If you work your way through the nearly 700 occurrences of the word heaven in the Bible, you soon realize there is a plurality of heavens. In fact, the Bible specifically speaks of three distinct heavens. When the apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians about his visions and revelations, he told them of a time when he was "caught up to the third heaven" (2 Corinthians 12:2). That clearly implies there is also a first and second heaven.

The First Heaven

The first heaven is the atmospheric heaven—the sky with its clouds and birds and life–giving oxygen. Isaiah 55:10–11 says, "For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be …." In this passage, the word heaven refers to the atmosphere that yields its rain and snow to the earth.

The Second Heaven

The second heaven is the vast universe in which we live, filled with billions of stars, planets, dust clouds, meteors, and galaxies. The story of the creation of the second heaven is told in Genesis 1:14–17:

Then God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth"; and it was so. Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth.

The Third Heaven

The third heaven is the one Paul had in mind when he wrote, "I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a one was caught up to the third heaven. And I know such a man—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows—how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter" (2 Corinthians 12:2–4).

This heaven—the heaven of heavens, the highest heaven—is the locale of the throne and the dwelling place of God. It is Paradise. It is our eternal home. This is where we will soon live side–by–side with God and with the angels and with the redeemed of all the ages.