When Jesus' disciples asked Him, "Teach us to pray", He told them: "This is how you should pray: Our Father, who art in Heaven..." (Matt 6:9 RSV). Jesus' use of the personal pronoun ('who') and the present tense of the verb 'to be' ('art') indicates, first, that we are to pray to a Person (to speak and to listen); second, that this Person exists ('who art' - modern English 'who is') and third, where our Father is (in Heaven). So - what or where is 'Heaven'?
God Spoke the Heavens into Being
It's interesting that the Bible records 'the heavens' as the first thing that God created: B'reshit bara Elohim et ha shamayim v'et ha eretz – "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."
Note the order. We might think, since the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet (alef) represents God, that the Word that He gave us would start with the alef. But it starts with the second letter, beit. This implies that there was a moment (the start of time?) when God created the physical universe ex nihilo (out of nothing).
He alone stretched out the heavens (ha shamayim, the expanse) and did so by Himself (Isa 44:24). God spoke this expanse into being and separated the waters (Heb. mayim) that were under the expanse from those that were above it.
Many Heavens, One God
God is the Creator of all things: of space, of matter and of time. But He exists outside of the space, matter, and time that He created, because He is omni-present, He is a Spirit, and He is eternal. Thus He existed before the moment He created the space-matter-time continuum.1
Because He is the Creator of all things (Isa 44:24; Eph 3:9), the physical heavens (and the earth) belong to Him (Deut 10:14), and also the highest Heaven (Heb. the heaven of heavens). Paul talks of the 'third heaven' (a place beyond both the immediate heaven (the sky) and beyond the heaven of outer space. It represents the very Presence of God, to where Jesus ascended after His resurrection (higher than all of heaven, Eph 4:10).
The second heaven may thus be the place of demonic rulers, principalities, authorities and powers; the wicked spiritual forces arrayed against God and His purposes of redemption. Importantly, heaven is the source of rain and snow (Isa 55:10) and frost, fire and dew, released or withheld under God's sovereign control.
From heaven, He reaches out in both judgment and salvation (Gen 19:24; Psa 57:3). Although heaven is His throne (Isa 66:1), from where He exercises His sovereign rule, the heavens will be rolled up like a scroll when God makes a new Heaven and a new Earth not marred by sin, and the joy and glory of the completion of His plan of redemption will be reflected in all His creation.
Heaven is God's Kingdom – Where the Most High Dwells and Reigns
Secondly, ha shamayim is the abode of God ("Look down from heaven, Your holy dwelling place", Deut 26:15). Yet Solomon recognised that even all the heavens cannot contain God (1 Kings 8:27).
He lives (Heb. inhabits, dwells) in a high and holy place, but He also dwells with the one who is contrite (who recognises their wrong-doing) and lowly in spirit (having a modest estimate of their importance) in order to revive both the heart and the spirit (Isa 57:15). Jesus began His teaching by saying "Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is near" (at hand - close enough to touch, a present reality, Matt 3:2).
So 'heaven', God's abode, is also where His Kingdom is - not so much a specific place or time, but a condition where the rulership of God is acknowledged by mankind.2 It is into this condition that the King reaches down to Man with the restoring gift of His holy Presence and the promise of a restored universe. The Kingdom of Heaven (a synonym for the Kingdom of God) is thus here, but is also to come (peace in hearts, but not yet in the world).
But He bought this about at the cost of His only Son, whose birth we have been celebrating at this time, who came to do His Father's will upon the Cross, once for all - to shed His Blood in order to cleanse and forgive us. Only in this way can we be made holy to approach and dwell with God, as He desires (Heb 9:22; John 15:4).
The Heavens Declare His Glory
Thirdly, the heavens declare in a wonderful way that leaves us speechless in awe, the Glory of God; and they proclaim His righteousness (Psa 19:1; Psa 50:6). As the sun and moon were created as signs and to mark seasons (Gen 1:14), the heavens too point us to their Creator, who is the only One to whom worship is due. Paul tells us that His eternal power and divine nature are clearly seen and understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse (Rom 1:20). When we stand and look up at the heavens on a clear night, we are filled with awe and reverence for the God who tells us that His Name is Holy and Awesome (Psa 111:9, Heb. yirah, to hold in awe, in reverent fear).
We need to know how to enter the Presence of that Holy and Awesome God. At Sinai, the Israelites would not even dare to approach the mountain when His glory and majesty were shown (Deut 5:24). He is not our 'buddy', our 'mate', as liberal Christian songs would have us believe.3
Our Holy and Awesome God
Our Father who is in heaven, even before the world was created, is the One who loved us; who existed in Glory with His Son Yeshua (Jesus); who chose us in the Lord Jesus; who chose Jesus to be revealed (in due time for our sakes); who promised eternal life through God the Father and Jesus our Saviour and who called us to a holy life though the grace given us in Christ Jesus (John 17:23; 17:5; Eph 1:4; 1 Pet 1:20; Titus 1:2-4; 2 Tim 1:9).
His Name is I AM WHO I AM, the One who was, who is and who will be (Ex 3:14). He is the Holy and Awesome One. He surely is worthy of our reverence, our fear and our worship. In our prayer to the King, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire (Heb 12:28-29).
Author: Greg Stevenson
References
1 Morris, H. The Genesis Record, quoted in: Powell, J. Hebrew Treasures. Lamp & Light, Jan/Feb 2017 edition, Society for Distributing Hebrew Scriptures.
2 Stern, DH. Jewish New Testament Commentary, p16.
3 Dr Clifford Hill, Issachar Ministries, State of the Nation update, December 2016.
