Heaven, Heavens, Heavenlies

"Heaven" is the created reality beyond earth. "The heavens and the earth" ( Gen 1:1 ) circumscribe the entire creation, or what we call the universe. God does not need heaven in which to exist. He is self-existent and infinite. Place is an accommodation of God to his finite creatures. God transcends not only earth, but heaven as well.

"Heaven" designates two interrelated and broad conceptsthe physical reality beyond the earth and the spiritual reality in which God dwells. Frequently, the word "heaven" appears in the plural. The nearly exclusive word for heaven in the Old Testament, samayim [Iy;m'v], is an intensive plural more literally translated "heights" or "high places." Jehovah is, therefore, "God most High" ( Gen 14:18-20 ; Psalm 18:13 ). Of the 284 occurrences of its New Testament counterpart, ouranos [oujranov"] (lit. "that which is raised up"), about one-third are plural.

The Physical Heavens. The ancient distinguished between two domains of the physical heaven perceivable by the senses. The immediate heaven is the surrounding atmosphere in which the "birds of heaven" fly ( 1 Kings 21:24 ). The phenomena of weather occur in the atmospheric heaven, including rain ( Deut 11:11 ; Acts 14:17 ), snow ( Isa 55:10 ), dew ( Dan 4:23 ), frost ( Job 38:29 ), wind ( Psalm 135:7 ), clouds ( Psalm 147:8 ), thunder ( 1 Sam 2:10 ), and hail ( Job 38:22 ). Beyond the atmospheric heaven is the celestial heaven, also called the "expanse" or "firmament" ( Gen 1:8 ). It includes the heavenly lightsstars having "fixed patterns" ( Jer 33:25 ; Nahum 3:16 ), and the sun and moon ( Gen 1:14-16 ). The fixed character of the celestial heaven has evoked figures of speech to describe it. For example, it has windows ( 2 Kings 7:2 ), a foundation ( 2 Sam 22:8 ), a gate ( Gen 28:17 ), ends ( Deut 3:43 ), a remote part ( Neh 1:9 ), and is like a curtain ( Isa 40:22 ).

God employs the atmospheric and celestial heavens in his self-revelation to human beings. First, the heavens witness that a glorious God exists. "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands" ( Psalm 19:1 ; Rom 1:19-20 ). Moreover, the pattern of seasons, yielding life-sustaining food, witness to God before believers.

Second, heaven contains signs establishing God's promises. The rainbow signifies that God will never destroy the world by a flood again ( Gen 9:12-16 ). The innumerable stars are an object lesson of the abundant way God will fulfill his covenant with Abraham ( Gen 22:17 ; Exod 32:13 ; Deut 1:10 ; 1 Chron 27:23 ; Neh 9:23 ).