THE THIRD HEAVEN | AdventAI

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 12, 1878

THE THIRD HEAVEN.

Some think that the third Heaven to which Paul was caught up, as described in 2 Cor. 12:2, is the new heaven which is to succeed the present one. According to their enumeration there are three heavens and earths, thus: First, the one before the flood; second, the heavens and the earth which are now; third, the new heavens and new earth which are to come; and this latter they claim is the third heaven to which Paul was caught away.

There are objections to this view which are absolutely insuperable.

1. Peter, the only one who speaks of the three, does not specify them as the first, second, and third; hence we have no authority for supposing that any sacred writer designed that they should be so enumerated. 2 Pet. 3:5, 7, 13.

2. John, who contrasts the present heavens and earth with the ones which are to come, calls this present state the first, and not the second, as it would be according to the view we are examining. Then the new and ultimate heaven to which we look forward, would be the second and not the third, as this view requires it to be. Rev. 21:1.

3. The future and final abode of blessedness awaiting the righteous is spoken of as the new earth, not the new or third heaven. That heaven will be simply an atmospheric heaven surrounding the new earth, as the present earth has an atmospheric heaven surrounding it, which will pass away with it. But that new heaven will not be inhabited by the saints, nor by angels, neither by the Father nor the Son, any more than the present atmospheric heaven is made the abode of these beings. Why, then, should Paul be caught away to such a heaven, and how could he there hear unspeakable words which it was not possible (margin) for him to utter? If it was the future abode of the righteous which he wishes to say was revealed to him, we think he would have said that he was caught away to the new earth, instead of saying that he was “caught up to the third Heaven.”

4. Going into the third Heaven, verse 2, he went into paradise. Verse 4. Paradise is therefore in the third Heaven. But in paradise is the tree of life, Rev. 2:7, which is by the river of life, Rev. 22:2, which river is in the street of the city, the Heavenly Jerusalem, and flows out of the throne of God and the Lamb. Rev. 22:1, 2. Now if the third Heaven, or paradise, is not yet in existence, but is the future state of glory, then the tree of life is not in existence, nor the river of life, nor the holy city, New Jerusalem; for these things are inseparably connected together; and perhaps the same may be said of the throne of God himself. But Paul says that “Jerusalem which is [not, is to be] above is free, which is [not, is to be] the mother of us all.” Gal. 3:26; and Christ says, “In my Father’s house are many mansions.” Therefore the New Jerusalem above, with its street, and river of life, and tree of life, and throne of God and the Lamb, was in existence in Paul’s day. But this place we have shown to be the very place which Paul in 2 Cor. 12 calls the third Heaven.

5. But finally Paul says, “Whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell, God knoweth.” That is to say, he did not know, as the scenes presented before him were so real, but that he was taken up into paradise and the third Heaven bodily. He thought it at least possible that such might have been the case. And now we ask the reader to compare that thought with the idea our friends urge, that this third Heaven is the future new heaven which has not yet come. Could Paul be taken bodily to that? Such an idea is an absurdity. It was not therefore any future heaven, but one in existence at that time, to which Paul could have been taken bodily, that he had reference to in the expression, “the third Heaven.”

Should any inquire what Paul did mean by that language, the answer is at hand. There are three different regions spoken of as heaven in the Scriptures. First, our atmospheric heaven, as in the expression “the fowls of heaven.” Second, the region beyond this heaven where we behold the starry constellations: as, “the stars of heaven.” Third, that region where God has his habitation and his throne: “From Heaven did the Lord behold the earth.” And this is the very place which Paul describes as the third Heaven.

The old hymn of Dr. Watts contains better theology than the expositions of some modern commentators—

“From the third Heaven, where God resides, That holy, happy place, The New Jerusalem comes down Adorned with shining grace.”