CAUGHT UP IN PARADISE

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows—was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell.

2 Corinthians 12:1-4

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

If you ask someone about the meaning of the word Heaven, they will most probably tell you that it’s where people go when they die. They may say this without any internal or external reference to God or Jesus because many people believe in their hearts that if someone is a good person, then they will go to Heaven because they qualified themselves to be there by what they did while alive.

There is another segment of people in the world who believe in God and feel He will usher their loved ones into Heaven, again because they were a good person and maybe even made reference to God in their lives from time to time. They won’t mention Jesus because they don’t understand His place in the salvation process.

Then there are the people who know about God and Jesus but willingly choose to reject them both. They are completely in and of the world, and so everything must be explained away by science. If they were asked about Heaven, they would point you to the sky overhead, the earth’s atmosphere, or maybe outer space and all the planets and stars within, or possibly both.

Finally, there are Christians, those who know the truth, that Heaven is real and a place where a person will reside with God forever as long as they made the choice to believe in Jesus and in doing so gain the assurance of eternal life.

As we turn to the opening verses of 2 Corinthians, chapter 12, we see that there were also different ideas about Heaven in biblical times. In the following four verses, we find the Apostle Paul sharing a personal testimony and he is doing it by talking of himself in the third person. Look again at his words here:

I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows—was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell. 2 Corinthians 12:1-4

Here we find Paul sharing an experience that had occurred fourteen years earlier. He wasn’t sure if this experience was an in or out of body one but either way, it was amazing.

Where did Paul go?

He tells us that he was “caught up to the third heaven”.

Huh?

There is more than one heaven?

To find the answer and see there are actually three different heavens discussed in the Bible, we need to look around the scriptures to understand what Paul is saying. Here’s one way heaven was viewed, as the first heaven, the earth’s atmosphere:

...the land you are crossing the Jordan to take possession of is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks rain from heaven. Deuteronomy 11:11

Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell; they sing among the branches. Psalm 104:12 (ESV)

As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is My word that goes out from My mouth: It will not return to Me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. Isaiah 55:10-11

The rain and snow fall from the earth’s sky, the same sky the birds freely fly through. This is what is seen as the first heaven.

So what was the second heaven?

We go back into the word of God again for the answer.

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place, what is mankind that You are mindful of them, human beings that You care for them? Psalm 8:3-4

The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light. The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. Isaiah 13:10

Here we find the second heaven talked about in the scriptures, the heaven which contains the moon and the stars arranged in their constellations.

Neither of these two heavens will be where anyone abides with their Lord forever. That Heaven (capital H) is the third heaven, the heaven that Paul was caught up in, if only for a brief time, a Heaven that the Apostle called paradise.

The psalmist spoke about this third heaven in this way:

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He chose for His inheritance. From heaven the Lord looks down and sees all mankind. Psalm 33:13-14

The Lord Himself proclaimed this through His prophet Isaiah:

This is what the Lord says:

“Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool.” Isaiah 66:1

And the Apostle Paul himself shares what he experienced, this time in regard to Jesus, as he writes to the Hebrews:

Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, He has a permanent priesthood. Therefore He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them. Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Hebrews 7:23-26

This Jesus, the everlasting and enduring Savior of the world who is exalted over the heavens of creation to abide with His Father God in the third Heaven, is the One who makes salvation and entry into paradise possible. He showed us this on the cross as He had this conversation with a man who truly did break the law and thus deserved the crucifixion punishment he was getting. Here’s how the exchange went on the hill at Golgotha:

One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at Him (Jesus):

“Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”

Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”

Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with Me in paradise.” Luke 23:39-43

Maybe you have had someone ask at one time or another whether a person can be saved right before passing away, an act called a death bed confessional in worldly terms. Here, we find where salvation is possible even at the very end of life as we know it when someone sincerely and genuinely places their belief in Jesus.

Flanking Jesus on either side were two criminals, each nailed to the cross as He was. Unlike Jesus, both criminals deserved the penalty they suffered; however, both men weren’t the same.

One saw what was happening only through himself. He hurled insults at Jesus, making it seem that he cared about the Messiah and his fellow criminal but the truth was he was only interested in saving himself.

The other criminal was more concerned about what was happening to Jesus, an innocent man who was being punished unjustly. He rebukes his fellow prisoner and questions the man’s fear of God which translates here to respecting God, the God who sent His only Son to die as He was to pay the sins of all people, even the criminals crucified with Him. The second prisoner saw Jesus for who He was, the Messiah who came to save sinners but also the Messiah who would share the kingdom of the Heaven, the third heaven, with God. He knew that neither the cross nor the earth it was anchored in could contain the Savior of the world and soon He would be ushered from His suffering into the place of authority He deserved. And so he simply asked for one thing from Jesus.

He asked to be remembered.

He didn’t ask to be saved, to be rescued from the agonizingly slow death he was on the road to.

No, he simply asked for Jesus to keep him in mind and gained the greatest gift he could ever get, even though he was soon to perish. For Jesus assures the criminal that his life would not be over after he drew his final breath on the cross. Instead, he would get to join Jesus in paradise. The experience Paul had only for a short time would be eternal for the criminal. God’s condemnation and damnation became pardoned at Calvary through His encounter with the Messiah Jesus.

Friends, this same Jesus who abides with His Father in the third Heaven prays over creation that every man and woman might place their belief in Him and thus join Him in paradise. The Apostle Paul labored tirelessly to bring this message everywhere that God sent him, no matter the cost. We should be willing to do the same, spreading the saving power of God through His Son Jesus to everyone we see, even if we are rejected or abused for it.

Thanks be to God for the gift of His Son Jesus and the opportunity He brings for sinners to be saved and get caught up in paradise as a result.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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