Heaven

. This word is used in Holy Scripture in various senses. Sometimes it denotes simply the atmosphere immediately surrounding the earth. Thus the expression “all the nations under the whole heaven” (Deut. 4:19) signifies almost the same thing as the expression “all the nations upon the earth.” In this sense, heaven is the region assigned to the birds, just as the earth serves as the region of man and beast, and the water as the region of fish. In another sense, “heaven” denotes the heavenly firmament, or vault, upon which the sun, moon, stars, and other heavenly bodies move.

In Holy Scripture this heaven is sometimes called a curtain, or the vessels of heaven (Job 38:37 [as cited]), a scroll (Rev. 6:14). Thus, whether it be the atmosphere or the heavenly firmament, the heavens in this sense present an object accessible to our eyes: “look now toward the heavens,” it is said in the Book of Job, “and behold how high they are” (Job 22:12 [as cited]). This heaven tells us of God, striking our sight with its beauty, majesty, and harmony (Ps. 19:1). It is also doomed, on the last day of judgment, to destruction, just as the earth is: “the heavens shall pass away with a great noise,” says the holy Apostle Peter, “and the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up” (2 Pet. 3:10–13).

It shall be rolled up as a scroll, it is said in the Revelation (6:14). “And I saw,” says the holy Seer in Revelation, “a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea” (21:1). Finally, besides the atmosphere and the firmament, by the word “heaven” is meant the so-called heaven of heavens. This is the invisible, immaterial world, perhaps that very third heaven of which the holy Apostle Paul speaks (2 Cor. 12:2). Here, in the height of heaven, is located the particular place of God’s omnipresence; here is His throne, here He walks upon the circle of heaven (Job 22:14 [as cited]); here especially is present the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 3:21); here also the Spirit of God manifests His all-penetrating power from the seven fiery lamps burning before the throne of God (Rev. 4:5).

This heaven is the dwelling place of angels of every rank. Here, in the place of rest, are found the spirits of the righteous who have attained perfection (Heb. 12:23). This heaven is otherwise called now the bosom of Abraham, now paradise. We read in Holy Scripture of heavenly mansions, of a heavenly fatherland, of the heavenly city of Jerusalem. It is described as having, as it were, its own city, its own temple, its many inhabitants, its own crowns of glory, and its own springs of refreshment. From this heaven the Lord came down to earth; thither He ascended, and from thence He shall come again to judge the living and the dead.