In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth...
Genesis 1:1, NKJV
God's creation is tripartite in nature, heaven above, hell below, and earth in the middle. This is the setting for all that happens from the beginning of creation to the end of time. It is a grand stage of universal proportions, set within the confines of an infinite God, and managed exclusively by Him. It was designed by His will, and made for His purpose. And here we watch the eternal plan of the ages unfold in a drama unparalleled.
The heavens consist of three levels--first, middle, and third. The first heaven is all that we can see, the expanse of the universe that extends from our terrestrial sphere outward, including all the galaxies and stars and planets that are all integral parts of God's glorious creation. The middle heaven is that which exists on a spiritual plane between the habitation of man and the dwelling place of God. Here the war is waged between the forces of good and evil. And then there is the third heaven, the eternal abode of the triune Godhead.
We catch glimpses of Heaven--the third or highest heaven--throughout the Scriptures, but the writers are often reticent in their tellings. There is the original Eden, that garden of pleasantness and delight that is filled with all manner of glory and beauty. In the midst of the garden is the holy mountain, the heavenly Zion, and on its bejeweled heights is the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. At the center of the citadel stands the temple of tabernacle of the testimony of God, in the courts of which sits the throne encompassed in rainbows of brilliance and filled with lightnings and thunderings and voices. In that heavenly temple, there is a sea of glass, an altar of incense, a seven-fold lamp, and behind its doors rests the ark of the covenant--all of them patterns for what will be on earth. Though God cannot be contained by any created structure, here He sits enthroned in power and majesty, the almighty overseer of all that is, and with him the Lamb slain from before the foundation world and the Spirit burning as an eternal flame. Here the angels come to worship, and here the future awaits God's creation.
The earth is home to humanity, perhaps of all life in the universe, and consists of three parts as well--sky, land and sea. This place we know personally and very well. Here God placed those created in His own image. Here He watched them wrestle with temptation and fall victim to its sway. Here He initiated redemption, fulfilling through the fallen the force of His salvific plan. Here the seed of the woman and the Son of man became the pinnacle of God's purposes, giving His own life and spilling His own blood as the price to ransom all of creation from the devil's grasp.
And then there is hell, which came lastly and more recently into existence, and it consists of three parts as well, each with its own place in the plan of God. When Lucifer fell prey to his own pride, he led a third of the angelic hosts in a failed revolt against God. Their rebellion resulted in the formation of the lake of fire, a prison of eternal punishment for evil and all those who choose its ways over the will of God. When Lucifer tempted Adam and Even in the earthly Eden with promises of godhood, death was introduced to what should have been an immortal humanity. Their bodies would return to the dust from whence it came, their life breath would return to God from whence it came, and their souls--that eternal part of them--would await judgment in a holding place called the grave. And finally there is the abyss, where fallen angels are held in chains and darkness awaiting their judgment.
The earth and its heavens as we know them are temporary. When their part in the plan of God is done, they will be folded up like a garment, consumed with fire Divine, and recreated as the new heavens and the new earth wherein righteousness dwells. But Heaven and Hell are eternal. One will forever be the paradise of God, the other everlasting fire and torment for the lost. Our final destination is dependent upon our choices, just as Lucifer had his choice, and Adam had his. So will we choose death and eternal separation from God, or will we choose life forever in the presence of the One who made us?
Let us choose life!
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