Nature of heaven

Heaven as God’s habitation

It is the place where he dwells

Deuteronomy 26:15 NKJV

Look down from Your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the land which You have given us, just as You swore to our fathers, “a land flowing with milk and honey.” ’

See also Ge 28:17; 2 Ch 6:21; Ec 5:2; Re 13:6

It is insufficient as God’s dwelling-place

1 Kings 8:27 NKJV

“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built!

See also Ps 113:5–6

Heaven as the place of God’s throne

Psalm 11:4 NKJV

The Lord is in His holy temple, The Lord’s throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men.

See also Ex 24:9–11; 1 Ki 22:19; Is 6:1; Is 63:15; Da 7:9; Mt 5:34; Mt 23:22; Ac 7:49; Is 66:1; Heb 8:1; Re 4:1–6; Re 20:11

Heaven as God’s vantage point

Psalm 33:13 NKJV

The Lord looks from heaven; He sees all the sons of men.

See also Ps 53:2; Ps 102:19–20; Ec 5:2

Heaven as an alternative term for God

Luke 15:18 NKJV

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

See also Mt 8:11; Mt 13:11 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”; Mt 16:19; Mt 18:18; Mt 21:25; Jn 3:27; Jn 17:1

Heaven and the sovereignty of God

Heaven is the place of God’s rule

Daniel 4:26 NKJV

“And inasmuch as they gave the command to leave the stump and roots of the tree, your kingdom shall be assured to you, after you come to know that Heaven rules.

See also Ps 45:6; Ps 103:19; Ac 17:24

God’s voice from heaven speaks with divine authority

Deuteronomy 4:36 NKJV

Out of heaven He let you hear His voice, that He might instruct you; on earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words out of the midst of the fire.

See also Da 4:31; Jn 12:28; 1 Th 4:16; 2 Pe 1:17–18

Heaven glimpsed by human eyes

At the baptism of Jesus Christ

Mark 1:10 NKJV

And immediately, coming up from the water, He saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove.

See also Jn 1:32

In visions

Acts 7:56 NKJV

and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”

See also 2 Co 12:2–4; Re 4:1

Prayer addressed to God in heaven

1 Kings 8:30 NKJV

And may You hear the supplication of Your servant and of Your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. Hear in heaven Your dwelling place; and when You hear, forgive.

See also Dt 26:15; 2 Ch 30:27; Ne 1:4; Ps 20:6; Re 5:8

The association of oaths with heaven

Matthew 23:22 NKJV

And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it.

See also Ge 24:3; Da 12:7; Mt 5:34; Jas 5:12

The place of Jesus Christ in heaven

His pre-existence in heaven

John 6:38 NKJV

For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.

See also Jn 3:13

His ascension into heaven after his resurrection

Luke 24:51 NKJV

Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven.

See also Eph 1:20

His place is now with God the Father

Hebrews 9:24 NKJV

For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;

See also Col 3:1

His second coming will be from heaven

1 Thessalonians 4:16 NKJV

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

See also Mt 25:31; Ac 1:11; 1 Th 1:10

The new heaven

The new heaven completely replaces the old

Revelation 21:1 NKJV

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

See also Is 65:17; Is 66:22; 2 Pe 3:13

The new Jerusalem is divinely created in heaven

Revelation 21:2 NKJV

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

See also Is 2:2–5; Heb 11:16; Heb 13:14; Re 3:12; Re 21:10

Fulness of life in heaven is wholly sustained by God

Re 21:22–23; Re 22:1–2

See also Is 55:1; Eze 47:8–9; Eze 47:12; Jn 7:38–39; Re 2:7