What Is “Heaven”?

Asher Chee |

Today, the word “heaven” often used with religious meaning. Because of this, people may not really understand what the word “heaven” means in the Bible.

“Heaven” as the Sky

In the biblical languages, the words for “heaven” or “heavens” mean “sky”. In fact, the English word “heaven” itself originally simply meant “sky” (Gen. 1:30; Matt. 6:26).

Actually, biblical thought refers to the region above the ground as “heaven(s)”. Therefore, the same Hebrew and Greek words for “heaven(s)” are used to refer to place where birds fly as well as the place where the sun, moon, and stars are situated (Gen. 15:5; Matt. 24:29).

“Heaven” as Outer Space

However, a clear distinction is made between the domain of the birds on the one hand, and the location of the celestial bodies on the other (Gen. 1:14, 20). The Hebrew expression for “across” is ʿal pənēy, which means “against the surface of”. In other words, while God created the celestial bodies “in the expanse of the heavens” (v. 14), birds fly only “against the surface of the expanse of the heavens”, and never “in the expanse of the heavens” itself.

Therefore, although the same word “heavens” is used, the “heavens” in which the birds fly (the sky) is distinct from the “heavens” in which the sun, moon, and stars are located (outer space).

“Heaven” as God’s Dwelling Place

Because people believed that God was high and lifted up, they used their normative word for “sky” to refer by extension to the dwelling place of God (Psa. 115:3; Matt. 6:9).

Of course, God does not “dwell” physically in a specific place, and neither is “heaven” some physical place where God dwells. Solomon makes this very clear in his prayer at the dedication of the Temple. While Solomon “spread out his palms toward the heavens” (1 Kings 8:22), he admits to God that “the heavens (the sky) and the heavens of the heavens (outer space) cannot contain” him (v. 27). Therefore, the “heavens” which God dwells in must be different from the “heavens” that the birds fly in and the “heavens” where the sun, moon, and stars are located.

Conclusion

While the word “heaven(s)” in the Bible means “sky”, it can refer to one of three things:

  1. The Sky above the earth,
  2. Outer space above the sky, or
  3. God’s dwelling place.