"CAUGHT UP TO THE THIRD HEAVEN "

MEMORY VERSE: I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. 2 Corinthians 12:2

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Numbers 21-24

BIBLE READING: 2 Corinthians 12:1-4

Paul in his second epistle to the Corinthians wrote thus: “I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven” (2 Corinthians 12:2). There are one or two truths we can glean from this verse. Firstly, there is more than one heaven. Several verses in the scripture bear testimony to this fact. 1 Kings 8:27 says, “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the ‘heaven and heaven of heavens’ cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?” Isaiah 55:9 says, “For as the ‘heavens’ are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” If there is a third heaven, then there is a first heaven and a second heaven. You cannot a have third without having the first ‘two’. One thing we are sure of is that there are at least three heavens ( and some call it three levels of heaven). Some have taught about seven heavens; this view has no basis in scripture.

Secondly, the third heaven is the highest point or the top heaven. It is the location of Paradise and the place of God’s personal dwelling, the most sacred place in the universe. The third heaven is the ultimate destination of all sinners who have truly repented and who have persevered in the life of faith. The second heaven could be the mid heaven or midst of heaven. Revelations 8:13 says, “And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!” The second heaven also known as the mid heaven is where spiritual warfare takes place. Ephesians 6:12 says,”For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” It was in the mid-heaven that angel who was sent to Daniel was withstood (Daniel 10:13). Finally, the visible heaven – the heaven that is visible to our natural eyesight – is the first heaven. Genesis 1:8 says, “And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.” This is where planes fly or birds fly. All earth’s inhabitants are familiar to some degree with this heaven. The teaching of three different levels of heaven, a level for “super-committed Christians” or Christians who have obtained a high level of spirituality, a level for “ordinary” Christians, and a level for Christians who did not serve God faithfully has no basis in Scripture.

QUESTION: How ready are you for the Master? Remember He is coming to take us home. Hope your garment is not soiled with sins. The Master is coming!

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