in the saying that He Who passed through the heavens and was made higher than

the heavens, was at the selfsame time depicted as entering `heaven itself'

(Heb. 9:24).  The contradiction only exists in our minds if we fail to

distinguish the heaven of the beginning, Genesis 1:1 from the heaven of the

ages, Genesis 1:8.  The only references to the heavens of Genesis 1:1 that are

found in the remainder of the New Testament are those of Peter and of the

Revelation, which speak of a new heaven and a new earth (2 Pet. 3:13; Rev.

The new heavens and the new earth spoken of by Isaiah are related to

Jerusalem (Isa. 65:17,18).  Where we read in Revelation 21 of a `first heaven'

and a `first earth' the word translated `first', protos, is rendered in verse 4

`the former things', and we should possibly translate Revelation 21:1 `the

former heaven and the former earth', the reference to `no more sea' being an

evident allusion to Genesis 1:2.  In connection with the subject before us, let

us turn to the words of Paul as found in 2 Corinthians 12:1 -4.  In direct

connection with the visions and revelations which he had received he refers to

an extraordinary experience.  Whether he was `in the body or whether out of the

body' he could not tell, but he did know that he had been caught up to the

third heaven ... caught up into paradise.

First, we must be clear as to the meaning of the term `caught up'.  The

word `up' in this passage has no equivalent in the Greek, and to attempt to

make it have any bearing upon the subject betrays as much ignorance of the

original as would be betrayed by anyone seeking to extract the idea of

direction upward, from such idiomatic phrases of the English language as `shut

up', `wash up', `lock up' and the like.  We can omit the word `up', for the

Greek word harpazo is translated `take by force', `catch away', `pluck',

`caught away' and `pull'.  The phrase `in the body' translates en somati, which

is very like the phrase en pneumati `in spirit' used of the occasion when John

was translated to the Day of the Lord (Rev. 1:10).  The closest parallel is

that of the experience of Philip, who was `caught away' by the spirit of the

Lord, and was `found at Azotus', some miles away.

It is evident that the third heaven to which Paul was caught away

was Paradise, otherwise his reiteration would need a deal of explanation.

Paradise has been located in different regions by different teachers, mainly in

accord with their peculiar beliefs concerning the intermediate state.  If we

keep close to the Scriptural meaning of Paradise we shall know that it is

derived from the Hebrew pardes (Neh. 2:8; Song of Sol. 4:13) and means `a

garden or orchard', and when we meet the word in the book of Revelation, it has

no connection whatever with an intermediate state but is still a garden and

orchard, it is indeed the garden of Eden restored and extended.

In what way, we may ask, can this Paradise at the end of the age be in

any way related to the `third' heaven?  If we count the third heaven as being

like the third storey

of a building, it will certainly appear incongruous.  But Revelation 21 has

already spoken of `a new earth' and a `former earth', consequently it would be

true to say, even as Peter in 2 Peter 3 has indicated, that there was a first

heaven, in the beginning (Gen. 1:1); a second heaven, at the making of the

earth ready for man (Gen. 1:8); a third heaven, at the end when redemption

shall be finished (Rev. 21:1).  It was to this `heaven' and this `paradise'

that Paul was caught away, and as he stresses more than any other writer in the

New Testament the blessings of the New Creation, it is quite understandable

that this great goal of the ages, should be associated by him with the visions

and revelation he had received in connection with his apostleship.