I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven.” (2 Corinthians 12:2)
Have you ever thought what Paul meant when he referred to a third heaven? We’ve been taught all our lives that there is only one heaven and then right out of the blue, Paul suggests that there are three of them. What’s going on?
A friend of mine once remarked that he didn’t really care how many heavens there were, as long as he was in one of them. Not me. I want to make it to the third heaven because that’s where the Bible says Jesus is. The other two may great in their own right, but they’ll never measure up to our eternal home.
There’s another reason why I don’t want to be caught dead in the first two heavens. Peter once mentioned that the day would come when the other two heavens would “disappear with a roar.” (2 Peter 3:10) In other words, God will use fire to destroy them. Frankly, that sounds more like hell than heaven, doesn’t it?
The truth is we’ve already seen the first two heavens. They’re all around us and are frequently mentioned in God’s Word. In fact, there’s not a day that goes by that we don’t see the first heaven. It’s right up there in the wild blue yonder, home only to clouds and rain, which makes sense when you think about what the psalmist once said: “The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven.” (Psalms 77:18)
But there’s another heaven we can see, but not by day. This second heaven holds the moon and the stars against a pitch-black background. In fact, David was so amazed by this celestial tapestry that he was almost lost for words: “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place…O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” (Psalms 8:3,9)
So you see there really are two other heavens. One we see by day, and the other we see by night. But the third heaven, we see only by faith. Jesus described it this way: “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” (John 14:2-3)
The Bible records that God has prepared for us that is beautiful, beyond description, but can you imagine how good heaven is going to feel? Our minds really can’t fathom how great heaven is going look, but our lives do teach us a great deal about how it’s going to feel. I ran across a poem recently that sums it all up:
Light after darkness, gain after loss;
Strength after weakness, crown after cross;
Sweet after bitter, hope after fears;
Home after wandering, praise after tears;
Sheaves after sowing, sun after rain;
Sight after mystery, peace after pain;
Joy after sorrow, calm after blast;
Rest after weariness, sweet rest at last;
Near after distant, gleam after gloom;
Love after loneliness, life after tomb;
After long agony, rapture of bliss;
Right was the pathway, leading to this.
There’s no doubt here. When you arrive at this place, you’ll know you’ve died and gone to heaven.
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