Heavenly Dimensions

In this article I will investigate what the Scripture actually teaches us about heaven. Let’s look at the first mention of heaven in the Bible. We find it in Genesis 1. Using these scriptures let’s build a more sure foundation in our biblical understanding about heaven. Allow me to take a hermeneutical approach to heaven here. Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” The very first scripture in the Bible tells us God created the heavens. The word used for heaven here is plural—heaven(s). Many translations of the Bible use the plural form of heaven when rendering Genesis 1:1. Scripture is clear in that there are numerous places in the realms of heaven.

Going on with verses 2-3, it says, “The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light.” In verse 4 we read, “And God saw the light…” The Hebrew word translated “saw” here is the root word for seer. What I would like for you to grasp here is that God created light after He created the heavens and the earth. Why do we need light? We need light so we can see. What is Jesus? He is the light (John 8:12).

So there is a type of sight that has been given to us (the creature by the Creator), the supernatural sight we were learning about earlier in Ephesians 1, 1 Corinthians 2, and 1 John 3. There is a supernatural sight that comes where we begin to emulate the Lord’s model and we begin to see in a supernatural way. We see differently and look differently. We hear differently and comprehend differently. Jesus touched on this in Luke 8:18: “Therefore take heed how you hear.” The Lord indicated that there is more than one way to see and hear. We begin to see spiritually; we begin to discern spiritually. We begin to see and discern in a new and supernatural way. Going on in Genesis 1 with verses 4 and 5, we read,

And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.

God then made a firmament. We read in verse 8, “And God called the firmament Heaven,” speaking of the celestial realm. “So the evening and the morning were the second day.”

In verse 9 the word of God continues: “Then God said, ‘Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear’; and it was so.” So, of course, this is the biblical description of Creation. We see that God created the heavens or the heavenly realms (multiple places). He created a celestial realm and He created a terrestrial realm—the heavens and the earth. Again, note that “heavens” is plural. In verse 14 we read (emphasis added):

Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens [plural] to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons [moed, appointed time], and for days and years.”

Going on in verses 16-18, it says,

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 [plural] to give light on the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.

Further on we see that God creates creatures both on the land and in the sea. And He said that it was good and He blessed them. In verses 24 and 25, we read,

Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind”; and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

Now verse 26 is where it gets really interesting: “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…’.” Then we see in verses 27 and 28 it says, “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply…’.” In verse 29, God said, “See…” He’s speaking to His creation. When the Creator speaks to the creature and says, “See” (raah), He’s telling us to see in more than one way.

Raah is a Hebrew word (Strong’s Hebrew Concordance H7200) that can be translated “to discern.” Raah is a primitive root that can mean to see, literally or figuratively, to appear, approve, behold, certainly, consider, discern, (make to) enjoy, to have an experience, to gaze, to take heed, to look (on, one another, one on another, one upon another, to look out, up, upon), to mark, to meet, to be near, to perceive, to regard with respect, to be shown, to spy, to stare, to think or to view, to behold visions.

Here is my definition of raah, which is scripturally associated with the seer function or seer operation: To have your supernatural senses activated to discern or see heavenly revelation and to discern or know and understand the heart of God for your life by accessing heavenly revelation.

In the Beginning

You see, we were created in God’s image. We were created with the ability and gift to see (raah). God created us to see and discern or “raah” between the heavenly realms and the terrestrial realm. But what has happened over the course of time, because of the Fall, is that our human nature has inhibited us from having spiritual discernment like we saw in 1 Corinthians, chapter 2. We no longer discern heavenly things. But I’ve got good news for you! We can discern heavenly things or spiritual truth with the help of the Holy Spirit and with our own mature and sanctified spirit. We can begin to see and discern heavenly things. We can begin to understand heavenly realities. God is going to begin to open up spiritual ears and eyes so that you will be enabled or activated to discern revelation from the Gospel that you read. Again, I call this entertaining heaven.

Of course, Jesus Christ was there in the beginning or at Creation. It was the Lord (the Word) who was present when the heavens were created. The Gospel of John clarifies this biblical truth in chapter 1, verses 1-5:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

So we are created in God’s image and God created the heavenly realms, multiple heavens. God created multiple heavenly places or heavenly realms for you to discern, see, interact with, and/or become aware of. I want to stop a minute and study what Paul said in the first few verses of 2 Corinthians 12 about knowing a man who was caught up into the third heaven and paradise. People want to talk about how many realms of heaven there are. Who cares? The bottom line is that there are multiple realms of heaven. Here are some interesting thoughts for discussion and to ponder:

There are a few scientists who believe that they have discovered parallel dimensions or parallel universes around each of us right now at this second (this is quantum psychics). So my question to you becomes: are these dimensions (parallel dimensions or parallel universes) or have they discovered heavenly places? Perhaps they are; perhaps they are not. This is debatable and at this as point they are theory only. These hypotheses are not proven or established scientifically. You see, some scientists propose that objects (you and me as the creature, human beings) are actually blinking in and out of existence about a thousand times per second, or something like that. One nanosecond we are here; then, poof, the next nanosecond we are gone. They don’t know where we go; they theorize that we are just not in this dimension. So, if this is true, where are we going? The inference is into a dual or parallel dimension for a nanosecond. Perhaps it is possible that we are oscillating back and forth between two dimensions. You could easily speak of these two places as the temporal realm and the heavenly realms.

Visionary Heavenly Encounters

It is possible that we are accessing the heavenly places or heavenly dimensions without being aware of it. Why and how? Because that is what our God given-spiritual DNA consists of. Again, this is speculation. However, when we die, it is our spirit that will be transported into the realms of heaven. So it is possible that some scientists have accidentally stumbled upon actual evidence of the existence of heaven. Again, this is conjecture on my part, but it is intriguing! Also, allow me to say that the testimonies that I have included later in this book are most likely visions of heaven or the heavenly places (heavenly encounters). To state this concisely, I do not believe that I went to heaven in my body but rather that I had a visionary experience where my spirit man was caught up to heaven. (I have come to believe this since these experiences transpired about eighteen years ago as of this writing.)

Let’s go back and focus on Genesis, chapter 2, verse 1: “Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished.” Think about that, the heavens (plural). How many did God make? I’m not sure; multitudes. I believe there are innumerable dimensions and innumerable realms of heaven. I’m not going to debate about it; I don’t want to get into a theological debate or apologetics about how many realms of heaven exist. That is a waste of precious time. One day when you are with Jesus in heaven, you can ask Him. Okay? I’m just telling you that there are more dimensions to heaven or more heavenly places than we understand with our limited human knowledge and reasoning or carnal mind (1 Corinthians 2:14). God is vast and so are the heavenly places and all the realms of heaven that the Lord created! Just think, you will get to explore all of those heavenly places one day!

What’s exciting about this supernatural dynamic is we have eternity to explore all of the heavenly places that God created for you. Hallelujah! What do you think we are going to do in heaven? We are not going to be in just one place in heaven. You will be free to (ding ding) “move about the cabin” in heaven. You can move about the heavenly realms. Sometimes God reveals to me various geographical places in the heavenly places. Again, these supernatural experiences are most likely visions that have been initiated by the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God will take me into the heavenly places, and I observe (seer operation) the heavenly realms. God had allowed me to tour various heavenly places in these visions. There are multitudes of places in heaven, and that’s your inheritance. You have a home prepared for you in heaven (John 14:2).

But what I want you to understand is that you don’t have to die to entertain heaven. You can entertain heaven today, right now. And as you learn to entertain heaven, it can transform your life. But it’s not something you are going to be able to figure out with your carnal mind because it’s a spiritual dynamic. Just by reading this book and investing your time to entertain the heavenly realms, or the glory realms, there is a supernatural transaction that happens and the realms of heaven will rub off on you. And you begin to walk in a supernatural lifestyle. It’s fun! It is available. It’s free, but it is not inexpensive. You must pick up your cross and follow Jesus—dying to yourself daily.

I want to convey and review a couple of scriptures we’ve touched on already. These have merit in this hermeneutical look at heaven. Again, we are talking about entertaining the heavenly realms. In Ephesians, chapter 1, verse 3, in the Montgomery translation¹ it says we have been blessed with “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ” (emphasis added). In the New King James translation, it calls it “heavenly places.” It’s the same thing. We could call those created spaces heavenly dimensions, especially if you are not churchy and starchy—I’m just sayin’.

Let’s go to the Book of Ephesians, chapter 3. (By the way, these are like my life’s verses here. I bow my knees and I pray this prayer most every day. Some days I pray it two or three times a day. Some days I miss it, but I encourage you to pray this prayer consistently—first thing in the morning, in the afternoon, at night—whenever you can.) Starting with verses 14 through 16, we read,

For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man.

What this means is that God (the Creator) would grant to you or ministers to you (the creature) supernatural grace or power. Did you know God wants to minister to you supernatural grace or power to transform you into the image of Jesus? You don’t have to do it yourself. You have a heavenly Father who can initiate and help you with your spiritual transformation and your revelations of heaven.

Going on with verse 17: “That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love.” How? In love! Verse 18 continues the prayer that you “may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height.” These are all what I call Godly dimensions. These are aspects or realms of the heavenly places.

And what happens when you access the heavenly places? Verse 19 says you begin “to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” This is a Hebraism that means we might be filled with the divinity or the nature of God, Elohim. You could say that you mature in your faith and grow to supernaturally develop the mind of Christ within you to replace your carnal mindset. In other words, you become heavenly minded or a heavenly man or woman. Imagine that! It is possible for you to be transformed by the Spirit of God right now! Just say, “Yes, Lord,” to that and believe to receive!

Learning to discern the heavenly dimensions can be life changing.

 

This article was written by Kevin Basconi, for

King of Glory Ministries International

PO Box 903, Moravian Falls, NC 28654.

kingofgloryministries.org -336-818-1210.

 

This article was taken from Kevin Basconi’s book:

Entertaining Heaven

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