Saturday, July 10, 2010

Second Heaven

Many Christians believe that the devil controls the second heaven. Some have been taught that our sky is the first heaven and that our prayers have to pass through the second heaven to get to God in the third heaven. They allege that our prayers are not answered, because the devil prevents them from getting through to God. Sometimes God opens the heavens, which means that the devil cannot prevent prayers from getting through.

This doctrine does not have any basis in the scriptures. In fact, the second heaven is not mentioned in the Bible. Paul refers to the third heaven and links it with paradise.

I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows—was caught up to paradise (2 Cor 12:2-4).
Paradise is the place where Jesus and the thief went after they died (Luke 23:43). If there is a third heaven, there must be a second heaven too, but we actually know very little about the way that heaven is structured. We must be careful building up a doctrine of several heavens, because we just do not know enough. If God wanted us to have this understanding, he would have got Paul to tell us more about what he saw, but he did not.
He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell (2 Cor 12:2-4).
Paul was not permitted to tell what he had seen. Those who claim to know the shape of the heavens are claiming to know things that Paul was not allowed to speak about.

The one thing that we do know is that Satan was thrown out of heaven (Rev 12:7,8). In Old Testament times, he could go into God’s presence and accuse the people of God. The cross destroyed that right and he lost his place in heaven. He is a still spiritual being without a body, so he has to operate in the spiritual dimension, but he does not have a place of authority in any part of heaven. The idea that he can control our access to God through prayer is nonsense.

3 comments:

Jeff said...

The way it was explained to me: in the ancient world, there were thought to be three layers of heaven. The lower part of the sky was the first "heaven," the upper atmosphere is the second "heaven," and outer space was the third "heaven." This is where God/the gods lived. I believe the idea that Satan owns the second heaven comes from Paul's reference to the devil as "the prince of the air." But I've never heard of the idea that our prayers are"intercepted." That's very odd indeed.

Ron McK said...

Jeff
I am pleased this doctrine has not reached you. I have heard it preached on several occasions. The associated corollary is that God sometimes punches holes through the second heaven. These holes give an open heaven, which Satan is powerless to prevent.

God Is said...

To both mr.jeff and the writer of this column.
Be not confused, their are at least three heavens and they are all mentioned in the Bible.
1st heaven is the earthly domain,
2nd heaven is mentioned in Ephesians 6:12 and in Daniel 10th chapter where his prayers were held up in the second heaven and the arch angel Gabriel was sent to get the prayer of Daniel through due to the Prince of Persia's evil acts.
If there were no second heaven, God would simply mention 1st and
2nd heaven and not even mention a third.