BP: The Seven Levels of Heaven

Thoughts on Davidic Kingship

This week we’ll finish up our section on a Fullness of Knowledge with the Seven Levels of Heaven. The word Heaven is used in the Bible in different contexts.  We see that birds fly in the heavens.  We see the moon and stars are in the heavens. And we see that Heaven is the eternal destination of man and the place where God dwells. Because all of us will be judged by our works and merit degrees of salvation based on our actions, the Bible sets out three realms of Heaven with seven levels. ​

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The Process of Perfection
Our Process of Perfection looks like this:

                                                                     Individual Salvation
                                                                             Born Again
​            ​                                           (Redemption / Sanctification)
     Born of the Blood / Born of the Water > Keeps the Commandments > Born of God/Spirit

                                                                       Married Exaltation
                                                                    Going Onto Perfection
                       Becoming Perfect > Reaches the Full Stature of Messiah > Sees God the Son

Heaven
Generally, Christianity lumps everyone who merits Heaven into one place.  To place all Humanity into one place isn’t fair, impartial or just to recognize a person's actions during mortality.  And though we would like everyone to live in the presence of God the Father forever, patterns and principles in the scriptures don’t really support this view.  Only Israel’s High Priest was allowed into the Holy of Holies where God’s presence was. Yeshua stated that to be His brother, sister or mother you have to do the Will of the Father - Matt 12:50.  So here is a standard that defines  a certain status.  Moreover, when we look at the scriptures, we see other standards that define other statuses - Rev. 22:11.  And these other statuses don’t necessarily merit being a brother or sister of Yeshua, which translate into dwelling in the Father’s presence.  Furthermore, God has provided a multitude of eternal destinations who meet these various standards.


Israel’s Tabernacle as a Model of Heaven
The first representation of Heaven that we see in the Bible is Israel’s Tabernacle/Temple.  Israel’s Tabernacle was separated into three sections - the Outer Court, The Holy Place and The Holy of Holies. Only the High Priest could enter into God’s Presence in the Holy of Holies with the Mercy Seat and Ark.  Only the Priests could enter into the The Holy Place where the Menorah stood and finally the Outer Court is where the people came to provide sacrifice at the altar.  Here in the Tabernacle, we see all kinds of patterns that indicate conditions of three realms of Heaven.  We can summarize these elements and then expand our understanding with our Theme of Threes.​

Tabernacle/Temple (A Model of Heaven)

Outer Court	The Holy Place	The Holy of Holies
The People	Priests	High Priests
Altar of Sacrifice/Laver	Menorah	Mercy Seat/Ark
Redemption	Sanctification	Exaltation
Spirit	Son	Father
The Unjust	Just Men (and Women)	Just Men (and Women) Made Perfect

The Seven Levels of Heaven
We can take this view of Heaven add Isaiah's Spiritual Categories and structure a picture of Heaven.

HEAVEN

Realm of the Spirit (Accepts Yeshua's Redemption and lives God's Basic Law of Honesty/Integrity)	Realm of the Son (Born Again and Sanctified) ​	Realm of the Father (Going Onto Perfection and Exalted) ​
Babylon	Zion/Jerusalem	Sons/Daughters/Elect
Sodom/Gomorrah	-	Seraphim/Joint Heirs
Mahan	-	God the Father/Son