Question: How many heavens are described in the Bible actually? Where did the first sin of Satan take place? Will the Church stay put in the second heaven after the Rapture takes place? When Did Satan and His angels became as fallen angels? What is the purpose of the creation of angels? Why did Satan allow pride to enter his heart and where did it take place? In which heavens do the dark angels reside now? When will they all be judged?
Answer: Greetings to you in the mighty name of Jesus!
Actually the Bible describes atleast three heavens. When we connect Scripture to Scripture, we can know what heavens are these, and where these are situated.
FIRST HEAVEN - The first heaven is the visible heaven and it includes the atmosphere of the earth where God made the birds to fly (Gen 1:20). It is also the atmosphere around the earth from where rain and snow comes down, which the Bible describes as the heaven (Isa 55:10).
SECOND HEAVEN - Initially on the first day God created the light and they were all collected in a single place together for the day, and darkness for the night (Gen 1:3-5). Then on the fourth day, God took greater and lesser amount of lights and set chandeliers in the heavens (Gen 1:14-19), even up to the second heaven which is partly visible and mostly invisible from where angels were permitted to reside perpetually before the earth was created (Job 38:7, 33, 34; Gen 2:4). And these angels were given permission, access and rights, and thus were commanded by God to watch over the earth from its abode in the second heavens (Job 1:6-12; 2:1-7). Right from the day they were created, the angels were doing their job (Dan 4:13, 17, 23; Eze 28:14; Psa 103:19-20, 21-22; 104:3-4; 34:7).
And finally, for the earth, the lights for the day and night have been created by God, the sun to rule during the day, and the moon and the stars to rule in the night time. In other words, God's direct rulership like the sun over the earth was set, and like the reflective light of the moon, the indirect angelic watchers were set to rule in the night time, which is, where God's direct Presence were not visible or felt or needed directly. The light of the moon is Satan as a leader of all the angels, had most of the glory and light in a created being more than all angels (Eze 28:3-5, 12-14, 18). Along with the angelic stars of various powers and dominions which are the lesser visible lights set in the sky to rule over the earth (Rev 12:4; Eph 6:12).
So we come to know that the first heaven above the earth, and the second heaven were intertwined and connected for the Glory of God to be revealed on the earth (Isa 6:3). When the fall of angels in to sin happened, Satan like a lightning fell from the second heaven as God threw him down to earth, and in rage he spread chaos in it, along with all the other one third of the fallen angels who followed him (Gen 1:2; Rev 12:3-4; Ezek 28:17, 18-19; Isa 14:9-11, 12-15, 16-17, 18-21).
But lo and behold, God reigned over the darkness to shine His light over His creation the earth, and thus a rebellion happened on the earth to misguide the humans who were created in the image of God (Gen 1:26-28). When Adam fell in to sin, the outer rebellion which happened in the heavens by angels until then, suddenly began to take control of his human heart to keep him in darkness, outside of the visible light of God, until Jesus came to dispel it in all the earth, just as it was prophesied by God to Adam after his fall (Gen 3:15). Hallelujah! Glory to God!
THIRD HEAVEN - First of all God fills the whole heavens and the earth, which is the created universe (Jer 23:23-24). Before God created visible and invisible things, temporal things and eternal beings, God existed as the first cause and the reason for his own existence! Being such a glorious God, He chose to set His throne in the third and the highest heaven (Psa 103:19), which was called by God as the city of God (Heb 11:10), of which Paul went, whether in the body or out of his body he never was able to realize, but surely heard and seen inexpressible things which ought not be even spoken because of its sacredness and holiness. Those who have gone in to third heaven, it is not lawful for any human who had such experience to utter about it among fallen beings (2 Cor 12:1-6).
To me, the highest heaven to the earth was a complete package for which God invested his energy, time and material. We see it in the following verse of Isaiah 66:1 says, "Thus says the LORD:, “Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool." In other words, the third heaven became His throne, so that His footstool the earth can be completed, and thus He could relax and sit on His throne to enjoy His creations, of which humans are the pearl in His Crown! Hallelujah!
What about the seventh heaven?
First of all 'seventh heaven' is not a Biblical term. Rather the term "seventh heaven" has been used figuratively since the early 1800s to mean, 'a state of bliss or supreme happiness' or 'as being composed of divine light incomprehensible to the mortal man' in Jewish fables and Islamic ones. Hence only 'third heaven' is the highest heaven described in the Bible, which is mentioned in 2 Corinthians 12:2. This man apostle Paul who saw the third heaven wrote directly to us to know about its reality, but he was given a “thorn in the flesh” (2 Cor 12:7) to keep him from becoming proud over his heavenly experience.
Canon is the ‘reed’ or ‘rod’ and by which all the books of the Bible was measured to be taken as authoritative Scripture and the inspired writing of God. May we never add anything to the already fallen Canon on the sacred authoritative list of 27 books in the New Testament and the 39 books of the Old Testament, together a total of 66 books which forms the Bible. The Old Testament canon of Scripture is that of the Septuagint, which was the Bible of the Apostles. The Septuagint is a translation of the Hebrew Bible and some related texts into Koine Greek. This translation is quoted in the New Testament, particularly by Paul. The title and its Roman numeral acronym LXX refer to legendary seventy Jewish scholars who solely translated the Five Books Of Moses as early as the late 2nd century BC. The canon of the New Testament was developed over the early centuries of the Church, and the first known listing in its final form is the Paschal Letter of Athanasius of Alexandria in A.D. 367.
Where Did The First Sin Of Satan Take Place? The first sin took place in the second heavens which I believe was among the created angels, so that is the reason God never changes the 3rd heaven (Rev 21:2), but instead creates a new heaven and new earth (Rev 21:1), and brings down the already existing New Jerusalem or the city of God, which is the third heaven to make it stand still in the vicinity of the new heaven and new earth. And then make the new heaven and the new earth to orbit around it, just as the present old earth and heaven and all the planets orbit around the sun to receive its light and be sustained.
Then, will there not be a second heaven in the new heaven and new earth? The second heaven will not be needed in the new heaven and new earth because, only the unfallen angels of God will remain to do the divine duty of taking care of the saints and do the word of God along with them in the new heaven and new earth and New Jerusalem which will all be combined as one (Rev 22:9-10; 21:7-8, 23-24, 27; 1 Cor 15:24-28; John 17:21; Heb 1:6, 14). From the day of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to this earth as King of Kings, all the unfallen angels of God will come with him to worship Him from thereon, and carry on His word to obey Him and the Church which as one Body in Christ comes along with Him (Matt 25:31; Luke 9:26; Psa 103:20). As human are placed a little lower than angels, only for a limited period of time in this old heaven and earth (Heb 2:7), in the new heaven and earth, angels will serve humans in the new order to live among them!
So the Church will not stay in the second heaven after the Rapture takes place, instead will go directly to the New Jerusalem of the third heaven for the marriage of the Lamb (John 14:1-4), and for the supper of the Lamb which will get inaugurated in the New Heaven and New Earth (Rev 19:7-8, 9-10). From occupying of the new heaven and new earth, and thereby colonizing it to live in it forever, with it orbiting around the New Jerusalem which will come down to the center of the new Universe, as the old heaven and earth will be burnt by fire and become as gas after the Millennial rule of Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:10-13). Hallelujah! Glory to God!
When Did Satan And His Angels Become As Fallen Angels?
We know from the Bible that God has made everything beautiful in its time (Ecc 3:11), and we also infer from the Scripture to know that when the Lord was initially creating the earth and the heaven, all the angels were rejoicing, praising and singing giving glory to God (Job 38:4, 6-7; 1:6). Satan must have been the one who had been leading the worship of God during this time, because God reveals about it saying, "You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stones was your covering:....The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created." (Ezek 28:12-13).
Lucifer was "the anointed cherub" and the bright "son of the morning" initially, became Satan the adversary of God (i.e.) one who opposes, and the tempter of humans after he fell in to sin because of pride and jealousy. Using his wisdom and understanding Satan built his own earthly temporal empire, by gaining riches for himself through trading, to gain gold and silver in his treasuries, to give to whomever he wanted to after his fall in to sin (Ezek 28:14; Matt 4:8-11). He had special talent within to trade and do business, he as the first person who was filled with violence and sinned, and before which itself pride entered his heart, when he also desired the worship of angels just like God receives it from all the angels because He is worthy of it (Ezek 28:14-15, 16-17, 18-19; Isa 14:12-15). Then the thought of jealousy over humans who were going to be created in the image of God came to him, and that they as angelic being should serve them in a lesser capacity, was not liked and welcomed by Satan and his evil angelic minions (Rev 12:1, 3-4). And so in continual pride he wanted worship like God from all the angels and also the humans who were going to come in to existence through creation (Matt 4:10). And in jealousy over humans who will be closer to God than himself, Satan became a adversary of God and tempter of humans to make them sin and rebel against the God who loves them deeply and sincerely (John 3:16; Heb 2:16).
Satan was the wisest of all the created beings and the only person who is more wiser even than Daniel to whom God revealed all the mysteries of the earth until the end of all things (Ezek 28:3). Knowing all the hidden mysteries of God, Satan began to act against the will of God from the fall of universe in to sin, to the present time on earth in which he rules it by deception as pseudo-ruler over it (2 Cor 4:4). Satan and his demonic angels have built a mystery Babylon of all religions for themselves, and have increased in pride because of gaining riches for themselves, and have extended their kingdom greatly because of the majority who were influenced and were completely under his control till the end of their lives to do his will and bidding. But regarding the cross, Satan and his demonic hordes have failed to understand, and thus were defeated through it, and judgment notice has already been served to them, and the time of that prison sentence has also been revealed (1 Cor 2:7-8; Rev 12:9, 12; 20:1-3, 7-10; 1 Cor 15:28). Hallelujah!
Satan is also called the "prince of the power of the air" in Ephesians 2:2. He is the "ruler of this world" in John 12:31. These titles and many more signify Satan’s capabilities. The world's media along with the Kings and rulers of this present world is completely controlled by Satanic influence, and thus "The god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ." But believers are not under Satan anymore, but are under the Kingdom of His Son Jesus Christ in whom we as believers have received light and truth to live victoriously in this present world.
So the bottom line is, when Satan sinned in the second heavens while living with Him in the mountain of God, God cast him from there as a profane thing and destroyed him from the midst of the splendor of fiery stones and power of the second heaven. But then when the earth was created, as discussed earlier, he convinced one third of the angels under him to come and form a separate domain of darkness where they could live more freely unlike with God who has to be obeyed without fail (Job 4:18). But these were lies of the evil one that the angels gulped within them and made themselves fit for eternal punishment from God in hell fire which was made for them (John 8:44; Matt 25:41, 46; Rev 20:11-15). When again while God was laying its cornerstone and creating the earth, all the angels sang together and shouted for joy, but Satan's in pride rebelled because of his beauty and status he had among angels, and was jealous over humans who will be created by God to move with Him closer than any angels could ever dream off (1 Pet 1:12). At that point of time God cast Satan and one third of the angels who sided with him to the ground (Eze 28:17), when he and one third of the angels fell along, they spread chaos on the earth to make a halt of the entire creation of humans. But thank God, the spirit of God was moving upon the waters of chaos, and suddenly God moved forward with the creation of earth in spite of Satan and his evil angelic hordes who became an adversary of God. This is the reason when God created the heaven above the earth on the second day, Satan and his angels immediately must have occupied it to show their opposition to what He was doing, but they could do no further than expressing their opposition to it, for which God did not appreciate, and the good that God said at the creation of all other things, on all other days was thus missing on the second day (Gen 1:6-8). We know that Satan and his evil angelic hordes, can oppose God but can never ever be able to overcome his Wisdom and power and glory forever and ever. Hallelujah!
Where Did The First Sin Of Satan Take Place?
We know that the first sin took place in the second heavens and that too in the heart of Lucifer, pride the mother of all sins began in his heart, thus it spread to other angels who were residing with God there (Ezek 28:15-16).
Will The Church Stay Put In The Second Heaven After The Rapture Takes Place?
No, the church will be taken to the new heaven and new earth and resettled there to colonize it, and rule the present old heaven and earth. As it will be a parallel universe with no trace of sin which will be opened up after the rapture of the Church, wedding and thereafter the supper of the Lamb which will take place in the New Jerusalem city of God. After it is all over, at the starting time of the Millennial rule of Jesus Christ and the Church, New Jerusalem will be brought down in to center point of the vicinity of the new heaven and new earth which will all orbit around it, to receive and live in its light for the Glory of God (Rev 19:7, 9; 21:1-27; 22:1-20). Hallelujah! Glory to God!
What Is The Purpose Of The Creation Of Angels?
The good angels of God are always working on assignment of the Lord, to serve the saints and deliver them from harms way. Who are the angels, and what purpose did God create them? To know the exact answer, we need to delve in to the Scripture and find it exactly (2 Tim 3:16-17).
Thus says the LORD: “Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest?" (Isaiah 66:1). In the above verse, God reveals the greatest of all mysteries in the entire universe. That is, what was the reason God created the heavens and the earth. When I say the heavens, it is the first, second and the third heaven where God dwells. When the heavens and the earth cannot contain him, what reason did he create all these things for (Jer 23:24)? God was not in need, because He was in perfect love and fellowship of eternal satisfaction within him because of the intimacy and fellowship within them (1 John 4:8). He needed no help from angels, as he could create everything and do everything with the power of His Word (Heb 11:3; Rom 4:17).
First, before all things, God is the one and only one whose reason for existence was in himself. None other than him, or apart from him could determine his existence! So God established the highest of heaven, which is the third heaven as His throne. And in the process of time, to make earth his footstool which was the purpose of God, so that He could sit on His throne comfortably with pleasure and fellowship to share, so in God's own image He created male and female on earth (Gen 1:26-28), which is His highest creation and purpose for all creation (1 Cor 15:28). Hallelujah!
So the good angels in the second heaven (Rev 12:4), and even the one third of the fallen ones who occupied the first heaven at the time of creation of earth (Gen 1:6), were all created for the purpose of God's earth to come forth in to existence and operation for the Glory of God. That is why, when angels fell in to sin and rebelled against God, God did not give a choice for them to come out of the wrong they have done, but he chose to give humans a reprieve and aid through Jesus Christ, who is the incarnated God in the flesh who came to earth and delivered humans from death which is eternal separation from God (Heb 2:15-16; Rom 6:23). Thus every human is given a choice to choose life or death, God or self..., but it was not extended to any angels because they were intermediate creation and they knowingly took their wrong choice to follow Satan without any external influence or interference, unlike humans who were tempted, and by Satan's deception fell in to sin and lost the glory of God (Deut 30:19-20).
What are the functions and purpose of angels then in God's domain?
The angels were made to serve humans that God saved (Heb 1:14; Acts 12:6-10; Rev 22:9), to deliver messages from God to humans (Dan 8:16; Luke 1:26; Heb 2:2), to wage spiritual battle for salvation of humans and God's people (Rev 12:7), and further in relation to human beings God created angels without doubt, and uses them whatever way he wants them to be used, like as a wind, cloud, fire, etc... (Psa 104:3-4; 103:20-21; 91:11; 34:7). In short, humans were the zenith of God's creation (Zec 2:8).
Satan never liked the idea of God making all the angels including him as a leader to serve humans, so when the time came to create the earth, the prideful Satan who fell in to sin already did not want to serve any humans, and therefore rebelled to form his own domain of darkness where he used power to influence people on earth to follow him by fear of death, and made their abode in the first heaven (Eph 2:2; Col 1:13; Acts 26:18; Heb 2:14-15).
But thank God, that he never changed his plan and purpose of starting his creation at the third heaven and ending it in the earth. Glory to God!
Inspite of the fall of angels and humans alike in to sin, God's timing and purpose for his pleasure has always been fulfilled through his creation of all things, both visible and invisible in the entire universe. Glory to God!
Why Did Satan Allow Pride To Enter His Heart And Where Did It Take Place?
As we have discussed already, Satan was perfect in all his ways, until he acquired in the second heaven the fallen nature of sin, which was thought of pride that came in to his heart because of his own wisdom and splendor (Ezek 28:15, 17). No one has entered the third heaven, except Jesus Christ who is in the bosom of the Father God (John 1:18; 3:13; Matt 11:27). In other words, God created Satan with the ability to choose only once good or evil, but once they chose a particular thing, they were not able to revert back to the state they were in. Knowingly Satan chose pride, because he tasted evil of pride and found it temporally more tastier than the eternal righteousness that God has clothed him with. Believe me, a good and perfect God can and never will judge a person if they have not consciously taken the decision and knowingly followed his own will and way in their lives (Matt 5:48; 6:9-13; Isa 14:12, 13-15; Gen 18:25; Deut 32:4). So God casting Satan and his angels to the ground, was a righteous judgment of God for sin and rebellion against God, and the Cross of Jesus Christ is the evidence of God's judgment upon the sin of angels and redemption of humans (John 7:24; 12:31-32).
In Which Heavens Do The Dark Angels Reside Now? When Will They All Be Judged?
As we have already discussed, the angels as a whole were given the second heaven to reside from the time of angelic creation (Job 1:6-12), but the one third of the fallen ones at the time of creation of the earth sided with Satan to believe that he could give a better leadership than God to live in freedom (Rev 12:4), and therefore these fallen angels were fed with the Satanic lies to form a rebellion against God in pride, which first started in the heart of Lucifer and began to spread in the heart of these angels (Isa 14:12-15). These fallen one were also jealous enough over humans who were going to be created in God's image and did not want to serve humans, therefore rebelled to stop the creation of God (Gen 1:1-2; 2:1-4, 5-6, 7).
But praise God that He continued to move upon the chaos of the waters to bring the beautiful and wonderful creation of all things, of which the highest were the humans, after which God stopped to take rest on the seventh day to show to the whole world that nothing can be able to stop his purpose from being fulfilled. But on the second day God did not pronounce what he had created to be good (Gen 1:6-8), because at that point of time all the fallen ones must have begun to occupy the first heavens from the earth (Eph 2:2; 6:12), and thus the war of the ages between good and the evil began to position itself to take control of the earth from the second day itself. But until Adam sinned being disobedient to God, as his wife Eve was deceived by Satan and without second thought he sinned for the first time, sin lurked at the door of the earth but was never able to control the world and the fullness of the earth as it was in the hands of Adam. Thus through one man sin entered the world of human race, and death through sin, and death spread to all humans, and all humans became born sinners and began to rebel against God because of the sin nature within them (Rom 5:8, 12). Actually the war of the ages did not really take place until Adam sinned for the first time (1 Tim 2:14; Rom 5:19; 6:12), but that which had started then, will only stop in the heavenlies at the time of the abomination of desolation within the Daniel 70th week (Rev 12:7-17). Exactly at the end of 3.5 years in the Daniel 70th week which is a total of 7 years, Satan and all the fallen angels will be thrown down from the first heaven to the earth and also his access to the second heaven of the angelic realm will also be closed forever. Until now he and his cohorts has been appearing in the second heaven among the good angels transforming themselves as an angel of light (2 Cor 11:14-15), to receive power on behalf of the people on earth who still remain in his domain of darkness to worship him and his minions instead of the true God who created them all (Job 2:2). He wants to keep them all under his control and bondage, to use their lives for his own purpose and will to be done through the fear of death (Heb 2:14-15). Satan has a domain in which he uses his power to build his own empire as a pseudo ruler over humans and keep them in darkness of sin and death (Col 1:13; Acts 26:18; Matt 4:8-11).
The first judgment happened when Satan in pride rebelled against the creation of the earth (Job 38:6-7), there he was cut down to the ground, where he and his fallen angelic minions began to exert their power to halt the creation of God by making "the earth [to become] ...without form and void; and [thus] darkness [prevailed] on the face of the deep" (Gen 1:2). At this time, God cast Satan and his angels to the ground and brought fire from his midst to turn to ashes upon the earth, in the sight of all the angelic beings who saw them (Ezek 28:17-18). Even the people who see and recognize Satan and his minions are always astonished to see them powerless before them in Christ Jesus (Luke 10:17-20), and he has become a horror and shall be no more powerful forever (Ezek 28:19; Rom 16:20; Acts 19:13-17)! Hallelujah!
The surety of God's judgment again happened when, before the power of the first sinless anointed man's anointing [i.e. Jesus Christ] Satan fell like a lightning to the ground (Luke 10:18-20), and therefore the judgment upon the world controlled by Satan and his absolute power over humans by exercising the power of death was taken away from him, and the key was given by God the Father in to Jesus Christ's hands now (Rev 1:18). Satan and his demons who through fear of death kept all humans in bondage through out their lifetime on earth to serve him through sin instead of the God who created them all for His Glory, were completely defeated and given a death blow for the Glory of God. Thus on the Cross, Jesus Christ by redeeming humankind from sin through shedding his blood have blown off and crushed the head of Satan completely as He himself through the death of the Cross was bruised on the heel to be unable to walk again physically on earth, but rose up victoriously in a new spiritual meta-physical body to live in it forever and ever (John 12:31-32; Heb 2:14-15; Rev 14:6-7; 16:11; Gen 3:15). If for sure Satan would have known before how this judgment of God had come upon him and his sinful pride, he would not have killed Jesus Christ at all (1 Cor 2:7-8). Surely, on the cross, Jesus Christ has disarmed principalities and powers, to make a public spectacle of them by triumphing over them all in it, and all of Satan and his cohorts have been made subject to Him (Col 2:15; 1 Pet 3:22). Hallelujah!
At the time of the flood of Noah, many fallen angels began to posses human beings to use them against the will of God for themselves, to fulfill their own will and purpose, thus they were all imprisoned and delivered in to everlasting chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment which will take place somewhere between the second heavens and the present earth which at that time would have been burnt and have become untraceable gas, after the Millennial rule of Jesus Christ and His Church (2 Pet 2:4; Jude 1:6-7; 1 Cor 6:2-3).
Again Satan and his demons will be put in prison for a thousand years time when the Church and Jesus Christ as the King of Kings will rule this present earth (Rev 20:1-6). When the thousand years have expired and have gotten over, Satan and his demons will be released for a little while from their prison (Rev 20:7), in which he will again go to deceive the whole world to come and surround against the "camp of the saints" and "the beloved city" of Jerusalem, then fire from heaven will come down to devour them all (2 Pet 3:12-13). The devil who deceived them all will be cast in to the lake of fire, where the beast and the false prophet were thrown a thousand years earlier, they will all be tormented day and night forever and ever (Rev 20:7-10). Glory to God!
Much Blessings.....
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