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Northern Heaven
Why did New Covenant believers, those from the first century A.D. to the present, "go up?" Why didn't the Old Testament saints "go up" to Heaven instead of going down? It was because Christ had not died. Jesus' precious blood had not yet been shed and therefore no one's sins were forgiven. "The blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin." 1 As that blood had not been shed there was nowhere else for the believers of old to go than down to Paradise, there to await the death and resurrection of Christ.
When at last Jesus went down to Hades, as he did after his crucifixion, he preached to those who were on the good side of Hades, that is in Paradise as it then existed.
Straight to Heaven
Today there is nothing to hinder the believer from going up to Heaven when he or she dies. The body of the person remains in the grave. There are three "heavens" spoken of in the New Testament. The first is "the aerial heaven" directly above us. The second is "the celestial heaven" comprising the planetary system. Above and beyond the stars is "the third or Highest Heaven." Into that Heaven all true believers will pass. Jesus at his ascension went "up." "While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven." 2
On the North Side
In Leviticus, the people of Israel are instructed by God about making the sacrifice on the altar. They are told, "He is to slaughter it at the north side of the altar before the Lord." 3 Ezekiel sees a vision of the Lord from the direction of the North, where God was believed to dwell. Mount Zion, the city of the great king, is spoken of in the Psalms as being "on the sides of the North" 4 Job speaks out in one of the oldest books in the Bible "He spreads out the Northern skies over empty space; he suspends the earth over nothing." 5
Professor Bernard of the Yerkes Observatory discovered that there are no stars in the heaven due north of our planet. There is an empty space. This is collaborated by Dr A. T. Doodson F.R.S. who stated "the distribution of the stars in space becomes thinner to the north. If we imagine the plane of the equator to be extended, then this cuts at tremendous distance what is called 'the Milky Way.'" 6 Most of the stars we now see are in this broad band.
Heavens Opened
Stephen as he was dying said, "I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." 7 The word for "heaven" is in fact in the plural i.e. heavens. "He saw through the aerial heaven; he saw beyond the celestial heaven right into the highest heaven." 8
Note that Stephen said, "I see ... the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." Perhaps the Savior stood to welcome home the first martyr of the Christian era into heaven.
Question for Discussion
1. How do other Christians feel about belonging to the one, universal, historical, Body of Christ?
Notes
1 2Luke 24.51 3Leviticus 1.11 4Psalm 48.2 5Job 26.7 6"Science and the Word. Christ, Creator and Man." Dr A. T. Doodson F.R.S. 7Acts 7.56 8The Rev Canon F. E. Howitt booklet "Heaven"
"While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven."
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