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There is, says Daubuz, a threefold world, and therefore a threefold heaven- the invisible, the visible, and the political among men, which last may be either civil or ecclesiastical. We shall consider these in the inverse order.
A. Terrestrially and Figuratively regarded. — Wherever the scene of a prophetic vision is laid, heaven signifies symbolically the ruling power or government; that is, the whole assembly of the ruling powers, which, in respect to the subjects on earth, are a political heaven, being over and ruling the subjects, as the natural heaven stands over and rules the earth. Thus, according to the subject, is the term to be limited; and therefore Artemidorus, writing in the times of the Roman emperors, makes Italy to be the heaven: “As heaven,” says he, “is the abode of gods, so is Italy of kings.” The Chinese call their monarch Tiencu, the son of heaven, meaning thereby the most powerful monarch. And thus, in Mat_24:30, heaven is synonymous to powers and glory; and when Jesus says, “The powers of the heaven shall be shaken,” it is easy to conceive that he meant that the kingdoms of the world should be overthrown to submit to his kingdom. Any government is a world; and therefore, in Isa_51:15-16, heaven and earth signify apolitical universe, a kingdom or polity. In Isa_65:17, a new heaven and a new earth signify a new government, new kingdom, new people. SEE HEAVEN AND EARTH.
B. Physically treated. —
I. Definitions and Distinctions. — The ancient Hebrews, for want of a single term like the êüóìïò and the mundus of the Greeks and the Latins used the phrase heaven and earth (as in Gen_1:1; Jer_23:24; and Act_17:24, where “H. and E.”= “the world and all things therein”) to indicate the universe, or (as Barrow, Sermons on the Creed, Works [Oxford ed.], 4:556, expresses it) “those two regions, superior and inferior, into which the whole system of things is divided, together with all the beings that do reside in them, or do belong unto them, or are comprehended by them” (compare Pearson, On the Creed, who, on art. 1 [“Maker of H. and E.”], adduces the Rabbinical names of a triple division of the universe, making the sea, éָí , distinct from the éָùׁåּá , ἡ ïἰêïõìÝíç . Compare also the Nicene Creed, where another- division occurs of the universe into “things visible and invisible”). Deducting from this aggregate the idea expressed by “earth” SEE EARTH; SEE GEOGRAPHY, we get a residue of signification which exactly embraces “heaven.” Barrow (l. c.) well defines it as “all the superior region encompassing the globe of the earth, and from it on all sides extended to a distance inconceivably vast and spacious, with all its parts, and furniture, and inhabitants not only such things in it as are visible and material, but also those which are immaterial and invisible (Col_1:16).”
1. Wetstein (in a learned note on 2Co_12:2) and Eisenmenger (Entdecktes Judenthunm, 1, 460) state the Rabbinical opinion as asserting seven heavens. For the substance of Wetstein's note, see Stanley, Corinthiun, 1. c. This number arises confessedly from' the mystic: value of the numeral seven; “omnis septenarius dilectus est in saeculumine superis.” According to Rabbi Abia, there were six antechambers, as it were, or steps to the seventh heaven, which was the “ ôáìåῖïí in quo Rex habitat”-the very presence-chamber of the divine King himself. Compare Origen, Contra Celsum, 6, 289, and Clemens Alex. Stromlata, 4, 636; 5, 692. In the last of these passages the prophet Zephaniah is mentioned, after some apocryphal tradition; to have been caught up into “the fifth heaven, the dwelling-place of the angels, in a glory sevenfold greater than the brightness of the sun.” In the Rabbinical point of view, the superb throne of king Solomon, with the six steps leading up to it was a symbol of the highest heaven with the throne of the Eternal, above the six inferior heavens (1Ki_10:18-20). These gradations of the celestial regions are probably meant in Amo_9:6, where, however, the entire creation is beautifully described by “the stories [or steps of the heaven,” for the empyreal heaven; “the troop [or globular aggregate, the terra firma; see A. Lapide, ad loc.] of the earth,” and “the waters of the sea” [including the atmosphere, whence the waters are “poured out upon the face of the earth”]. As for the threesald division of the celestial regions mentioned in the text, Meyer thinks it to be a fiction of the learned Grotius, on the ground of the Rabbinical seven heavens. But this- censure is premature; for
(1) it is very doubtful whether this hebdomadal division is as old as Paul's time;
(2) it is certain that the Rabbinical doctors are not unanimous about the number seven. Rabbi Judah (Chagiga, fol. 12:2, and Aboth Nathan, 37) says there are “two heavens,” after Deu_10:14. This agrees with Grotius's statement, if we combine his nubiferum ( ø÷éò ) and astriferumi ( ùׁîéí ) into one region of physical heavens (as indeed Moses does himself in Gen_1:14-15; Gen_1:17; Gen_1:20), and reserve his angeliferum for the ùîé äùîéí “the heaven of heavens,” the supernal region of spiritual beings, Milton's “Empyrean” (P. L. 7:sub fin.). See bishop Pearson's note, On the Creed (ed. Chevallier), p. 91. The learned note of De Wette on 2Co_12:2 is also worth consulting.
(3) The Targum on 2Ch_6:18 (as quoted by Dr. Gill, Comment. 2 Corinth. 1. c.), expressly mentions the triple distinction of supreme, middle, and lower heavens. Indeed, there is an accumulation of the threefold classification. Thus, in Tseror lansamsor, fol. 1, 4, and 3:2,3, and 82, 2, three worlds are mentioned. The doctors of the Cabbala also hold the opinion of three worlds, Zohar, Numbers fol. 66, 3. And of the highest world there is further a tripartite division, of angels, òåֹìָí äִîִּìְàָëַéí ; of souls, ðְôָùׁåֹú ; and of spirits, äָøåּçַéí òåֹìָí . See Buxtorf's Lex Rabbin. col. 1620, who refers to D. Kimchi on Psa_19:9. Paul, besides the well-known 2Co_12:2, refers again, only less pointedly, to a plurality of heavens, as in Eph_4:10. See Olshausen (ed. Clark) on the former passage.
2. Accordingly, Barrow (p. 558, with whom compare Grotius and Drusius on 2Co_12:2) ascribes to the Jews the notion that there are three heavens: Coelum nubiferum, or the firmament; Ccelum astriferum, the starry heavens; Coelum angeliferum, or “the heaven of heavens,” where the angels reside, “the third heaven” of Paul. This same notion prevails in the fathers. Thus St. Gregory of Nyssa (Hexaem. , 42) describes the first of these heavens as the limited space of the denser air ( ôὸí ὅñïí ôïῦ ðá÷õìåñåóôÝðïõ ἀἐñïò ), within which arrange the clouds, the winds, and the birds; the second is the region in which wander the planets and the stars ( ἐíῳ äὲ ðëáíῆ ôáé ôῶí ἀóôÝñùí äéáðïñåýïôáé ), hence aptly called by Hesychius êáôçóôñéóìÝíïí , locum stelliferum; while the third is the very summit of the visible creation ( ôὸ ï῏õí ἀêñüôáôïí ôïῦ áἰóèçñïῦ êüóìïõ ), Paul's third heaven, higher than the aerial and stellar world, cognizable [not by the eye, but] by the mind alone ( ἐí óôáóßì῎ῳ êáὶ íïçôῇ öýóåé ãåíüìåíïò ), which Damascene calls the heaven of heavens, the prime heaven beyond all others ( ïὐñáíὸò ôïῦ ïὐñáíïῦ , ὸ ðñῶôïò ïὐñáíüò , Orthod. Fid. lib. 2, c. 6:p. 83); or, according to St. Basil (In Jesaiarm, visione 2, tom. 1, 813), the throne of God ( èñüíïò èåïῦ ), and to Justin Martyr (Quaest. et Resp. ad Graecos, ad ult. Quaest. p. 236), the house and throne of God ( ïú v êïò êáὶ èñüíïò ôïῦ èåïῦ ).
II. Scripture Passages arranged according to these Distintions. — This latter division of the celestial regions is very convenient and quite Biblical.
(I.) Under the first head, caelum nubiferum, the following phrases naturally fall —
(a) “Fowl,” or “fowls of the heaven, of the air,” see Gen_2:19; Gen_7:3; Gen_7:23; Gen_9:2; Deu_4:17; Deu_28:26; 1Ki_21:24; Job_12:7; Job_28:21; Job_35:11; Psa_8:8; Psa_79:2; Psa_104:12; Jer_7:33 et passim; Eze_29:5 et passim; Dan_2:38; Hos_2:18; Hos_4:3; Hos_7:12; Zep_1:3; Mar_4:3 ( ôὰ ðåôåéíὰ ôïῦ ïὐñáíïῦ ); Luk_8:5; Luk_9:58; Luk_13:19; Act_10:12; Act_11:6 in all which passages the same original words in the Hebrew, Chaldee, and Greek Scriptures ( ùָׁîִéַï ùָׁîִéַí . ïὐñáíßï ) are with equal propriety rendered indifferently “air” and “heaven” — similarly we read of “the path of the eagle in the air” (Pro_30:19); of “the eagles of heaven” (Lam_4:19); of “the stork of the heaven” (Jer_8:7); and of” birds of heaven” in general (Ecc_10:20; Jer_4:25). In addition to these zoological terms, we have meteorological facts included under the same original words; e.g.
(b) “The dew of heaven” (Gen_27:28; Gen_27:39; Deu_33:28; Dan_4:15 et passim; Haggai 10 Zec_8:12):
(c) “The clouds of heaven” (1Ki_18:45; Psa_147:8; Dan_7:13; Mat_24:30; Mat_26:64; Mar_14:62):
(d) The frost of heaven (Job_38:29):
(e) The winds of heaven (1 Kings 18:55; Psa_78:26; Dan_8:8; Dan_11:4; Zec_2:6; Zec_6:5 [see margin]; Mat_24:31; Mar_13:27):
(f) The rain of heaven (Gen_8:2; Deu_11:11; Deu_28:12; Jer_14:22; Act_14:17 [ ïὐñáíüèåí ὑåôïýò ]; Jam_5:18; Rev_18:6):
(g) Lightning, with thunder (Job_37:3-4; Luk_17:24).
(II.) Celum astriferum. The vast spaces of which astronomy takes cognizance are frequently referred to: e.g.
(a) in the phrase “host of heaven,” in Deu_17:3; Jer_8:2; Mat_24:29 [
äõíÜìåéò ôῶí ïὐñáíῶí
]; a sense which is obviously not to be confounded with another signification of the same phrase, as in Luk_2:13 SEE ANGELS
(b) Lights of heaven (Gen_1:14-16; Eze_32:8):(c) Stars of heaven (Gen_22:17; Gen_26:4; Exo_32:13; Deu_1:10; Deu_10:22; Deu_28:62; Jdg_5:20; Neh_9:23; Isa_13:10, Nah_3:16; Heb_11:12).
(III.) Calum angeliferums. It would exceed our limits if we were to collect the descriptive phrases which revelation has given us of heaven in its sublimest sense, we content ourselves with indicating one or two of the most obvious:
(a) The heaven of heavens (Deu_10:14; 1Ki_8:27; 2Ch_2:6; 2Ch_2:18; Neh_9:6 Psa_115:16; Psa_148:4 :
(b) The third heavens (2Co_12:2):
(c) The high and lofty [place] (Isa_47:15): (d) The highest (Mat_21:9; Mar_11:10; Luk_2:14, compared with Psalm 168:1). This heavenly sublimity was graciously brought down to Jewish apprehension in the sacred symbol of their Tabernacle and Temple, which they reverenced (especially in the adytum of “the Holy of Holies”) as “the place where God's honor dwelt” (Psa_26:8), and amidst the sculptured types of his celestial retinue, in the cherubim of the mercy-seat (2Ki_19:15; Psa_80:1 : Isa_37:16). III. Meaning of the Terms used in the Original. —
1. By far the most frequent designation of heaven in the Hebrew Scriptures is ùָׁîִéַí , shama'yim, which the older lexicographers [see Cocceius, Lex. s.v.] regarded as the dual, but which Gesenius and Fürst have restored to the dignity, which St. Jerome gave it, of the plural of an obsolete noun, ùָׁîִé as ( âּåֹøַí . plur. omf âּåֹé and îִéַí from îִé ). According to these recent scholars, the idea expressed by the word is height, elevation (Gesenius, Thes. p. 1453; Furst, Hebr. Wort. 2, 467). In this respect of: its essential meaning it resembles the Greek obpavoi [from the radical 6 p, denoting height] (Pott, Etymol. Forsch. 1, 123, ed. 1). Pott's rendering of this root op, by “sich erheben,” reminds us of our own beautiful word heaven, which thus enters into brotherhood of signification with the grand idea of the Hebrew, Chaldee, and Greek.. Professor Bosworth, in his Anglo-Sax. Dict. under the verb hebban, to raise or elevate, gives the kindred words of the whole Teutonic family, and deduces there from the noun heofon or heofen, in the sense of heaven. — And although the primary notion of the Latin caelum (akin to êïῖëïò and our hollow) is the less sublime one of a covered or vaulted space, yet the loftier sense of elevation has prevailed, both in the original (see White and Riddle, s.v. Caelum) and in the derived languages (comp. French ciel, and the English word ceiling)
2. Closely allied in meaning, though unconnected in origin with ùָׁîִéַí , is the oft-recurring îָøåֹí , mardm'. This word is never Englished heaven, but “heights,” or “high place,” or “high places.” There can, however, be no doubt of its celestial signification (and that in the grandest degree) in such passages as Psa_68:18 [Hebr. 19]; 93:4; 102:19 [or in the Hebr. Bib. 20, where ַîְּøåֹí ÷ָãðְùׁå ֹ is equal to the îַùָּׁîִéַí of the parallel clause]; similarly, Job_31:2; Isa_57:15; Jer_25:30. Dr. Kalisch (Genesis, Introd. p. 21) says “It was a common belief among all ancient nations that at the summit of the shadow of the earth, or on the top of the highest mountain of the earth, which reaches with its crest into heaven the gods have their palace or hall of assembly,” and he instances “the Babylonian Albordsh, the chief abode of Ormuzd, among the heights of the Caucasus; and the Hindoo Meru; and the Chinese Kulkun (or Kaen-lun); and the Greek Olympus (and Atlas); and the Arabian Caf; and the Parsee Tireh.” He, however, while strongly and indeed most properly censuring the identification of Mount Meru with Mount Moriah (which had hastily been conjectured from “the accidental resemblance of the names”), deems it improbable that the Israelites should have entertained, like other ancient nations, the notion of local height for the abode of him whose “glory the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain;” and this he supposes on the ground that such a notion “rests essentially on polytheistic ideas.” Surely the learned commentator is premature in both these statements.
(1.) No such improbability, in fact, unhappily, can be predicated of the Israelites, who in ancient times (notwithstanding the divine prohibitions) exhibited a constant tendency, to the ritual of their áָּîåֹú , or “high places.” Gesenius makes a more correct statement when he says [Hebr. Lex. by Robinson, p. 138], “The Hebrews, like most other ancient nations, supposed that sacred rites performed on high places were particularly acceptable to the Deity.. Hence they were accustomed to offer sacrifices upon mountains and hills, both to idols and to God himself (1Sa_9:12 sq.; 1 Chronicles 13:29 sq.; 1Ki_3:4; 2Ki_12:2-3; Isa_45:7); and also to build there chapels, fanes, tabernacles ( áָּúְּé äִáָּîåֹú , 1Ki_13:32; 2Ki_17:29), with their priests and other ministers of the sacred rites ( ëֹּäֲðֵé äִáָּîåֹú , 1Ki_12:32; 2Ki_17:32). So tenacious of this ancient custom were not only the ten tribes, but also all the Jews, that, even after the building of Solomon's Temple, in spite of the express law of Deuteronomy 12, they continued to erect such chapels on the mountains around Jerusalem.”
(2.) Neither from the character of Jehovah, as the God of Israel, can the improbability be maintained, as if it were of the essence of polytheism only to localize Deity on mountain heights. “The high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy,” in the proclamation which he is pleased to make of his own style, does not limit his abode to celestial sublimities; in one of the finest passages of even Isaiah's poetry, God claims as one of the stations of his glory the shrine of “a contrite and humble spirit” (Isa_57:15). His loftiest attributes, therefore, are not compromised, nor is the amplitude of his omnipresence compressed by an earthly residence. Accordingly, the same Jehovah who “walketh on the high places, áִּîåֹú , of the earth” (Amo_4:13); who “treadeth on the fastnesses, áָּîåֹú , of the sea” (Job_9:8); and “who ascendeth above the heights, áָּîåֹú , of the clouds,” was pleased to consecrate Zion as his dwelling-place (Psa_87:2), and his rest (Psa_132:13-14). Hence we find the same word, îָøåֹí , which is often descriptive of the sublimest heaven, used of Zion, which Ezekiel calls “the mountain of the height of Israel,” äִø îְøåֹí éַùְׂøָàֵì (Eze_17:23; Eze_20:40; Eze_34:14).
3. âִּìְâֵּì , galgal'. This word, which literally meaning a wheel, admirably expresses rotatory movement, is actually rendered “heaven” in the A.V. of Psa_77:18 : “The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven,” áִּâִּìְâִּì [Sept. ἐí ôῷ ôñï÷ῷ ; Vulg. in rota]. Luther's version agrees with the A. Vers. in Himmel; and Dathe renders per orbem, which is ambiguous, being as expressive, to say the least, of the globe of the earth as of the circle of heaven. The Targum (in Walton, vol. iii) on the passage gives; áּâìâìà (il rota), which is as indeterminate as the original, as the Syriac also seems to be. De Wette (and after him Justus Olshausen, Die Ps erklärt, 1. c.) renders the phrase “in the whirlwind.” Maurer, who disapproves of this rendering, explains the phrase “rotated.” But, amidst the uncertainty of the versions, we are disposed to think that it was not without good reason that our translators, in departing from the previous version (see Psalter, ad loc., which has, “the voice of thy thunder was heard round about”), deliberately rendered the passage in the heaven, as if the âìâì were the correlative of úֵּáֵì , both being poetic words, and both together equalled the heaven and the earth. In Jam_3:6, the remarkable phrase, ôὸí ôñï÷ὸí ôῆò ãåíÝóåùò , the course, circuit, or wheel of nature, is akin to our âìâì . (The Syriac renders the ôñï÷üí by the same word, which occurs in the psalm as the equivalent of âִּìְâּì , Schaaf's Lex. Syr.; and of the same indefiniteness of signification.) That the general sense “heaven” best expresses the force of Psa_77:18, is rendered probable, moreover, by the description which Josephus gives (Ant. 2, 16, 3) of the destruction of Pharaoh's host in the Red Sea, the subject of that part of the psalm, “Showers of rain descended from heaven, ἀð , ïὐñáíïῦ , with dreadful thunders and lightning, and flashes of fire; thunderbolts were darted upon them, nor were there ‘any indications of God's wrath upon men wanting on that dark and dismal night.”
4. As the words we have reviewed indicate the height and rotation of the heavens, so the two we have yet to examine exhibit another characteristic of equal prominence, the breadth and expanse of the celestial regions. These are ùִׁçִ÷ , shach'ak (generally used in the plural) and øָ÷ַéò . They occur together in Job_37:18 : “Hast thou with him spread out ( úִּøַ÷ַéò ) the sky or expanse of heaven?” — ( ìַùְׁçָ÷ַéí , where ì is the sign of the objective). We must examine them separately. The root ùָׁçִ÷ is explained by Gesenius to grind to powder, and then to expand by rubbing or beating. Meier (Hebr. Wurzelw. — b. p. 446) compares it with the Arabic shachaka, to make fine, to attenuate (whence the noun shachim, a thin cloud). With him agrees Furst (Hebrew. — b. 2, 433). The Heb. subst. is therefore well adapted to designate the sky region of heaven with its cloud dust, whether fine or dense. Accordingly, the meaning of the word in its various passages curiously oscillates between sky and cloud. When Moses, in Deu_33:26, lauds Jehovah's “riding in his excellence on the sky;” and when, in 2Sa_22:12, and repeated in Psa_18:11 (12), David speaks of “the thick clouds of the skies;” when Job (Job_37:18) asks, “Hast thou with him spread out the sky?” when the Psalmist (Psa_77:17 [18 ]) speaks of “the skies sending out a sound,” and the prophet (Isa_45:8), figuratively, of their “pouring down righteousness;” when, finally, Jer_51:9, by a frequently occurring simile [comp. Rev_18:5, ἠêïëïῦèçóáí áὐôῆò áἱ ἁìáñôßáé ἄ÷ñé ôïῦ ïὐñáíïῦ ], describes the judgment of Babylon as “lifted up even to the skies,” in every instance our word ùְׁçָ÷éí in the plural is employed. The same word in the same form is translated “clouds” in Job_35:5; Job_36:28; Job_37:21; Job_38:37; in Psa_36:5 (6); 57, 10 (11); Psa_68:34 (35) [margin, “heavens”]; Psa_78:23; in Pro_3:20; Pro_8:28. The prevalent sense of this word, we thus see, is a meteorological one, and falls under our first head of caelum nubiferum: its connection with the other two heads is much slighter. It bears probably an astronomical sense in Psa_89:37 (38), where “the faithful witness in heaven” seems to be in apposition to the sun and the moon (Bellarmine, ad loc.), although some suppose the expression to mean the rainbow, “the witness” of God's covenant with Noah; Gen_9:13 sq. (see J. Olshausen, ad loc.). This is perhaps the only instance of its falling under the class caelum astriferum; nor have we a much more frequent reference to the higher sense of the coehln angeliferum (Psa_89:6 containing the only explicit allusion to this sense) unless, with Gesenius, Thes. s.v. we refer Psalm 58:35 also to it. More probably in Deu_33:26 (where it is parallel with ùָׁîִéַí , and in the highly poetical passages of Isa_45:8, and Jer_51:9, our word ùְׁçָ÷ַéí may be best regarded as designating the empyreal heavens.
5. We have already noticed the connection between ùְׁçָ÷ַéí and our only remaining word øָ÷ַéò , raki'a, from their being associated by the sacred writer in the same sentence (Job_37:18); it tends to corroborate this connection that, on comparing Gen_1:6 (and seven other passages in the same chapter) with Deu_33:26, we find øָ÷ַéò of the former sentence, and ùְׁçָ÷ַéí of the latter, both rendered by the Sept. ïôåñÝùìá and firmamentum in the Vulg., whence the word “firmament” passed into our A.V. This word is now a well-understood term in astronomy, synonymous with sky or else the general heavens, undivested by the discoveries of science of the special signification which it bore in the ancient astronomy. SEE FIRMAMENT.
For a clear exposition of all the Scripture passages which bear on the subject, we may refer the reader to professor Dawson's Archaia, especially chap. 8, and to Dr. M'Caul on The Mosaic Record of Creation (or, what is substantially the same treatise in a more accessible form, his Notes on the First Chapter of Genesis, sec. 9:p. 32-44). We must be content here, in reference to our term øָ÷ַéòִ , to observe that, when we regard its origin (from the root øָ÷ִò , to spread out or expand by beating; Gesen. s.v.; Fuller, Misc. Sacr. 1, 6; Furst, Hebr. — w. — b. s.v.), and its connection with, and illustration by, such words as ùְׁçָ÷ַéí , clouds, and the verbs èָôִç (Isa_48:13, “My right hand hath spread out the heavens”) and ðָèָä (Isa_40:22, ‘‘Who stretcheth out the heavens like a curtain” [literally, like fineness], “and spreadeth them out as a tent”), we are astonished at certain rationalistic attempts to control the meaning of an intelligible term, which fits in easily and consistently with the nature of things, by a few poetical metaphors, that are themselves capable of a consistent sense when lcell subordinate to the plainer passages of prose. The fuller expression is øְ÷ַéִò äִùָּׁîִéַí (Gen_1:14 sq.). That Moses understood it to mean a solid expanse is clear from his representing it as the barrier between the upper and lower waters (Gen_1:6 sq.), i.e. as separating the reservoir of the celestial ocean (Psa_104:3; Psa_29:3) from the waters of the earth, or those on which the earth was supposed to float (Psa_136:6). Through its open lattices ( àֲéֻáּåֹú , Gen_7:11; 2Ki_7:2; 2Ki_7:19; compare êüóêéíïí , Aristophanes, Nub. 373) or doors ( ãַּìָúִéַí , Psa_78:23) the dew, and snow, and hail are poured upon the earth (Job_38:22; Job_38:37, where we have the curious expression “bottles of heaven,” “utres caeli”). This firm vault, which Job describes as being “strong as a molten looking-glass” (Job_37:18), is transparent, like pellucid sapphire, and splendid as crystal (Dan_12:3; Exo_24:10; Eze_1:22; Rev_4:6), over which rests the throne of God (Isa_66:1; Eze_1:26), and which is opened for the descent of angels, or for prophetic visions (Gen_28:17; Eze_1:1; Act_7:56; Act_10:11). In it, like gems or golden lamps, the stars are fixed to give light to the earth, and regulate the seasons (Gen_1:14-19); and the whole magnificent, immeasurable structure (Jer_31:37) is supported by the mountains as its pillars, or strong foundations (Psa_18:7; 2Sa_22:8; Job_24:11). Similarly the Greeks believed in an ïὐñáíὸò ðïëý÷áëêïò (Hom. II. 5, 504), or óéäήñåïò (Horn. Od. 15, 328), or ἀäÜìáôïò (Orph. Hymn. ad Coelum), which the philosophers called ïôåñÝìíéïí or êñõóôáëëïåéäÝò (Empedocles, ap. Plut. de Phil. plac. 2, 11; Artemid. ap. Sen. Nat. Quaest. 7, 13; quoted by Gesenius, s.v.). It is clear that very many of the above notions were metaphors resulting from the simple primitive conception, and that later writers among the Hebrews had arrived at more scientific views, although, of course, they retained much of the old phraseology, and are fluctuating and undecided in their terms. ‘Elsewhere, for instance, the heavens are likened to a curtain (Psa_104:2; Isa_40:22). SEE COSMOGONY.
IV. Metaphorical Application of the Visible Heavens. — A door opened in heaven is the beginning of a new revelation. To ascend up into heaven signifies to be in full power. Thus is the symbol to be understood in Isa_14:13-14, where the king of Babylon says, “I will ascend into heaven; I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.” To descend from heaven signifies, symbolically, to act by a commission from heaven. Thus our Savior uses the word “descending” (Joh_1:51) in speaking of the angels acting by divine commission, at the command of the Son of man. To fall from heaven signifies to lose power and authority, to be deprived of the power to govern, to revolt or apostatize.
The heaven opened. The natural heaven, being the symbol of the governing part of the political world, a new face in the natural, represents a new face in the political. Or the heaven may be said to be opened when the day appears, and consequently shut when night' comes on, as appears from Virgil (AEn. 10, 1), “The gates of heaven unfold,” etc. Thus the Scripture, in a poetical manner, speaks of the doors of heaven (Psa_78:23); of the heaven being shut (1Ki_8:35); and in Eze_1:1, the heaven is said to be opened. Midst of heaven may be the air, or the region between heaven and earth; or the middle station between the corrupted earth and the throne of God in heaven. In this sense, the air is the proper place where God's threatenings and judgments should be denounced. Thus, in 1Ch_21:16, it is said that David saw the angel of the Lord stand between the earth and the heaven as he was just going to destroy Jerusalem with the pestilence. The angel's hovering there was to show that there was room to pray for mercy, just as God was going to inflict the punishment: it had not as yet done any execution.
C. Spiritual and Everlasting Sense, i.e. the state and place of blessedness in the life to come. Of the nature of this blessedness it is not possible that we should form any adequate conception, and, consequently, that any precise information respecting it should be given to us. Man, indeed, usually conceives the joys of heaven to be the same as, or at least to resemble, the pleasures of this world; and each one hopes to obtain with certainty, and to enjoy in full measure beyond the grave, that which he holds most dear upon earth-those favorite employments or particular delights which he ardently longs for here, but which he can seldom or never enjoy in this world, or in the enjoyment of which he is never fully satisfied. But one who reflects soberly on the subject will readily see that the happiness of heaven must be a very different thing from earthly happiness. In this world the highest pleasures of which our nature is capable satiate by their continuance, and soon lose the power of giving positive enjoyment. This alone is sufficient to show that the bliss of the future world must be of an entirely different kind from what is called earthly joy and happiness, if we are to be there truly happy, and happy brever. But since we can have no distinct conception of those joys which never have been and never will be experienced by us here in their full extent, we have, of course, no words in human language to express them, and cannot therefore expect any clear description of them even in the holy Scriptures. Hence the Bible describes this happiness sometimes in general terms, designating its greatness (as in Rom_8:18-22; 2Co_4:17-18), and sometimes by various figurative images and modes of speech, borrowed from everything which we know to be attractive and desirable.
The greater part of these images were already common among the Jewish contemporaries of Christ; but Christ and his apostles employed them in a purer sense than the great multitude of the Jews. The Orientals are rich in such figures. They were employed by Mohammed, who carried them, as his manner was, to an extravagant excess, but who at the same time said expressly that they were mere figures, although many of his followers afterwards understood them literally, as has been often done in a similar way by many Christians.
The following are the principal terms, both literal and figurative, which are applied in Scripture to the condition of future happiness.
a. Among the literal appellations we find æùή , æùὴ çἰè῎íéïò , which, according to Hebrew usage, signify “a happy life,” or “eternal well-being,” and are the words rendered “life,” “eternal life,” and “life everlasting” in the A. Vers. (e.g. Mat_7:14; Mat_19:16; Mat_19:29; Mat_25:46): äüîá , äüîá ôïῦ èåïῦ , ‘‘glory,” “the glory of God” (Rom_2:7; Rom_2:10; Rom_5:2); and åἰñçíç , ,” peace” (Rom_2:10). Also áἰώíéïí âÜñïò äüîçò , “an eternal weight of glory” (2Co_4:17); and óùôçñßá , óùôçñßá áἰώíéïò , “salvation,” “eternal salvation” (Heb_5:9), etc.
b. Among the figurative representations we may place the word “heaven” itself. The abode of departed spirits, to us who live upon the earth, and while we remain here, is invisible and inaccessible, beyond the bounds of the visible world, and entirely separated from it. There they live in the highest well being, and in a nearer connection with God and Christ than here below. This place and state cannot be designated by any more fit and brief expression than that which is found in almost every language, namely, “heaven” — a word in its primary and material signification denoting the region of the skies, or the visible heavens. This word, in Heb. ùָׁîִéַí , in Gr. ïὐñáíüò , is therefore frequently employed by the sacred writers, as above exemplified. It is there that the highest sanctuary or temple of God is situated, i.e. it is there that the omnipresent God most gloriously reveals himself. This, too, is the abode of (rod's highest spiritual creation. Thither Christ was transported: he calls it the house of his Father, and says that he has therein prepared an abode for his followers (Joh_14:2).
This place, this “heaven,” was never conceived of in ancient times, as it has been by some modern writers, as a particular planet or world, but as the wide expanse of heaven, high above the atmosphere or starry heavens; hence it is sometimes called the third heaven, as being neither the atmosphere nor the starry heavens. Another figurative name is “Paradise,” taken from the abode of our first parents in their state of innocence, and transferred to the abode of the blessed (Luk_23:43; 2Co_12:4; Rev_2:7; Rev_22:2).
Again, this place is called “the heavenly Jerusalem” (Gal_4:26; Heb_12:22; Rev_3:12), because the earthly Jerusalem was the capital city of the Jews, the royal residence, and the seat of divine worship; the “kingdom of heaven” (Mat_25:1; Jam_2:5); the “heavenly kingdom” (2Ti_4:18); the “eternal kingdom” (2Pe_1:11). It is also called an “eternal inheritance” (1Pe_1:4; Heb_9:15), meaning the possession and full enjoyment of happiness, typified by the residence of the ancient Hebrews in Palestine. The blessed are said “to sit down at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” that is, to be a sharer with the saints of old in the joys of salvation; “to be in Abraham's bosom” (Luk_16:22; Mat_8:11), that is, to sit near or next to Abraham [see BOSOM]; “to reign with Christ” (2Ti_2:11), i.e. to be distinguished, honored, and happy as he is to enjoy regal felicities, to enjoy “a Sabbath,” or “rest” (Heb_4:10-11), indicating the happiness of pious Christians both in this life and in the life to come.
All that we can with certainty know or infer from Scripture or reason respecting the blessedness of the life to come may be arranged under the following particulars:
I. We shall hereafter be entirely freed from the sufferings and adversities of this life.
II. Our future blessedness will involve a continuance of the real happiness of this life.
I. The entire exemption from suffering, and all that causes suffering here, is expressed in Scripture by words which denote rest, repose, refreshment, after performing labor and enduring affliction. But all the terms which are employed to express this condition define (in the original) the promised “rest” as rest after labor, and exemption from toil and grief, and not the absence of employment, not inactivity or indolence (2Th_1:7; Heb_4:9; Heb_4:11; Rev_14:13; compare 7:17). This deliverance from the evils of our present life includes, 1. Deliverance from this earthly body, the seat of the lower principles of our nature and of our sinful corruption, and the source of so many evils and sufferings (2Co_6:1-2; 1Co_15:42-50).
2. Entire separation from the society of wicked and evil-disposed persons, who in various ways injure the righteous man and embitter his life on earth (2Ti_4:18). It is hence accounted a part of the felicity even of Christ himself in heaven to be “separate from sinners” (Heb_7:26).3. Upon this earth everything is inconstant and subject to perpetual change, and nothing is capable of completely satisfying our expectations and desires. But in the world to come it will be different. The bliss of the saints will continue without interruption or change, without fear of termination, and without satiety (Luk_20:36; 2Co_4:16; 2Co_4:18; 1Pe_1:4; 1Pe_5:10; 1Jn_3:2 sq.).
II. Besides being exempt from all earthly trials, and having a continuance of that happiness which we had begun to enjoy even here, we have good reason to expect hereafter other rewards and joys, which stand in no natural or necessary connection with the present life; for our entire felicity would be extremely defective and scanty were it to be confined merely to that which we carry with us from the present world, to that peace and joy of soul which result from reflecting on what we may have done which is good and pleasing in the sight of God, since even the best men will always discover great imperfections in all that they have done. Our felicity would also be incomplete were we compelled to stop short with that meager and elementary knowledge which we take with us from this world-that knowledge so broken up into fragments, and yielding so little fruit, and which, poor as it is, many good men, from lack of opportunity, and without any fault on their part, never here acquire. Besides the natural rewards of goodness, there must therefore be others which are positive, and dependent on the will of the supreme Legislator.
On this point almost all philosophers are, for the above reasons, agreed — even those who will admit of no positive punishments in the world to come. But, for want of accurate knowledge of the state of things in the future world, we can say nothing definite and certain as to the nature of the positive rewards. In the doctrine of the New Testament, however, positive rewards are considered most obviously as belonging to our future felicity, and as constituting a principal part of it; for it always represents the joys of heaven as resulting strictly from the favor of God, and as being undeserved by those on whom they are bestowed. Hence there must be something more added to the natural good consequences of our actions here performed. But on this subject we know nothing more in general than this, that God will so appoint and order our circumstances, and make such arrangements, that the principal faculties of our souls, reason and affection, will be heightened and developed, so that we shall continually obtain more pure and distinct knowledge of the truth, and make continual advances in holiness.
We may remark that in this life God has very wisely allotted various capacities, powers, and talents, in different ways and degrees, to different men, according to the various ends for which he designs them, and the business on which he employs them. Now there is not the least reason to suppose that God will abolish this variety in the future world; it will rather continue there in all its extent. We must suppose, then, that there will be, even in the heavenly world, a diversity of tastes, of labors, and of employments, and that to one person this, to another that field, in the boundless kingdom of truth and of useful occupation, will be assigned for his cultivation, according to his peculiar powers, qualifications, and tastes. A presentiment of this truth is contained in the idea, which was widely diffused throughout the ancient world, viz. that the manes will continue to prosecute in the future life the employments to which they had been here accustomed. At least such arrangements will doubtless be made by God in the future life that each individual will there develop more and more the germs implanted within him by the hand of the Creator; and will be able, more fully than he ever could do here, to satisfy the wants of his intellectual nature, and thus to make continual progress in the knowledge of everything worthy of being known, of which he could only learn the simplest elements in this world; and he will be able to do this in such a way that the increase of knowledge will not be detrimental to piety, as it often proves on earth, but rather promotive of it. To the sincere and ardent searcher after truth it is a rejoicing and consoling thought that-he will be able hereafter to perfect that knowledge which here has so many deficiencies (1Co_13:9).
But there is danger of going too far on this point, and of falling into strange misconceptions. Various as the tastes and wants of men in the future world will doubtless be, they will still be in many respects different from what they are here, because the whole sphere of action, and the objects by which we shall there be surrounded, will be different. We shall there have a changed and more perfect body, and by this single circumstance shall be freed at once from many of the wants and inclinations which have their seat in the earthly body. This will also contribute much to rectify, enlarge, and perfect our knowledge. Many things which seem to us very important and essential during this our state of infancy upon earth will hereafter doubtless appear in a different light: we shall look upon them as trifles and children's play, and employ ourselves in more important occupations, the utility and interest of which we have never before imagined.
Some theologians have supposed that the saints in heaven may be taught by immediate divine revelations (lumen gloriae), especially those who may enter the abodes of the blessed without knowledge, or with only a small measure of it; e.g. children and others who have died in ignorance, for which they themselves were not to blame. On this subject nothing is definitely taught in the Scriptures, but both Scripture and reason warrant us in believing that provision will be made for all such persons in the world to come. A principal part of our future happiness will consist, according to the Christian doctrine, in the enlarging and correcting of our knowledge respecting God, his nature, attributes, and works, and in the salutary application of this knowledge to our own moral benefit, to the increase of our faith, love, and obedience. There has been some controversy among theologians with regard to the vision of God (visio Dei intuitiva, sensitiva, beatifica, comprehensiva). The question is whether the saints will hereafter behold God with the eyes of the mind, i.e. merely know him with the understanding.
But in the Scriptures God is always represented as a being invisible by the bodily eye ( ἀüñáôïò ), as, indeed, every spirit is. The texts of Scripture which speak of seeing God have been misunderstood: they signify, sometimes, the more distinct knowledge of God, as we speak of knowing by seeing, of seeing with the eyes of the mind (Joh_1:18; 1Jn_3:2; 1Jn_4:12; comp. 5:20; 1Ti_6:16); and Paul uses âëÝðåéí and ãéíώóêåéí as synonymous (1Co_13:12-13; comp. 5:10). Again, they express the idea of felicity, the enjoyment of God's favor, the being thought worthy of his friendship, etc. Still more frequently are both of these meanings comprehended under the phrase to see God. The image is taken from Oriental princes, to see whose face and to be in whose presence was esteemed a great favor (Matthew 5, 8; Heb_7:14). “Without holiness, ïὐäåὶò ὄøåôáé ôὸí Êýñéïí .” The opposite of this is to be removed from God and from his face. But Christ is always represented as one who will be personally visible to us, and whose personal, familiar intercourse and guidance we shall enjoy. Herein Christ himself places a chief part of the joy of the saints (John 14, 17, etc.); and the apostles often describe the blessedness of the pious by the phrase being with Christ. To his guidance has God entrusted the human race, in heaven and on earth. And Paul says (2Co_4:6), we see “the brightness of the divine glory in the face of Christ;” he is “the visible representative of the invisible God” (Col_1:15).
According to the representations contained in the holy Scriptures, the saints will dwell together in the future world, and form, as- it were, a kingdom or state of God (Luke 16; Luk_20:38; Rom_8:10; Rev_7:9; Heb_12:22). They will there partake of a common felicity. Their enjoyment will doubtless be very much heightened by friendship, and by their confiding intercourse with each other. We must, however, separate all earthly imperfections from our conceptions of this heavenly society. But that we shall there recognize our former friends, and shall be again associated with them, was uniformly believed by all antiquity. And when we call to mind the affectionate manner in which Christ soothed his disciples by the assurance that they should hereafter see him again, should be with him, and enjoy personal intercourse and friendship with him in that place to which he was going (Joh_14:3; comp. 1Pe_1:8), we may gather just grounds for this belief. Paul, indeed, says expressly that we shall be with Christ, in company with our friends who died before us ( áõá ÷áéᾷ áᾷñïë , 1Th_4:17); and this presupposes that we shall recognize them, and have intercourse with them, as with Christ himself. SEE ETERNAL LIFE.