Three Heavens

Based on my reading of the Bible, there are three areas described as "heaven". Those areas are

  1. The atmosphere or sky directly above us.
  2. Space.
  3. The area where God's throne is.

Many are familiar with this verse -

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth

- Genesis 1:1 KJV

That is from the King James Version. Most other translations use the word "heavens", which is plural. The other versions that I am referring to are:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

- New King James Version © 1982


In the beginning God created* the heavens and the earth.
Footnote: * Or In the beginning when God created, or When God began to create. - New Living Translation © 1996
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. - New International Version© 1973, 1978, 1984
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. - English Standard Version © 2001
En el principio creó Dios los cielos y la tierra. - Reina-Valera © 1960 Sociedades Bíblicas en América Latina
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. - New American Standard Bible © 1995
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. - Revised Standard Version © 1947, 1952.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. - American Standard Version © 1901
In the beginning of God's preparing the heavens and the earth - Robert Young Literal Translation © 1862, 1887, 1898
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. - J.N.Darby Translation © 1890
In the beginning God created the heavens and the eretz. - Hebrew Names Version © 2000 Info

At this point, I think we can agree that some scholars feel the word heaven should be plural.

Jeremiah 4:25 describes one heaven as a place where birds dwell. We can see "that" heaven:

I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled.

Birds fly within the earth's atmosphere. Therefore that heaven, which many refer to as the 'first heaven', is the air we breathe. Revelation 19:17 talks about that same heaven:

I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come.

Genesis 22:17 speaks of a different heaven; space:

In blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore.

This is what many refer to as the 'second heaven'. This is clearly different from the first heaven, as the stars and planets are not part of our atmosphere. They are in space.

Psalm 11:4 says,

The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD's throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.

The Psalmist doesn't state which heaven, but it's clearly not the first heaven, or we could see it. It also seems that this heaven is not close by in space, or it would be generally observable with telescopes. Deuteronomy 10:14 refers to a place called the 'heaven of heavens':

Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the Lord's your God; the earth also, with all that therein is.

Job 22:12 gives us a little more information:

Is not God in the height of heaven? and behold the height of the stars, how high they are!

This says God is in the height of heaven. That seems to suggest the height of heaven is even higher than the stars, pointing to yet another heaven.

In 2 Corinthians 12:2, Paul clearly states there is a 'third heaven':

I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knows;) such an one caught up to the third heaven.

I count three distinct "heavens". Are there more? A careful reading may tell.