advance seems to consist in the increasing emphasis laid on the spiritual assimilation of believers to Christ as the goal of hope, rather than in an abandonment of the hope of an earthly kingdom. The idea of the kingdom falls into the background, but its abandonment cannot be proved conclusively from St. Pauls writings. But the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews seems to have arrived at this stage of the development. There is no passage in his letter which points clearly to the belief that the righteous share with Christ the joys of a kingdom on or over the earth. The principal passages for consideration are:

(a) Those which confirm the primitive apostolic tradition of the present session of Christ in heaven (Heb 4:14; Heb 7:26; Heb 8:1; Heb 9:23-24). The writer lays stress on the fact that Christ is higher than the heaven; he implies a contrast in the phrase heaven itself, , the special dwelling-place of God, with the heaven of Jewish theology. Jesus has passed through the heavens. Of course this thought is found in Eph 4:10 also. (b) The eschatological passages (Heb 3:1; Heb 11:16; Heb 12:22-24). Believers are partakers of a heavenly calling. This might be understood as the source of the calling, but in the light of the subsequent passages it is more naturally understood as referring to the place and goal of the calling. In Heb 11:16 the writer represents the believers of old as seeking a better and a heavenly country, and declares that God has prepared a city for them. In Heb 12:22-24, the climax of his appeal, he depicts the heavenly city, the home of the Christians whom he is addressing. Ye have come, he says, implying that the city exists already, and that it contains the myriads of angels, the assembly of first-begotten ones whose names were enrolled in heaven (Luk 10:20), the spirits of righteous men who have been perfected, and finally Jesus Himself, the Leader and Completer of the faith. The sense of is a difficulty, but its interpretation is clearly suggested by the authors use of the word with reference to Christ in Heb 2:10; Heb 5:9; Heb 7:28. The author implies that Christs present existence in heaven in a perfect state is the result of His experience on earth. He is morally and spiritually perfected as Man, and hence fitted to be the Leader and Completer of the faith. His present state is the witness and the guarantee of the future state of those who follow His leadership. God will do for them what He has done for Christ. This order of things constitutes the heavenly kingdom, the unshakable kingdom which will be manifest at the Parousia, when everything that can be shaken will be removed. The writer evidently regards the Parousia as the moment when the material heaven and earth will disappear, the wicked and apostates will receive the just judgment of God, and nothing will remain but the heavenly order of things already revealed to faith by the Resurrection and Attainment of Christ. Here we have St. Pauls line of thought carried to a clear and triumphant conclusion. Moral and spiritual progress and ultimate full conformity to the character of God are the true goal of hope. The old words , , are being filled with a definitely spiritual content, and have practically lost their temporal and material significance.

The Pastorals, James and Jude add nothing of importance for the study of this particular conception.

5. Johannine literature.-The treatment of the Johannine literature as a whole is of course impossible. While it still remains a tenable position to regard the Apocalypse, the Epistles, and the Gospel as the work of the same author, representing three different stages of his spiritual development (Ramsay), the question is too complex to discuss here, and too undecided to assume any position as certain. It will be sufficient, therefore, to treat our subject as it appears in each of the three divisions of the Johannine literature separately. On the surface, the difference between the Apocalypse and the Epistles seems to represent the extreme movement of Christian thought from the most material form of Jewish apocalyptic to the most deeply spiritual form of the Christian hope.

(a) The Apocalypse.-The following is a summary of the chief points regarding heaven as the writer of the Apocalypse uses the conception. (1) There is the current division into heavenly, earthly, and infernal (Rev 5:3; Rev 5:13). (2) The principal part of the vision implies a sharp contrast between heaven and earth as spheres of moral activity. In heaven is the throne of God; His will is done in heaven; Christ is there; the angels, and the OT symbols of the power and presence of God in Creation, are seen in heaven. The redeemed are seen there. Heaven is the source of every action directed against the power of evil. On the other hand, earth is the scene of conflict between good and evil. Those who maintain the cause of God and Christ are a suffering and persecuted minority. From the abyss comes the moving power of the enmity against God. In the writers view, earth is ruled by the abyss rather than by heaven. Even heaven itself is invaded by the powers of evil, and we have the war in heaven (Rev 12:7) and the victory of Michael and his hosts over the dragon and his hosts; the heavens and all those that dwell therein are summoned to rejoice over the victory and the final deliverance of heaven from the powers of evil (Rev 12:12). (3) The heavenly city, the New Jerusalem, the dwelling of God, of Christ, and of the saved, comes down from heaven, after the earthly kingdom is over. It is only the new heaven and earth that the prophets vision conceives of as fit for the coming of the holy city. Apparently during the millennial reign, the city, in so far as it is conceived of realistically, remains in heaven. We have, on the one hand, a description of the earthly blessing of the risen saints and martyrs during the millennial kingdom (Rev 20:4-6); on the other hand, the vision itself supposes that those who have attained are already in heaven. The elders probably re-present those who are perfected in the sense of Hebrews. There are the multitudes of the redeemed (Rev 7:9-17); the souls of the martyrs are seen under the altar in heaven; they are granted white robes, and rest until the appointed number of the martyrs is made up. Further, the description of the heavenly city supposes that there is built up of the apostles and saints a spiritual city whose place is heaven. The difficulty of distinguishing between symbol and the literal meaning of the vision makes it a hard task to sum up clearly the writers position. He is obviously heir to all the visions of the prophets and the apocalyptists, and master of them all. The spiritual and the symbolic are so subtly blended that it is hard to think that the writer is the slave of his symbols. He seems rather to have brought all the symbols of the previous apocalyptic, from Babylonia and Egypt in the remote past down to the almost contemporary visions or Ezra and Baruch, under the sway of the spiritual conception of the kingdom of God. If we may read him so, then his view of heaven must be so interpreted in terms of the ultimate and fundamental contrast between good and evil, progress and perfection, struggle and attainment.

(b) The Epistles.-These add practically nothing to our inquiry, although they are of importance for the study of the Parousia (q.v. [Note: quod vide, which see.] ). The only passage that calls for comment is 1Jn 3:1-3, where the ultimate hope of the believer consists in being like God ( really has in 1Jn 3:2 as its antecedent, but it is characteristic of the writers method of thought that he often passes from God to Christ without apparently being aware of a change of subject; in 1Jn 2:28, e.g., the Parousia is naturally interpreted as Christs, but born of him in 1Jn 2:29 must refer to God; cf. also 1Jn 3:24 with 1Jn 4:13). We have already noticed the tendency in St. Paul and Hebrews to represent the ultimate goal of the Christian as conformity to God or Christ.

(c) The Gospel.-In the Gospel we have: (1) the passages which unequivocally represent heaven as the dwelling-place of the pre-existent Christ- Joh 1:18; Joh 3:13 (which retains the implication, even if we omit with BL [Note: L Bampton Lecture.] 33 and good Western support) Joh 3:31; Joh 6:38; Joh 6:62. Unlike the Pauline passages, these examples are quite unequivocal evidence of the writers belief on this point.

(2) The eschatological passages- Joh 14:1-3; Joh 17:22-24. Here it is worthy of note that the use of the term heaven is avoided. The nearest approach to a suggestion of a place is the phrase in my Fathers house are many abodes, which may perhaps be taken as a spiritualizing of the Temple (cf. my Fathers house in Joh 2:16). Apart from this, the idea of a place of material joy or rest does not appear. We have instead the phrases where I am, with me, receive you unto myself. The satisfaction of a personal relation is presented as the hope. The enjoyment of Divine love without hindrance is the ultimate goal, a spiritual union of character, will, and affections whose type is the union that exists between the Father and the Son. These things constitute heaven. But a resurrection state in the future is also implied by Joh 6:39; Joh 6:54. Nevertheless, the enjoyment of the spiritual blessings described in chs. 14 and 17 does not apparently depend on this at all. For the writer of the Fourth Gospel death is a mere incident that does not break the continuity of eternal life; and where such a position is reached, the precise conception of heaven has evidently become irrelevant.

6. The Apostolic Fathers

(a) Clement of Rome.-In 1 Clement we have the following passages: v. 4: Peter went to his appointed place of glory; v. 7: Paul departed from the world and went unto the holy place; l. 3: they that by Gods grace were perfected in love dwell in the abode of the pious ( ), who shall be manifested in the visitation of the kingdom of God. In 2 Clement we have-v. 5: the rest of the kingdom that shall be; vi. 9: with what confidence shall we enter into the kingdom of God? ( should perhaps be rendered the palace of God); xvii. 7: the righteous see the torments of the wicked; ix. 5: the righteous receive their reward in the flesh, in the coming kingdom.

No striking or original thoughts as to the future place and state of believers are found here. We have the simple acceptance of the doctrine that the righteous enter after death into a place of rest and glory with Christ. The resurrection of the flesh is taught and apparently is referred to the Parousia, but the nature of the intermediate condition is not clearly stated.

(b) Ignatius.-In the Ignatian correspondence there is no explicit doctrine of heaven, but the implication of several passages seems to be that immediately after death the believer is perfected, attains to God. His emphasis is laid principally on the resurrection, which is after the pattern of Christs (Trall. ix. 2). He looks forward to receiving his inheritance; he will rise unto God (Rom. ii. 2); I shall rise free in Him (iv. 3); when I am come thither then I shall be a man (vi. 2). Death for him is new birth ( , vi. 1). It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that Ignatius thought of the believer, or at least the martyr, as entering upon his perfect state and full reward immediately after death. His view of heaven would seem to coincide with the developed Johannine conception, though several phrases, attaining to resurrection, and so forth, are Pauline.

(c) The Martyrdom of Polycarp contains one interesting passage describing the condition of Polycarp after martyrdom: Having by his endurance overcome the unrighteous ruler in the conflict and so received the crown of immortality, he rejoiceth in company with the Apostles and all righteous men, and glorifieth the Almighty God and Father, and blesseth our Lord Jesus Christ (xix. 2).

The Shepherd of Hermas lies outside our period, and is more curious than valuable for information as to the teaching of the Church of the Apostolic Age. It is easy to see that we are no longer dealing with a creative period. The doctrine of heaven is becoming stereotyped. Such a man as Ignatius is probably hardly representative of the general thought of the Church. The passage from the Martyrdom of Polycarp probably gives the common view of the state of the believer in heaven after death.

Conclusion.-In conclusion, it may be said that for the Church in general during the 1st half of the 1st cent. the centre of interest was not heaven but the Parousia of Christ. Heaven occupied the attention of the NT writers principally as the place where Christ was and whence He would come. St. Paul and others, such as the author of Hebrews, were interested principally in the spiritual consequences of the Resurrection of Christ. The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews presents the most striking and consistent picture of the future state of the believer.

As the century advances, the tendency appears in the literature of the period to regard the Parousia more as an article of the faith than as a fact of imminent importance. Side by side with this tendency we find the growth of firmly established ideas of future blessedness based on the imagery of the Apocalypse, crowns and harps, etc., and no searching analysis of the reality of such ideas. It remained for the fresh creative period of Clement of Alexandria and Origen to go over the stereotyped ideas of heaven and transform them.

Literature.-R. H. Charles, Eschatology2, 1913, Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the OT, 1913; P. Volz, Jdische Eschatologie, 1903; J. B. Lightfoot, Apostolic Fathers, 1 vol., 1891; C. Clemen, Primitive Christianity and its Non-Jewish Sources, Eng. translation , 1912; E. F. Scott, The Fourth Gospel, 1906, The Kingdom and the Messiah, 1911; W. O. E. Oesterley, The Last Things, 1908; S. D. F. Salmond, The Christian Doctrine of Immortality4, 1901; H. B. Swete, The Apocalypse of St. John2, 1907; B. F. Westcott, Gospel acc. to St. John, 1908, Epistles of St. John, 1883; Sanday-Headlam, Romans 5 (International Critical Commentary , 1902); articles in Hasting’s Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols) and Dict. of Christ and the Gospels .

S. H. Hooke.

Fuente: Dictionary of the Apostolic Church

HEAVEN

Is considered as a place in some remote part of infinite space, in which the omnipresent Deity is said to afford a nearer and more immediate view of himself, and a more sensible manifestation of his glory, than in the other parts of the universe. That there is a state of future happiness, both reason and Scripture indicate; a general notion of happiness after death has obtained among the wiser sort of heathens, who have only had the light of nature to guide them. If we examine the human mind, it is also evident that there is a natural desire after happiness in all men; and, which is equally evident, is not attained in this life. It is no less observable, that in the present state there is an unequal distribution of things, which makes the providences of God very intricate, and which cannot be solved without supposing a future state. Revelation, however, puts it beyond all doubt. The Divine Being hath promised it, 1Jn 2:25. 1Jn 5:11. Jam 1:12; hath given us some intimation of its glory, 1Pe 3:4; 1Pe 3:22. Rev 3:4. declares Christ hath taken possession of it for us, Joh 14:2-3. and informs us of some already there, both as to their bodies and souls, Gen 5:24. 2Ki 2:1-25 : Heaven is to be considered as a place as well as a state: it is expressly so termed in Scripture, Joh 14:2-3 : and the existence of the body of Christ, and those of Enoch and Elijah, is a further proof of it.

Yea, if it be not a place, where can these bodies be? and where will the bodies of the saints exist after the resurrection? Where this place is, however, cannot be determined. Some have thought it to be beyond the starry firmament; and some of the ancients imagined that their dwelling would be in the sun. Others suppose the air to be the seat of the blessed. Others think that the saints will dwell upon earth when it shall be restored to its paradisaical state; but these suppositions are more curious than edifying, and it becomes us to be silent where divine revelation is so. Heaven, however, we are assured, is a place of inexpressible felicity. The names given to it are proofs of this: it is called paradise, Luk 23:43. Light, Rev 21:23. A building and mansion of God, 2Co 5:1. Joh 14:2. A city, Heb 11:10; Heb 11:16. A better country, Heb 11:16. An inheritance, Act 20:32. A kingdom, Mat 25:34. A crown, 2Ti 4:8. Glory, Psa 84:11. 2Co 4:17. Peace, rest, and joy of the Lord, Is. 57: 2. Heb 4:9. Mat 25:21; Mat 25:23. The felicity of heaven will consist in freedom from all evil, both of soul and body, Rev 7:17; in the enjoyment of God as the chief good, in the company of angels, and saints; in perfect holiness, and extensive knowledge. It has been disputed whether there are degrees of glory in heaven.

The arguments against degrees are, that all the people of God are loved by him with the same love, all chosen together in Christ, equally interested in the same covenant of grace, equally redeemed with the same price, and all predestinated to the same adoption of children; to suppose the contrary, it is said, is to eclipse the glory of divine grace, and carries with it the legal idea of being rewarded for our works. On the other side it is observed, that if the above reasoning would prove any thing, it would prove too much, viz. that we should all be upon an equality in the present world as well as that which is to come; for we are now as much the objects of the same love, purchased by the same blood, &c. as we shall be hereafter. That rewards contain nothing inconsistent with the doctrine of grace, because those very works which it pleaseth God to honour are the effects of his own operation. That all rewards to a guilty creature have respect to the mediation of Christ. That God’s graciously connecting blessings with the obedience of his people, serves to show not only his love to Christ and to them, but his regard to righteousness. That the Scriptures expressly declare for degrees, Dan 12:3. Mat 10:41-42. Mat 19:28-29. Luk 19:16; Luk 19:19. Rom 2:6. 1Co 3:8. 1Co 15:41-42. 2Co 5:10. Gal 6:9.

Another question has sometimes been proposed, viz. Whether the saints shall know each other in heaven? “The arguments, ” says Dr. Ridgley, “which are generally brought in defense of it, are taken from those instances recorded in Scripture, in which persons who have never seen one another before, have immediately known each other in this world, by a special immediate divine revelation given to them, in like manner as Adam knew that Eve was taken out of him; and therefore says, This is now bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man, Gen 2:23. He was cast into a deep sleep, when God took out one of his ribs, and so formed the woman, as we read in the foregoing words; yet the knowledge hereof was communicated to him by God. Moreover, we read that Peter, James, and John, knew Moses and Elias, Mat 17:1-27 : as appears from Peter’s making a particular mention of them: Let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, one for Moses, and one for Elias, 4th ver. though he had never seen them before. Again, our Saviour, in the parable, represents the rich man, as seeing Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom, Luk 16:23, and speaks of him as addressing his discourse to him. From such like arguments, some conclude that it may be inferred that the saints shall know one another in heaven, when joined together in the same assembly. “Moreover, some think that this may be proved from the apostle’s words, in 1Th 2:19-20.

What is our hope or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? for ye are our glory and joy; which seems to argue, that he apprehended their happiness in heaven should contribute, or be an addition to his, as he was made an instrument to bring them thither; even so, by a parity of reason, every one who has been instrumental in the conversion and building up others in their holy faith, as the apostle Paul was with respect to them, these shall tend to enhance their praise, and give them occasion to glorify God on their behalf. Therefore it follows that they shall know one another; and consequently they who have walked together in the ways of God, and have been useful to one another as relations and intimate friends, in what respects more especially their spiritual concerns, these shall bless God for the mutual advantages which they have received, and consequently shall know one another. Again; some prove this from that expression of our Saviour in Luk 16:9. Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations; especially if by these everlasting habitations be meant heaven, as many suppose it is; and then the meaning is, that they whom you have relieved, and shown kindness to in this world, shall express a particular joy upon your being admitted into heaven; and consequently they shall know you, and bless God for your having been so useful and beneficial to them. “

To this it is objected that if the saints shall know one another in heaven, they shall know that several of those who were their intimate friends here on earth, whom they loved with very great affection, are not there; and this will have a tendency to give them some uneasiness, and a diminution of their joy and happiness.” “To this it may be replied, that if it be allowed that the saints shall know that some whom they loved on earth are not in heaven, this will give them no uneasiness: since that affection which took its rise principally from the relation which we stood in to persons on earth, or the intimacy, that we have contracted with them, will cease in another world, or rather run in another channel, and be excited by superior motives; namely, their relation to Christ; that perfect holiness which they are adorned with; their being joined in the same blessed society, and engaged in the same employment, together with their former usefulness one to another in promoting their spiritual welfare, as made subservient to the happiness they enjoy there. And as for others, who are excluded from their society, they will think themselves obliged, out of a due regard to the justice and holiness of God to acquiesce in his righteous judgments. Thus, the inhabitants of heaven are represented as adoring the divine perfections, when the vials of God’s wrath were poured out upon his enemies, and saying, Thou are righteous, O Lord, because thou hast judged thus: true and righteous are thy judgments, Rev 16:5; Rev 16:7.” “

Another question has been sometimes asked, viz. Whether there shall be a diversity of languages in heaven, as there is on earth? This we cannot pretend to determine. Some think that there shall; and that, as persons of all nations and tongues shall make up that blessed society, so they shall praise God in the same language which they before used when on earth; and that this worship may be performed with the greatest harmony, and to mutual edification, all the saints shall, by the immediate power and providence of God, be able to understand and make use of every one of those different languages, as well as their own. This they found on the apostle’s words, in which he says, That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord; which they suppose has a respect to the heavenly state, because it is said to be done both by those that are in heaven, and those that are on earth, Phil.ii. 10, 11. But though the apostle speaks by a metonymy of different tongues, that is, persons who speak different languages being subject to Christ, he probably means thereby persons of different nations, whether they shall praise him in their own language in heaven, or no. Therefore some conjecture that the diversity of languages shall then cease, inasmuch as it took its first rise from God’s judicial hand, when he confounded the speech of those who presumptuously attempted to build the city and tower of Babel; and this has been ever since attended with many inconveniences. And, indeed, the apostle seems expressly to intimate as much, when he says, speaking concerning the heavenly state, that tongues shall cease, 1Co 13:8. that is, the present variety of languages.

Moreover, since the gift of tongues was bestowed on the apostles for the gathering and building up the church in the first ages thereof, which end, when it was answered, this extraordinary dispensation ceased; in like manner it is probable that hereafter the diversity of languages shall cease.” “I am sensible, ” says Dr. Ridgley, “there are some who object to this, that the saints understanding all languages, will be an addition to their honour, glory, and happiness. But to this it may be answered, that though it is, indeed, an accomplishment, in this world, for a person to understand several languages, that arises from the subserviency thereof to those valuable ends that are answered thereby; but this would be entirely removed, if the diversity of languages be taken away in heaven, as some suppose it will.” “There are some, who, it may be, give too much scope to a vain curiosity, when they pretend to enquire what this language shall be, or determine, as the Jews do, and with them some of the fathers, that it shall be Hebrew, since their arguments for it are not sufficiently conclusive, which are principally these, viz.

That this was the language with which God inspired man at first in paradise, and that which the saints and patriarchs spake; and the church generally made use of in all ages till our Saviour’s time; and that it was this language which he himself spake while here on earth; and since his ascension into heaven, he spake to Paul in the Hebrew tongue, Act 26:14. And when the inhabitants of heaven are described in the Revelations as praising God, there is one word used by which their praise is expressed, namely, Hallelujah, which is Hebrew; the meaning whereof is, Praise ye the Lord. But all these arguments are not sufficiently convincing, and therefore we must reckon it no more than a conjecture.” However undecided we may be as to this and some other circumstances, this we may be assured of, that the happiness of heaven will be eternal. Whether it will be progressive or not, and that the saints shall always be increasing in their knowledge, joy, &c. is not so clear. Some suppose that this indicates an imperfection in the felicity of the saints for any addition to be made; but others think it quite analogous to the dealings of God with us here; and that, from the nature of the mind itself, it may be concluded. But however this be, it is certain that our happiness will be complete, 1Pe 5:10. 1Pe 5:4. Heb 11:10. Watts’s Death and Heaven; Gill’s Body of Divinity, vol. 2: p. 495; Saurin’s Sermons, vol. 3: p. 321; Toplady’s Works, vol. 3: p. 471; Bates’s Works; Ridgley’s Body of Divinity, ques. 90.

Fuente: Theological Dictionary

heaven

(Anglo-Saxon: heofon)

In Holy Writ the term heaven is used to designate the dwelling-place of God, His angels, and saints, as well as their happiness, and is called the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5), the kingdom of God (Mark 9), the kingdom of Christ (Luke 22), the house of the Father (John 14), the city of God, the heavenly Jerusalem (Hebrew 12), the holy place (Hebrew 9), paradise (2 Corinthians 12), life everlasting (Matthew 19), the joy of the Lord (Matthew 25), crown of life (James 1), crown of justice (2 Timothy 4), crown of glory (1 Peter 5), eternal inheritance (Hebrews 9). The existence of heaven is denied by atheists, materialists, pantheists, and those rationalists who deny the existence of God and the immortality of the soul. Reason proves that God in His infinite wisdom and justice must give virtue its due reward. Experience teaches that the just do not receive an adequate reward here, since evil often triumphs over good. Hence there must be an eternal recompense hereafter for the soul which is immortal. The supernatural beatitude of heaven fundamentally consists in the intuitive vision of God, i.e., the seeing of God face to face and in experiencing perfect happiness through this beatific vision. Texts of Holy Writ, such as, “I will be thy reward exceeding great,” “I shall be satisfied when Thy glory ap- peareth,” prove that God, the Supreme Author of creation, will be the object of the creature’s eternal delight. Finally, such texts as: “In My Father’s house there are many mansions” (John 14), “Each shall receive his own reward according to his own toil” (1 Corinthians 3), indicate that there are various degrees of happiness among the blessed.

Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary

Heaven

This subject will be treated under seven headings: I. Name and Place of Heaven; II. Existence of Heaven; III. Supernatural Character of Heaven and the Beatific Vision; IV. Eternity of Heaven and Impeccability of the Blessed; V. Essential Beatitude; VI. Accidental Beatitude; VII. Attributes of Beatitude.

I. NAME AND PLACE OF HEAVEN

The Name of Heaven

Heaven (Anglo-Saxon heofon, O.S. hevan and himil, originally himin) corresponds to the Gothic himin-s. Both heaven and himil are formed from himin by a regular change of consonants: heaven, by changing m before n into v; and himil, by changing n of the unaccented ending into l. Some derive heaven from the root ham, “to cover” (cf. the Gothic ham-ôn and the German Hem-d). According to this derivation heaven would be conceived as the roof of the world. Others trace a connection between himin (heaven) and home; according to this view, which seems to be the more probable, heaven would be the abode of the Godhead. The Latin coelum (koilon, a vault) is derived by many from the root of celare “to cover, to conceal” (coelum, “ceiling” “roof of the world”). Others, however think it is connected with the Germanic himin. The Greek ouranos is probably derived from the root var, which also connotes the idea of covering. The Hebrew name for heaven is thought to be derived from a word meaning “on high”; accordingly, heaven would designate the upper region of the world.

In the Holy Bible the term heaven denotes, in the first place, the blue firmament, or the region of the clouds that pass along the sky. Gen., i, 20, speaks of the birds “under the firmament of heaven”. In other passages it denotes the region of the stars that shine in the sky. Furthermore heaven is spoken of as the dwelling of God; for, although God is omnipresent, He manifests Himself in a special manner in the light and grandeur of the firmament. Heaven also is the abode of the angels; for they are constantly with God and see His face. With God in heaven are likewise the souls of the just (2 Corinthians 5:1; Matthew 5:3, 12). In Eph., iv, 8 sq., we are told that Christ conducted to heaven the patriarchs who had been in limbo (limbus patrum). Thus the term heaven has come to designate both the happiness and the abode of just in the next life. The present article treats as heaven in this sense only. In Holy Scripture it is called: the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:3), the kingdom of God (Mark 9:46), the kingdom of the Father (Matthew 13:43), the kingdom of Christ (Luke 22:30), the house of the Father (John 14:2), city of God, the heavenly Jerusalem (Hebr., xii), the holy place (Hebrews 9:12; D. V. holies), paradise (2 Corinthians 12:4), life (Matthew 7:14), life everlasting (Matthew 19:16), the joy of the Lord (Matthew 25:21), crown of life (James 1:12), crown of justice (II Timothy iv, 8), crown of glory (1 Peter 5:4), incorruptible crown (1 Corinthians 9:25), great reward (Matthew 5:12), inheritance of Christ (Ephesians 1:18), eternal inheritance (Hebrews 9:15).

The Location of Heaven

Where is heaven, the dwelling of God and the blessed?

Some are of opinion that heaven is everywhere, as God is everywhere. According to this view the blessed can move about freely in every part of the universe, and still remain with God and see everywhere. Everywhere, too, they remain with Christ (in His sacred Humanity) and with the saints and the angels. For, according to the advocates of this opinion, the spatial distances of this world must no longer impede the mutual intercourse of blessed.

In general, however, theologians deem more appropriate that there should be a special and glorious abode, in which the blessed have their peculiar home and where they usually abide, even though they be free to go about in this world. For the surroundings in the midst of which the blessed have their dwelling must be in accordance with their happy state; and the internal union of charity which joins them in affection must find its outward expression in community of habitation. At the end of the world, the earth together with the celestial bodies will be gloriously transformed into a part of the dwelling-place of the blessed (Revelation 21). Hence there seems to be no sufficient reason for attributing a metaphorical sense to those numerous utterances of the Bible which suggest a definite dwelling-place of the blessed. Theologians, therefore, generally hold that the heaven of the blessed is a special place with definite limits. Naturally, this place is held to exist, not within the earth, but, in accordance with the expressions of Scripture, without and beyond its limits. All further details regarding its locality are quite uncertain. The Church has decided nothing on this subject.

II. EXISTENCE OF HEAVEN

There is a heaven, i.e., God will bestow happiness and the richest gifts on all those who depart this life free from original sin and personal mortal sin, and who are, consequently, in the state of justice and friendship with God. Concerning the purification of those just souls who depart in venial sin or who are still subject to temporal punishment for sin, see PURGATORY. On the lot of those who die free from personal sin, but infected with original sin, see LIMBO (limbus pervulorum). On the immediate beginning of eternal happiness after death, or eventually, after the passage through purgatory, see PARTICULAR JUDGMENT. The existence of heaven is, of course, denied by atheists, materialists, and pantheists of all centuries as well as by those rationalists who teach that the soul perishes with the body — in short, by all who deny the existence of God or the immortality of the soul. But, for the rest, if we abstract from the specific quality and the supernatural character of heaven, the doctrine has never met with any opposition worthy of note. Even mere reason can prove the existence of heaven or of the happy state of the just in the next life.

We shall give a brief outline of the principal arguments. From these we shall, at the same time, see that the bliss of heaven is eternal and consists primarily in the possession of God, and that heaven presupposes a condition of perfect happiness, in which every wish of the heart finds adequate satisfaction. God made all things for His objective honour and glory. Every creature was to manifest His Divine perfections by becoming a likeness of God, each according to its capacity. But man is capable of becoming in the greatest and most perfect manner a likeness of God, when he knows and loves His infinite perfections with a knowledge and love analogous to God’s own love and knowledge. Therefore man is created to know God and to love Him. Moreover, this knowledge and love is to be eternal; for such is man’s capability and his calling, because his soul is immortal. Lastly, to know God and to love Him is the noblest occupation of the human mind, and consequently also its supreme happiness. Therefore man is created for eternal happiness; and he will infallibly attain it hereafter, unless, by sin, he renders himself unworthy of so high a destiny. God made all things for His formal glory, which consists in the knowledge and love shown Him by rational creatures. Irrational creatures cannot give formal glory to God directly, but they should assist rational creatures in doing so. This they can do by manifesting God’s perfections and by rendering other services; whilst rational creatures should, by their own personal knowledge and love of God, refer and direct all creatures to Him as their last end. Therefore every intelligent creature in general, and man in particular, is destined to know and love God for ever, though he may forfeit eternal happiness by sin. God, in his infinite justice and holiness, must give virtue its due reward. But, as experience teaches, the virtuous do not obtain a sufficient reward here; hence they will be recompensed hereafter, and the reward must be everlasting, since the soul is immortal. Nor can it be supposed that the soul in the next life must merit her continuance in happiness by a continued series of combats; for this would be repugnant to all the tendencies and desires of human nature. God, in His wisdom, must set on the moral law a sanction, sufficiently appropriate and efficacious. But, unless each man is rewarded according to the measure of his good works, such a sanction could not be said to exist. Mere infliction of punishment for sin would be insufficient. In any case, reward for good deeds is the best means of inspiring zeal for virtue. Nature itself teaches us to reward virtue in others whenever we can, and to hope for a reward of our own good actions from the Supreme Ruler of the universe. That reward, not being given here, will be given hereafter. God has implanted in the heart of man a love of virtue and a love of happiness; consequently, God, because of His wisdom, must by rewarding virtue establish perfect harmony between these two tendencies. But such a harmony is not established in this life; therefore it will be brought about in the next. Every man has an innate desire for perfect beatitude. Experience proves this. The sight of the imperfect goods of earth naturally leads us to form the conception of a happiness so perfect as to satisfy all the desires of our heart. But we cannot conceive such a state without desiring it. Therefore we are destined for a happiness that is perfect and, for that very reason, eternal; and it will be ours, unless we forfeit it by sin. A natural tendency without an object is incompatible both with nature and with the Creator’s goodness. The arguments thus far advanced prove the existence of heaven as a state of perfect happiness. We are born for higher things, for the possession of God. This earth can satisfy no man, least of all the wise. “Vanity of vanities”, says the Scripture (Eccles., i, 1); and St. Augustine exclaimed: “Thou hast made us for Thyself (O God) and our heart is troubled till it rests in Thee.” We are created for wisdom, for a possession of truth perfect in its kind. Our mental faculties and the aspirations of our nature give proof of this. But the scanty knowledge, that we can acquire on earth stands in no proportion to the capabilities of our soul. We shall possess truth in higher perfection hereafter. God made us for holiness, for a complete and final triumph over passion and for the perfect and secure possession of virtue. Our natural aptitudes and desires bear witness to this. But this happy goal is not reached on earth, but in the next life. We are created for love and friendship, for indissoluble union with our friends. At the grave of those we love our heart longs for a future reunion. This cry of nature is no delusion. A joyful and everlasting reunion awaits the just man beyond the grave. It is the conviction of all peoples that there is a heaven in which the just will rejoice in the next life. But, in the fundamental questions of our being and our destiny, a conviction, so unanimous and universal, cannot be erroneous. Otherwise this world and the order of this world would remain an utter enigma to intelligent creatures, who ought to know at least the necessary means for reaching their appointed end. Very few deny the existence of heaven; and these few are practically all atheists and epicureans. But surely it cannot be that all the rest have erred, and an isolated class of men such as these are not the true guides in the most fundamental questions of our being. For apostasy from God and His law cannot be the key to wisdom.

Revelation also proclaims the existence of heaven. This we have already seen in the preceding section from the many names by which the Bible designates heaven; and from the texts of Scripture, still to be quoted on the nature and peculiar conditions of heaven.

III. SUPERNATURAL CHARACTER OF HEAVEN AND THE BEATIFIC VISION

(1) In heaven the just will see God by direct intuition, clearly and distinctly. Here on earth we have no immediate perception of God; we see Him but indirectly in the mirror of creation. We get our first and direct knowledge from creatures, and then, by reasoning from these, we ascend to a knowledge of God according to the imperfect likeness which creatures bear to their Creator. But in doing so we proceed to a large extent by way of negation, i.e., by removing from the Divine Being the imperfections proper to creatures. In heaven, however, no creature will stand between God and the soul. He himself will be the immediate object of its vision. Scripture and theology tell us that the blessed see God face to face. And because this vision is immediate and direct, it is also exceedingly clear and distinct. Ontologists assert that we perceive God directly in this life, though our knowledge of Him is vague and obscure; but a vision of the Divine Essence, immediate yet vague and obscure, implies a contradiction. The blessed see God, not merely according to the measure of His likeness imperfectly reflected in creation, but they see Him as He is, after the manner of His own Being. That the blessed see God is a dogma of faith, expressly defined by Benedict XII (1336): We define that the souls of all the saints in heaven have seen and do see the Divine Essence by direct intuition and face to face [visione intuitivâ et etiam faciali], in such wise that nothing created intervenes as an object of vision, but the Divine Essence presents itself to their immediate gaze, unveiled, clearly and openly; moreover, that in this vision they enjoy the Divine Essence, and that, in virtue of this vision and this enjoyment, they are truly blessed and possess eternal life and eternal rest” (Denzinger, Enchiridion, ed. 10, n. 530–old edition, n, 456; cf. nn. 693, 1084, 1458 old, nn. 588, 868). The Scriptural argument is based especially on I Cor., xiii, 8-13 (cf. Matthew 18:10; 1 John 3:2; 2 Corinthians 5:6-8, etc.). The argument from tradition is carried out in detail by Petavius (“De. theol. dogm.”, I, i, VII, c. 7). Several Fathers, who seemingly contradict this doctrine, in reality maintain it; they merely teach that the bodily eye cannot see God, or that the blessed do not fully comprehend God, or that the soul cannot see God with its natural powers in this life (cf. Suárez, “De Deo”, l. II, c. 7, n. 17).

(2) It is of faith that the beatific vision is supernatural, that it transcends the powers and claims of created nature, of angels as well as of men. The opposite doctrine of the Beghards and Beguines was condemned (1311) by the Council of Vienne (Denz., n. 475 — old, n. 403), and likewise a similar error of Baius by Pius V (Denz., n. 1003 — old, n. 883). The Vatican Council expressly declared that man has been elevated by God to a supernatural end (Denz., n. 1786 — old, n. 1635; cf. nn. 1808, 1671 — old, nn. 1655, 1527). In this connection we must also mention the condemnation of the Ontologists, and in particular of Rosmini, who held that an immediate but indeterminate perception of God is essential to the human intellect and the beginning of all human knowledge (Denz., nn. 1659, 1927 — old, nn. 1516, 1772). That the vision of God is supernatural can also be shown from the supernatural character of sanctifying grace (Denz., n. 1021 — old, n. 901); for, if the preparation for that vision is supernatural. Even unaided reason recognizes that the immediate vision of God, even if it be at all possible, can never be natural for a creature. For it is manifest that every created mind first perceives its own self and creatures similar to itself by which it is surrounded, and from these it rises to a knowledge of God as the source of their being and their last end. Hence its natural knowledge of God is necessarily mediate and analogous; since it forms its ideas and judgments about God after the imperfect likeness which its own self and its surroundings bear to Him. Such is the only means nature offers for acquiring a knowledge of God, and more than this is not due to any created intellect; consequently, the second and essentially higher way of seeing God by intuitive vision can but be a gratuitous gift of Divine goodness. These considerations prove, not merely that the immediate vision of God exceeds the natural claims of all creatures in actual existence; but they also prove against Ripalda, Becaenus, and others (Recently also Morlias), that God cannot create any spirit which would, by virtue of its nature, be entitled to the intuitive vision of the Divine Essence. Therefore, as theologians express it, no created substance is of its nature supernatural; however, the Church has given no decision on this matter. Cf. Palmieri, “De Deo creante et elevante” (Rome, 1878), thes. 39; Morlais, “Le Surnaturel absolu”, in “Revue du Clergé Français”, XXXI (1902), 464 sqq., and, for the opposite view, Bellamy, “La question du Surnaturel absolu”, ibid., XXXV (1903), 419 sqq. St. Thomas seems to teach (I, Q. xii, a. 1) that man has a natural desire for the beatific vision. Elsewhere, however, he frequently insists on the supernatural character of that vision (e.g. III, Q. ix, a. 2, ad 3um). Hence in the former place he obviously supposes that man knows from revelation both the possibility of the beatific vision and his destiny to enjoy it. On this supposition it is indeed quite natural for man to have so strong a desire for that vision, that any inferior kind of beatitude can no longer duly satisfy him.

(3) To enable it to see God, the intellect of the blessed is supernaturally perfected by the light of glory (lumen gloriae). This was defined by the Council of Vienne in 1311 (Denz., n. 475; old, n. 403); and it is also evident from the supernatural character of the beatific vision. For the beatific vision transcends the natural powers of the intellect; therefore, to see God the intellect stands in need of some supernatural strength, not merely transient, but permanent as the vision itself. This permanent invigoration is called the “light of glory”, because it enables the souls in glory to see God with their intellect, just as material light enables our bodily eyes to see corporeal objects. On the nature of the light of glory the Church has decided nothing. Theologians have elaborated various theories about it, which, however, need not be examined in detail. According to the view commonly and perhaps most reasonably held, the light of glory is a quality Divinely infused into the soul and similar to sanctifying grace, the virtue of faith, and the other supernatural virtues in the souls of the just (cf. Franzelin, “De Deo uno”, 3rd ed., Rome, 1883, thes. 16). It is controverted among theologians whether or not a mental image, be it a species expressa or a species impressa, is required for the beatific vision. But by many this is regarded as largely a controversy about the appropriateness of the term, rather than about the matter itself. The more common and probably more correct view denies the presence of any image in the strict sense of the word, because no created image can represent God as He is (cf. Mazzella, “De Deo creante”, 3rd ed., Rome, 1892, disp. IV, a. 7, sec. 1). The beatific vision is obviously a created act inherent in the soul, and not, as a few of the older theologians thought, the uncreated act of God’s own intellect communicated to the soul. For, “as seeing and knowing are immanent vital actions, the soul can see or know God by its own activity only, and not through any activity exerted by some other intellect. Cf. Gutherlet, “Das lumen gloriae” in “Pastor bonus”, XIV (1901), 297 sqq.

(4) Theologians distinguish the primary and the secondary object of the beatific vision. The primary object is God Himself as He is. The blessed see the Divine Essence by direct intuition, and, because of the absolute simplicity of God, they necessarily see all His perfections and all the persons of the Trinity. Moreover, since they see that God can create countless imitations of His Essence, the entire domain of possible creatures lies open to their view, though indeterminately and in general. For the actual decrees of God are not necessarily an object of that vision, except in as afar as God pleases to manifest them. Therefore finite things are not necessarily seen by the blessed, even if they are an actual object of God’s will. Still less are they a necessary object of vision as long as they are mere possible objects of the Divine will. Consequently the blessed have a distinct knowledge of individual possible things only in so far as God wishes to grant this knowledge. Thus, if God so willed, a blessed soul might see the Divine Essence without seeing in it the possibility of any individual creature in particular. But in fact, there is always connected with the beatific vision a knowledge of various things external to God, of the possible as well as of the actual. All these things, taken collectively, constitute the secondary object of the beatific vision.

The blessed soul sees these secondary objects in God either directly (formaliter), or in as far as God is their cause (causaliter). It sees in God directly whatever the beatific vision discloses to its immediate gaze without the aid of any created mental image (species impressa). In God, as in their cause, the soul sees all those things which it perceives with the aid of a created mental image, a mode of perception granted by God as a natural complement of the beatific vision. The number of objects seen directly in God cannot be increased unless the beatific vision itself be intensified; but the number of things seen in God as their cause may be greater of smaller, or it may very without any corresponding change in the vision itself.

The secondary object of the beatific vision comprises everything the blessed may have a reasonable interest in knowing. It includes, in the first place, all the mysteries which the soul believed while on earth. Moreover, the blessed see each other and rejoice in the company of those whom death separated from them. The veneration paid them on earth and the prayers addressed to them are also known to the blessed. All that we have said on the secondary object of the beatific vision is the common and reliable teaching of theologians. In recent times (Holy Office, 14 Dec., 1887) Rosmini was condemned because he taught that the blessed do not see God Himself, but only His relations to creatures (Denz., 1928-1930 — old, 1773-75). In the earlier ages we find Gregory the Great (“Moral.”, l. XVIII, c. liv, n. 90, in P.L., LXXVI, XCIII) combating the error of a few who maintained that the blessed to not see God, but only a brilliant light streaming forth from Him. Also in the Middle Ages there are traces of this error (cf. Franzelin, “De Deo uno”, 2nd ed., thes. 15, p. 192).

(5) Although the blessed see God, they do not comprehend Him, because God is absolutely incomprehensible to every created intellect, and He cannot grant to any creature the power of comprehending Him as He comprehends Himself. Suárez rightly calls this a revealed truth (“De Deo”, l. II, c. v, n. 6); for the Fourth Council of the Lateran and the Vatican Council enumerated incomprehensibility among the absolute attributes of God (Denz., nn. 428, 1782 — old nn. 355, 1631). The Fathers defend this truth against Eunomius, an Arian, who asserted that we comprehend God fully even in this life. The blessed comprehend God neither intensively nor extensively — not intensively, because their vision has not that infinite clearness with which God is knowable and with which He knows Himself, nor extensively, because their vision does not actually and clearly extend to everything that God sees in His Essence. For they cannot by a single act of their intellect represent every possible creature individually, clearly, and distinctly, as God does; such an act would be infinite, and an infinite act is incompatible with the nature of a created and finite intellect. The blessed see the Godhead in its entirety, but only with a limited clearness of vision (Deum totum sed non totaliter). They see the Godhead in its entirety, because they see all the perfections of God and all the Persons of the Trinity; and yet their vision is limited, because it has neither the infinite clearness that corresponds to the Divine perfections, nor does it extend to everything that actually is, or may still become, an object of God’s free decrees. Hence it follows that one blessed soul may see God more perfectly than another, and that the beatific vision admits of various degrees.

(6) The beatific vision is a mystery. Of course reason cannot prove the impossibility of such a vision. For why should God, in His omnipotence, be unable to draw so near and adapt Himself so fully to our intellect, that the soul may, as it were, directly feel Him and lay hold of Him and look on Him and become entirely immersed in Him? On the other hand, we cannot prove absolutely that this is possible; for the beatific vision lies beyond the natural destiny of our intellect, and it is so extraordinary a mode of perception that we cannot clearly understand either the fact or the manner of its possibility.

(7) From what has been thus far said it is clear that there is a twofold beatitude: the natural and the supernatural. As we have seen, man is by nature entitled to beatitude, provided he does not forfeit it by his own fault. We have also seen that beatitude is eternal and that it consists in the possession of God, for creatures cannot truly satisfy man. Again, as we have shown, the soul is to possess God by knowledge and love. But the knowledge to which man is entitled by nature is not an immediate vision, but an analogous perception of God in the mirror of creation, still a very perfect knowledge which really satisfies the heart. Hence the beatitude to which alone we have a natural claim consists in that perfect analogous knowledge and in the love corresponding to that knowledge. This natural beatitude is the lowest kind of felicity which God, in His goodness and wisdom, can grant to sinless man. But, instead of an analogous knowledge of His Essence He may grant to the blessed a direct intuition which includes all the excellence of natural beatitude and surpasses it beyond measure. It is this higher kind of beatitude that it has pleased God to grant us. And by granting it He not merely satisfies our natural desire for happiness but He satisfies it in superabundance.

IV. ETERNITY OF HEAVEN AND IMPECCABILITY OF THE BLESSED

It is a dogma of faith that the happiness of the blessed is everlasting. This truth is clearly contained in the Holy Bible (see Section I); it is daily professed by the Church in the Apostles’ Creed (credo . . . vitam aeternam), and it has been repeatedly defined by the Church, especially by Benedict XII (cf. Section III). Even reason, as we have seen, can demonstrate it. And surely, if the blessed knew that their happiness was ever to come to an end, this knowledge alone would prevent their happiness from being perfect. In this matter Origen fell into error; for in several passages of his works he seems to incline to the opinion that rational creatures never reach a permanent final state (status termini), but that they remain forever capable of falling away from God and losing their beatitude and of always returning to Him again. The blessed are confirmed in good; they can no longer commit even the slightest venial sin; every wish of their heart is inspired by the purest love of God. That is, beyond doubt, Catholic doctrine. Moreover this impossibility of sinning is physical. The blessed have no longer the power of choosing to do evil actions; they cannot but love God; they are merely free to show that love by one good action in preference to another. But whilst the impeccability of the blessed appears to be unanimously held by theologians, there is a diversity of opinion as to its cause. According to some, its proximate cause consists in this that God absolutely withholds from the blessed His co-operation to any sinful consent. The beatific Vision does not, they argue, of its very nature exclude sin directly and absolutely; because God may still displease the blessed soul in various ways, e.g., by refusing a higher degree to beatitude, or by letting persons whom that soul loves die in sin and sentencing them to eternal torment. Moreover, when great sufferings and arduous duties accompany the beatific vision, as was the case in the human nature of Christ on earth, then at least the possibility of sin is not directly and absolutely excluded. The ultimate cause of impeccability is the freedom from sin or the state of grace in which at his death man passes into the final state (status termini), i.e. into a state of unchangeable attitude of mind and will. For it is quite in consonance with the nature of that state that God should offer only such co-operation as corresponds to the mental attitude man chose for himself on earth. For this reason also the souls in purgatory, although they do not see God, are still utterly incapable of sin. The beatific vision itself may be called a remote cause of impeccability; for by granting so wondrous a token of His love, God may be said to undertake the obligation of guarding from all sin those whom He so highly favours, whether by refusing all co-operation to evil acts or in some other manner. Besides, even if the clear vision of God, most worthy of their love, does not render the blessed physically unable, it certainly renders them less liable, to sin. Impeccability, as explained by the representatives of this opinion, is not, properly speaking, extrinsic, as is often wrongly asserted; but it is rather intrinsic, because it is strictly due to the final state of blessedness and especially to the beatific vision. This is substantially the opinion of the Scotists, likewise of many others, especially in recent times. Nevertheless the Thomists, and with them the greater number of theologians, maintain that the beatific vision of its very nature directly excludes the possibility of sin. For no creature can have a clear intuitive view of the Supreme Good without being by that very fact alone irresistibly drawn to love it efficaciously and to fulfil for its sake even the most arduous duties without the least repugnance. The Church has left this matter undecided. The present writer rather inclines to the opinion of the Scotists because of its bearing on the question of the liberty of Christ. (See HELL under the heading Impenitence of the Damned.)

V. ESSENTIAL BEATITUDE

We distinguish objective and subjective beatitude. Objective beatitude is that good, the possession of which makes us happy; subjective beatitude is the possession of that good. The essence of objective beatitude, or the essential object of beatitude is God alone. For the possession of God assures us also the possession of every other good we may desire; moreover, everything else is so immeasurably inferior to God that its possession can only be looked upon as something accidental to beatitude. Finally, that all else is of minor importance for beatitude is evident from the fact that nothing save God alone is capable of satisfying man. Accordingly the essence of subjective beatitude is the possession of God, and it consists in the acts of vision, love, and joy. The blessed love God with a twofold love; with the love of complacency, by which they love God for His own sake, and secondly with the love less properly so called, by which they love Him as the source of their happiness (amor concupiscentiae). In consonance with this twofold love the blessed have a twofold joy; firstly, the joy of love in the strict sense of the word, by which they rejoice over the infinite beatitude which they see in God Himself, precisely because it is the happiness of God whom they love, and secondly, the joy springing from love in a wider sense, by which they rejoice in God because He is the source of their own supreme happiness. These five acts constitute the essence of (subjective) beatitude, or in more precise terms, its physical essence. In this theologians agree.

Here theologians go a step farther and inquire whether among those five acts of the blessed there is one act, or a combination of several acts, which constitutes the essence of beatitude in a stricter sense, i.e. its metaphysical essence in contradistinction to its physical essence. In general their answer is affirmative; but in assigning the metaphysical essence their opinions diverge. The present writer prefers the opinion of St. Thomas, who holds that the metaphysical essence consists in the vision alone. For, as we have just seen, the acts of love and joy are merely a kind of secondary attributes of the vision; and this remains true, whether love and joy result directly from the vision, as the Thomists hold, or whether the beatific vision by its very nature calls for confirmation in love and God’s efficacious protection against sin.

VI. ACCIDENTAL BEATITUDE

Besides the essential object of beatitude the souls in heaven enjoy many blessings accidental to beatitude. We shall mention only a few: In heaven there is not the least pain or sadness; for every aspiration of nature must be finally realized. The will of the blessed is in perfect harmony with the Divine will; they feel displeasure at the sins of men, but without experiencing any real pain. They delight greatly in the company of Christ, the angels, and the saints, and in the reunion with so many who were dear to them on earth. After the resurrection the union of the soul with the glorified body will be a special source of joy for the blessed. They derive great pleasure from the contemplation of all those things, both created and possible, which, as we have shown, they see in God, at least indirectly as in the cause. And, in particular, after the last judgment the new heaven and the new earth will afford them manifold enjoyment. (See GENERAL JUDGMENT.) The blessed rejoice over sanctifying grace and the supernatural virtues that adorn their soul; and any sacramental character they may have also adds to their bliss. Very special joys are granted to the martyrs, doctors, and virgins, a special proof of victories won in time of trial (Revelation 7:11 sq.; Daniel 12:3; Revelation 14:3 sq.). Hence theologians speak of three particular crowns, aureolas, or glorioles, by which these three classes of blessed souls are accidentally honoured beyond the rest. Aureola is a diminutive of aurea, i.e. aurea corona (golden crown). (Cf. St. Thomas, Supp:96.)

Since eternal happiness is metaphorically called a marriage of the soul with Christ, theologians also speak of the bridal endowments of the blessed. They distinguish seven of these gifts, four of which belong to the glorified body — light, impassibility, agility, subtility (see RESURRECTION); and three to the soul — vision, possession, enjoyment (visio, comprehensio, fruitio). Yet in the explanation given by the theologians of the three gifts of the soul we find but little conformity. We may identify the gift of vision with the habit of the light of glory, the gift of possession with the habit of that love in a wider sense which has found in God the fulfilment of its desires, and the gift of enjoyment we may identify with the habit of love properly so called (halitus caritatis) which rejoices to be with God; in this view these three infused habits would he considered simply as ornaments to beautify the soul. (Cf. St. Thomas, Supp:95)

VII. ATTRIBUTES OF BEATITUDE

There are various degrees of beatitude in heaven corresponding to the various degrees of merit. This is a dogma of faith, defined by the Council of Florence (Denz., n. 693 — old, n. 588). The Bible teaches this truth in very many passages (e.g., wherever it speaks of eternal happiness as a reward), and the Fathers defend it against the heretical attacks of Jovinian. It is true that, according to Matt., xx, 1-16, each labourer receives a penny; but by this comparison Christ merely teaches that, although the Gospel was preached to the Jews first, yet in the Kingdom of Heaven there is no distinction between Jew and Gentile, and that no one will receive a greater reward merely because of being a son of Judah. The various degrees of beatitude are not limited to the accidental blessings, but they are found first and foremost in the beatific vision itself. For, as we have already pointed out, the vision, too, admits of degrees. These essential degrees of beatitude are, as Suárez rightly observes (“De beat.”, d. xi, s. 3, n. 5), that threefold fruit Christ distinguishes when He says that the word of God bears fruit in some thirty, in some sixty, in some a hundredfold (Matthew 13:23). And it is by a mere accommodation of the text that St. Thomas (Supp:96, aa. 2 sqq.) and other theologians apply this text to the different degrees in the accidental beatitude merited by married persons, widows, and virgins.

The happiness of heaven is essentially unchangeable; still it admits of some accidental changes. Thus we may suppose that the blessed experience special joy when they receive greater veneration from men on earth. In particular, a certain growth in knowledge by experience is not excluded; for instance, as time goes on, new free actions of men may become known to the blessed, or personal observation and experience may throw a new light on things already known. And after the last judgment accidental beatitude will receive some increase from the union of soul and body, and from the sight of the new heaven and the earth.

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JOSEPH HONTHEIM

The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VIICopyright © 1910 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, June 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York

Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia

Heaven

There is, says Daubuz, a threefold world, and therefore a threefold heaven- the invisible, the visible, and the political among men, which last may be either civil or ecclesiastical. We shall consider these in the inverse order.

A. Terrestrially and Figuratively regarded. Wherever the scene of a prophetic vision is laid, heaven signifies symbolically the ruling power or government; that is, the whole assembly of the ruling powers, which, in respect to the subjects on earth, are a political heaven, being over and ruling the subjects, as the natural heaven stands over and rules the earth. Thus, according to the subject, is the term to be limited; and therefore Artemidorus, writing in the times of the Roman emperors, makes Italy to be the heaven: As heaven, says he, is the abode of gods, so is Italy of kings. The Chinese call their monarch Tiencu, the son of heaven, meaning thereby the most powerful monarch. And thus, in Mat 24:30, heaven is synonymous to powers and glory; and when Jesus says, The powers of the heaven shall be shaken, it is easy to conceive that he meant that the kingdoms of the world should be overthrown to submit to his kingdom. Any government is a world; and therefore, in Isa 51:15-16, heaven and earth signify apolitical universe, a kingdom or polity. In Isa 65:17, a new heaven and a new earth signify a new government, new kingdom, new people. SEE HEAVEN AND EARTH.

B. Physically treated.

I. Definitions and Distinctions. The ancient Hebrews, for want of a single term like the and the mundus of the Greeks and the Latins used the phrase heaven and earth (as in Gen 1:1; Jer 23:24; and Act 17:24, where H. and E.= the world and all things therein) to indicate the universe, or (as Barrow, Sermons on the Creed, Works [Oxford ed.], 4:556, expresses it) those two regions, superior and inferior, into which the whole system of things is divided, together with all the beings that do reside in them, or do belong unto them, or are comprehended by them (compare Pearson, On the Creed, who, on art. 1 [Maker of H. and E.], adduces the Rabbinical names of a triple division of the universe, making the sea, , distinct from the , . Compare also the Nicene Creed, where another- division occurs of the universe into things visible and invisible). Deducting from this aggregate the idea expressed by earth SEE EARTH; SEE GEOGRAPHY, we get a residue of signification which exactly embraces heaven. Barrow (l. c.) well defines it as all the superior region encompassing the globe of the earth, and from it on all sides extended to a distance inconceivably vast and spacious, with all its parts, and furniture, and inhabitants not only such things in it as are visible and material, but also those which are immaterial and invisible (Col 1:16).

1. Wetstein (in a learned note on 2Co 12:2) and Eisenmenger (Entdecktes Judenthunm, 1, 460) state the Rabbinical opinion as asserting seven heavens. For the substance of Wetstein’s note, see Stanley, Corinthiun, 1. c. This number arises confessedly from’ the mystic: value of the numeral seven; omnis septenarius dilectus est in saeculumine superis. According to Rabbi Abia, there were six antechambers, as it were, or steps to the seventh heaven, which was the in quo Rex habitat-the very presence-chamber of the divine King himself. Compare Origen, Contra Celsum, 6, 289, and Clemens Alex. Stromlata, 4, 636; 5, 692. In the last of these passages the prophet Zephaniah is mentioned, after some apocryphal tradition; to have been caught up into the fifth heaven, the dwelling-place of the angels, in a glory sevenfold greater than the brightness of the sun. In the Rabbinical point of view, the superb throne of king Solomon, with the six steps leading up to it was a symbol of the highest heaven with the throne of the Eternal, above the six inferior heavens (1Ki 10:18-20). These gradations of the celestial regions are probably meant in Amo 9:6, where, however, the entire creation is beautifully described by the stories [or steps of the heaven, for the empyreal heaven; the troop [or globular aggregate, the terra firma; see A. Lapide, ad loc.] of the earth, and the waters of the sea [including the atmosphere, whence the waters are poured out upon the face of the earth]. As for the threesald division of the celestial regions mentioned in the text, Meyer thinks it to be a fiction of the learned Grotius, on the ground of the Rabbinical seven heavens. But this- censure is premature; for

(1) it is very doubtful whether this hebdomadal division is as old as Paul’s time;

(2) it is certain that the Rabbinical doctors are not unanimous about the number seven. Rabbi Judah (Chagiga, fol. 12:2, and Aboth Nathan, 37) says there are two heavens, after Deu 10:14. This agrees with Grotius’s statement, if we combine his nubiferum () and astriferumi () into one region of physical heavens (as indeed Moses does himself in Gen 1:14-15; Gen 1:17; Gen 1:20), and reserve his angeliferum for the the heaven of heavens, the supernal region of spiritual beings, Milton’s Empyrean (P. L. 7:sub fin.). See bishop Pearson’s note, On the Creed (ed. Chevallier), p. 91. The learned note of De Wette on 2Co 12:2 is also worth consulting.

(3) The Targum on 2Ch 6:18 (as quoted by Dr. Gill, Comment. 2 Corinth. 1. c.), expressly mentions the triple distinction of supreme, middle, and lower heavens. Indeed, there is an accumulation of the threefold classification. Thus, in Tseror lansamsor, fol. 1, 4, and 3:2,3, and 82, 2, three worlds are mentioned. The doctors of the Cabbala also hold the opinion of three worlds, Zohar, Numbers fol. 66, 3. And of the highest world there is further a tripartite division, of angels, ; of souls, ; and of spirits, . See Buxtorf’s Lex Rabbin. col. 1620, who refers to D. Kimchi on Psa 19:9. Paul, besides the well-known 2Co 12:2, refers again, only less pointedly, to a plurality of heavens, as in Eph 4:10. See Olshausen (ed. Clark) on the former passage.

2. Accordingly, Barrow (p. 558, with whom compare Grotius and Drusius on 2Co 12:2) ascribes to the Jews the notion that there are three heavens: Coelum nubiferum, or the firmament; Ccelum astriferum, the starry heavens; Coelum angeliferum, or the heaven of heavens, where the angels reside, the third heaven of Paul. This same notion prevails in the fathers. Thus St. Gregory of Nyssa (Hexaem. , 42) describes the first of these heavens as the limited space of the denser air ( ), within which arrange the clouds, the winds, and the birds; the second is the region in which wander the planets and the stars ( ), hence aptly called by Hesychius , locum stelliferum; while the third is the very summit of the visible creation ( ), Paul’s third heaven, higher than the aerial and stellar world, cognizable [not by the eye, but] by the mind alone ( ), which Damascene calls the heaven of heavens, the prime heaven beyond all others ( , , Orthod. Fid. lib. 2, c. 6:p. 83); or, according to St. Basil (In Jesaiarm, visione 2, tom. 1, 813), the throne of God ( ), and to Justin Martyr (Quaest. et Resp. ad Graecos, ad ult. Quaest. p. 236), the house and throne of God (v ).

II. Scripture Passages arranged according to these Distintions. This latter division of the celestial regions is very convenient and quite Biblical.

(I.) Under the first head, caelum nubiferum, the following phrases naturally fall

(a) Fowl, or fowls of the heaven, of the air, see Gen 2:19; Gen 7:3; Gen 7:23; Gen 9:2; Deu 4:17; Deu 28:26; 1Ki 21:24; Job 12:7; Job 28:21; Job 35:11; Psa 8:8; Psa 79:2; Psa 104:12; Jer 7:33 et passim; Eze 29:5 et passim; Dan 2:38; Hos 2:18; Hos 4:3; Hos 7:12; Zep 1:3; Mar 4:3 ( ); Luk 8:5; Luk 9:58; Luk 13:19; Act 10:12; Act 11:6 in all which passages the same original words in the Hebrew, Chaldee, and Greek Scriptures ( . ) are with equal propriety rendered indifferently air and heaven similarly we read of the path of the eagle in the air (Pro 30:19); of the eagles of heaven (Lam 4:19); of the stork of the heaven (Jer 8:7); and of birds of heaven in general (Ecc 10:20; Jer 4:25). In addition to these zoological terms, we have meteorological facts included under the same original words; e.g.

(b) The dew of heaven (Gen 27:28; Gen 27:39; Deu 33:28; Dan 4:15 et passim; Haggai 10 Zec 8:12):

(c) The clouds of heaven (1Ki 18:45; Psa 147:8; Dan 7:13; Mat 24:30; Mat 26:64; Mar 14:62):

(d) The frost of heaven (Job 38:29):

(e) The winds of heaven (1 Kings 18:55; Psa 78:26; Dan 8:8; Dan 11:4; Zec 2:6; Zec 6:5 [see margin]; Mat 24:31; Mar 13:27):

(f) The rain of heaven (Gen 8:2; Deu 11:11; Deu 28:12; Jer 14:22; Act 14:17 [ ]; Jam 5:18; Rev 18:6):

(g) Lightning, with thunder (Job 37:3-4; Luk 17:24).

(II.) Celum astriferum. The vast spaces of which astronomy takes cognizance are frequently referred to: e.g.

(a) in the phrase host of heaven, in Deu 17:3; Jer 8:2; Mat 24:29 [ ]; a sense which is obviously not to be confounded with another signification of the same phrase, as in Luk 2:13 SEE ANGELS

(b) Lights of heaven (Gen 1:14-16; Eze 32:8):

(c) Stars of heaven (Gen 22:17; Gen 26:4; Exo 32:13; Deu 1:10; Deu 10:22; Deu 28:62; Jdg 5:20; Neh 9:23; Isa 13:10, Nah 3:16; Heb 11:12).

(III.) Calum angeliferums. It would exceed our limits if we were to collect the descriptive phrases which revelation has given us of heaven in its sublimest sense, we content ourselves with indicating one or two of the most obvious:

(a) The heaven of heavens (Deu 10:14; 1Ki 8:27; 2Ch 2:6; 2Ch 2:18; Neh 9:6 Psa 115:16; Psa 148:4 :

(b) The third heavens (2Co 12:2):

(c) The high and lofty [place] (Isa 47:15): (d) The highest (Mat 21:9; Mar 11:10; Luk 2:14, compared with Psalm 168:1). This heavenly sublimity was graciously brought down to Jewish apprehension in the sacred symbol of their Tabernacle and Temple, which they reverenced (especially in the adytum of the Holy of Holies) as the place where God’s honor dwelt (Psa 26:8), and amidst the sculptured types of his celestial retinue, in the cherubim of the mercy-seat (2Ki 19:15; Psa 80:1 : Isa 37:16). III. Meaning of the Terms used in the Original.

1. By far the most frequent designation of heaven in the Hebrew Scriptures is , shama’yim, which the older lexicographers [see Cocceius, Lex. s.v.] regarded as the dual, but which Gesenius and Frst have restored to the dignity, which St. Jerome gave it, of the plural of an obsolete noun, as (. plur. omf and from ). According to these recent scholars, the idea expressed by the word is height, elevation (Gesenius, Thes. p. 1453; Furst, Hebr. Wort. 2, 467). In this respect of: its essential meaning it resembles the Greek obpavoi [from the radical 6 p, denoting height] (Pott, Etymol. Forsch. 1, 123, ed. 1). Pott’s rendering of this root op, by sich erheben, reminds us of our own beautiful word heaven, which thus enters into brotherhood of signification with the grand idea of the Hebrew, Chaldee, and Greek.. Professor Bosworth, in his Anglo-Sax. Dict. under the verb hebban, to raise or elevate, gives the kindred words of the whole Teutonic family, and deduces there from the noun heofon or heofen, in the sense of heaven. And although the primary notion of the Latin caelum (akin to and our hollow) is the less sublime one of a covered or vaulted space, yet the loftier sense of elevation has prevailed, both in the original (see White and Riddle, s.v. Caelum) and in the derived languages (comp. French ciel, and the English word ceiling)

2. Closely allied in meaning, though unconnected in origin with , is the oft-recurring , mardm’. This word is never Englished heaven, but heights, or high place, or high places. There can, however, be no doubt of its celestial signification (and that in the grandest degree) in such passages as Psa 68:18 [Hebr. 19]; 93:4; 102:19 [or in the Hebr. Bib. 20, where is equal to the of the parallel clause]; similarly, Job 31:2; Isa 57:15; Jer 25:30. Dr. Kalisch (Genesis, Introd. p. 21) says It was a common belief among all ancient nations that at the summit of the shadow of the earth, or on the top of the highest mountain of the earth, which reaches with its crest into heaven the gods have their palace or hall of assembly, and he instances the Babylonian Albordsh, the chief abode of Ormuzd, among the heights of the Caucasus; and the Hindoo Meru; and the Chinese Kulkun (or Kaen-lun); and the Greek Olympus (and Atlas); and the Arabian Caf; and the Parsee Tireh. He, however, while strongly and indeed most properly censuring the identification of Mount Meru with Mount Moriah (which had hastily been conjectured from the accidental resemblance of the names), deems it improbable that the Israelites should have entertained, like other ancient nations, the notion of local height for the abode of him whose glory the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain; and this he supposes on the ground that such a notion rests essentially on polytheistic ideas. Surely the learned commentator is premature in both these statements.

(1.) No such improbability, in fact, unhappily, can be predicated of the Israelites, who in ancient times (notwithstanding the divine prohibitions) exhibited a constant tendency, to the ritual of their , or high places. Gesenius makes a more correct statement when he says [Hebr. Lex. by Robinson, p. 138], The Hebrews, like most other ancient nations, supposed that sacred rites performed on high places were particularly acceptable to the Deity.. Hence they were accustomed to offer sacrifices upon mountains and hills, both to idols and to God himself (1Sa 9:12 sq.; 1 Chronicles 13:29 sq.; 1Ki 3:4; 2Ki 12:2-3; Isa 45:7); and also to build there chapels, fanes, tabernacles ( , 1Ki 13:32; 2Ki 17:29), with their priests and other ministers of the sacred rites ( , 1Ki 12:32; 2Ki 17:32). So tenacious of this ancient custom were not only the ten tribes, but also all the Jews, that, even after the building of Solomon’s Temple, in spite of the express law of Deuteronomy 12, they continued to erect such chapels on the mountains around Jerusalem.

(2.) Neither from the character of Jehovah, as the God of Israel, can the improbability be maintained, as if it were of the essence of polytheism only to localize Deity on mountain heights. The high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy, in the proclamation which he is pleased to make of his own style, does not limit his abode to celestial sublimities; in one of the finest passages of even Isaiah’s poetry, God claims as one of the stations of his glory the shrine of a contrite and humble spirit (Isa 57:15). His loftiest attributes, therefore, are not compromised, nor is the amplitude of his omnipresence compressed by an earthly residence. Accordingly, the same Jehovah who walketh on the high places, , of the earth (Amo 4:13); who treadeth on the fastnesses, , of the sea (Job 9:8); and who ascendeth above the heights, , of the clouds, was pleased to consecrate Zion as his dwelling-place (Psa 87:2), and his rest (Psa 132:13-14). Hence we find the same word, , which is often descriptive of the sublimest heaven, used of Zion, which Ezekiel calls the mountain of the height of Israel, (Eze 17:23; Eze 20:40; Eze 34:14).

3. , galgal’. This word, which literally meaning a wheel, admirably expresses rotatory movement, is actually rendered heaven in the A.V. of Psa 77:18 : The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven, [Sept. ; Vulg. in rota]. Luther’s version agrees with the A. Vers. in Himmel; and Dathe renders per orbem, which is ambiguous, being as expressive, to say the least, of the globe of the earth as of the circle of heaven. The Targum (in Walton, vol. iii) on the passage gives; (il rota), which is as indeterminate as the original, as the Syriac also seems to be. De Wette (and after him Justus Olshausen, Die Ps erklrt, 1. c.) renders the phrase in the whirlwind. Maurer, who disapproves of this rendering, explains the phrase rotated. But, amidst the uncertainty of the versions, we are disposed to think that it was not without good reason that our translators, in departing from the previous version (see Psalter, ad loc., which has, the voice of thy thunder was heard round about), deliberately rendered the passage in the heaven, as if the were the correlative of , both being poetic words, and both together equalled the heaven and the earth. In Jam 3:6, the remarkable phrase, , the course, circuit, or wheel of nature, is akin to our . (The Syriac renders the by the same word, which occurs in the psalm as the equivalent of , Schaaf’s Lex. Syr.; and of the same indefiniteness of signification.) That the general sense heaven best expresses the force of Psa 77:18, is rendered probable, moreover, by the description which Josephus gives (Ant. 2, 16, 3) of the destruction of Pharaoh’s host in the Red Sea, the subject of that part of the psalm, Showers of rain descended from heaven, , , with dreadful thunders and lightning, and flashes of fire; thunderbolts were darted upon them, nor were there any indications of God’s wrath upon men wanting on that dark and dismal night.

4. As the words we have reviewed indicate the height and rotation of the heavens, so the two we have yet to examine exhibit another characteristic of equal prominence, the breadth and expanse of the celestial regions. These are , shach’ak (generally used in the plural) and . They occur together in Job 37:18 : Hast thou with him spread out () the sky or expanse of heaven? (, where is the sign of the objective). We must examine them separately. The root is explained by Gesenius to grind to powder, and then to expand by rubbing or beating. Meier (Hebr. Wurzelw. b. p. 446) compares it with the Arabic shachaka, to make fine, to attenuate (whence the noun shachim, a thin cloud). With him agrees Furst (Hebrew. b. 2, 433). The Heb. subst. is therefore well adapted to designate the sky region of heaven with its cloud dust, whether fine or dense. Accordingly, the meaning of the word in its various passages curiously oscillates between sky and cloud. When Moses, in Deu 33:26, lauds Jehovah’s riding in his excellence on the sky; and when, in 2Sa 22:12, and repeated in Psa 18:11 (12), David speaks of the thick clouds of the skies; when Job (Job 37:18) asks, Hast thou with him spread out the sky? when the Psalmist (Psa 77:17 [18 ]) speaks of the skies sending out a sound, and the prophet (Isa 45:8), figuratively, of their pouring down righteousness; when, finally, Jer 51:9, by a frequently occurring simile [comp. Rev 18:5, ], describes the judgment of Babylon as lifted up even to the skies, in every instance our word in the plural is employed. The same word in the same form is translated clouds in Job 35:5; Job 36:28; Job 37:21; Job 38:37; in Psa 36:5 (6); 57, 10 (11); Psa 68:34 (35) [margin, heavens]; Psa 78:23; in Pro 3:20; Pro 8:28. The prevalent sense of this word, we thus see, is a meteorological one, and falls under our first head of caelum nubiferum: its connection with the other two heads is much slighter. It bears probably an astronomical sense in Psa 89:37 (38), where the faithful witness in heaven seems to be in apposition to the sun and the moon (Bellarmine, ad loc.), although some suppose the expression to mean the rainbow, the witness of God’s covenant with Noah; Gen 9:13 sq. (see J. Olshausen, ad loc.). This is perhaps the only instance of its falling under the class caelum astriferum; nor have we a much more frequent reference to the higher sense of the coehln angeliferum (Psa 89:6 containing the only explicit allusion to this sense) unless, with Gesenius, Thes. s.v. we refer Psalm 58:35 also to it. More probably in Deu 33:26 (where it is parallel with , and in the highly poetical passages of Isa 45:8, and Jer 51:9, our word may be best regarded as designating the empyreal heavens.

5. We have already noticed the connection between and our only remaining word , raki’a, from their being associated by the sacred writer in the same sentence (Job 37:18); it tends to corroborate this connection that, on comparing Gen 1:6 (and seven other passages in the same chapter) with Deu 33:26, we find of the former sentence, and of the latter, both rendered by the Sept. and firmamentum in the Vulg., whence the word firmament passed into our A.V. This word is now a well-understood term in astronomy, synonymous with sky or else the general heavens, undivested by the discoveries of science of the special signification which it bore in the ancient astronomy. SEE FIRMAMENT.

For a clear exposition of all the Scripture passages which bear on the subject, we may refer the reader to professor Dawson’s Archaia, especially chap. 8, and to Dr. M’Caul on The Mosaic Record of Creation (or, what is substantially the same treatise in a more accessible form, his Notes on the First Chapter of Genesis, sec. 9:p. 32-44). We must be content here, in reference to our term , to observe that, when we regard its origin (from the root , to spread out or expand by beating; Gesen. s.v.; Fuller, Misc. Sacr. 1, 6; Furst, Hebr. w. b. s.v.), and its connection with, and illustration by, such words as , clouds, and the verbs (Isa 48:13, My right hand hath spread out the heavens) and (Isa 40:22, Who stretcheth out the heavens like a curtain [literally, like fineness], and spreadeth them out as a tent), we are astonished at certain rationalistic attempts to control the meaning of an intelligible term, which fits in easily and consistently with the nature of things, by a few poetical metaphors, that are themselves capable of a consistent sense when lcell subordinate to the plainer passages of prose. The fuller expression is (Gen 1:14 sq.). That Moses understood it to mean a solid expanse is clear from his representing it as the barrier between the upper and lower waters (Gen 1:6 sq.), i.e. as separating the reservoir of the celestial ocean (Psa 104:3; Psa 29:3) from the waters of the earth, or those on which the earth was supposed to float (Psa 136:6). Through its open lattices (, Gen 7:11; 2Ki 7:2; 2Ki 7:19; compare , Aristophanes, Nub. 373) or doors (, Psa 78:23) the dew, and snow, and hail are poured upon the earth (Job 38:22; Job 38:37, where we have the curious expression bottles of heaven, utres caeli). This firm vault, which Job describes as being strong as a molten looking-glass (Job 37:18), is transparent, like pellucid sapphire, and splendid as crystal (Dan 12:3; Exo 24:10; Eze 1:22; Rev 4:6), over which rests the throne of God (Isa 66:1; Eze 1:26), and which is opened for the descent of angels, or for prophetic visions (Gen 28:17; Eze 1:1; Act 7:56; Act 10:11). In it, like gems or golden lamps, the stars are fixed to give light to the earth, and regulate the seasons (Gen 1:14-19); and the whole magnificent, immeasurable structure (Jer 31:37) is supported by the mountains as its pillars, or strong foundations (Psa 18:7; 2Sa 22:8; Job 24:11). Similarly the Greeks believed in an (Hom. II. 5, 504), or (Horn. Od. 15, 328), or (Orph. Hymn. ad Coelum), which the philosophers called or (Empedocles, ap. Plut. de Phil. plac. 2, 11; Artemid. ap. Sen. Nat. Quaest. 7, 13; quoted by Gesenius, s.v.). It is clear that very many of the above notions were metaphors resulting from the simple primitive conception, and that later writers among the Hebrews had arrived at more scientific views, although, of course, they retained much of the old phraseology, and are fluctuating and undecided in their terms. Elsewhere, for instance, the heavens are likened to a curtain (Psa 104:2; Isa 40:22). SEE COSMOGONY.

IV. Metaphorical Application of the Visible Heavens. A door opened in heaven is the beginning of a new revelation. To ascend up into heaven signifies to be in full power. Thus is the symbol to be understood in Isa 14:13-14, where the king of Babylon says, I will ascend into heaven; I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. To descend from heaven signifies, symbolically, to act by a commission from heaven. Thus our Savior uses the word descending (Joh 1:51) in speaking of the angels acting by divine commission, at the command of the Son of man. To fall from heaven signifies to lose power and authority, to be deprived of the power to govern, to revolt or apostatize.

The heaven opened. The natural heaven, being the symbol of the governing part of the political world, a new face in the natural, represents a new face in the political. Or the heaven may be said to be opened when the day appears, and consequently shut when night’ comes on, as appears from Virgil (AEn. 10, 1), The gates of heaven unfold, etc. Thus the Scripture, in a poetical manner, speaks of the doors of heaven (Psa 78:23); of the heaven being shut (1Ki 8:35); and in Eze 1:1, the heaven is said to be opened. Midst of heaven may be the air, or the region between heaven and earth; or the middle station between the corrupted earth and the throne of God in heaven. In this sense, the air is the proper place where God’s threatenings and judgments should be denounced. Thus, in 1Ch 21:16, it is said that David saw the angel of the Lord stand between the earth and the heaven as he was just going to destroy Jerusalem with the pestilence. The angel’s hovering there was to show that there was room to pray for mercy, just as God was going to inflict the punishment: it had not as yet done any execution.

C. Spiritual and Everlasting Sense, i.e. the state and place of blessedness in the life to come. Of the nature of this blessedness it is not possible that we should form any adequate conception, and, consequently, that any precise information respecting it should be given to us. Man, indeed, usually conceives the joys of heaven to be the same as, or at least to resemble, the pleasures of this world; and each one hopes to obtain with certainty, and to enjoy in full measure beyond the grave, that which he holds most dear upon earth-those favorite employments or particular delights which he ardently longs for here, but which he can seldom or never enjoy in this world, or in the enjoyment of which he is never fully satisfied. But one who reflects soberly on the subject will readily see that the happiness of heaven must be a very different thing from earthly happiness. In this world the highest pleasures of which our nature is capable satiate by their continuance, and soon lose the power of giving positive enjoyment. This alone is sufficient to show that the bliss of the future world must be of an entirely different kind from what is called earthly joy and happiness, if we are to be there truly happy, and happy brever. But since we can have no distinct conception of those joys which never have been and never will be experienced by us here in their full extent, we have, of course, no words in human language to express them, and cannot therefore expect any clear description of them even in the holy Scriptures. Hence the Bible describes this happiness sometimes in general terms, designating its greatness (as in Rom 8:18-22; 2Co 4:17-18), and sometimes by various figurative images and modes of speech, borrowed from everything which we know to be attractive and desirable.

The greater part of these images were already common among the Jewish contemporaries of Christ; but Christ and his apostles employed them in a purer sense than the great multitude of the Jews. The Orientals are rich in such figures. They were employed by Mohammed, who carried them, as his manner was, to an extravagant excess, but who at the same time said expressly that they were mere figures, although many of his followers afterwards understood them literally, as has been often done in a similar way by many Christians.

The following are the principal terms, both literal and figurative, which are applied in Scripture to the condition of future happiness.

a. Among the literal appellations we find , , which, according to Hebrew usage, signify a happy life, or eternal well-being, and are the words rendered life, eternal life, and life everlasting in the A. Vers. (e.g. Mat 7:14; Mat 19:16; Mat 19:29; Mat 25:46): , , glory, the glory of God (Rom 2:7; Rom 2:10; Rom 5:2); and , , peace (Rom 2:10). Also , an eternal weight of glory (2Co 4:17); and , , salvation, eternal salvation (Heb 5:9), etc.

b. Among the figurative representations we may place the word heaven itself. The abode of departed spirits, to us who live upon the earth, and while we remain here, is invisible and inaccessible, beyond the bounds of the visible world, and entirely separated from it. There they live in the highest well being, and in a nearer connection with God and Christ than here below. This place and state cannot be designated by any more fit and brief expression than that which is found in almost every language, namely, heaven a word in its primary and material signification denoting the region of the skies, or the visible heavens. This word, in Heb. , in Gr. , is therefore frequently employed by the sacred writers, as above exemplified. It is there that the highest sanctuary or temple of God is situated, i.e. it is there that the omnipresent God most gloriously reveals himself. This, too, is the abode of (rod’s highest spiritual creation. Thither Christ was transported: he calls it the house of his Father, and says that he has therein prepared an abode for his followers (Joh 14:2).

This place, this heaven, was never conceived of in ancient times, as it has been by some modern writers, as a particular planet or world, but as the wide expanse of heaven, high above the atmosphere or starry heavens; hence it is sometimes called the third heaven, as being neither the atmosphere nor the starry heavens. Another figurative name is Paradise, taken from the abode of our first parents in their state of innocence, and transferred to the abode of the blessed (Luk 23:43; 2Co 12:4; Rev 2:7; Rev 22:2).

Again, this place is called the heavenly Jerusalem (Gal 4:26; Heb 12:22; Rev 3:12), because the earthly Jerusalem was the capital city of the Jews, the royal residence, and the seat of divine worship; the kingdom of heaven (Mat 25:1; Jam 2:5); the heavenly kingdom (2Ti 4:18); the eternal kingdom (2Pe 1:11). It is also called an eternal inheritance (1Pe 1:4; Heb 9:15), meaning the possession and full enjoyment of happiness, typified by the residence of the ancient Hebrews in Palestine. The blessed are said to sit down at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that is, to be a sharer with the saints of old in the joys of salvation; to be in Abraham’s bosom (Luk 16:22; Mat 8:11), that is, to sit near or next to Abraham [see BOSOM]; to reign with Christ (2Ti 2:11), i.e. to be distinguished, honored, and happy as he is to enjoy regal felicities, to enjoy a Sabbath, or rest (Heb 4:10-11), indicating the happiness of pious Christians both in this life and in the life to come.

All that we can with certainty know or infer from Scripture or reason respecting the blessedness of the life to come may be arranged under the following particulars:

I. We shall hereafter be entirely freed from the sufferings and adversities of this life.

II. Our future blessedness will involve a continuance of the real happiness of this life.

I. The entire exemption from suffering, and all that causes suffering here, is expressed in Scripture by words which denote rest, repose, refreshment, after performing labor and enduring affliction. But all the terms which are employed to express this condition define (in the original) the promised rest as rest after labor, and exemption from toil and grief, and not the absence of employment, not inactivity or indolence (2Th 1:7; Heb 4:9; Heb 4:11; Rev 14:13; compare 7:17). This deliverance from the evils of our present life includes, 1. Deliverance from this earthly body, the seat of the lower principles of our nature and of our sinful corruption, and the source of so many evils and sufferings (2Co 6:1-2; 1Co 15:42-50).

2. Entire separation from the society of wicked and evil-disposed persons, who in various ways injure the righteous man and embitter his life on earth (2Ti 4:18). It is hence accounted a part of the felicity even of Christ himself in heaven to be separate from sinners (Heb 7:26).

3. Upon this earth everything is inconstant and subject to perpetual change, and nothing is capable of completely satisfying our expectations and desires. But in the world to come it will be different. The bliss of the saints will continue without interruption or change, without fear of termination, and without satiety (Luk 20:36; 2Co 4:16; 2Co 4:18; 1Pe 1:4; 1Pe 5:10; 1Jn 3:2 sq.).

II. Besides being exempt from all earthly trials, and having a continuance of that happiness which we had begun to enjoy even here, we have good reason to expect hereafter other rewards and joys, which stand in no natural or necessary connection with the present life; for our entire felicity would be extremely defective and scanty were it to be confined merely to that which we carry with us from the present world, to that peace and joy of soul which result from reflecting on what we may have done which is good and pleasing in the sight of God, since even the best men will always discover great imperfections in all that they have done. Our felicity would also be incomplete were we compelled to stop short with that meager and elementary knowledge which we take with us from this world-that knowledge so broken up into fragments, and yielding so little fruit, and which, poor as it is, many good men, from lack of opportunity, and without any fault on their part, never here acquire. Besides the natural rewards of goodness, there must therefore be others which are positive, and dependent on the will of the supreme Legislator.

On this point almost all philosophers are, for the above reasons, agreed even those who will admit of no positive punishments in the world to come. But, for want of accurate knowledge of the state of things in the future world, we can say nothing definite and certain as to the nature of the positive rewards. In the doctrine of the New Testament, however, positive rewards are considered most obviously as belonging to our future felicity, and as constituting a principal part of it; for it always represents the joys of heaven as resulting strictly from the favor of God, and as being undeserved by those on whom they are bestowed. Hence there must be something more added to the natural good consequences of our actions here performed. But on this subject we know nothing more in general than this, that God will so appoint and order our circumstances, and make such arrangements, that the principal faculties of our souls, reason and affection, will be heightened and developed, so that we shall continually obtain more pure and distinct knowledge of the truth, and make continual advances in holiness.

We may remark that in this life God has very wisely allotted various capacities, powers, and talents, in different ways and degrees, to different men, according to the various ends for which he designs them, and the business on which he employs them. Now there is not the least reason to suppose that God will abolish this variety in the future world; it will rather continue there in all its extent. We must suppose, then, that there will be, even in the heavenly world, a diversity of tastes, of labors, and of employments, and that to one person this, to another that field, in the boundless kingdom of truth and of useful occupation, will be assigned for his cultivation, according to his peculiar powers, qualifications, and tastes. A presentiment of this truth is contained in the idea, which was widely diffused throughout the ancient world, viz. that the manes will continue to prosecute in the future life the employments to which they had been here accustomed. At least such arrangements will doubtless be made by God in the future life that each individual will there develop more and more the germs implanted within him by the hand of the Creator; and will be able, more fully than he ever could do here, to satisfy the wants of his intellectual nature, and thus to make continual progress in the knowledge of everything worthy of being known, of which he could only learn the simplest elements in this world; and he will be able to do this in such a way that the increase of knowledge will not be detrimental to piety, as it often proves on earth, but rather promotive of it. To the sincere and ardent searcher after truth it is a rejoicing and consoling thought that-he will be able hereafter to perfect that knowledge which here has so many deficiencies (1Co 13:9).

But there is danger of going too far on this point, and of falling into strange misconceptions. Various as the tastes and wants of men in the future world will doubtless be, they will still be in many respects different from what they are here, because the whole sphere of action, and the objects by which we shall there be surrounded, will be different. We shall there have a changed and more perfect body, and by this single circumstance shall be freed at once from many of the wants and inclinations which have their seat in the earthly body. This will also contribute much to rectify, enlarge, and perfect our knowledge. Many things which seem to us very important and essential during this our state of infancy upon earth will hereafter doubtless appear in a different light: we shall look upon them as trifles and children’s play, and employ ourselves in more important occupations, the utility and interest of which we have never before imagined.

Some theologians have supposed that the saints in heaven may be taught by immediate divine revelations (lumen gloriae), especially those who may enter the abodes of the blessed without knowledge, or with only a small measure of it; e.g. children and others who have died in ignorance, for which they themselves were not to blame. On this subject nothing is definitely taught in the Scriptures, but both Scripture and reason warrant us in believing that provision will be made for all such persons in the world to come. A principal part of our future happiness will consist, according to the Christian doctrine, in the enlarging and correcting of our knowledge respecting God, his nature, attributes, and works, and in the salutary application of this knowledge to our own moral benefit, to the increase of our faith, love, and obedience. There has been some controversy among theologians with regard to the vision of God (visio Dei intuitiva, sensitiva, beatifica, comprehensiva). The question is whether the saints will hereafter behold God with the eyes of the mind, i.e. merely know him with the understanding.

But in the Scriptures God is always represented as a being invisible by the bodily eye (), as, indeed, every spirit is. The texts of Scripture which speak of seeing God have been misunderstood: they signify, sometimes, the more distinct knowledge of God, as we speak of knowing by seeing, of seeing with the eyes of the mind (Joh 1:18; 1Jn 3:2; 1Jn 4:12; comp. 5:20; 1Ti 6:16); and Paul uses and as synonymous (1Co 13:12-13; comp. 5:10). Again, they express the idea of felicity, the enjoyment of God’s favor, the being thought worthy of his friendship, etc. Still more frequently are both of these meanings comprehended under the phrase to see God. The image is taken from Oriental princes, to see whose face and to be in whose presence was esteemed a great favor (Matthew 5, 8; Heb 7:14). Without holiness, . The opposite of this is to be removed from God and from his face. But Christ is always represented as one who will be personally visible to us, and whose personal, familiar intercourse and guidance we shall enjoy. Herein Christ himself places a chief part of the joy of the saints (John 14, 17, etc.); and the apostles often describe the blessedness of the pious by the phrase being with Christ. To his guidance has God entrusted the human race, in heaven and on earth. And Paul says (2Co 4:6), we see the brightness of the divine glory in the face of Christ; he is the visible representative of the invisible God (Col 1:15).

According to the representations contained in the holy Scriptures, the saints will dwell together in the future world, and form, as- it were, a kingdom or state of God (Luke 16; Luk 20:38; Rom 8:10; Rev 7:9; Heb 12:22). They will there partake of a common felicity. Their enjoyment will doubtless be very much heightened by friendship, and by their confiding intercourse with each other. We must, however, separate all earthly imperfections from our conceptions of this heavenly society. But that we shall there recognize our former friends, and shall be again associated with them, was uniformly believed by all antiquity. And when we call to mind the affectionate manner in which Christ soothed his disciples by the assurance that they should hereafter see him again, should be with him, and enjoy personal intercourse and friendship with him in that place to which he was going (Joh 14:3; comp. 1Pe 1:8), we may gather just grounds for this belief. Paul, indeed, says expressly that we shall be with Christ, in company with our friends who died before us ( , 1Th 4:17); and this presupposes that we shall recognize them, and have intercourse with them, as with Christ himself. SEE ETERNAL LIFE.

Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

Heaven

(1.) Definitions. The phrase “heaven and earth” is used to indicate the whole universe (Gen. 1:1; Jer. 23:24; Acts 17:24). According to the Jewish notion there were three heavens,

(a) The firmament, as “fowls of the heaven” (Gen. 2:19; 7:3, 23; Ps. 8:8, etc.), “the eagles of heaven” (Lam. 4:19), etc.

(b) The starry heavens (Deut. 17:3; Jer. 8:2; Matt. 24:29).

(c) “The heaven of heavens,” or “the third heaven” (Deut. 10:14; 1 Kings 8:27; Ps. 115:16; 148:4; 2 Cor. 12:2).

(2.) Meaning of words in the original,

(a) The usual Hebrew word for “heavens” is _shamayim_, a plural form meaning “heights,” “elevations” (Gen. 1:1; 2:1).

(b) The Hebrew word _marom_ is also used (Ps. 68:18; 93:4; 102:19, etc.) as equivalent to _shamayim_, “high places,” “heights.”

(c) Heb. galgal, literally a “wheel,” is rendered “heaven” in Ps. 77:18 (R.V., “whirlwind”).

(d) Heb. shahak, rendered “sky” (Deut. 33:26; Job 37:18; Ps. 18:11), plural “clouds” (Job 35:5; 36:28; Ps. 68:34, marg. “heavens”), means probably the firmament.

(e) Heb. rakia is closely connected with (d), and is rendered “firmamentum” in the Vulgate, whence our “firmament” (Gen. 1:6; Deut. 33:26, etc.), regarded as a solid expanse.

(3.) Metaphorical meaning of term. Isa. 14:13, 14; “doors of heaven” (Ps. 78:23); heaven “shut” (1 Kings 8:35); “opened” (Ezek. 1:1). (See 1 Chr. 21:16.)

(4.) Spiritual meaning. The place of the everlasting blessedness of the righteous; the abode of departed spirits.

(a) Christ calls it his “Father’s house” (John 14:2).

(b) It is called “paradise” (Luke 23:43; 2 Cor. 12:4; Rev. 2:7).

(c) “The heavenly Jerusalem” (Gal. 4: 26; Heb. 12:22; Rev. 3:12).

(d) The “kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 25:1; James 2:5).

(e) The “eternal kingdom” (2 Pet. 1:11).

(f) The “eternal inheritance” (1 Pet. 1:4; Heb. 9:15).

(g) The “better country” (Heb. 11:14, 16).

(h) The blessed are said to “sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” and to be “in Abraham’s bosom” (Luke 16:22; Matt. 8:11); to “reign with Christ” (2 Tim. 2:12); and to enjoy “rest” (Heb. 4:10, 11).

In heaven the blessedness of the righteous consists in the possession of “life everlasting,” “an eternal weight of glory” (2 Cor. 4:17), an exemption from all sufferings for ever, a deliverance from all evils (2 Cor. 5:1, 2) and from the society of the wicked (2 Tim. 4:18), bliss without termination, the “fulness of joy” for ever (Luke 20:36; 2 Cor. 4:16, 18; 1 Pet. 1:4; 5:10; 1 John 3:2). The believer’s heaven is not only a state of everlasting blessedness, but also a “place”, a place “prepared” for them (John 14:2).

Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary

Heaven

The Hebrew word generally in use to represent the heaven and also the air is Shamaim (, Ass. samami). Sometimes it signifies the atmosphere immediately surrounding the earth, in which the fowls of ‘the air’ fly; sometimes it is used of the space in which the clouds are floating; in other places it refers to the vast expanse through which the stars are moving in their courses. Shamaim is also opposed to Sheol, the one being regarded as a place of exaltation, the other of degradation; the one being represented as the dwelling-place of the Most High and of the angels of God, the other as the abode of the dead.

In Psa 77:18, where we read, ‘The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven,’ the word Galgal (), which is used, probably signifies a whirlwind. The LXX has in Psa 68:4, ‘Extol him that rideth up on the heavens,’ we find the word Arabah (, Ass. erbu), which generally means a desert; hence clouds of sand, and clouds generally in Psa 89:6; Psa 89:37, the word Shachak (), rendered heavens, originally signifies a cloud of fine particles; compare our expression ‘a cloud of dust.’ in Isa 5:30, ‘The light is darkened in the heavens thereof,’ our margin has ‘ in the destruction thereof;’ the Hebrew word () used here probably signifies darkness.

In all but these few passages the word Shamaim is used where heaven is found in the A. V. It is to be noticed that the form of the word is neither singular nor plural, but dual. this may be only an ancient form of the plural, but it is supposed by some commentators to imply the existence of a lower and an upper heaven, or of a physical and spiritual heaven–‘the heaven and the heaven of heavens.’ The original idea represented by the root is generally considered to be height, and if this is a right conjecture, the word fairly answers to its Greek equivalent , and to its English translation ‘heaven,’ that which is heaved or lifted up. It includes all space that is not occupied by the terrestrial globe, and extends from the air we breathe and the winds which we feel around us to the firmament or expanse which contains the innumerable stars. this it includes, and exceeds; for where our intellect ceases to operate, and fails to find a limit to the extension of space, here faith comes in; and whilst before the eye of the body there is spread out an infinity of space, the possession of a super-material nature brings us into communion with a Being whose nature and condition cannot adequately be described by terms of locality or extension. The heavens and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him; the countless stars are not only known and numbered by Him, but are called into existence and fixed in their courses by his will and wisdom. Wherever He is, there the true heaven is, and the glories of the firmament faintly shadow forth the ineffable bliss which those must realise who are brought into relationship with Him.

Whilst God is regarded as the God or King of Heaven, we read in the prophecy of Jeremiah of the ‘Queen of Heaven’ (7:18, 44:17, 18, 19, 25) in the margin this title is rendered ‘frame of heaven’ ( for ). If the former is the right interpretation, the heathen goddess Astarte or Venus is probably referred to; if otherwise, the prophet is reprobating the worship of the frame, structure, or workmanship of heaven, or, in other words, of the stars, as a substitute for the worship of Him Who created all these things.

The usage of the word ‘heaven’ in the N.T. generally answers to that which is to be traced through the Hebrew Bible, but more stress is laid up on the spiritual heaven, up on the Father who is there, and up on the son who came from heaven, and who has returned thither to remain hidden from the eye of man until the time of the restitution.

There are, indeed, the same distinct spheres designated by the word in the N.T. as by Shamaim in the O.T. There is the air, or dwelling-place of the fowls of the air (Mat 6:26); there is also the vast space in which the stars are moving (Act 2:19); but in by far the greater number of passages heaven signifies the dwelling-place of the Most High, and the abode of the angelic hosts. The titles ‘kingdom of God’ and ‘kingdom of heaven’ are really identical in their signification, though presenting the truth in slightly varied aspects. God is the King of heaven, and his will is done by all its angelic inhabitants. When the kingdom of God is spoken of as coming up on earth, we are to understand a state of things in which the subjection of man’s will to God is to be completed, and the destruction of all that is contrary to God’s will, whether in things physical or in things spiritual, is to be accomplished. When, on the other hand, it is the kingdom of heaven that is announced, we are to understand that the organisation of the human race in whole or part, and also perhaps their dwelling-place, will be rendered harmonious with the other portions of the family of that Heavenly Father in whose house are many mansions.

The popular phraseology about ‘going to heaven’ represents the truth, but certainly not in the form in which it is generally presented in Scripture. We rarely read that the godly will go to heaven, either at death or after the resurrection. We are rather told of a kingdom being set up on earth, of a heavenly city descending from above, and taking up its abode in the new or renewed earth.

Fuente: Synonyms of the Old Testament

Heaven

From “heaved up;” so “the heights” (Psa 148:1). The Greek ouranos and the Hebrew shamaim, are similarly derived. It is used of the surrounding air wherein “the fowls of heaven” fly (Gen 1:26, compare Gen 1:20); from whence the rain and hail fall (Deu 11:11). “I will make your heaven as iron,” i.e. your sky hard and yielding no rain (Lev 26:19). “The four quarters of heaven” (Jer 49:36) and “the circuit of heaven” (Job 22:14) refer to the atmospheric heaven. By metaphor it is represented as a building with foundations and pillars (2Sa 22:8; Job 26:11), with an entrance gate (Gen 28:17) and windows opened to pour down rain (Gen 7:11, compare 2Ki 7:2; Mal 3:10). Job 37:18, “spread out the sky … strong … as a molten looking glass,” not solid as “firmament” would imply, whereas the “expanse” is the true meaning (Gen 1:6; Isa 44:24), but phenomenally like one of the ancient mirrors made of firm molten polished metal.

Matthew, who is most Hebraistic in style, uses the plural, the Hebrew term for heaven being always so. “The heaven of heavens” (Deu 10:14) is a Hebraism for the highest heavens. Paul’s “third heaven” (2Co 12:2) to which he was caught up implies this superlatively high heaven, which he reached after passing through the first heaven the air, and the second the sky of the stars (Eph 4:10). Heb 7:26, “made higher than the heavens,” for Christ “passed through the heavens” (Heb 4:14, Greek), namely, the aerial heaven and the starry heaven, the veil through which our High Priest passed into the heaven of heavens, the immediate presence of God, as the Levitical high priest passed through the veil into the holy of belies. The visible heavens shall pass away to give place to the abiding new heaven and earth wherein shall dwell righteousness (Psa 102:25-27; Isa 65:17; Isa 66:22; 2Pe 3:7; 2Pe 3:13; Rev 21:1; Heb 12:26-28).

“The kingdom of the heavens” in Matthew, for “the kingdom of God” in Mark and Luke, is drawn from Dan 4:26, “the heavens do rule,” (Dan 2:44) “the God of heaven shall set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed.” It consists of many stages and phases, issuing at last in heaven being brought down fully to earth, and the tabernacle of God being with men (Rev 21:2-3; Rev 21:10, etc.). The plurality of the phases is expressed by “the kingdom of the heavens.” The Bible is distinguished from the sacred books of false religions in not having minute details of heavenly bliss such as men’s curiosity would crave. The grand feature of its blessedness is represented as consisting in holy personal union and immediate face to face communion with God and the Lamb; secondarily, that the saints are led by the Lamb to living fountains of water, and fed with the fruit of the tree of life in the midst of the paradise of God, the antitype of the former Adamic paradise.

It is no longer merely a garden as Eden, but a heavenly “city” and garden combined, nature and art no longer mutually destructive, but enhancing each the charm of the other, individuality and society realized perfectly (Revelation 2-3, 7, 21-22). No separate temple, but the whole forming one vast “temple,” finding its center in the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb, who are the temple to each and all the king-priests reigning and serving there. This was the model Moses was shown on Sinai (Heb 7:1-6). The earthly tabernacle was its pattern and figure (Heb 9:23-24). The “altar” (Rev 6:9) and the “censer,” etc. (Rev 8:3), the “temple” in heaven (Rev 11:19; Rev 14:17; Rev 15:5; Rev 15:8), are preliminary to the final state when there shall be “no temple therein” (Rev 21:22), for the whole shall be perfectly consecrated to God.

Negatives of present provisional conditions and evils form a large part of the subordinate description of heaven’s bliss: no marriage (Luk 20:34-36), no meats for the belly (1Co 6:13), no death, no sorrow, crying, pain; no defilement, no curse, no night, no candle, no light of the sun, for the Lord God giveth them light (Rev 21:4; Rev 21:27; Rev 22:3; Rev 22:5). Heaven is not merely a state but a place. For it is the place where Christ’s glorifed body now is; “the heaven must receive Him until the times of restitution of all things” (Act 3:21).

Thither He will “receive His people to Himself” after He hath “prepared a place for them” (Joh 14:2-4), that where He is there His servants may be (Joh 12:26). From heaven, which is God’s court, angels are sent down to this earth, as the multitude of the heavenly host (distinct from the host of heaven,” Act 7:42), and to which they return (Luk 2:13-15; Luk 22:43). God Himself is addressed “Our Father who art in heaven.” His home is the parent home, the sacred hearth of the universe.

Fuente: Fausset’s Bible Dictionary

HEAVEN

People in ancient times did not understand the universe the way we understand it today. For them the universe consisted of the heavens and the earth. The earth was where they lived and the heavens were the skies above, the place of the sun, moon, stars, clouds and birds (Gen 1:1; Gen 1:17; Gen 1:20; Gen 15:5; Deu 4:19; 1Ki 18:45; Mat 5:18; Heb 11:12).

A characteristic of human speech is that people often speak of realities and experiences beyond their understanding as being over, above or higher than them. Consequently, it was natural for people to speak of God as dwelling far, far above them in the highest place they could imagine, namely, heaven (Deu 26:15; 1Ki 8:30; 1Ki 8:32; Ezr 1:2; Psa 2:4; Mat 5:45; Mat 6:9; Mat 7:21).

The Bible therefore speaks of heaven as being up; not in the sense that it occupies a particular location in outer space, but in the sense that it represents a state of existence far beyond anything people can experience in the physical world. The Jews so identified heaven with God that they often used the word heaven instead of God. This was also a sign of respect for God, for it prevented them from using his name irreverently (Dan 4:26; Mat 19:23-24; Luk 15:18; Joh 3:27; see KINGDOM OF GOD).

Heaven is the dwelling place not only of God, but also of the angelic beings who worship him (Neh 9:6; Mat 18:10; Mat 28:2; Mar 13:32; Luk 2:15). Jesus Christ came from heaven (Joh 3:31; Joh 6:38), returned to heaven after his death and resurrection (Act 1:11; Eph 1:20), at present appears in heaven on behalf of his people (Col 3:1; Heb 8:1; Heb 9:24) and will one day return from heaven to save his people and judge his enemies (Act 1:11; 1Th 4:16-17; 2Th 1:7-9).

Through the grace of God, heaven becomes also the eternal dwelling place of all those who through faith have become Gods children (Joh 14:1-3; 2Co 5:1-2; Col 1:5; Heb 12:22-23; 1Pe 1:3-5). For them, to be for ever in the presence of God is to be in paradise (Luk 23:43; 2Co 5:8; Php 1:23; cf. 2Co 12:2-3).

From the present viewpoint of earth, no one has any way of knowing what life in heaven will be like (1Jn 3:2). No doubt people will be identifiable in heaven by their individual personalities just as they are on earth. The form of life, however, will be different from the form of life in the present world (cf. Mat 22:23-30; 1Co 15:35-44; 1Co 15:50; see RESURRECTION).

When the Bible writers refer to some of the features of heaven, they are not giving literal descriptions of physical characteristics of heaven. They are merely using the only language available to them to try to illustrate and describe life as it will be in an entirely new order of existence (Mat 22:30; Mat 26:29; Joh 14:2; Heb 12:22-23; 1Jn 3:2).

This new order will find its fullest expression in what the Bible calls a new heaven and a new earth. This again distinguishes it from the physical universe as we know it at present (Isa 66:22; 2Pe 3:13; Revelation 21; Rev 22:1-5). Although the Bible writers give few details of life in the new order, that life will not be one of laziness or idleness. It will be a life of joyful activity in the worship and service of God (Rev 5:8-14; Rev 14:2-3; Rev 22:3).

Fuente: Bridgeway Bible Dictionary

Heaven

HEAVEN (, sing, and plur.; in Mt. plur. chiefly, and always in , and ).

Three uses of the word may be classified, omitting parallel passages

(a) Cosmological.

Heaven and earth as constituting the entire Universe: as in the phrases till heaven and earth pass away (Mat 5:18; Mat 24:35, Luk 16:17); Lord of heaven and earth (Mat 11:25). Heaven is the firmament, where are fixed the stars and the powers (Mat 24:29), the sky (Mat 16:2 Authorized Version ), the air (Mat 6:26; Mat 8:20; Mat 13:32, Luk 8:5, Authorized Version in each), the treasury of the clouds (Mat 24:30; Mat 26:64), the winds (Mat 24:31), the lightning (Luk 17:24), the rain (Luk 4:25); and from whence are signs and portents (Mat 24:30, Luk 21:11)

(b) The abode of God and angels.

Heaven is the throne of God (Mat 5:34; Mat 23:22, cf. Our Father which art in heaven, Mat 6:8; your Father in heaven, Mat 5:16; Mat 5:45; Mat 6:1; Mat 7:11; Mat 18:14; Mat 23:9; My Father in heaven, Mat 7:21; Mat 10:32-33; Mat 12:50; Mat 16:17; Mat 18:10; Mat 18:19; Mat 18:22 also Heavenly () Father, Mat 5:46 Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885, Mat 6:14; Mat 6:26; Mat 6:32; Mat 15:13; Mat 18:35 ()). Angels come from Heaven (Mat 28:2, Luk 22:43, cf. Mat 26:53), and return to Heaven (Luk 2:15), and are the heavenly host (Luk 2:13), beholding God (Mat 18:10, cf. Luk 15:10), and doing perfectly His will (Mat 6:10).

(c) As a synonym for God.

The use of Heaven for God is put beyond question by Luk 15:16; Luk 15:21, where sinned against heaven can only mean against God. There are other uses only less certainthus from heaven or from men (Mat 21:25) is clearly from God or from men (cf. Act 5:38 f.); so also given him from heaven (Joh 3:27) must be from God. But the most striking instance of this use of Heaven as a synonym for God is in the phrase the Kingdom of Heaven, almost uniformly in Mt. for the Kingdom of God of Mk. and Lk., and this in exactly parallel passages. It is quite possible to make a distinction between these titles, but it seems hest to accept them as synonymous.* [Note: See Schrer, HJP ii. ii. 171; Wendt, Teaching of Jesus, i. 371 n.; Dalman, Words of Jesus, p. 93; Bruce, Expos. Gr. Test. on Mat 3:2 n., cf. also his Kingdom of God, p. 58, where a distinction is suggested; also Beyschlag, NT Theol., Eng. tr. i. 42, where identity of meaning is granted, but a mere paraphrase for God denied; and Stevens, Theol. of the NT, p. 27 f.: interchangeably in Mt, but of Heaven denotes origin and attributes.]

Admitting the use of this metonymy, there can be no objection to its use in other instances where a clear meaning follows. Thus, bound, loosed in heaven (Mat 16:19; Mat 18:18) = of God; The keys of the kingdom of heaven (Mat 16:19) = the authority of God; names written in heaven (Luk 10:20) = acceptance with God, cf. Exo 32:32. The demand for a sign from heaven (Mat 16:1, Luk 11:16), while it may refer to the expectation of some visible wonder out of the sky, has ultimate reference to some direct act of God. Anything from heaven is an act of God, cf. the judgment upon the cities of the Plain (Luk 17:29), also the request of the disciples (Luk 9:54). Even the phrase treasure in heaven has its exact equivalent in rich toward God (Luk 12:21). Additional instances of the use of periphrasis are seen in joy in the presence of the angels of God (Luk 15:10) for the joy of God; confess before the angels of God (Luk 12:8, cf. Mat 10:32); power from on High (Luk 24:49); Dayspring from on High (Luk 1:78); from above (Joh 19:11); in thy sight (Mat 11:26); the Most High (Luk 1:32; Luk 1:76; Luk 6:35, cf. Mar 5:7).

The transition from Heaven as the abode of God to Heaven as a synonym for God is illustrated in the custom of uplifting the eyes to Heaven when God is addressed. The thought of the Temple as the dwelling-place of God led to the habit in prayer of turning the face towards Jerusalem and towards the Temple (see 1Ki 8:44; 1Ki 8:48, Dan 6:10, Psa 28:2; Psa 138:2). With the higher faith of Gods transcendence, as One dwelling in the Heaven of Heavens, came the custom of lifting up the eyes to the Heavens (Psa 123:1). The publican would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven (Luk 18:13, cf. Ezr 9:6). So in prayer, Jesus lifted up his eyes (Joh 11:41), to heaven (Joh 17:1); looking up to heaven (Mat 14:19, Mar 7:34). There are several passages which present difficulty, but whatever conclusion may he come to as to the objective occurrences in the opening of the heavens (Mat 3:16), and the voice out of the heavens (Mat 3:17, Joh 12:28), or out of the cloud (Mat 17:5), the subjective experience is the vital matter, the attestation to Jesus of His commission from and fellowship with God.

It is this which is symbolically represented in Ye shall see the heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man (Joh 1:51). Here, in a figure, the mediatorship of Jesus is declared. His revelation of God to man and intercession for man with God. The striking saying, No man hath ascended into heaven but he that descended out of heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven (Joh 3:13), has additional difficulty. The weight of MS authority is against the last clause, and the words may have been added as a gloss after the Ascension. If, with the Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 , we retain them as the words of Jesus, they must he taken as qualifying the preceding utterance, which then becomes a declaration of His perfect fellowship with God (cf. Joh 1:18) rather than as a reference to Heaven as a place. The heavenly things (Joh 3:12) are without doubt the things of God, the new revelation of His grace in Jesus Christ.

In what has been said above there is little that is distinctively Christian. The threefold use of the word Heaven is common alike to the OT and Jewish thought of the time. But after this preliminary study we ought to be in a better position to consider the characteristic teaching of Jesus and the Christian faith.

1. The Kingdom of God finds its perfect realization in a future state, a world above and beyond earth, the Kingdom in Heaven. This is the reiterated lesson alike of parable and of direct discourse. All the judgment parables, where separation between the righteous and the wicked is declared, clearly teach a future inheritance of bliss or of woe. So the parables of the Tares (Mat 13:37 f.), the Virgins (Mat 25:1 f.), the Talents (Mat 25:14 f.), and the Unjust Steward (Luk 16:1 f., where under the figure of eternal tents the future Canaan is the past idealized). In accommodation to Jewish thought and hope, the reward is to sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven (Mat 8:11, Luk 13:28), a hope which reaches beyond the life of earth. The final consummation must be where Jesus Himself is, and He, who came from heaven (Joh 3:13; Joh 3:31; Joh 6:33; Joh 6:38; Joh 6:41 f.), was received up into heaven (Mar 16:19, Luk 24:51, Joh 20:17. The MS uncertainty here in Mk. And Lk. does not affect the argument, which has the testimony of the Apostolic writings). This is the final reward of the faithful, the inheritance of the Kingdom prepared before the foundation of the world (Mat 25:34; Mat 26:29, Joh 14:1 f.).

2. The nature of Heaven.As the life of the Kingdom is fundamentally ethical (Mat 5:20; Mat 7:21), so is the nature of Heaven itself. It is the fulness of the eternal life, which in the Fourth Gospel is the synonym of the Kingdom. Then it is, and there, that the righteous shine forth as the sun (Mat 13:43), a glory certainly of character whatever else may be implied. There, too, is the perfect vision of God (Mat 5:8).

It cannot be doubted that Jesus meant to localize the thought of Heaven. The sharp contrast between Heaven and earth (Mat 6:19-21) can have no other meaning. In His teaching God is no mere all-pervading Spirit, lost in negative infinitude. God, as transcendent, immanent, infinite, alone, does not satisfy His revelation of the Father in heaven. That name implies that in some world beyond there is a supreme manifestation of His Presence,a Fathers House, an enduring Holy of Holies. This, for Christian faith, is the Glory of Christ (Joh 17:5), and to be with Him where He is and to behold His glory is the hope set before us in the gospel (Joh 17:24).

What the activities of Heaven may be is told only in part. They that are accounted worthy to attain to that world are as angels (Mar 12:25, Luk 20:36), and the ministry of angels enters into the Gospel story. The faithful are to be set over many things, and to enter into the joy of their Lord (Mat 25:21; Mat 25:23), which, in the light of the gospel, can only mean higher service.

As to when this inheritance is entered upon, very different conclusions are drawn even from the words of Jesus. The question is considered, for the most part, from the standpoint of retribution. So far as the reward is considered, it may be said definitely that the doctrine of an Intermediate State finds no support in Christs gospel. The farewell discourses of the Fourth Gospel would lose all their force by the introduction of this doctrine. So for Christian faith the highest hope of Heaven finds its confident expression in the words of St. Paul: absent from the body at home with the Lord (2Co 5:8).

Literature.This is chiefly of a devotional or sermonic character, but the authors referred to above should be consulted; also Salmond, Christian Doctrine of Immortality; and Alger, Doctrine of a Future Life. On the general subject, which lies outside the scope of the present article, and especially for the Jewish conceptions of Heaven, see the works on Biblical Theology; Morfill-Charles, Book of the Secrets of Enoch; art. Heaven in Hasting’s Dictionary of the Bible .

W. H. Dyson.

Fuente: A Dictionary Of Christ And The Gospels

Heaven

HEAVEN.In the cosmic theory of the ancient world, and of the Hebrews in particular, the earth was flat, lying between a great pit into which the shades of the dead departed, and the heavens above in which God and the angels dwelt, and to which it came to be thought the righteous went, after having been raised from the dead to live for ever. It was natural to think of the heavens as concave above the earth, and resting on some foundation, possibly of pillars, set at the extreme horizon (2Sa 22:9, Pro 8:27-29).

The Hebrews, like other ancient peoples, believed in a plurality of heavens (Deu 10:14), and the literature of Judaism speaks of seven. In the highest, or Aravoth, was the throne of God. Although the descriptions of these heavens varied, it would seem that it was not unusual to regard the third heaven as Paradise. It was to this that St. Paul said he bad been caught up (2Co 12:2).

This series of superimposed heavens was regarded as filled by different sorts of superhuman beings. The second heaven in later Jewish thought was regarded as the abode of evil spirits and angels awaiting punishment. The NT, however, does not commit itself to these precise speculations, although in Eph 6:12 it speaks of spiritual hosts of wickedness who dwell in heavenly places (cf. Eph 2:2). This conception of heaven as being above a flat earth underlies many religious expressions which are still current. There have been various attempts to locate heaven, as, for example, in Sirius as the central sun of our system. Similarly, there have been innumerable speculations endeavouring to set forth in sensuous form the sort of life which is to be lived in heaven. All such speculations, however, lie outside of the region of positive knowledge, and rest ultimately on the cosmogony of pre-scientific times. They may be of value in cultivating religious emotion, but they belong to the region of speculation. The Biblical descriptions of heaven are not scientific, but symbolical. Practically all these are to be found in the Johannine Apocalypse. It was undoubtedly conceived of eschatologically by the NT writers, but they maintained a great reserve in all their descriptions of the life of the redeemed. It is, however, possible to state definitely that, while they conceived of the heavenly condition as involving social relations, they did not regard it as one in which the physical organism survived. The sensuous descriptions of heaven to be found in the Jewish apocalypses and in Mohammedanism are altogether excluded by the sayings of Jesus relative to marriage in the new age (Mar 12:25||), and those of St. Paul relative to the spiritual body. The prevailing tendency at the present time among theologians, to regard heaven as a state of the soul rather than a place, belongs likewise to the region of opinion. The degree of its probability will be determined by ones general view as to the nature of immortality.

Shailer Mathews.

Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible

Heaven

HEAVEN and HEAVEN OF HEAVENS

are expressions generally made use of to denote the more immediate place where JEHOVAH hath fixed his throne. For thus it is expressed in Scripture. “Thus saith the Lord, The heaen is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?” (Isa 66:1) But Solomon breaks out in an expression, as one overwhelmed with surprise and wonder in the contemplation: “But will God indeed (said he) dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven, and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee!” (1Ki 8:27) But what would this mighty monarch have said, had he lived to have seen the Lord of heaven and earth tabernacling in the substance of our flesh?

But, though, according to the language of Scripture, we call that place heaven which John saw opened, and where the more immediate presence of the Lord is gloriously displayed, yet it were to limit the Holy One of Israel to suppose, that JEHOVAH dwelleth in any place, to the exclusion of his presence or glory elsewhere. In the immensity of his GODHEAD, and the ubiquity of his nature and essence, he is every where; and, consequently, that place is heaven where JEHOVAH’S presence, in grace, and favour, and glory, is manifested. How little do they know of heaven, or of the divine love and favour, that conceive, if they could get to heaven in the crowd, though they know not how, and I had almost said, they care not how, provided they could get there, how little do they know in what consists the felicity of the place! Alas! an unsanctified, unrenewed, unregenerated heart would be miserable even in heaven. Sweetly doth David speak of the blessed work of assurance and grace in the soul respecting heaven, and in that assurance describes the suited preparation for it. “I shall behold (said he) thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied, when I awake; with thy likeness.” (Psa 17:15)

Fuente: The Poor Mans Concordance and Dictionary to the Sacred Scriptures

Heaven

hev’n. See ASTRONOMY.

Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

Heaven

Heaven, the state and place of blessedness in the life to come.

As we can have no distinct conception of those joys which never have been and never will be experienced by us here in their full extent, we have of course no words in human language to express them, and cannot therefore expect any clear description of them even in the Holy Scriptures. Hence the Bible describes this happiness sometimes in general terms designating its greatness (as in Rom 8:18-22; 2Co 4:17-18); and sometimes by various figurative images and modes of speech, borrowed from everything which we know to be attractive and desirable.

The following are the principal terms, both literal and figurative, which are applied in Scripture to the condition of future happiness.

Among the literal appellations we find ‘life,’ ‘eternal life,’ and ‘life everlasting,’ literally ‘a happy life,’ or ‘eternal well-being’ (Mat 7:14; Mat 19:16; Mat 19:29; Mat 25:46); ‘glory,’ ‘the glory of God’ (Rom 2:7; Rom 2:10; Rom 5:2); and ‘peace’ (Rom 2:10). Also ‘an eternal weight of glory’ (2Co 4:17); and ‘salvation,’ ‘eternal salvation’ (Heb 5:9), etc.

Among the figurative representations, we may place the word ‘heaven’ itself. The abode of departed spirits, to us who live upon earth, and while we remain here, is invisible and inaccessible, beyond the bounds of the visible world, and entirely separated from it. There they live in the highest well-being, and in a nearer connection with God and Christ than here below. This place and state cannot be designated by any more fit and brief expression than that which is found in almost every language, namely, ‘heaven,’a word in its primary and material signification denoting the region of the skies, or the visible heavens. It is there that the highest sanctuary or temple of God is situated, i.e., it is there that the omnipresent God most gloriously reveals Himself. This, too, is the abode of God’s highest spiritual creation. Thither Christ was transported: He calls it the house of His Father, and says that He has therein prepared an abode for His followers (Joh 14:2).

This place, this ‘heaven,’ was never conceived of in ancient times, as it has been by some modern writers, as a particular planet or world, but as the wide expanse of heaven, high above the atmosphere, or starry heavens; hence it is sometimes called the third heaven, as being neither the atmosphere nor the starry heavens.

Another figurative name is ‘Paradise,’ taken from the abode of our first parents in their state of innocence, and transferred to the abode of the blessed (Luk 23:43; 2Co 12:4; Rev 2:7; Rev 22:2).

Again, this place is called ‘the heavenly Jerusalem’ (Gal 4:26; Heb 12:22; Rev 3:12), because the earthly Jerusalem was the capital city of the Jews, the royal residence, and the seat of divine worship; ‘the kingdom of heaven’ (Mat 25:1; Jam 2:5); the ‘heavenly kingdom’ (2Ti 4:18); the ‘eternal kingdom’ (2Pe 1:11). It is also called an ‘eternal inheritance’ (1Pe 1:4; Heb 9:15), meaning the possession and full enjoyment of happiness, typified by the residence of the ancient Hebrews in Palestine. The blessed are said ‘to sit down at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,’ that is, to be a sharer with the saints of old in the joys of salvation; ‘to be in Abraham’s bosom’ (Luk 16:22; Mat 8:11), that is to sit near or next to Abraham [BOSOM]; ‘to reign with Christ’ 2Ti 2:11), i.e. to be distinguished, honored, and happy as he isto enjoy regal felicities: to enjoy ‘a Sabbath,’ or ‘rest’ (Heb 4:10-11), indicating the happiness of pious Christians, both in this life and in the life to come.

All that we can with certainty know or infer from Scripture or reason respecting the blessedness of the life to come, may be arranged under the following particulars: 1. We shall hereafter be entirely freed from the sufferings and adversities of this life. 2. Our future blessedness will involve a continuance of the real happiness of this life.

I. The entire exemption from suffering and all that causes suffering here, is expressed in the Scripture by words which denote rest, repose, refreshment, after performing labor and enduring affliction. But all the terms which are employed to express this condition, define (in the original) the promised ‘rest,’ as rest after labor, and exemption from toil and grief; and not the absence of employment, not inactivity or indolence (2Th 1:7; Heb 4:9; Heb 4:11; Rev 14:13; comp. 7:17).

This deliverance from the evils of our present life includes

1. Deliverance from this earthly body, the seat of the lower principles of our nature and of our sinful corruption, and the source of so many evils and sufferings (2Co 5:8; 1Co 15:19).

2. Entire separation from the society of wicked; and evil-disposed persons, who, in various ways, injure the righteous man and embitter his life on earth (2Ti 4:18).

3. Upon this earth everything is inconstant, and subject to perpetual change; and nothing is capable of completely satisfying our expectations and desires. But in the world to come it will be different. The bliss of the saints will continue without interruption or change, without fear of termination, and without satiety (Luk 20:36; 2Co 4:16; 2Co 4:18; 1Pe 1:4; 1Pe 5:10; 1Jn 3:2, sq.).

II. Besides being exempt from all earthly trials, and having a continuance of that happiness which we had begun to enjoy even here, we have good reason to expect hereafter other rewards and joys, which stand in no natural or necessary connection with the present life. For our entire felicity would be extremely defective and scanty, were it to be confined merely to that which we carry with us from the present world, or were we compelled to stop short with that meager and elementary knowledge which we possess here. Besides the natural rewards of goodness, there must, therefore, be others, which are positive, and dependent on the will of the Supreme Legislator.

In the doctrine of the New Testament positive rewards are considered most obviously as belonging to our future felicity, and as constituting a principal part of it. For it always represents the joys of heaven as resulting strictly from the favor of God, and as being undeserved by those on whom they are bestowed. Hence there must be something more added to the natural good consequences of our actions, something which cannot be considered as the necessary and natural consequences of the good actions we may have here performed. But, on this subject, we know nothing more in general than this, that God will so appoint and order our circumstances, and make such arrangements, that the principal faculties of our soulsreason and affection, will be heightened and developed, so that we shall continually obtain more pure and distinct knowledge of the truth, and make continual advances in holiness.

Some theologians have supposed that the saints in heaven may be taught by immediate divine revelations, especially those who may enter the abodes of the blessed without knowledge, or with only a small measure of it; e.g. children and others who have died in ignorance, for which they themselves were not to blame. On this subject nothing is definitely taught in the Scriptures; but both Scripture and reason warrant us in believing that provision will be made for all such persons in the world to come. A principal part of our future happiness will consist, according to the Christian doctrine, in the enlarging and correcting of our knowledge respecting God, his nature, attributes, and works, and in the salutary application of this knowledge to our own moral benefit, to the increase of our faith, love, and obedience.

In the Scripture revelations respecting heaven Christ is always represented as one who will be personally visible to us, and whose personal, familiar intercourse and guidance we shall enjoy. Herein Christ himself places a chief part of the joy of the saints (Joh 14:17, etc.); and the apostles often describe the blessedness of the pious by the phrase being with Christ. To his guidance has God entrusted the human race, in heaven and on earth. And Paul says (2Co 4:6), we see ‘the brightness of the divine glory in the face of Christ,’ He is ‘the visible representative of the invisible God’ (Col 1:15). According to the representation contained in the Holy Scriptures, the saints will dwell together in the future world, and form, as it were a kingdom or state of God (Luke 16; Luk 20:38; Rom 8:10; Rev 7:9; Heb 12:22). They will there partake of a common felicity. Their enjoyment will doubtless be very much heightened by friendship, and by their confiding intercourse with each other.

Fuente: Popular Cyclopedia Biblical Literature

Heaven

The principal words so translated are shamayim, from ‘the heights,’ and . They are used in a variety of senses: as

1. The atmosphere in which the birds fly, and the lightning appears, and from whence the rain descends. Gen 7:23; Deu 11:11; Dan 4:21; Luk 17:24. It will pass away. 2Pe 3:10; 2Pe 3:12.

2. The firmament or wide expanse in which are seen the sun, moon, and stars. Gen 1:14-15; Gen 1:17.

3. The abode of God, where His throne is. Psa 2:4; Psa 11:4; Mat 5:34. Whence the Lord descended and to which He ascended, and where He was seen by Stephen. Mar 16:19; Act 7:55; 1Co 15:47.

4. The abode of angels. Mat 22:30; Mat 24:36; Gal 1:8.

It is important to see that, in forming the present system of this world, God made a heaven to this earth, so that the earth should be ruled from heaven. The blessing of the earth, either materially or morally, depends upon its connection with heaven. This blessing will be full when the kingdom of the heavens is established in the Son of man, and He will come in the clouds of heaven. Psa 68:32; Psa 68:35. It is the place of angelic power, ‘the principalities and powers in the heavenly places’ being angelic, Satan and his angels, though fallen, still being among them. Job 1:6; Job 2:1; Rev 12:7-9.

That there are various heavens is evident; Satan cannot have entrance into the glory, and Paul speaks of being caught up into the third heavens, 2Co 12:2; and the Lord Jesus passed through the heavens, and we read of ‘the heaven of heavens.’ Deu 10:14; 1Ki 8:27. Very little is said of the saints going to heaven, though their citizenship is there now, Php 3:20; but they are to be where Jesus is, and He went to heaven, and prepared a place for them. In the Revelation the four and twenty elders are seen in heaven sitting on ‘thrones.’ To Him that sitteth on the throne, and to the Lamb be glory for ever and ever. Amen. Believers “look for NEW HEAVENS and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” 2Pe 3:13; Rev 21:1.

Fuente: Concise Bible Dictionary

Heaven

God’s dwelling place

Deu 26:15; Zec 2:13; 1Ki 8:30; 1Ki 8:39; 1Ki 8:43; 1Ki 8:49; 2Ch 6:18; 2Ch 6:21; 2Ch 6:27; 2Ch 6:30; 2Ch 6:33; 2Ch 6:35; 2Ch 6:39; Jer 23:24; 1Ch 16:31; 1Ch 21:26; 2Ch 7:14; Neh 9:27; 2Ch 2:6; 2Ch 30:27; Job 22:12; Job 22:14; Psa 2:4; Psa 11:4; Psa 20:6; Psa 33:13; Psa 102:19; Psa 103:19; Psa 135:6; Dan 4:35; Psa 113:5; Psa 123:1; Ecc 5:2; Isa 57:15; Isa 63:15; Isa 66:1; Lam 3:41; Lam 3:50; Dan 5:23; Mat 5:34; Mat 5:45; Mat 6:9; Mat 18:10; Mat 18:14; Mar 11:25-26; Mat 10:32-33; Mat 11:25; Mat 12:50; Mat 16:17; Mar 16:19; Act 7:49; Rom 1:18; Heb 8:1; Rev 8:1; Rev 12:7-9; Rev 21:22-27; Rev 22:1-5

The future dwelling place of the righteous

– Called:

b A Garner

Mat 3:12

b The Kingdom of Christ and of God

Eph 5:5

b The Father’s House

Joh 14:2

b A Heavenly Country

Heb 11:16

b A Rest

Heb 4:9; Rev 14:13

b Paradise

2Co 12:2; 2Co 12:4

– The wicked excluded from

Gal 5:21; Eph 5:5; Rev 22:15

– Unclassified scriptures relating to

2Ki 2:11; Job 3:17; Psa 16:11; Psa 17:15; Psa 23:6; Psa 24:3; Psa 24:7; Psa 73:24; Isa 33:17; Dan 12:3; Mal 3:17; Mat 5:3; Mat 5:8; Mat 5:12; Mat 5:20; Mat 6:20; Luk 12:33; Mat 8:11; Mat 13:30; Mat 13:43; Mat 13:49; Mat 3:12; Mat 18:10; Mat 19:21; Mat 25:34; Mat 25:46; Luk 10:20; Luk 12:32; Luk 15:6-7; Luk 15:10; Luk 15:32; Luk 16:22; Luk 20:34-36; Mat 22:30; Luk 22:29-30; Luk 23:43; Joh 5:28-29; Joh 10:28; Joh 12:26; Joh 13:36; Joh 14:2-3; Joh 17:22; Joh 17:24; Act 7:55-56; Rom 5:17; 2Co 5:1; 2Co 12:2-4; Eph 1:18; Col 1:5-6; Col 1:12; Col 3:4; 1Th 2:12; 1Th 4:17; 2Th 1:7; 2Th 2:14; Heb 10:34; Heb 11:10; Heb 11:16; Heb 12:22-24; Heb 12:28; Heb 13:14; 1Pe 1:4; 2Pe 1:11; 2Pe 3:13; Rev 2:7; Rev 3:21; Luk 12:8; Rev 4:4; Rev 5:9; Rev 7:9; Rev 7:13-17; Isa 49:9-10; Rev 14:1-3; Rev 15:2; Rev 21:1-5; Rev 21:9-11; Rev 21:18-19; Rev 21:21-25; Rev 21:27; Rev 22:1-5 Righteous, Promises to, Expressed or Implied, to the Righteous

The physical heavens:

– General references

Gen 1:1; Psa 19:1; Psa 50:6; Psa 68:33; Psa 89:29; Psa 97:6; Psa 103:11; Psa 113:4; Psa 115:16; Jer 31:37; Eze 1:1; Mat 24:29-30; Act 2:19-20

– Physical heavens, creation of

b General references

Gen 1:1; Gen 2:1; 1Ch 16:26; 2Ch 2:12; Neh 9:6; Job 9:8; Psa 8:3; Psa 19:1; Psa 33:6; Psa 33:9; Psa 148:4-6; Pro 8:27; Isa 37:16; Isa 40:22; Isa 42:5; Isa 45:18; Isa 45:12; Jer 10:12; Jer 32:17; Jer 51:15; Act 4:24; Act 14:15; Heb 1:10; Rev 10:6; Rev 14:7 Heaven, New Heavens; Creation; God, Creator

– Physical heavens, destruction of

Job 14:12; Psa 102:25-26; Isa 34:4; Isa 51:6; Mat 5:18; Mat 24:35; Heb 1:10-12; 2Pe 3:10; 2Pe 3:12; Rev 6:12-14; Rev 20:11; Rev 21:1; Rev 21:4

New heavens

Isa 65:17; Isa 66:22; 2Pe 3:13; Rev 21:1-4

Fuente: Nave’s Topical Bible

Heaven

Heaven. There are four Hebrew words thus rendered in the Old Testament. 1. Rk’a, A. V. firmament. 2. Shmayim; used in the expression, “the heaven and the earth,” or “the upper and lower regions.” Gen 1:1. 3. Mrm, used for heaven in Psa 18:16; Isa 24:18; Jer 25:30. Properly speaking, it means a mountain, as in Psa 102:19; Eze 17:23. 4. Skechkm, “expanses,” with reference to the extent of heaven. Deu 33:26; Job 35:5. Paul’s expression, “third heaven,” 2Co 12:2, has led to much conjecture. Grotius said that the Jews divided the heaven into three parts, viz., 1. The air or atmosphere, where clouds gather. 2. The firmament, in which the sun, moon, and stars are fixed. 3. The upper heaven, the abode of God and his angels.

Fuente: People’s Dictionary of the Bible

Heaven

Heaven. There are four Hebrew words thus rendered, in the Old Testament, which we may briefly notice.

1. Raki’a, Authorized Version, firmament. See Firmament.

2. Shamayim. This is the word used in the expression “the heaven and the earth”, or “the upper and lower regions”. Gen 1:1.

3. Marom, used for heaven in Psa 18:16; Isa 24:18; Jer 25:30. Properly speaking, it means a mountain as in Psa 102:19; Eze 17:23.

4. Shechakim, “expanses”, with reference to the extent of heaven. Deu 33:26; Job 35:5.

St. Paul’s expression, “third heaven,” 2Co 12:2, had led to much conjecture. Grotius said that the Jews divided the heaven into three parts, namely,

i. The air or atmosphere, where clouds gather;

ii. The firmament, in which the sun, moon and stars are fixed;

iii. The upper heaven, the abode of God and his angels, the invisible realm of holiness and happiness; the home of the children of God.

Fuente: Smith’s Bible Dictionary

HEAVEN

For Fire from Heaven, see under FIRE.

According to the ancients, agreeably to whose ideas of things the symbolic language and character were fashioned, there is a threefold world, and therefore a threefold heaven; the invisible, the visible, and the political; which last may be either civil or ecclesiastical.

Wherever the scene is laid, heaven signifies, symbolically, the ruling power or government; that is, the whole assembly of the ruling powers, which, in respect of the subjects or earth, are a political heaven, being over and ruling the subjects, as the natural heaven stands over and rules the earth: so that according to the subject is the term to be limited; and therefore Artemidorus, writing in the times of the Roman emperors, makes the country of Italy to be heaven. As heaven,f1 says he, is the abode of gods, so is Italy of kings.

In schylus,f2 one of the seven heroes, who carried in the ensigns or symbols of their shields, the prospect of their designs to overthrow the city of Thebes, and the government of Eteocles, hath therein a heaven burnt by the stars about it.

In the Oneirocritics heaven is explained of kings or dominion. In chap. 162. all of them agree in this; “If a king dreams that he is raised up to the starry heaven, it denotes that he shall obtain a greater height and renown than other kings: if he dreams that upon his ascent he sits down in heaven, it denotes that he shall rule over a greater kingdom than he already has.

Heaven thus signifying the ruling powers, the Chinese call their monarch Tiencu,f3 the son of heaven; meaning thereby the most powerful monarch. And thus in Mat 24:30, Heaven is synonymous to powers and glory; and in the words of our Saviour just going before, “the powers of the heavens shall be shaken,” it is easy to conceive that he meant the kingdoms of the world should be overthrown to submit to his kingdom.

Any government is a world; and therefore in Isa. 15, 16, heaven and earth signify a political universe, a kingdom or polity; the words are, “I am the Lord thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared; the Lord of hosts is my name; and I have put my words in thy mouth, and have covered thee in the shadow of my hand, that I might plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Sion, Thou art my people: “that is to say, that I might make them that were but scattered persons and slaves in Egypt before, a kingdom or polity, to be governed by their own laws and magistrates. (See p. 101.) Thus also in the same prophet, Isa 65:17, a new heaven and a new earth, signify a new government, new kingdom, new people.

A door opened in heaven, signifies the beginning of a new kind of government.

To ascend up into heaven, as was before shewn from the Oneirocritics, signifies to be in full power, to obtain rule and dominion. And thus is the symbol to be understood in Isa 14:13-14, where the words of the king of Babylon, meaning to subdue all the world, are “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.”

To descend front heaven, signifies, symbolically, to act by a commission from heaven. And thus our Saviour uses the word descending, Joh 1:51, in speaking of the angels acting by Divine commission, at the command of the Son of man.

To fall from heaven, signifies to lose power and authority, to be deprived of the power to govern; to revolt or apostatize.

Heaven opened. The natural heaven being the symbol of the governing part of the political world, a new face in the natural represents a new face in the political. Or the heaven may be said to be opened when the day appears, and consequently shut when night comes, as appears from Virgil.f4 And thus the Scripture, in a poetical manner, speaks of the doors of heaven, Psa 78:23 : “Of the heaven being shut,” 1Ki 8:35; and in Eze 1:1, the heaven is said to be opened.

Host of heaven (Gen 2:1), signifies the sun, moon, and stars, under the symbol of an army; in which the sun is considered as the king, the moon as his vicegerent or prime minister in dignity, the stars and planets as their attendants; and the constellations, as the battalions and squadrons of the army drawn up in order, that they may concur with their leaders to execute the designs and commands of the sovereign. And thus, according to this notion, it is said, in the song of Deborah, “The stars in their courses fought against Sisera.”f5

Midst of heaven may be the air, or the region between heaven and earth.

In an ecclesiastical view, heaven may denote the true church; earth the idolatrous. And then the air, as the midst of heaven, may be the symbol of such professors of Christianity, as are neither idolatrous nor yet true Christians, being such as are lukewarm, and destitute of a faith producing good works.

In a political view, the heaven may represent the visible supreme powers of the world, the earth the common subjects of those powers; and then the air, as the midst of heaven, will be the symbol of inferior rulers, who are placed between the Supreme governors and the lowest of the subjects. Thus, as in the natural world, the air is the medium through which the heat and light of the sun is conveyed to the earth; so inferior ruling powers are those through whom justice is distributed to the meanest of the people.

Again, the air, as the midst of heaven, may be considered in another view, as the middle station betwixt the corrupted earth, and the throne of God in heaven. And in this sense the air is the proper place where God’s threatenings and imminent judgments against the impenitent inhabitants of the earth should be denounced, to denote, at the same time, God’s forbearance and readiness to punish.

Thus in 1Ch 21:16, it is said that David saw the angel of the Lord stand between the earth and the heaven, as he was just going to destroy Jerusalem with the pestilence, which vision was exhibited to David, that he might have time and occasion to put up prayers for the city which was going to be destroyed by that plague; so that the hovering of the angel was to shew that there was room to pray for mercy, just as God was going to inflict the punishment. It was not fallen as yet upon the earth; it had not as yet done any execution.

“To stretch out the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth’ (Isa 51:16) may be an image generally signifying the execution of the greatest purposes of providence. Perhaps “the heavens” may denote hierarchies or religious establishments, and “the earth” secular governments. And under the image of “extending the heavens, and setting the earth on its foundations,” the Holy Spirit may describe a new and improved face both of religion and civil government, as the ultimate effect of Christianity in the latter ages. Certainly not religion only, but civil government also, has already received great improvement from Christianity; but the improvement will at last be inconceivably greater and universal. And whenever this phrase of “stretching out the heavens, and laying the foundations of the earth,” is applied by the prophets to things clearly future, and yet clearly previous to the general judgment, I apprehend it denotes those great changes for the better, in ecclesiastical and civil politics, in religion and morals, which are to take place in the very last period of the church on earth; not without allusion to that physical improvement of the system of the material world, which seems in some places to be literally predicted. I cannot believe, with Vitringa, that any thing that has yet taken place answers to the full meaning of that astonishing image. It is true that the prophets often confound the ends of things with their beginnings. But if the first promulgation of the Gospel be ever described under the image of a new-making of the whole external world, which with the highest reverence for the authority of the learned and judicious Vitringa, I as yet believe not, it must be so described, not simply in itself, but with a view to its ultimate effect. The establishment of the Christian religion in the Roman empire, by Constantine, was a further step indeed towards the ultimate effect; but still falls short of the grandeur of the image. Which being indeed of all images the greatest that the human mind can apprehend, must be applicable to that which it represents, whatever it may be, only in its highest and most finished state.”-Bishop Horsley.

F1 Art. Lib. ii. c. 73.

F2 sch. Septem. c. Theb. ver. 393.

F3 See Herbelot on this Title.

F4 Vid. Virgil. n. Lib. x. ver. I, cum not. Sere.

F5 Jdg 5:20.

Fuente: A Symbolical Dictionary

HEAVEN

(1) Dwelling Place of God

Deu 26:15; 1Ki 8:30; 2Ch 30:27; Job 22:12; Psa 73:25; Psa 123:1

Isa 66:1; Luk 11:2; Act 7:49

(2) Future Home of the Saints

–SEE 1356

Fuente: Thompson Chain-Reference Bible

Heaven

the place of the more immediate residence of the Most High, Gen 14:19. The Jews enumerated three heavens: the first was the region of the air, where the birds fly, and which are therefore called the fowls of heaven, Job 35:11. It is in this sense also that we read of the dew of heaven, the clouds of heaven, and the wind of heaven. The second is that part of space in which are fixed the heavenly luminaries, the sun, moon, and stars, and which Moses was instructed to call the firmament or expanse of heaven, Gen 1:8. The third heaven is the seat of God and of the holy angels; the place into which Christ ascended after his resurrection, and into which St. Paul was caught up, though it is not like the other heavens perceptible to mortal view.

2. It is an opinion not destitute of probability, that the construction of the tabernacle, in which Jehovah dwelt by a visible symbol, termed the cloud of glory, was intended to be a type of heaven. In the holiest place of the tabernacle, the glory of the Lord, or visible emblem of his presence, rested between the cherubims; by the figures of which, the angelic host surrounding the throne of God in heaven was typified; and as that holiest part of the tabernacle was, by a thick vail, concealed from the sight of those who frequented it for the purposes of worship, so heaven, the habitation of God, is, by the vail of flesh, hidden from mortal eyes. Admitting the whole tabernacle, therefore, in which the worship of God was performed according to a ritual of divine appointment, to be a representation of the universe, we are taught by it this beautiful lesson, that the whole universe is the temple of God; but that in this vast temple there is a most holy place, where the Deity resides and manifests his presence to the angelic hosts and redeemed company who surround him. This view appears to be borne out by the clear and uniform testimony of Scripture,; and it is an interesting circumstance, that heaven, as represented by the holiest of all, is heaven as it is presented to the eye of Christian faith, the place where our Lord ministers as priest, to which believers now come in spirit, and where they are gathered together in the disembodied state. Thus, for instance, St. Paul tells the believing Hebrews, Ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first-born, which are written, or are enrolled, in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than the blood of Abel,

Heb 12:22-24. Here we are presented with the antitype of almost every leading circumstance of the Mosaic dispensation. Instead of the land of Canaan, we have heaven; for the earthly Jerusalem, we have the heavenly, the city of the living God; in place of the congregation of Israel after the flesh, we have the general assembly and church of the first-born, that is, all true believers made perfect; for just men in the imperfect state of the old dispensation, we have just men made perfect in evangelical knowledge and holiness; instead of Moses, the mediator of the old covenant, we have Jesus the Mediator of the new and everlasting covenant; and instead of the blood of slaughtered animals, which was sprinkled upon the Israelites, the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the sanctuary, to make a typical atonement, we have the blood of the Son of God, which was shed for the remission of the sins of the whole world; that blood which doth not, like the blood of Abel, call for vengeance but for mercy, which hath made peace between heaven and earth, effected the true and complete atonement for sin, and which therefore communicates peace to the conscience of every sinner that believes the Gospel.

3. Among the numerous refinements of modern times, that is one of the most remarkable which goes to deny the locality of heaven. It is a state, say many, not a place. But if that be the case, the very language of the Scriptures, in regard to this point, is calculated to mislead us. For that God resides in a particular part of the universe, where he makes his presence known to his intelligent creatures by some transcendent, visible glory, is an opinion that has prevailed among Jews and Christians, Greeks and Romans, yea, in every nation, civilized or savage, and in every age; and, since it is confirmed by revelation, why should it be doubted? Into this most holy place, the habitation of the Deity, Jesus, after his resurrection, ascended; and there, presenting his crucified body before the manifestation of the divine presence, which is called the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, he offered unto God the sacrifice of himself, and made atonement for the sins of his people. There he is sat down upon his throne, crowned with glory and honour, as king upon his holy hill of Zion, and continually officiates as our great High Priest, Advocate, and Intercessor, within the vail. There is his Father’s house, into which he is gone before, to prepare mansions of bliss for his disciples; it is the kingdom conferred upon him as the reward of his righteousness, and of which he has taken possession as their forerunner, Act 1:11; Heb 6:19-20.

4. Some of the ancients imagined that the habitation of good men, after the resurrection, would be the sun; grounding this fanciful opinion on a mistaken interpretation of Psa 19:4, which they rendered, with the LXX and Vulgate, He has set his tabernacle in the sun. Others, again, have thought it to lie beyond the starry firmament, a notion less improbable than the former. Mr. Whiston supposes the air to be the mansion of the blessed, at least for the present; and he imagines that Christ is at the top of the atmosphere, and other spirits nearer to or more remote from him according to the degree of their moral purity, to which he conceives the specific gravity of their inseparable vehicles to be proportionable. Mr. Hallet has endeavoured to prove that they will dwell upon earth, when it shall be restored to its paradisaical state. The passages of Scripture, however, on which he grounds his hypothesis, are capable of another and very different interpretation. After all, we may observe, that the place of the blessed is a question of comparatively little importance; and we may cheerfully expect and pursue it, though we cannot answer a multitude of curious questions, relating to various circumstances that pertain to it. We have reason to believe that heaven will be a social state, and that its happiness will, in some measure, arise from mutual communion and converse, and the expressions and exercises of mutual benevolence. All the views presented to us of this eternal residence of good men are pure and noble; and form a striking contrast to the low hopes, and the gross and sensual conceptions of a future state, which distinguish the Pagan and Mohammedan systems. The Christian heaven may be described to be a state of eternal communion with God, and consecration to hallowed devotional and active services; from which will result an uninterrupted increase of knowledge, holiness, and joy, to the glorified and immortalized assembly of the redeemed.

Fuente: Biblical and Theological Dictionary

Heaven

The word is used to identify certain spaces or certain conditions.

Since it is used in so many ways, we will in this paragraph just list a few, and these will cover a majority of the Scripture references.

1. The place where the birds fly (Gen 1:20; Lam 4:19).

2. The place in which are located the sun, moon and stars (Gen 1:14-17).

3. The place where the clouds are seen (Gen 7:11).

4. The place from which the lightnings come (Gen 19:24; Luk 9:54; Luk 10:18).

5. The place where GOD dwells (Gen 21:17; Gen 22:11).

6. The place where dew originates (Gen 27:28; Gen 27:39).

7. The place from which angels come (Gen 28:17).

8. The place from which rain comes (Deu 11:11; 1Ki 8:35; 2Ch 6:26; Jer 10:13).

9. The place which describes Israel’s dispersion (Deu 30:4; Neh 1:9).

10. The place where the blessings of earth originate such as rain, dew, heat and cold. (Deu 33:13).

11. The place where storms form with thunder, lightning and wind. (Job 26:11).

12. The place where manna, the heavenly food, came from. (Psa 78:24; Joh 6:31, Joh 6:41).

13. The place which describes the supreme seat or throne of GOD. It is above all the other heavens. (1Ki 8:27; 2Ch 2:6; 2Ch 6:18).

14. The place where the believer, the Christian, the saved person, goes in his spirit when he dies.

We never read in the Bible that the believer “goes to Heaven.” Probably the reason is that the Holy Spirit never calls our attention to the place where we are going, but always to the Person by whom we go, and to whom we go. We are said to be “absent from the body, and present with the Lord.” We also read, “I have a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better.” JESUS said, “I will receive you unto Myself.” We should notice that it is always the Person, and never the place that gives comfort to the heart.

Fuente: Wilson’s Dictionary of Bible Types