- Is heaven real?
Is there more than one heaven?
When you open your Bible in Genesis 1:1,
from the beginning you will find something very suprising.
"In the beginning God made the heavens and the earth."
Then you see in 2:1 the same thing, that God made the heavens.
Not just one heaven but the heavens.
We see in Psalms 19:1, a similar story- the heavens.
And so, there is more than one heaven.
Now there is at least three heavens that we see in the Scriptures.
Heaven number one is the one we refer to as
the sky, the atmosphere. It's what we see
and it's used in the Scripture.
Where it talks about God will open the windows of heaven.
He's not talking about it spiritually, He's talking about
that there will be rain, there will be sunshine,
agriculture will grow, the weather will be good
and then there will be prosperity that will hit the earth.
And so, it's talking about the physical atmosphere:
the sky, the moon, all of that. That's the first heaven.
The second heaven, we believe it's an invisible realm
where demons and angels are at.
It's a realm where warfare is taking place.
In Ephesians 2:2 as well as in Ephesians 6:12 we see that
Satan is the ruler of the prince of the air.
We also see that there are spiritual forces
in the heavenly realm.
They are not in heaven per se and they are also not in the sky
like you don't see them when you come out during the day
and look up.
You don't see them battling between the moon and the stars
or the clouds. So they are invisible entities, invisible forces
that are present. Which sometimes makes sense
why it's kind of hard to break through in prayer.
Where there is that resistance that takes place
in the spiritual realm.
I would encourage you to watch a video called
who are the spiritual principalities, and it will help
to understand a little bit more about these principalities
that occupy different areas in the heavenly realm
or the second heaven.
Now, the third heaven. The most exciting heaven.
The one that I love and I'm looking forward to.
This third heaven is the dwelling place of God.
We see in 2 Corinthians 12:2-3
when Apostle Paul refers to being caught up to the third heaven
and he heard things that he couldn't tell us about.
He was taking about a place called paradise.
In fact, we see that in the Bible it's mentioned
this third heaven, dwelling place of God
is mentioned as the Father's house according to John 14:2.
A city that was designed and build by God, Hebrews 11:10.
This is amazing. God was actually the one building.
He's the one that actually was the general contractor.
He was the engineer and He was the designer of this city.
That's incredible!
It's also called a better country, Hebrews 11:16.
It's called a paradise, Luke 23:43.
So this third heaven, if I could say, this heaven
where we will go when we die, is a place where God lives.
Now, I want to mention something about it
because so many people talk about heaven only on funerals.
Yes, it's our future home but heaven is our present hope.
Come on somebody, drop that in the comment below.
Heaven is my future home and heaven is my present hope.
In Titus 2:13 it says that, "looking for the blessed hope
and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ."
So heaven is not something that we are only looking forward
to going one day.
It's something that fuels our spiritual journey today
with hope. We become like one of the prophets said
in the Old Testament, prisoners of hope.
In fact, even Jesus told us when disciples cast out demons
He says, "Don't rejoice that demons obey you.
Rejoice that your name is written in the Book of life."
He was using heaven as a point of rejoicing.
In John chapter 14 He was saying,
don't let your heart be troubled.
And He wasn't saying because you have a breakthrough
that's coming or you are going to get healed
or you are going to get that dream,
God will fulfill the desires of your heart.
He was saying because I'm going to prepare a place for you.
He was using heaven as a source of motivation for the earth.
He was saying when you get persecuted, rejoice and be glad
because great is your reward in heaven.
So the Lord kept using heaven as our present motivation.
See, all of us go through stuff.
But as Christians we go through stuff differently.
We go through stuff looking to where we are going to.
See, victims focus on what they are going through
Christians focus on where they are going to.
Heaven is a blessed hope. Heaven is our present hope.
It's gives us joy. It gives us a sense of not being
overly afflicted by our afflictions,
weighted down by the cares of this life.
Knowing this life on earth is just a hotel
but the real home is heaven
because it's where our Father lives, we are His children.
Now, I like what C.S. Lewis said. He said that:
People who say, "Oh, if you guys are so heavenly-minded
you are earthly no good." First of all, that's not in the Bible
because the Bible tells us to be heavenly-minded.
In Philippians 3:19, in Colossians 3:2, it talks about
be thinking about heaven.
To constantly have your mind set on heavenly things.
So this whole thing, you are so heavenly-minded
you are earthly no good, is junk.
In fact, the reason why alot of us are earthly no good
is because we are not heavenly-minded.
And the only time we get reminded of heaven
is when somebody dies.
We need to live with a constant anticipation.
I'm not talking about having a martyrdom mentality.
I'm not talking about being suicidal.
I'm not talking about desiring to die.
I'm not talking about packing your bags
because Jesus is coming tomorrow.
I'm talking about living with the hope and anticipation
of the coming of the Lord, and of our going to Him
and spending eternity with Him.
I pray that God will comfort you if you are going through
a loss or grief; of losing a loved one to death, accident
or some kind of a tragic--
or maybe you are currently very discouraged as a believer
you are battling with deep disappointment,
I want to remind you that heaven is your hope.
Cheer up, believer.
Lift up your eyes to the hills where your help comes from.
Square your shoulders.
"Don't be troubled because in My Father's house
"there are many mansions; if it were not --
I'm going to prepare a place for you," Jesus said.
Rejoice and be exceedingly great because great is your reward.
Whatever has not been recognized on earth will be rewarded.
You will reach your home, and you are not at home yet.
We are just here passing through.
Thank you for watching this video.
As always, don't forget to hit the thumbs up
and drop in the comment below if you are excited for heaven.
What are you most excited about?
Who are most excited to meet in heaven?
Drop that in the comment below. Let us know.
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God bless you, until next time.