In previous Q&As, we’ve already looked at false assertions by some Christian writers that “human beings have an immortal soul, that the present Heaven is a temporary lodging place even though the present Heaven is not our final destination place and that that between our earthly lives and our bodily resurrection God may grant us some temporary physical form that will allow us to function as human beings while in that unnatural state ‘between bodies’ awaiting our bodily resurrection.” We have also reviewed the spirit in man which is not the same as the soul as the Bible shows, in simple terms, that man is a soul, not has a soul. We showed that each human being has a non-physical component in his brain, called “the spirit in man.”
We also looked at the fact that the Hebrews did not believe that we go to Heaven when we die. Neither did the early Christians. We also reviewed the false belief that “the resurrected Christ now dwells in Heaven and that His resurrected body on Earth was physical and that this same, physical Jesus ascended to Heaven, from where He will one day return to Earth.” This leads on to the erroneous assertion, where we are told that it seems indisputable, then, to say that there is at least one physical body in the present Heaven! Of course, mainstream theology believes that man goes on either to heaven or hell at death together with the fallacy of purgatory and other intermediate states.
We mentioned that the Catholic Church invented a new description of Jesus by stating that “Jesus who has a physical body but with a difference. His resurrected body is designed with eternity in view.”
Over the years, we have produced much Scriptural evidence on so many topics that much of mainstream Christianity falls short in understanding much of the Bible at all. If all of the confusion mentioned above was not enough, a further idea is floated—that the present Heaven may be a physical place. We are not talking about the first or second heaven which are both physical but the third Heaven where God’s throne is.
The following writing is offered by one author as some form of proof: “If we look at Scripture, we’ll see considerable evidence that the present Heaven has physical properties. We’re told there are scrolls in Heaven, elders who have faces, martyrs who wear clothes, and even people with palm branches in their hands. There are musical instruments in the present Heaven, horses coming into and out of Heaven, and an eagle flying overhead in Heaven.” We showed in our two-part Q&A entitled “Who and What is in Heaven?” that this is a spiritual place and there are no human beings nor anything physical there.
God the Father and Jesus Christ are both spiritual. Jesus came to earth for a most important purpose and had to be human to fulfil that role. He was fully man while on earth until His physical death. He was seen, spoke and ate as a physical person would. After His death and resurrection, He was able to appear through walls, doors and other physical obstructions which no living physical person could do, but which He was able to do as a Spirit Being and the Second member of the God Family. Those who think that He was still a fully human being and could achieve such feats are deluded, to say the least. After His resurrection, He could manifest Himself as a human being (without becoming a human being, of course) in order to be with the brethren in a fully locked and enclosed place—something, no physical human being could ever achieve!
So, let us now look at the proposal that the third Heaven could be physical. In fairness to the proponent of this suggestion, he is not definitively insisting that the third Heaven is physical, but he feels that it could be. But the fact that he even thinks that it could be is quite alarming.
In our Q&A, “Who and What is in Heaven?,” we showed that only God the Father, His Son Jesus Christ and angelic beings are in the third Heaven. It is a spiritual place where no human being has been, except in vision.
The third Heaven refers to God’s home and as He is spiritual, His home is also spiritual. Man has no idea where it is because it is not a physical domain. It is entirely spiritual. One writer observed that “It could coexist right alongside us, and we wouldn’t even know it. It’s in a completely different plane of existence.”
In Eason’s Bible Dictionary, we read: “According to the Jewish notion there were three heavens: (a) The firmament, as ‘fowls of the heaven’ Ge[nesis] 2:19 7:3,23 Ps[alm] 8:8 etc., ‘the eagles of heaven’ La[mentations] 4:19 etc. (b) The starry heavens De[uteronomy] 17:3 Jer[emiah] 8:2 M[atthew] 24:29 (c) ‘The heaven of heavens,’ or ‘the third heaven’ De[uteronomy] 10:14 1Ki[ngs] 8:27 Ps[alm] 115:16 148:4 2Co[rinthians] 12:2.”
2 Corinthians 12:1-6 is sometimes used as proof that man has been to Heaven:
1 It is doubtless not profitable for me to boast. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord:
2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a one was caught up to the third heaven.
3 And I know such a man—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows—
4 how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.
5 Of such a one I will boast; yet of myself I will not boast, except in my infirmities.
6 For though I might desire to boast, I will not be a fool; for I will speak the truth. But I refrain, lest anyone should think of me above what he sees me to be or hears from me.
This passage mentions that “Paradise,” the spiritual garden, is in the third Heaven where God dwells and is a Heaven composed of spirit—the third Heaven where God lives (Psalm 11:4; Hebrews 9:24). The physical garden of Eden, which God later created for Adam and Eve, was patterned after the spiritual garden that exists in Heaven, and in which is a spiritual Tree of Life. When the heavenly Jerusalem comes down to the new earth, the heavenly garden, with the Tree of Life in it, will come down to the new earth as well.
One observer wrote: “Don’t read into these verses something that’s not there. Paul isn’t talking about the immortality of the soul. He’s not talking about his soul leaving his body. He didn’t mean to write, ‘I don’t know whether I went to heaven bodily or as a disembodied soul.’ That’s just wrong, though that may be the way it’s usually read. Paul is a Christian. Christians [don’t] believe in… disembodied souls. Paul is saying that he had an experience of heaven. He calls it a vision or a revelation. The experience was so vivid, so real, however, that if it was an inner vision (a mental panorama), he found it indistinguishable from an actual visit (a physical panorama).”
There are a number of visions that are written about in the Word of God. Indeed, the apostle John “was in the spirit,” as we read in the book of Revelation (compare Revelation 1:10) to see and write about what He saw there right through to the New Jerusalem coming down from Heaven to earth, but it was in vision only. He was not there physically. If it was not in vision, he wouldn’t have seen anything at all as physical human beings can’t see the spiritual realm. The Topical Encyclopedia states: “The concept of spiritual versus physical realities is a recurring theme throughout the Bible, highlighting the distinction and interaction between the unseen, eternal realm and the tangible, temporal world. This dichotomy is foundational to understanding the Christian worldview, which emphasizes the supremacy of spiritual truths over physical appearances.”
In Colossians 1:16, we read: “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.” This shows that the spiritual realm (the invisible) is just as real and authentic as the physical world that we inhabit. Visible and invisible; what else could the invisible be if it was not referring to the third Heaven?
Think about this. Would it make any sense for the great Creator God and His Son, Jesus Christ Who have both existed from eternity as Spirit Beings to live in a physical Heaven? In our Q&A, “Who and What is in Heaven?,” we show that all that is in Heaven is spiritual – there are no non-spiritual beings there and everything else is spiritual too. We also quoted the following:
“Wikipedia gives the following insight into the 3rd heaven: ‘A third concept of Heaven, also called shămei hashamayim (שׁמי השׁמים or “Heaven of Heavens”), is mentioned in such passages as Genesis 28:12, Deuteronomy 10:14 and 1 Kings 8:27 as a distinctly spiritual realm containing (or being traveled by) angels and God’” (our emphasis).
“In Psalm 47:8 we read: ‘God reigns over the nations; God is seated on His holy throne.’ And in Psalm 103:19: ‘The LORD has established His throne in heaven, and His kingdom rules over all.’”
Everything in the third Heaven is spiritual, and in our free booklet, “Is That in the Bible? – The Mysteries of the Book of Revelation,” we read on page 145:
“Jesus says in Revelation 2:7 that the tree of life is presently in the midst of the ‘Paradise of God.’ ‘Paradise’ describes a beautiful Garden, also called ‘Eden.’ The reference here is to a spiritual garden, which is presently in heaven (compare 2 Corinthians 12:1–4), but which will descend to… earth, together with the (spiritual) tree of life and the heavenly Jerusalem. A reference to the spiritual garden of Eden or Paradise can also be found in Ezekiel 28:13, where Lucifer’s fall from heaven is described.”
Also, on page 141 of the same booklet, we read:
“In addition, John sees the ‘holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God’ (Revelation 21:2). This is a literal city—albeit not physical, but spiritual. (For more information on the spiritual nature of the new Jerusalem, please read our free booklet, “Angels, Demons and the Spirit World.”) That this city is literal and not just a symbolic reference to the Church, for example, can be seen from the very detailed and specific description in Revelation 21:10–22; 22:1–5. We are told in Revelation 21:2, in conjunction with other Scriptures, that God is presently ‘preparing’ this city in heaven (compare Revelation 3:12; Hebrews 11:9–10; 12:22; 13:14; Galatians 4:26). We also read that Jesus Christ is presently ‘preparing’ for us a place in the ‘Father’s house’—the new Jerusalem (John 14:1–3).”
Could anyone really think that God would sit on His throne in a physical heaven while being the supreme Spiritual Being in the universe? How ludicrous would that be? Jesus stated in John 5:37: “And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form.” This shows the complete spirituality of the Father and to even think that He would be in a physical place when He is the greatest Spiritual Being that there is, or ever will be, is simply preposterous.
We have a Q&A entitled: “Will there still be physical people after the Great White Throne Judgment?,” and it concludes with this statement: “Taking all the Scriptures together, it is clear that there will be no human physical life in existence after the Great White Throne Judgment, when God will create everything new (Revelation 21:5). For more information regarding that ‘new’ world, please read our free booklet, ‘God Is A Family.’”
Most people who read and understand the Word of God would agree with the statement that the Bible clearly defines the created world as consisting of two distinct realms, the greater of which is the invisible realm of the Spirit. The natural world is subject to this unseen realm.
The Book of Revelation is full of references showing that the third Heaven where God lives is a Spiritual place and where no physical being is, has been, nor ever will be.
The apostle John saw in vision the Throne Room in Heaven, as recorded in Revelation, chapter 4. We will quote the whole of this short chapter, showing how spiritual all of this is; hence the reason why John could only see it in vision and not in reality.
1 After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.”
2 Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne.
3 And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald.
4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads.
5 And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.
6 Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back.
7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature like a calf, the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle.
8 The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!”
9 Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever,
10 the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying:
11 “You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created.”
If anyone thinks that that is a description of a physical place, it would be most surprising.
Unquestionably, the third Heaven is God’s dwelling place; He is Spirit, Jesus Christ is Spirit, all of the “elders” and other angels are Spirit, and everything in that most wonderful place is Spirit!
And so back to the question, “Could the third Heaven Be Physical?” The answer is a very complete and comprehensive no!
Lead Writer: Brian Gale (United Kingdom)