Heavens

"The heavens" (Hebrew shamayim; Greek ouranos) in Scripture encompasses the visible sky and beyond it the dwelling place of God — a term that bridges physical cosmology and theological reality. The OT uses shamayim in multiple senses: the atmospheric heavens (where clouds and rain are, Gen. 1:8; Deut. 11:11), the stellar heavens (where sun, moon, and stars are set, Gen. 1:14–17; Ps. 8:3), and the dwelling place of God, who "looks down from heaven" (Ps. 14:2; 33:13; 102:19). Paul's reference to "the third heaven" (2 Cor. 12:2) reflects a common Jewish cosmological scheme of multiple heavens, ascending to God's immediate presence. Jewish and rabbinic tradition variously posited three or seven heavens. Ephesians locates the believer's position and Christ's exaltation "in the heavenly places" (en tois epouraniois, Eph. 1:3, 20; 2:6; 3:10; 6:12), a realm of spiritual reality both present and transcendent. The OT affirmation that "the heavens are the LORD's heavens, but the earth he has given to the children of man" (Ps. 115:16) distinguishes divine from human realms while maintaining that God is the creator of both. The "new heavens and new earth" of Isaiah 65:17 and Revelation 21:1 indicate that even the present heavens are subject to eschatological renewal and replacement.