The Three Heavens

Praise God, I want to take you to the Word of God here. I am hoping maybe we'll just get a few moments at the end for questions, maybe in reference to what we have already covered or this tonight. But I want to move straight on here into our message.

Reading from Revelation chapter 21 and verse 1, and this is part seven in our mini-series that was in addition to the other series that's become an entire series in its end. All of you have become prophets in this church because I think by part two, all of you were prophets, and we know what your mini-series become and what they look like. Well, you're all absolutely right and accurate.

Your prophecies come to pass. This is part seven. I don't know how long we'll tarry here or stay here, but I believe there's some important things.

I don't plan to go in these directions, but I let the Word of God and hopefully the Spirit of God lead us and guide us to take us somewhere, not where our own minds take us, but looking for the Word of God to so fill us, it leads us. Maybe there's things just about to happen in our lives, our world, that we need to know this. Why is it that God is showing us the frailty of this world and of this life, setting our eyes on eternity, on a city that's not of this world, that no man can touch, nothing of this world can affect, and that if you're a citizen of that city, if that's your destiny, if you're looking for that city, what is there men can take away from you in this lifetime, in this world? Maybe just we're on the verge of our world becoming so chaotic, of such troubles and judgments, such deception and confusion, maybe the loss of temporary things here, the shaken of all things, that God wants to set our eyes very distinctly on a city that has foundation, on a new heaven, on a new earth, on a new Jerusalem, on a place where all things, all things become new, where there's nothing old, absolutely not one thing, not even a pebble on the street is old there, everything is absolutely new.

Maybe God wants us to have such a vision so the things of this world don't affect us. You're not scared, or you're not manipulated by possessions, or you're not worrying about the things of this world because your eyes are upon an eternal world. Part seven is my message, and normally you wouldn't minister in something like this.

The three heavens, this is a bit of an insertion because in order to understand the new heaven, the new heavens, or how heaven is going to be, or eternity, I believe we need to look at this so you get a full panoramic view. Three heavens we're going to deal with tonight. Revelation 21 verse 1, again one verse but we're going to cover many scriptures here tonight.

Verse 1, and I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and there was no more sea. Let's pray. Father, we love you.

We love your word. It edifies us and encourages us. It blesses us.

Lord God, it leads us, it protects us, it preserves us, it keeps us, and Father, you've given us this vision of the new Jerusalem, the heavenly city of God, this city that comes down out of heaven that has foundations, eternal foundations, everlasting foundations that are apostolic, that are birthed of God, that come from you on high. Lord God, we're asking of you that the word of God would anchor us and establish us, would keep our eyes on the eternal God, the God of heaven, the God of earth, the creator of all things, and the one that's going to lead us into eternity itself. Lord God, we don't want to see these things as a mere myth, nor God as something unreal, but even tonight we want all of these things, the heavens, to understand them and what the Bible says, even if it's only partial, O God, to begin to understand God's everlasting purpose in Jesus' mighty name, that Christ might be glorified in us and through us, in Jesus' name.

Amen. And so it says in Revelation 21 and verse 1, and I saw a new heaven and a new earth. If you see a new heaven and a new earth, there had to be an old heaven and an old earth.

In this verse, it actually parallels in the same verse, a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away. And so it's talking about heaven and earth as we know it now, passing away. Everything you know is going to pass away.

The sun as you know it, the earth as you know it, the moon as you know it, the oceans as you know it, all that you know of as creation, created by God. What does the Bible say? There's a time coming, there's a point in time when all of this has passed away. It's no more.

You can't find it. You won't find the ocean. You won't find the old earth.

You won't find the sun or the moon. You won't find any of this. And what you're going to find is there's a new heaven and a new earth.

There are similarities. There is a connection. And yet it's radically different.

It is so radically different that that isn't unreal. That's reality. This is unreality.

This is the most unreality that you're going to ever find. Do you remember how we read last week in the message, 2 Corinthians 12, verse 1, and it's Paul the apostle speaking concerning coming to visions and revelations. Says in verse 2, a new man in Christ above 14 years ago, whether in the body, I cannot tell whether out of the body, I cannot tell.

God knows. Only God knew. See how even as an apostle, he couldn't even tell if he's in the body or out of the body.

All these experts today, they know everything. And every day, they know the will of God about everything, and God personally speaks to them. The apostles of the New Testament, the greatest men, they couldn't even define an experience that they had 14 years ago.

They've had 14 years to think about, and they go, I'm not even sure if I was in the body or out of the body. But do you know what? He was able to tell what happened. Such a one caught up to the third heaven.

He didn't know whether his physical body had been caught up there. His spirit certainly had. But he could only describe it.

It happened. It was real. Paul, the apostle, somehow, whether in body or in spirit, was caught up into the third heaven.

And as we looked at, it just says two verses later, he calls it paradise. Paradise. That is the name of it.

Paradise is also Abraham's bosom. Paradise is in heaven or is heaven. It's a place of reward and glory.

So Paul was caught up to his third heaven. And that gives me the message title for tonight, Three Heavens. I want to explain briefly, and believe me, there's hundreds of scriptures.

I'm trying to simplify it, I hope, and shorten it, I really hope, because I just want you to get a feel of this. There's many other scriptures. So so many scriptures, I can't even begin on them.

And so we're going to consider the new heaven. But you can't understand the new heaven if you don't understand the old heavens. If you don't understand the third heaven, the first heaven, the second heaven.

What is the first heaven? What is the second heaven? What is the third heaven? And more so, what is the new heavens? How are you going to understand the new heavens, eternity, where you're going to dwell in the future for all eternity, your home as a Christian? How are you going to understand that if you don't even know about the first, the second, and the third? If you can't define them at least simply or very basically. And so we're going to look at some of these things just here briefly for a few moments. When you go to the Bible, you read the statement, heaven and heavens, at least 716 times in the Bible, the word heaven, heavens.

It's the one word or two words, but it's used in different ways, in a variety of ways. If you don't understand when it says heavens, heaven, what it's talking about, or if you just simply think of God's heaven, the third heaven, you could get very, very confused. 700, sorry, 716 times in the Bible, heaven is used, and you're going to be very grateful.

I'm not going to all these verses here tonight. I'm just going to dip into them. 275 times in our New Testament, the word heaven or heavens is used again.

275. If I go to every reference tonight of those 275, I'm going to keep you here a long time. Do you see how often it is mentioned in our Bible? I can't even hardly condense it tonight, but we're going to look at these things.

What does the word heaven or heavens mean? In the Greek language and in the Hebrew, it means the heights or that which is up above. That's what heaven means. The entire word, whether used of the first, second, or third heavens, there's not seven.

Don't believe the Muslims and don't believe the Vikings. There's no seventh heaven. There's only three.

There's only a third heaven, but the word means that which is above. What it's talking about, each of these heavens are above man and something high or something above the earth. No matter what heaven it's talking about, it's talking about something that is above the earth, beyond the earth.

That is the heavens. Notice it's a plural word and often in the Bible, it talks about the heavens and the earth. Not singular, not one heaven, but various heavens, the heavens and the earth.

So listen to what it says in Genesis chapter one and verse one. The very first verse in our Bible, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, plural. God actually created heavens in the very beginning.

The very beginning of his creation, he created heavens and the earth. That's where he began. Not one heaven, several heavens, plural heavens.

We're going to mention a bit later, but let me say here, God didn't create his heaven, the heaven of heavens. God's heaven, the third heaven was not created. It's eternal.

It's the dwelling place of God. It's the abiding place of God. So he's not talking about God's heaven.

See if you only think the word heaven to mean God's heaven, you're not going to understand hundreds of verses in the Bible. You're going to be very limited and restricted. So you need to learn this because does he mean the first heaven, the second heaven or the third heaven? Every time you read the word heaven or heavens, do you know how to tell the difference? Do you know what the difference is? Can you define them? If you're reading the scripture, it makes a big difference if he says the heavens are going to be burnt up with fire.

Do you know when I was a little boy, seven years old on a Sunday night in Banbridge, Northern Ireland, I used to sleep almost in every seat or under the seat. Sometimes in the Sunday night service, it's been a long day. I could be at a few services on a Sunday.

I went to Sunday school before all the adults got to church. And so it's been a long day. But Sunday I was always with my mom and dad at night time.

So I'd fall asleep, but I always woke up to hear interesting things. So during the service, I'd wake up, hear a snippet, probably what the Holy Spirit wanted me to hear. And then I fell back asleep.

But maybe this one night, maybe it was the devil wanted me to hear it. I woke up in the middle of service and I heard, heaven on earth shall pass away. That one verse plagued me.

Seven years old, eight years old, and that scripture began to roll within me. I heard a portion of a sermon, be careful of only hearing a little bit and not knowing all the Bible. I began to hear that God's going to destroy all things by fire.

And I had this picture so vivid that it's ingrained, written on my brain. I can see the picture, I've seen it seven or eight years old. And it was of angels being burnt up and the heavens being burnt up and the streets of gold being burnt up.

It was in my mind. What I heard, because I didn't hear the rest of the sermon. I didn't hear the rest of the scripture, but my word shall never pass away.

Do you know, a snippet of information marked me as a child. Maybe that's why I'm a stickler for the scripture, a teacher of the word of God. Maybe the devil meant that for evil, but it's made me careful about the scripture.

Understand that even a child can misunderstand the word of God. I want to be understood, church. I want you to be clear in doctrine.

And so that little boy heard that and it began to affect his thinking of going, is everything going to perish? Is God's heaven going to perish? Well, of course not. Of course not. God's angels aren't going to perish.

They're eternal. God's heaven is not going to perish. It is eternal.

And notice this word created. It's the word bara. It's only used in reference to the work of God.

There's a heaven and an earth created by God. So in Genesis 1 and 1, what God created was not God's heaven. It's a different kind of heaven and earth.

It's something created, physical. See everything created is visible and physical apart from angels. Angels are created beings.

We don't see them. But all of the things of our universe and our planet and our earth and our world, those are created by God. They had a beginning.

They'll also have an end. Everything you see, everything you know will have an end. In Genesis 1, we have them created.

You go right over to the end of Revelation, you have them destroyed and dismantled and recreated once again. This is an entire beautiful book with all of this information. And listen, if you believe Genesis 1 and verse 1, in the beginning, God created.

If you believe that, then it's not difficult to believe the rest of scripture. If in the beginning, the very first thing of God, God created everything, everything, the earth, the moon, the stars, the planets, earth itself, the seas, the ocean, all of the animals, everything. You don't have a problem with any of this book.

But do you know what? If you've got a problem with Genesis 1 and Genesis 2, you've got a problem with the entire Bible. You'll always be doubting, doubting miracles, doubting the power of God, doubting what God can do, doubting a real heaven and a real hell, doubting the reality of God working in your soul, all because you don't believe in Genesis 1 and verse 1. So here's my message to the three heavens. I want to give you this.

First of all, I want to look at the first heavens. What is the first heavens? Where is the first heavens? And does the Bible explain about this first heaven? It says in Deuteronomy chapter 11, verse 11, but the land, speaking of Israel, whether you go to possess it as a land of hills and valleys, do you see that? It's talking about Israel, Palestine, Canaan, talking about hills, valleys. You can't get more earthly than that first.

But listen to what the next verse says, and it drinketh water of the rain of heaven. Now where does rain come from? It doesn't come from God's invisible heaven. Neither does it come from the planet Mars, okay? Rain does not come from Mars.

I just want you to think here. So we're going to begin in this first point, the first heaven. We see here that rain comes from the first heaven, and the Bible talks about this realm.

Where does rain come from? The heaven. There is a realm around earth called heaven, and rain comes out of it. There's a realm where you find us, or listen to this.

It says in Deuteronomy 28, verse 12, the Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven, to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thy hand. So you see that rain is coming from heaven. That is the place of its origin.

Rain that falls. I'm telling you, Ireland must be a heavenly country because a lot of rain falls here. And God in the scripture, he actually calls it his good treasure.

Upon thee his good treasure. Rain is his good treasure. So we see that rain is a part of the treasures of God.

And it says that the rain comes from the heaven. So we see God using the heavens here as a place of source, provision. He calls it his treasure because he provides things in the heavens.

So the first realm is this source of rain where God provides rain. It says also in Isaiah 55, verse 9, for as the heavens are higher than the earth. Do you see that? It's always, the heavens are always contrasted with the earth.

As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. There is a gap between heaven and earth. This is the first heaven the Bible speaks about.

There is a separation from earth. And it parallels, God is saying here, it's like my thoughts and your thoughts, my ways and your ways. It is distinct.

It is different. It is separate. My ways are higher.

For as the rain cometh down, and notice the snow from heaven. So rain comes from heaven. Snow comes from heaven.

And returneth not hither, but watereth the earth and maketh it bring forth the bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater. Or what about Job 38, verse 37, who can number the clouds in his wisdom? Or who can stay the bottles of heaven? So he's talking about the clouds of heaven. Or a few verses earlier in Job, verse 29, out of whose womb came the ice and the hoary frost, or the white frost of heaven? Who hath gendered it or created it or is the source of it? Do you see already, I'm talking about this word heaven or heavens.

And we see rain comes from there, clouds are there, frost is there, ice is there. Genesis 27, 39, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth. So he's talking about earth.

And of the Jew of heaven from above. So Jew, you know in the morning, and you go out and it hasn't rained, but all over the grass, the grass is wet, there's a Jew that goes on the earth. Where does it come from? Heaven.

So there's a realm just over earth that the Bible speaks about. Do you see how clear the Bible is and how accurate? The rain, the frost, the snow, the mist, the Jew, all of this comes from there. Or if we went further, we'd see in Psalm 18, thunder comes from there.

Psalm 147, the clouds come from there. Zechariah 2, winds come from there. Proverbs 23, we read of birds flying in the heavens.

Do you see, we start from the Bible, it gives you an accurate depiction of a realm that's distinct from the second heaven and the third heaven and from earth. It talks about a realm called heavens, very clearly that you can't confuse with the second heaven. It's different than the second heaven, they knew it.

The Holy Spirit was very accurate and very precise. Let me describe what scientists describe as this first heaven. It's the atmosphere immediately above us.

Go to any science textbook or Wikipedia or YouTube, go wherever you want, or your old school teacher, who knows? But it's the atmosphere immediately above us, which we have direct access to, close access to. It's also called the sky or the realm of the air. And what is air? It's an actual gas.

It's a created substance. So it's that realm where you find air. That's the first heaven.

That's the first heaven. Outer space does not have air. The third heaven does not need air.

But this first heaven is an atmosphere of the air and the Bible talks about it. The heavens are the air. That's another term for it.

It's the air we breathe and it surrounds the entire globe and it's retained by gravity. Do you realize we have a buffer zone of oxygen, of breathable air? The only place in the entire created universe. No other planet, no other star, nowhere, there's nowhere else has this.

No other planet, no other galaxy in the entire universe. This is the only small planet that has this very thin blanket of air and it's called the heavens or the first heavens. It's remarkable and gravity, this gravity pole keeps the air there or else we'd lose it all.

This thin blanket of air, we would lose it if gravity did not keep it intact and around us. What's the point of this first heaven or this layer of air? It protects the earth as a buffer from outer space, from meteorites, from solar radiation, from dropping into freezing temperatures. You know when the earth cools down, the air is like a warm blanket around it.

When we ought to plummet, if we didn't have this blanket around us, we had plummeted in the freezing temperatures, the entire earth, we would die. Or when it gets very hot, it keeps us cool, this layer of air. Isn't it a beautiful creation and yet this is a fallen world.

It's fallen, defective in so many ways. The entire earth, the entire creation is groaning. You know why? It knows it's dying, it's in a death reel.

It's been wounded by the fall of man, sin wounded all of creation but it's still amazing, it's still remarkable, it still has the fingerprints of our God all over it. It is astounding. It stops extreme temperatures of either way, either hot or cold and three quarters of breathable air, listen, is within 11 kilometers of sea level, right around the earth.

Most of the oxygen that's breathable is only 11 kilometers high or about 6.8 miles or if you want it in feet, 36,000 feet. That's as high as it gets. This thin layer of oxygen, the only place in the entire earth and God created it that way and this is called heaven, the heavens.

God has actually ordained it and so over the surface of the earth you have this. This realm, this 11 kilometers high is the realm of weather. Go and read your science textbooks, that's why when you go up in a plane, it's raining here and it's stormy here and it's dark here and it's cold here and there's no sun here and then you break through the clouds in a flight, you haven't gone very far.

You've only gone 11 kilometers, not even seven miles and you break through and you go, wow, it's beautiful. Why can't it be down there like it is up here? See, this is the whole realm. That's where weather is, weather, clouds, everything.

The atmosphere becomes thinner as the altitude increases and what the experts say, there's no definite boundary between this atmosphere of what we call the first heaven and that which we call the second heaven, which is outer space. We're going to come to that shortly. They say this first heaven lasts about 100 kilometers or 62 miles high.

Although it's only 12 kilometers of breathable air, it's actually 100 kilometers of this first realm of heaven. This is the first heavens. Then you're going to move into outer space, which is a different realm.

But see, within this first realm, there's three parts to it. The first part is called the troposphere, meaning to turn, that which turns around. You know, in outer space, here's another thing that air, oxygen does.

It gives you sound. Do you know in heaven, outer space, it's silent? It's silent. So air actually creates sound.

Without air and oxygen and this 11-kilometer atmosphere, you wouldn't even have clarity of sound. This has been created for you and I, for sound, for movement, for breathing, for functioning. God has created this for our blessing and our enjoyment.

People go and climb to the heights in South America, Nepal, or India. They go and find the Alps, the highest mountains. And as they ascend, think about it, it's not that high, really, as in the overall picture of things.

A plane goes much higher than all these mountains. The ark sat on the highest of mountains whenever the flood began to recede. But do you know what? Men can barely get to the highest mountains on earth because they start lacking oxygen.

Do you see how God's created the earth? That it's only the sphere. As soon as you get to the highest mountains, your heart can be affected. Your breathing can be affected.

It can affect your body. You can get really, really sick at those times. So God has sustained a very tiny area, barely 10 kilometers, that you can function in and live in and breathe in.

This is design. This is perfect design. You see, God has created all these things for our enjoyment.

Listen to what it says in Genesis 19, 24. There are other things that came from this realm. Then the Lord reigned upon Sodom and Gomorrah, brimstone and fire, from the Lord out of heaven.

Luke chapter 17, 29, Jesus speaking. But that same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Fire came out of this atmosphere, fire out of the first heaven.

That's where it came from. It was up there, not from the earth, not a volcano. It wasn't anything on earth created this far.

This fire came by God's means from that first realm of the earth, not from outer space. It came out of that atmosphere of the rare air in and around. Listen, remember the trial about Job in Job chapter 1, verse 16, when his children were killed.

While he was yet speaking, there came also another servant to Job and said, The fire of God is fallen from heaven. Do you see, he's seeing the fire come down and consume them. And it says, and has burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them.

And I only am escaped to tell you. Or what about in 2 Kings chapter 1, verse 10, Elijah answered and said to the captain of the 50, If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven. Don't mess with the prophet of God.

And consume me and I 50. And there came down fire from heaven and consumed him and the 50. So we see there are things have happened in scripture where fire comes out of heaven.

Supernatural things. God brings things or does certain things. He brings judgments out of that realm called earth.

This same atmosphere in the Bible, in the New Testament, it's called air. Air, you know, where the Bible talks about the files of the air or it's the birds of the air. Remember in Matthew chapter 16, verse 3, Jesus talks about the sky being red.

So sky air and guess what the word air is in the Greek language. Air. That's where we get our word air.

The Greek word for air is air. And so you have all of this happening. Listen again.

I wonder who has power in that realm of the air. Ephesians chapter 2, verse 2, wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world. Talking about you and your own sinful life.

According to the prince of the power of the air. Where does Satan have power? In the air. He's the prince.

In other words, this atmosphere where weather is. This thin layer in around earth that's called the first heaven. That's the domain of Satan, his powers, his principalities.

That's why there's spiritual warfare. Remember in Daniel. Remember Daniel was praying 21 days and an angel of the Lord was coming with an answer, but he had a breakthrough.

How is he breaking through? It's because there's this spiritual realm where Satan abides. He's got power there. He moves there.

He operates invisibly there. It says among Thessalonians chapter 4, 17. Then we which are alive and remain.

Talking about the coming of the Lord. We which are alive and remain at the coming of the Lord. Shall be caught up together with them who come with Jesus in the clouds.

Listen carefully. You won't have read the scripture. When you put the scripture in the context of what I've said, you think differently.

We'll be caught up, snatched away. The word is snatched away, caught up. In other words, off the earth, away from the earth, snatched away from the earth.

We which remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds. Who are them? They that come with Jesus. Where are we going to meet? Do we meet him on the earth? No, the Bible doesn't say that.

It says in the clouds. And it's not talking about spiritual clouds, symbolic clouds, metaphorical clouds. He's talking about physical and to prove it.

Listen what else he says. To make the Lord in the air, clouds, the air. Where is he talking about? The first heaven, the domain of Satan, that realm of air in round the earth.

And so we shall ever be with the Lord. Do you see that the Bible actually talks about this? So what do you have in science that they are only discovering now? You have clearly laid out, described. Saints of God, stay with the Bible, read your Bible, study the Bible.

When you put it all together, you get a clear scientific picture that they're only discovering now. You can be a thousand years ahead of them. You can be way ahead of the textbooks.

They won't have better textbooks until the millennium. You know, that's when they get it all sorted out. Or what about over in the revelation? Does that talk about the same realm? Yes, it talks about the fifth trumpet of the wrath of God.

Revelation 9 verse 2, and he opened the bottomless pit and there arose a smoke out of the pit as the smoke of a great furnace. And the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. So it's talking about a spiritual something coming out of the earth.

Darkness, demonic powers being released. Something going on in our world. It's the wrath of God.

It is the last wrath, the outpouring of the wrath of God upon the earth. And you know what? As he does that, this darkness that comes out of the earth, this demonic darkness actually darkens the sun and the air. So this whole realm of the first heaven gets darkened.

It's another darkness. It's a part of this judgment by reason of the smoke of the pit. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth and unto them was given power as the scorpions of the earth have power.

It says also in Revelation 16, 17, and the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air. So here's a judgment specifically aimed at the air. There's a judgment in that first realm in around the earth.

It's going to be the target of the wrath of God, of God's judgment and it's predicted here. And there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne saying it is done. And so you have this.

I could keep going here about the first heaven. The Bible talks about the first heaven. It's this atmosphere, the second heaven.

There's my second point here. I'm going to be brief on the second and third one. I just got you going now.

I've got you thinking now. I've got you understanding now. So I'm going to spend a bit briefer time in these next two points.

Point to the second heaven. It says in Genesis 1, 14, and God said, let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven. This is the second heaven.

What are the lights? He's talking about the moon and the sun. Listen how he describes it. To divide the day from the night.

What lights divide day from night? What are the two great lights that bring a clear distinction, divide and line? One light to be at night time. One light to be during the day. It's the moon and the sun.

And let them be for signs, for seasons and for days and for years. Notice here it's talking about that God put these lights in the firmament of heaven. So here's another heaven.

Where are the moon? Where are the sun? They're not in the atmosphere of earth. They're not in the first heaven. They're not in the realm of air.

Neither did the ancients think that. You know, everyone now thinks man was very primitive 2,000 years ago, 4,000 years ago. They didn't know much.

They didn't understand. Are you kidding me? These old biblical men and prophets of God and Job 4,000 plus years ago. They had an absolute intricate understanding of planets and stars.

And they write about them. Information that scientists didn't even know until the past century. Facts are written in Job about stars that no one knew until the last century.

And yet it's there as clear as day. If I had time to go into it. So here's the second heaven.

It's the realm, according to the Bible, of the sun and of the moon. It also says in verse 15, just carrying on from here. And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth.

And it was so. And God made two great lights. That's how I know there's two.

Guess how I knew there was two lights when he said two lights in the air? Because it says two lights. Saints, if you just read the scripture, it's amazing. And God set them in the firmament of heaven.

Who put the moon in its place and the sun? God created it. Why is it these two are affecting us? We're on the earth. You're a nobody.

And yet God provided 6,000 years ago a great sun at the right distance. Remember what the experts say? If it's any closer, we're going to burn up. Any further away, we're going to freeze up.

Everything is intricate. So this second heavens is ordered by God. God's got everything.

Things aren't crashing in. 6,000 years, they stayed in their place. 6,000 years, we've had night and day, night and day.

We've had seasons. We've had harvest and all the various seasons functioning away. And here you have God set them in their place.

It is a remarkable thing. And it goes a bit further. And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness.

And God saw that it was God. We also see about the stars. You begin to read the stars are in the firmament of heaven.

So where you find the stars, the moon, the planet, all of these created things is called the heavens. We know the third heaven is God's heaven. So now you've got three heavens.

Are you understanding this? The first heaven is this atmosphere just above earth, going for 100 kilometers. You can only function within the first 12 kilometers of that in any sort of way. Then beyond 100 kilometers, you don't have a clear line.

But suddenly you're in outer space. And that's where you have this second heaven. You know, the Bible says in Jeremiah 33 in verse 22, and there's many verses talk about that.

It's written 4,000 years ago, 3,000, 2,000 years ago, that the stars of heaven are more in number than can be counted. You can never, they're innumerable. Do you know scientists and experts and students of the stars? There was a day they had them numbered.

Smart alecks who didn't believe the Bible. And they say, oh, we counted them. We can number them.

Oh, let science get a bit further. No, the greatest experts in our world, all the technology, and they say, it's impossible to number the stars. Thank God when we just believe the Bible.

Let me just give you a few facts about this second heaven. Now, there's three areas to the second heaven. The first, and I want to make this very simple so you understand what is the second heaven.

Let me describe it to you because it's a part of God's created order. It was created in Genesis 1. The first heaven was created. The second heaven was created.

And you know what? When he says the first heavens on earth are going to pass away, it's all of this is going to pass away. These are the heavens that are going to be dissolved or consumed with fire. Not God's heaven, but these two heavens are going to one day come under his judgment.

Now, the first part of the second heaven is the solar system. There are eight main planets in this area called our solar system, earth's solar system. Now, I'm only beginning on the second heaven.

There's a little tiny titty bit of God's created heavens. The second heavens, and you know what? It's ginormous. No one can describe it.

No book, no YouTube video. Nobody even knows a fraction of it. They're only grappling to try and understand.

But just to make it simple, I'll just do a minute part of it. The tiniest part of it I can do. Within that tiny part of the second heaven created by God, there are eight main planets.

The moon is just one of those. It is ginormous. These eight planets all have their own moons.

And in fact, the experts say within our solar system, there are about 200 moons altogether. We have earth's moon. That's our moon.

But there's another at least 199 moons all out there in our solar system. I'm giving you the smallest part of the universe, our solar system. It's this small area all created by God.

Man hasn't even begun to explore this. And this is the smallest part of the second heaven. Let's go out a bit further.

Let's increase this. Then you have a galaxy. The solar system is within a galaxy.

The galaxy is bigger. It contains, and this is what the experts say, trillions of stars, trillions. And still, this is only a teeny bit of the entire universe.

Now we're on a galaxy, not a solar system, a galaxy. We haven't got to the universe yet. And within this galaxy that's closest to us, there are trillions of stars.

Guess how many galaxies they say there are. Now remember, our solar system is tiny. It's within one galaxy, our galaxy.

Guess how many galaxies they say there are. And they can't number them. They say, one billion galaxies, probably.

It's a guesstimate because they can't count further. Since I'm not even beginning on this. This is massive.

And your God designed it. The God of the Bible. And he's got all of the details here in the Bible.

Now let's go bigger to the whole thing. And nobody knows what it's like. It's the entire universe.

So one billion galaxies. We are in one galaxy. And our universe is a small part of that galaxy.

But let's go back. And I'm sure there's a whole lot more than a billion galaxies. We're talking about the entire created universe.

Within the entire universe, that is everything that exists, that's created. Within the entire universe is everything physical. Everything visible.

Everything that God said he created in six days. It's all of this. Everything that he brought into existence.

And what the experts say again, and I'm just quoting them, that the entire universe is still expanding. They're not going to catch up with us. You know what the Bible says? When he creates things, he literally rolled it out like a scroll.

In other words, God is still pulling out the universe. How did they know about that thousands of years ago? Job, how did you know about planets that men couldn't see on earth? About stars and the details in them when nobody could see that? How did they know that there was an ever expanding universe? They weren't ignorant fools, you know, writing our Bible, used of God. These men were on the cutting edge of information, not only on earth, but universally, globally, amidst all of the planets.

Saints, what I'm telling you is extraordinary. And just to give you a feel again, the moon is visible to you. Guess how far it's away? It's about, it's actually over 384,000 kilometers, or that's 238,000 miles.

And it's about as close as you can get to earth. Everything else is, what do they call it? Light billions of years away. In other words, you'd have to travel at the speed of light.

You'd have to travel for trillions of years just to get to the outer boundaries. This is how they're thinking. This is how massive this is.

You know what the Bible says? In the beginning, God created the heavens, not the heaven, the heavens and the earth. It's this whole created order. Saints of God, this is an extraordinary thing that we are dealing with.

Listen to what it says. In Hebrews chapter 12, here for a second. Hebrews chapter 12.

And it says, verse 27. And this word yet once more signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, of those things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Do you see the invisible won't get shaken? It cannot.

That which is of God cannot be shaken. It's everything that's created is gonna get shaken. Then listen to verse 28.

Where does that put you? God is gonna shake everything, the entire universe. Everything he's gonna shake again. But he says, wherefore we receive in a kingdom which cannot be moved.

Look at the context. The heavens, the earth, the moon, the stars, this earth, everything, the nations, the cosmos is all gonna get shook. But those that have the kingdom of God cannot be shook.

This is astounding. Let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.

Third point, the last point. I've got another 10 points, but there's my third point. It's extraordinary.

The third heaven, I'm gonna be very brief in this. Solomon says in 1 Kings chapter 8, 27. But will God indeed dwell on the earth? He was building a temple.

He's praying to God. He's gathered all of the equipment material from David, his father. And now he has the pleasure, the blessing, the privilege to build God a house.

But look how he prays to God. But will God indeed dwell on earth? Behold, the heaven and heaven of heaven cannot contain thee. So notice here he's talking about God.

He knows that there's a heaven and a heaven of heavens. There's the heavens, he calls it the heavens, but he says there's another heaven of heavens, God's heaven, that's where God dwells. Even that can't, the entire universe can't contain God.

The entire heavens, all of creation can't contain God. Neither can heaven itself contain God. You know why? He is the God of heavens.

They can't contain you, much less this small house that I have built. He didn't say small, but I'm saying that. This house that I have been built, this is a man of God.

Do you know men with their buildings are in awe of themselves all across the church. I've built this, I've got a big ministry. Oh, that they would see the immenseness of God, the immutability of God, the omniscience of God, the omnipotence of God.

Do you know why men get proud and arrogant? They haven't seen God. Their knowledge, they become puffed up, proud, arrogant, sinful. They don't fear God.

But what I'm telling you about, when you begin to see the immensement, the immenseness of all this, it's amazing. Deuteronomy 4, 39. Know therefore this day and consider it in thine heart that the Lord, he is God in heaven above and upon the earth beneath.

There is none else. Or in Isaiah 57, verse 15, for thus saith the high and the lofty one that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy. I dwell in the high and holy place.

Where does God dwell? Heaven. He calls it the high and holy place. He calls it eternity.

It's marked by holiness. That's where God dwells. Not the first heaven.

Satan inhabits the first heaven. Not the second heaven, the universe. But God inhabits heaven itself.

It is eternal. But listen, you can dwell with God. This is Isaiah and Old Testament.

God dwells with those. Where does he dwell? With him also of a contrite and a humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. The one who dwells in heaven also dwells.

Think about it. He dwells in heaven. The entire universe is nothing.

It's a drop in a bucket. He could hold it in his hand. All of the entire universe, God can hold in his hand.

It's nothing. He created it. He spoke the word and it happened.

He created the planets, the universe, the cosmos, the galaxies, all the stars. And because the stars are so far away, that meant, see when he spoke them into being, the light from the stars was already hitting earth. Didn't have to wait 10 billion years.

They're immediately there. God created everything. A fully grown Adam with a beard.

A fully grown Garden of Eden, remember? He also created all the stars in their place. Everything moving, everything function. An entire universe.

He's almost like conducting an orchestra. An entire, everyone in the right place, playing the right note, the music. And the entirety of the universe, he's conducting it, commanding it, saying go, start, begin.

And it all functions. But it's for a man. They're set for seasons and times and dates.

All of this is happening. But do you know what? If you get the immenseness of this, that God is in heaven, you're gonna be of a humble heart dwelling with God. You'll abide with him.

You'll dwell where he is. It says in Exodus 20, 22, that God talks to us man from heaven. It's an amazing thing.

Let me finish here with something else. I've got lots to say in heaven. But that's what our subject is, eternity.

New heavens and a new earth. You know when he says a new heaven and earth, new heaven, it's gonna be a new heaven. Won't be the same universe.

Won't be the same atmosphere around the planet. He's gonna create an entire new universe and a new earth for us to dwell in. This is my closing points here, if I can try to be brief.

The new heavens and the new earth. Remember Genesis chapter one, verse one. In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.

We have the statement new heaven and new earth given four times in the Bible. Twice in the old, twice in the new. Twice in Isaiah and once in Peter and once in Revelation.

Four times the Bible speaks about the new heaven, new earth. It's not just at the end of Revelation. Peter knew about the new heaven and the new earth.

He knew there was gonna be one. Isaiah in the Old Testament. But listen, Isaiah in the Old Testament, he doesn't speak about the new heaven and the new earth until Isaiah 65 and 66.

In the last two chapters, he's preached for 64 chapters. Then in 65 and 66, he begins to speak about a new heaven and a new earth. He's speaking to people in his generation, to Israel.

You know why? There's hard days in Israel. There is suffering. There are troubles.

There is persecution. There is opposition. Isaiah is gonna get cut in two, sawn asunder as it says in Hebrews 11 for preaching.

This is his last message. What was your last message? New heaven, new earth. He must have felt the tide of persecution arise.

He must have seen the signs. And the Spirit of God finishes his 66 chapter sermon. I'm gonna preach on these 66 one of these days.

I promise you, if God gives me the grace. But he finishes his sermon. Isaiah 65, 17.

For behold, I, that is God, create new heavens and a new earth. See, he knew there was an old, the original, his heaven and earth. He knew about that.

But he's prophesying. Remember, he prophesied about Ezekiel's war. Remember, he prophesied about Jesus the Messiah dying on the cross.

Remember, he prophesied many things. It's an amazing book. But here he is prophesying.

Oh, by the way, before I finish and conclude my sermon. There's gonna be a new heaven and a new earth. And the former shall not be remembered nor come to mind.

He is so amazed, so fascinated. He's saying, when you get into this new heaven, new earth, you won't even think back. You won't desire the old.

There's nothing in the old or the original earth of Adam and Eve that you would desire that or say it's preferable or better or to be coveted. You won't even think about it. You won't even think the earth in the millennium is anything to be coveted.

God reigning and righteousness on the earth. No, no, no, no. This new heaven and this new earth is gonna be so further, so better, so glorious that he says here, you know what? When you come to the new heaven and earth, the former shall not be remembered nor come into mind.

It says in Psalm 102 and 24, Of old hast thou laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the works of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure. Yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment.

As a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed. Do you see how the Psalmist and Isaiah the prophet, they all knew there's the old earth, their earth, but there's coming a new earth. All of this earth that we know now, the creation, the planets, the sun, the moon, the stars, the earth, the ocean, all of it's gonna pass away.

These men of God in the Old Testament knew it. Says in Isaiah 66, 22, For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make shall remain before me, saith the Lord, shall, sorry. Yeah, shall remain before me, saith the Lord.

So shall your seed and your name remain. Ton of God's people. You wanna know, if you're a real child of God, you're gonna remain.

What did he just say? Isaiah, you're gonna remain. If you're a child of God, you're gonna remain like the new heaven and new earth. It's never gonna come to an end.

It says in Revelation 21 and one, And I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and there was no more sea. Then one last scripture on the new heaven, new earth.

And I'm gonna conclude with a second Peter, 2 Peter chapter three, verse 10. And earlier in this chapter, he talks about the old earth. The old earth that was in the days of Noah before the floods.

Then he talks about their earth in the days of Peter himself. But listen to this, what it says in verse 10. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night.

And the witch, notice this, the heavens shall pass away with a great noise. The heavens. Do you realize there's a final doing away with the heavens? Not talking about God's heaven.

Talking about the atmosphere of earth. This oxygen covered earth. It's gonna be done away with in a moment, in the day of the Lord.

It's the day of the Lord that brings us. And it says, what's gonna happen there? The heavens shall pass away with a great noise. Can you imagine the noise? The entire universe, all the planets, all of creation passing away with a mighty noise.

Gonna be noise in heaven on that day I tell you. And the elements shall melt with fervent heat. The word elements here in the Greek means first principle or the smallest of all things or the cause of all things.

I believe it's probably talking about the atom. So it's talking about the elements, the atoms, the principle of all of physical creation. It's gonna melt.

It's gonna get so hot that the atom itself is gonna melt amidst this heat. The earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Are you living for this life, this world, the things of this world? It's all gonna burn up.

What is your life? Are you building for another world? Are you thinking only for this life? What do you get? What you do here? It's all gonna burn. It's all gonna perish. Everything is coming to an end.

Why don't you look for another city like Abraham did? Then it goes further, seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved. And the word dissolved means loosed, untied, released. Can you imagine God for 6,000 years has held it all together? Remember what it says in Hebrews 1, verse 3, that God himself upholds all things by the word of his power.

Scientists and experts still don't know what holds Adam together and all things together. I know. I know who holds it all.

It's the word of God. And you know what? The word of God will keep your family together, keep a church together, keep your mind together. The word of God is very powerful and it's holding everything together.

But do you know what? God's gonna dissolve it all. He'll just let it go. He'll untie it.

The entire atom is gonna melt and dissolve. What manner? In the light of this, what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conversation, in lifestyle and in godliness? Verse 12, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of the Lord. Are you looking for the coming of the Lord? Are you longing for it? Are you desiring it? You see, if all these things are gonna perish, you ought to be looking for the day of the Lord, the day of God, where in the heaven being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent heat.

Everything is gonna burn up. The first time it was a flood, the earth will never be destroyed by a flood again. Second time, it's gonna be fire.

Everything is gonna burn. And he says in the light of this, you ought to be looking, looking for something else, looking for the day of the Lord. You ought to be longing for that day.

Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look, listen to this, for new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. Can I ask you a question? Are you looking? Are you desiring? Are you passionate for the new heaven and new earth? The Bible says you ought to be. All of this is gonna burn.

And are you looking for a new heaven and a new earth? And then Peter finishes, ye therefore, beloved brethren, seeing, you know, all these things before they happen, beware. Here's a personal warning for you right now. Beware, lest ye also being led away with the air of the wicked fall from your own steadfastness.

You that are walking with God, don't fall away. Don't get led away with temptation. Don't be deceived.

But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. To him be glory, both now and forever. Amen.

Same, don't get deceived by the flesh, temptations, the devil, this world. Knowing these things, you ought to be looking for a new heaven and earth. You ought to be desiring it.

We're in dwelleth righteousness. Father, we thank you for the word of God. We want to be looking like Abraham for a city that has foundation.

We want to be like Peter looking for a new heaven and earth, knowing that all of these things are gonna be burnt up. Father, we're asking of you in the mighty name of Jesus that you had worked mightily by your Holy Spirit. Let this teaching affect how we live our life in this world.

Let the knowledge that this earth is gonna perish in fire. All of creation is gonna be consumed. Lord God, on that day when you release it and dissolve it and move your hand and remove the power of your word that holds it all together.

Lord God, on that day, we want to have our eyes upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.