Nature of heaven

Heaven as God’s habitation

It is the place where he dwells

Deuteronomy 26:15 ESV

Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel and the ground that you have given us, as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.’

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It is insufficient as God’s dwelling-place

1 Kings 8:27 ESV

“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!

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Heaven as the place of God’s throne

Psalm 11:4 ESV

The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven; his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man.

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Heaven as God’s vantage point

Psalm 33:13 ESV

The Lord looks down from heaven; he sees all the children of man;

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Heaven as an alternative term for God

Luke 15:18 ESV

I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.

See also ; ; ; ; ; Matthew is writing especially for Jews who, out of reverence, tried to avoid using the word “God”. Mk 4:11 and Lk 8:10 prefer “kingdom of God”;

Heaven and the sovereignty of God

Heaven is the place of God’s rule

Daniel 4:26 ESV

And as it was commanded to leave the stump of the roots of the tree, your kingdom shall be confirmed for you from the time that you know that Heaven rules.

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God’s voice from heaven speaks with divine authority

Deuteronomy 4:36 ESV

Out of heaven he let you hear his voice, that he might discipline you. And on earth he let you see his great fire, and you heard his words out of the midst of the fire.

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Heaven glimpsed by human eyes

At the baptism of Jesus Christ

Mark 1:10 ESV

And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.

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In visions

Acts 7:56 ESV

And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

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Prayer addressed to God in heaven

1 Kings 8:30 ESV

And listen to the plea of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen in heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.

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The association of oaths with heaven

Matthew 23:22 ESV

And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it.

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The place of Jesus Christ in heaven

His pre-existence in heaven

John 6:38 ESV

For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.

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His ascension into heaven after his resurrection

Luke 24:51 ESV

While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven.

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His place is now with God the Father

Hebrews 9:24 ESV

For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.

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His second coming will be from heaven

1 Thessalonians 4:16 ESV

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.

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The new heaven

The new heaven completely replaces the old

Revelation 21:1 ESV

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.

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The new Jerusalem is divinely created in heaven

Revelation 21:2 ESV

And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

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Fulness of life in heaven is wholly sustained by God

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