The First Earth: Genesis 1:1, In beginning God created...the earth. There is no record that God ever created anything that was not perfect. And so in Isaiah 45:18, For thus saith the Lord...God Himself That formed the earth and made it; He hath established it, He created it not in vain (empty), He formed it to be inhabited.
In Job 38:4-7 God asks a question that Job could not answer, nor can the smartest scientists today find any answer. The question: Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? Or who laid the cornerstone thereof When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
That earth was so perfect that God is looking for another like it someday. Ecclesiastes 3:15. It is gone. It perished 2 Peter 3:6. Also consider Genesis 1:2.
The Second Earth: Genesis 1:3-31 tells us of the restoration of the ruined earth for new inhabitants. And these were man and the animal kingdom. With all that restoration, it still bore the marks of the great destruction. There were mountains, seas, and ground (ground-up rock and organic matter).
There have been changes over the years and ages of this earth, including, in round numbers, the past 6,000 years. Man has not improved this earth by any means. He was created upright but sought out many inventions so he would not have to rely on God. The earth is polluted with sin, and its atmosphere is polluted with the output of man's inventions. But all is the result of spiritual pollution.
Five great faults or cracks are known in this old earth. Parts of the crust are moving, and bodies of water are slowly changing. The plates are sliding about and making many of these changes. And there are great convulsions to come before the dissolution of this earth.
It was peopled by nations which were given up (Romans 1:18-32) cf. Genesis 11:8-9.
Then Israel came on the scene, and they were divorced and set aside at the time of Acts 28:27-28.
The Dispensation of The Church of The One Body of Christ, The Mystery, began at the time of Acts 28:28.
Then Israel and the Great Millennium will come, and after that, an unknown period.
Then the great fire. 2 Peter 3:12.
The Third Earth: Israel and the nations look for a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. 2 Peter 3:13. Remember that The Church, which is His Body, has no part in any of the three earths. Their Hope is Far Above all heavens.
This 3rd earth will be perfect, as the first one was. It will be the home of Israel in the New Jerusalem. Read Revelation 21:1-27 and Rev. 22:1-10.
The First Heaven: In (the) beginning, God created the heaven ... (Genesis 1:1). If the first earth was a paradise and perfect, then the heaven must have been wonderful. But we have no clues or descriptions of its glories.
When Satan fell, the whole creation was ruined. Heaven and earth, the world that then was, perished by water (2 Peter 3:6). But man's wisdom has not figured out how all this happened. That is a great secret.
But even with all the responsibility and trust God placed in him to care for God's perfect Garden, Satan was not satisfied, and he determined to go even higher, even into The Heaven of heavens, and establish his throne. Read Isaiah 14:12-15. We are told that Satan will die and be no more Ezekiel 28:11-19. That is a comfort. Satan is spoken of under the cloak of a king, but the meaning is clear. But here we find some information about his past and connection with The First Heaven.
The Second Heaven: How much was done to restore heaven when the earth was restored? All we can know from Genesis is the record in Gen. 1:6-8. But at least Satan has maintained his dwelling there and is still ruler over those beings that rebelled with him and caused the great overthrow, as tersely said in Genesis 1:2.
So, he is still a ruler in heaven above the fallen angels. This shows us that he is now only in control of the lowest heaven in the universe and that heaven is to be taken away shortly (Rev. 12:7-13). We are told that there are good angels in heaven and that the heavenly realms above our atmosphere are many and filled with immortal sentient beings. Many are ministering immortals to the heirs of salvation, Israel. And some are heavenly counterparts to The Church of The Body who, with them, will enjoy The Heaven of heavens. Reading through the Bible and seeing the various times and places that angels ministered to Israel is always fascinating. They must have brought food and water to the Lord, both in the wilderness after the temptation and in Gethsemane after that awful trial there. Many times, angels appeared in the OT.
The Third Heaven: In 2 Peter 3:13, there is a promise of a new heaven and earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. John was given The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which contains the events of The Lord's Second Coming and speaks of The Third Heaven in Rev. 21:1-27 and Rev. 22:1-10.
From Heaven, the New Jerusalem will come down to The Third Earth, Revelation 21:2-4. This city, which was built in Heaven, then rests on The Earth where the current city of Jerusalem is now and is occupied with the faithful overcomers. The rest of Israel and other believers and unbelievers will be raised in order after the 1000 years.
The Church of The One Body of Christ will have been with The Lord and the rest of The Heavenly Host since before the Millennium started. They are citizens of The Heaven of heavens as God determined and called each one by His Grace (not because any of us deserve or earned the calling) but to the Praise of His Glory. He ensured that each member seated in Christ Jesus received the Heavenly Holy inheritance by adoption before the overthrow of the world.
Praise God for His boundless Love and Perfect Gift of immeasurable cost, Christ Jesus our Lord.
Heaven. There are five words employed in the Hebrew O.T. translated as "heaven" and one Greek word so translated in the N.T. of the Hebrew words, galgal (Psa. 77:18) refers to the "rolling clouds," the word galgal being elsewhere rendered "wheel" and "rolling thing." Shachaq, used in Psalm 89:6 and Psalm 89:37, means a "thin cloud" and is elsewhere translated as "cloud," "sky," and "small dust." It may be accidental, but it is nevertheless interesting that the blue color, and hence the visibility of the "sky," is owing to the refraction of blue rays of light and that it is to the vapory and the earthy particles in the atmosphere that the refraction is due; but for these, there would be total darkness till the instant of sunrise. As the imagery of the O.T. has been seized upon to "prove" the unscientific character of these ancient writings, the inclusion of the above note may not be without justification. Arabah "mixed" (Psa. 68:4) and ariphim "dropping" (Isa. 5:30) complete the references that refer to the clouds under the covering figure of heaven.
Shamayim. This Hebrew word is the one that is translated as "heaven" or "heavens" in the O.T. except in those portions where the Chaldee equivalent shemayin is used (Ezra, Daniel, and Jer. 10:11). The Hebrew shamayim occurs in the O.T. 419 times, of these, twenty-one occurrences are translated "air," as in Genesis 1:26. In the N.T. only one word, ouranos, is translated "heaven." This Greek word occurs over 280 times, of which "air" accounts for ten occurrences and "sky" for five. The name 'heaven' in our own language has been explained, according to its etymology, as that which is heaved or lifted up, and a similar origin has been assigned to the Greek ouranos and the Hebrew shamayim. The temporary "heaven" stretched out like a tent over the earth during the ages of Redemption is not the subject of this article where we will deal with heaven itself. Whether the translation reads "heaven" or "heavens," the word is always plural in the original. This no more indicates a plurality of "heavens" than the plural Elohim "God" indicates a plurality of Gods. There is a use of the plural in the Hebrew language known as "The Plural of Majesty" as, for example, "the sacrifices of God" in Psalm 51:17, which means "the great sacrifice."
Creation is divided into two parts, "heaven and earth" (Gen. 1:1), which in Colossians 1:16 is expanded to mean "all things visible and invisible," and the term "heaven" may include thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers, as well as physical sun, moon, and stars. Heaven is often used as a symbol of authority, for example, when Nebuchadnezzar learned "that the heavens do rule" (Dan. 4:26). The superiority of the heavens to the earth is expressed in the words "on high" (Luke 1:78, Heb. 1:3), "height" (Isa. 7:11, Psa. 148:1, Proverbs 25:3). It is possible that, after Genesis 1:1, there are but nine or ten references to "heaven itself," i.e., the heaven of Genesis 1:1, in the whole of the O.T. This can be put to the test by reading the Book of Genesis, and noting every allusion to "heaven." We read of the waters that are under heaven, lights in the firmament of heaven, fowl that fly in the "air," the windows of heaven opened at the deluge, Abraham directed to look toward heaven, to the countless number of the stars, but no passage demands that the term "heaven" should be interpreted of the heaven of Genesis 1:1. We cannot print here the 419 references to heaven, but we can print the nine or ten references that look beyond the present limited firmament.
"Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the Lord's thy God" (Deut. 10:14).
Here Moses draws attention to the firmament, which is "called" heaven, and the heaven of heavens, the heavens in the highest degree that were created long before the six days of Genesis 1:3-31 and Genesis 2:1. No further reference is made to the heavens themselves, until the days of David and Solomon, where in Psalm 57:5, Psalm 57:11, Psalm 108:5, Psalm 113:4, Psalm 115:16 and Psalm 148:4 we have six references to a glory that is above the present limited heavens; making, with Deuteronomy 10:14, seven in all, the perfect number; in all other places the heavens referred to are put into correspondence with the firmament (Psalm 19:1) either by the actual statement or by implication. Five hundred years after Moses, Solomon recognized that neither the present heavens nor the heaven of heavens could "contain" God (1 Kings 8:27), and the last reference to the heaven of heavens, in contrast with the firmament, is found in the Levites' prayer (Neh. 9:6).
Even when we bring these passages forward, they only emphasize the fact that "the heaven" of the O.T. was the "firmament" of Genesis 1:8, stretched out like a curtain or a tent for God to dwell in (Isa. 40:22) and any reference in Psalm or Prophecy that speaks of heaven as God's "dwelling place" refers to this tabernacle formed by the firmament. When we open the N.T., it is pardonable if we there expect to find a great advance upon this limitation of the term "heaven." Twelve times do we read in Matthew of the "Father which is in heaven," but we also read that the heavens were opened at the baptism of the Lord, that the heavens are to pass away, and unless it is a matter beyond dispute that "angels" inhabit the heaven of heavens, we shall find no instance in the Gospel of Matthew of a reference to any other "heaven" than the firmament of Genesis 1:8.
We have to wait until we reach the Gospel of John for any explicit reference to the highest heavens, and there the Saviour speaks of ascending up to Heaven to where He was before (John 3:13, John 6:62), to The Glory that He had "before the world was" (John 17:5). In these few references is contained practically all that is said of the "heavens" of Genesis 1:1 in the four Gospels. The only Calling and Company, Hope, and Sphere of blessing that pierces the present firmament above us and ascends to where Christ sits at the right hand of God is the Church of The Mystery. Christ is set forth, in Ephesians 4:10, as having ascended "far above all heavens" yet revealed as seated at the right hand of God "in The Heavenly Places." These Heavenly Places, therefore, must be above the limitations of the outstretched heavens. This is not invalidated by the fact that the selfsame sphere is called in Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians "Heaven," for we must not allow ourselves to rob "heaven itself" of its true title simply because we have used it so often of the limited firmament. In connection with this same calling, Christ can be said to be both "far above all the heavens" yet "in Heaven" at the right hand of God.
There are eleven references to "heaven" in the Epistle to the Hebrews; one only speaks of "heaven itself," and the others refer to the lesser and lower heavens. For the heavens created as recorded in Hebrews 1:10 are to "perish," but this can never be said of "Heaven Itself" Christ is said to have "passed through the heavens," dierchomai (Heb. 4:14), and as being made "higher than the heavens" (Heb. 7:26), without involving any contradiction in the saying that He Who passed through the heavens and was made higher than the heavens, was at the selfsame time depicted as entering "Heaven itself" (Heb. 9:24). The contradiction only exists in our minds if we fail to distinguish The Heaven of the beginning, Genesis 1:1 from the heaven of the ages, Genesis 1:8. The only references to the heavens of Genesis 1:1 that are found in the remainder of the N.T. are those of Peter and of the Revelation, which speak of a new heaven and new earth (2 Pet. 3:13, Rev. 21:1).
The new heavens and the new earth spoken of by Isaiah are related to Jerusalem (Isa. 65:17-18). Where we read in Revelation twenty-one of a "first heaven" and a "first earth," the word translated "first," protos, is rendered in Rev. 21:4 as "the former things," and we should possibly translate Revelation 21:1 as "the former heaven and the former earth," the reference to "no more sea" being an evident allusion to Genesis 1:2. In connection with the subject before us, let us turn to the words of Paul as found in 2 Corinthians 12:1-4. In direct connection with the visions and revelations which he had received, he refers to an extraordinary experience. Whether he was "in the body or whether out of the body," he could not tell, but he did know that he had been caught up to the third heaven . . . caught up into paradise.
First, we must be clear as to the meaning of the term "caught up." The word "up" in this passage has no equivalent in Greek, and to attempt to make it have any bearing upon the subject betrays as much ignorance of the original as would be betrayed by anyone seeking to extract the idea of direction upward, from such idiomatic phrases of the English language as "shut up," "wash up," "lock up" and the like. We can omit the word "up" for the Greek word arpazo is translated as "take by force," "catch away," "pluck," "caught away," and "pull." The phrase "in the body" translates from en somati, which is very similar to the phrase en pneumati "in spirit" used on the occasion when John was translated to the Day of the Lord (Rev. 1:10). The closest parallel is that of the experience of Philip, who was "caught away" by the spirit of the Lord, and was "found at Azotus," some miles away.
It is evident that the third heaven to which Paul was caught away was Paradise; otherwise, his reiteration would need a deal of explanation. Paradise has been located in different regions by different teachers, mainly in accordance with their peculiar beliefs concerning the intermediate state. If we keep close to the Scriptural meaning of Paradise, we shall know that it is derived from the Hebrew pardes (Neh. 2:8, Song. 4:13) and means "a garden or orchard," and when we meet the word in the Book of Revelation, it has no connection whatever with an intermediate state but is still a garden and orchard, it is indeed the garden of Eden restored and extended.
In what way, we may ask, can this Paradise at the end of the age be in any way related to the "third" heaven? If we count the third heaven as being like the third story of a building, it will certainly appear incongruous. But Revelation twenty-one has already spoken of "a new earth" and a "former earth," and it would be true to say, even as Peter in 2 Peter three has indicated, that there was a first heaven in the beginning (Gen. 1:1); a second heaven, at the making of the earth ready for a man (Gen. 1:8); a third heaven, at the end when redemption shall be finished (Rev. 21:1). It was to this "heaven" and this "paradise" that Paul was caught away, and as he stresses more than any other writer in the N.T. the blessings of the New Creation, it is quite understandable that he should associate this great goal of the ages with the visions and revelation he had received in connection with his apostleship.
The great lesson that forces itself upon our attention, however, is the fact that, apart from Paul's ministry, and especially his Prison Ministry, there is scarcely any reference in the Scriptures, either Old or New, to The Heaven of Genesis 1:1. The Hope of The Mystery alone pierces the intervening firmament and places the believer "Far above all" even where Christ sits at the right hand of God. We must now go on to the consideration of the special term "Heavenly Places," but to this, we will devote a separate study.
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Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:10). This is the tribulation prayer for Israel.
Blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places (Ephesians 1:3). Has to do with The Church today.
Believer, where will you spend the ages to come, on earth or in heaven? Have you ever faced this question? Have you made your calling and election sure? We are not asking these questions of those who have no hope. They have no promise of life everlasting.
Where will Abraham spend the ages to come? He was promised a land and a seed in that land. Our Lord made note of the fact that many would come from the east and west and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in The Kingdom - on earth, Matt. 8:11.
Abraham also looked for a city that has foundations (not built on sand) and whose maker and builder is God. But this New Jerusalem will be on the earth. John foresaw it coming down from heaven to earth Rev. 21:2.
At Pentecost, Peter preached of One whom Israel pierced and whom the heavens must retain till the times of restoration of all things (to Israel). Not one of those who believed at Pentecost ever entertained The Hope of going to Heaven. Those who believe the church began at Pentecost should not hope to spend eternity in heaven when the Scriptures tell of life everlasting for that church on earth.
Pentecost was repeated in the house of Cornelius the Centurion, a Roman Gentile. See Acts Chapter 10. All the signs and gifts had to do with an earthly program, The Kingdom. They were looking for the King of kings and Lord of lords, Who, from the throne of His father, David, will rule over the nations of the earth.
In Acts 13:32, Paul is still preaching concerning the promise made unto the fathers (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) and those who believed this message shall have their place on the earth in The Kingdom. Paul turned to the Gentile believers in the synagogue and told them that they could partake of all these blessings of Israel without circumcision and keeping of the law which the Jews were obliged to keep. This was The Gospel of The Grace of God.
It is simply not The Truth to tell folks today that the church began at Pentecost. It is just as cruel to tell them that it began at the time of Acts 13:46-47. Both these teachings will keep the believer from membership, the adoption in The Church of The Dispensation of The Mystery, a secret hidden in God from ages and generations.
There is an invisible Church today which has Heaven as its home. Its Head is at the right hand of God, there awaiting His Manifestation in the Heavens. Then, at a later time, He will be manifested on the earth as King of kings and Lord of lords.
His Church has been persecuted from its very beginning at the time of Acts 28:28. Even before the death of Paul, all of Asia (the known world) had turned away from Paul and the teaching of The Mystery of The Church of The One Body and back to Judaism 2 Tim. 1:15. This Church was hunted down and persecuted by the Byzantine church. It fled to the mountains of Europe. Rome had almost destroyed it by the time of the Reformation. Today, it is again gaining ground but is hated as much as ever, or more, by many in Christendom today.
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Psalm 119:89
For ever, O Lord, Thy Word is settled in heaven.
At one time, this was not very well understood, but with the findings of recent years of the constellations in ancient records and their relation to the Bible record, as shown in Psalm 19, we can see how this is so.
The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament sheweth His handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, Where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them He set a tabernacle for the sun, Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, And rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, And his circuit unto the ends of it: And there is nothing hid from the heat thereof (Psalm 19:1-6).
Now we can see that close to 2,500 years before Moses began to write the Book of Genesis, The Gospel was written in the stars and known by all men until the day they did not like to retain God in their knowledge Rom. 1:28. Then they began to worship the host of heaven and turned from the ancient Truth called The Mazzaroth to the abomination today called astrology.
Man can translate and alter the written Word to suit his fancy, but he can not move the stars to alter their message. The sun passes through 12 of the constellations in its course.
To know The Gospel of The Stars, one must know how the story begins. The circle of the 12 constellations tells the story of the sufferings of The Lamb of God, so we, like the ancients, need to understand it begins in Virgo, the virgin, who is found with the promised Seed, The Branch, i.e., Christ. The story continues around the circle, with each constellation building on the next and filling in the details until it ends with Christ's Return as Leo, The Lion of the tribe of Judah. This solves the riddle of the Sphinx, for it is much older than the pyramids, and is set out to unlock The Witness of The Stars, for it was made with the face of the Virgin and the body of the Lion, the beginning and the end of the redemptive story.
So we see that God's Word was settled or established firmly in the heavens long before the written Word was given. That is why the nations that God had to give up were without excuse (Rom. 1:20). Among other things, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven, in the stars, against the ungodly. And in Rom. 1:19, it says that God showed it unto them. God's age-abiding power and Godhead are revealed from this same heaven. This is by the things that are made, the stars especially.
But back in those days when men knew God by the record in the stars, they did not glorify Him as God. They did not want to know Him Rom. 1:20-23. And so they became fools and worshipped the host of heaven, began changing the names of the stars and the constellations to suit their fancy and change the story. But if one searches, the original names and the original story can be found. See the Free Booklet PDF - THE WITNESS OF THE STARS
A comparison of the record in the sky with the written Word verifies what is written in The Bible about the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And when men have burned all the books, there will remain the redemptive story in the skies, unchanged.
The Heaven of heavens
2 Chron. 6:18
Heavenly Places
Eph. 1:3, Eph. 1:20, Eph. 2:6, Eph. 3:10, Eph. 6:12
Far Above All
Eph. 1:21
The graphic above shows three earths and, above each, three heavens, each signified by a letter pair. This is a very crude attempt to explain a wonderful but almost unknown biblical Truth. It is an attempt to set forth the sequence of events in the plan and Purpose of The Ages.
Everyone knows that God created the Heavens and the Earth in the beginning (Gen. 1:1). Most believe that God created everything in seven days, but Scripture tells of a war in Heaven and an ancient enemy that caused darkness and destruction to the original creation. After a long period of time, The Word of God tells us God used the same planet, Earth, to rebuild a new earth with abundant life but different than before, with a beautiful garden and a new creation of mankind (Adam and Eve) upon this Second Earth. The Bible speaks of Three Heavens and Earths, and the one coming after the Millennium is the Third. This Earth is the Second. We know this is very hard for some to believe, but if we let The Scriptures speak, They will show us The Truth, and the fossil record, the astronomical record, and the difficult verses in Scripture will all come together and finally make sense. We ask you to keep an open mind and consider the following:
The Scriptures speak clearly of Three Heavens and Earths in His Redemptive Plan. The First Heaven and Earth contained an abundance of life even beyond our own, as is evidenced by the Cambrian Layer and many other fossil remains. The vast billions of galaxies that we are still discovering were created in The Beginning, along with the rest of what we call the universe. As is true today, the very lowest part of Heaven is found just above the surface of The Earth and contains the atmosphere. The Scriptures call the sky and the clouds Heaven.
Looking at the graphic above, the capitalized letter pairs stand for:
HW - The Heavens That Were (2 Pet. 3:5-6). This was a part of the world order that perished in Gen. 1:2. We know very little about the Heavens except what we can learn from ice cores, for the Scripture is silent except to say it existed and was made to be inhabited and perished. Isa. 45:18 agrees with Gen. 1:2.
EW - The Earth That Then Was (2 Pet. 3:5-6). This Earth we also know very little about except what the geologic and fossil records can tell us. It was the other part of the world order that perished. It is the overthrow of Eph 1:4 (translated foundation in the KJV from the Greek word katabolē which means to cast down, overthrow, or destroy. Paul could have and would have used the word themelos, the common Greek word for foundation if that is what he had meant to say). World order involves both the heavens and the earth. It is The Original Earth and its atmosphere, Heaven, that was destroyed by the enemy in the Great War.
OW - Overthrow by Water (2 Pet. 3:6). This event is further described in Job 9:5-8 and Psa. 104:6-9. According to Gen. 1:2, the earth became waste and empty (the true meaning of form and void from the Hebrew tohu and bohu, the same words used in Isa. 45:18). The Scriptures declare the First World as a perfect creation In The Beginning (Isa 45:18). Overthrow, wrongly translated foundation of the world is found several times in the NT. All these should be looked up and considered.
HN - Heavens That Are Now (2 Pet. 3:7). On the second day of restoration (Gen. 1:6), as it is correctly called, God said and called forth a new firmament, called heaven, Gen. 1:8. Our atmosphere which is still considered Heaven in Scripture is the lowest of all the heavens and is where because of Satan's rebellion he and his fallen angels were cast and remain to this day. They are called the princes of this world (1 Cor. 2:6-9) and the prince of the power of the air (Eph. 2:2). Some day soon, he will be cast to the earth with his angels and then will begin what is called the great tribulation (Rev. 12:7-9).
EN - Earth That Now Is (2 Pet. 3:7). Gen. 2:1 speaks of the heavens and the earth that were finished in the six days. Water was set within bounds, the firmament established, plant and animal life furnished, and the man put on the earth to have dominion over it. But Adam forfeited that dominion as a result of sin. The present earth shows many marks of the overthrow and has many remnants of the former time. The First Earth was made to be inhabited, and the plant and animal life was huge in size and number compared to our Earth.
OF - Overthrow By Fire (2 Pet. 3:7). In 2 Pet. 3:10, it says that the elements shall melt with fervent heat. We would assume that all present monuments and works of men will disappear and be forgotten. Man will have so polluted and wrecked this earth that such destruction will be necessary for the new and Third Earth to follow.
NH - New Heaven (Rev. 21:1). This comes into being after the present heaven and earth have passed away in the overthrow by fire. In this heaven will dwell righteousness (2 Pet. 3:13). In this time, former things will be forgotten. This heaven probably will reflect the light of the New Jerusalem so that it will light the whole earth with no need for the sun or moon. This is the Third Heaven that John saw, and he tells us about it in Rev. 21:1-4.
NE - New Earth (Rev. 21:1). This is the paradise John saw. It is the paradise that was promised to the dying malefactor at Calvary. It is Adam's hope, his paradise to be regained. There will be no more sea, deep, bottomless pit, or abyss. The water that ruined the First Earth and flooded the Second Earth will be taken away. All signs of sin, death, and ruin will be erased. The Nations of the saved will inhabit this New Earth (Rev. 21:24). All creation will be filled with the Holiness of God Rev. 22:1-6.
Deut. 10:14 Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the Lord's thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is.
Please refer back to the graphic above. There, The Heavens and The Earths, the Kosmos, are shown moving through time, but little was said about the sphere above them all, The Heaven of heavens. There is a need for much more study of that Sphere of Blessing.
The Kosmos or Creation includes The Heaven and The Earth of Gen. 1:1 . But The Heaven of heavens is not mentioned till Deut. 10:14 . It is mentioned less than ten times in the OT. One noteworthy mention is 1 Kings 8:27, where Solomon declares that neither the present heavens nor The Heaven of heavens could contain God.
Although in history and prophecy, there is a change of Kosmos twice, each with an over-throw, there is no change in The Heaven of heavens. It is not involved in the overthrows. Sin has and never will enter therein.
Although the firmament was created as a tent or dwelling place for God, it was not necessary for His existence. God is Spirit and does not need a material creation in which to exist, for He has always been, and He is The Beginning of Creation. This is beyond our comprehension. This tent in the present Kosmos is a place where God is dwelling and working out the redemptive purpose so that He might fellowship with us His creatures as more than Creator as Father and Sons, Family, Friend, Head of The Body. When All that He said is finished, it will be rolled up and put away, for He will Be All in All.
The Heaven of heavens is mentioned five times in Ephesians and in special reference to the place of blessing of The Church, The Body of Christ, and its relation to principalities and powers (not angels, they had to do with Israel and dwell in the firmament).
Note these in Ephesians;
A. Eph. 1:3 Spiritual blessings
B. Eph. 1:20 Far above principalities and powers
C. Eph. 2:6 Raised and seated together
B. Eph. 3:10 Witness to principalities and powers
A. Eph. 6:12 Spiritual wickedness
The last reference probably tells us a lot about heaven and The Heaven of heavens. There is no flesh and blood there, and there is no wrestling there. The rulers are denoted by the word kosmokrater, meaning those that inhabit only the Kosmos (world), not being in The Heaven of heavens.
We are subject to the wiles of the devil and the evil forces that are mentioned in Dan. 10:13, Dan. 10:20. So the translation of Eph. 6:12 needs a bit of rearranging for the two spheres to be kept separate. In Eph 1:20-21, we find righteous powers in the super heavens, but in Eph. 6:12, we see that wicked powers inhabit heaven, the firmament. And it is the former that receive the witness of The Church (Eph. 3:10).
Our Lord then is not only Head of all things on Earth (Eph 1:10) but is enthroned in The Heaven of heavens Far above every known power (Eph l:21).
Praise Him Who Loves us and gave Himself for us that we might know The Power of His Resurrection and meet Him in Glory,
Thank You, Heavenly Father, in Christ Jesus our Lord.
