Is Heaven the Sky?

Last Updated: 07/20/04: 2:57 PM ET

Is Heaven The Sky Video.

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Introduction

Imagine yourself 5000 years into the past. Keep in mind you no longer have the knowledge you have today about nature: the clouds, the earth, the sky, space etc. Now look up at the sky. Place yourself atop a high mountain. Look off into the distance. The sky seems to end at the "ends of the Earth" doesn't it? The sky envelops the earth, covering it like a dome. What is it? Why is it blue? What is it made of? Where did it come from? What is the sun and moon? How does the sun rise and set in the sky? What are the stars and how are they held in place? Today, we take for granted that we have knowledge of these simple aspects of nature. In an attempt to understand their universe the best way they could, ancient man created stories to explain what they thought they were observing.

This presentation is an attempt to prove conclusively, that the concept of Heaven is merely, what most modern cultures refer to as, the sky… and that the ancients all shared a similar view of the Universe, including the hebrew people.

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1000 year old dome shaped alter to the Heavens unearthed in Beijing, China. It is divided into 12 equal quadrants each depicting a section of sky.

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Hast thou with him spread out [raqa] the sky, [which is] strong, [and] as a molten [cast] looking glass [mirror]? (Job 37:18)?”

In ancient Egypt, the sky is depicted here as a personification, the deity Nut (Noot). Notice that she looks remarkably like the "Firmament". She is hovering over her brother and husband Geb (The Earth).

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What is the firmament?

\Fir"ma*ment\, n. [L. firmamentum, fr. firmare to make firm: cf. F. firmament.

2.) The region of the air; the sky or heavens. - Webster’s Dictionary.

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Enter Shamayim

"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” - Genesis 1:26

The Hebrew word for air in this passage is: Shamayim, aka Heaven.

"Shamayim (shaw-mah'-yim): dual of an unused singular shameh {shaw-meh'}; from an unused root meaning to be lofty; the sky (as aloft; the dual perhaps alluding to the visible arch in which the clouds move, as well as to the higher ether where the celestial bodies revolve):--air, X astrologer, heaven(-s)." - Strong's Hebrew Dictionary.

The word itself literally means: Sha ("of" or "from") the waters (mayim).

Heaven means literally: "From the Waters"!

In The New Testament we find the word Ouranos for sky. This is interesting because Ouranos is the Greek God of the Sky. The Catholic Encyclopedia confirms that Ouranos is the Firmament.

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Firmament: appears 17 times in the KJV in each case it is translated from the Hebrew word raqiya, which meant the visible vault of the sky. The word raqiya comes from raqa, meaning “to expand by beating out," such as beating out a metal to give it shape. Thus, Elihu asks Job, “Hast thou with him spread out [raqa] the sky, [which is] strong, [and] as a molten [cast] looking glass [mirror]? (Job 37:18)”

"And gold leaf was hammered out (raqa)..." (Ex. 39:3); and "Silver spread into plates (raqa) " (Jer. l0:9). The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament cite Ezekiel (1:22,26), as evidence that the Hebrews did not believe in a literal sky-dome and that we should take it figuratively since it was in a vision. However, if this is the case, then all visions, prophecies etc. should all be taken non-literally. Eze 1:22 “And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature [was] as the colour of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above.” Surely we've all heard the term, "Crystal clear skies."

Shachaq also means sky but it is also used throughout the Bible to represent Heaven, clouds, skies or dust. Confusing isn't it?

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The Vault of Heaven

The "Vault of Heaven" and references to the sky being constructed are throughout the OT.

Job 9:8, “...who by himself spread out the heavens [shamayim]...”

Psalm 19:1, “The heavens [shamayim] tell out the glory of God, the vault of heaven [raqiya] reveals his handiwork.”

Psalm 102:25, “...the heavens [shamayim] were thy handiwork.”

Isaiah 45:12, “I, with my own hands, stretched out the heavens [shamayim] and caused all their host to shine...”

Isaiah 48:13, “...with my right hand I formed the expanse of the sky [shamayim]...”

Sitting upon the firmament

Isa 40:22 "[It is] he that sitteth (which can also mean rests) upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof [are] as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:" Well of course, we have all been pretty high up and looked down and saw people that were as small as insects."

Circle (chuwg) (khoog) of the Earth? * Streches out the Heavens? * Spreads them out as a tent? * Like grasshoppers?

Job 22:14 Thick clouds [are] a covering to him, that he seeth not; and he walketh in the circuit (chuwg) of heaven.

CHUWG: a primitive root to describe a circle:--compass. – Strong’s Concordance

Notice that Chuwg is NOT a Sphere!

There are many words for Sphere or spheroid in hebrew:

Ball rwd duwr¹⁷⁵⁴ a circle, ball or pile <¹⁷⁵² to gyrate (or move in a circle), ... This word is never applied to Earth.

Pot dwd duwd¹⁷³¹ a pot (for boiling) also (by resemblance of shape) a basket. This word is never applied to Earth.

Round tlglg gulgoleth¹⁵³⁸ a skull (as round); by implication a head This word is never applied to Earth.
< llg galal¹⁵⁵⁶ to roll [Babylonian—a water pot shaped like a human skull]. This word is never applied to Earth. - Taken From: http://www.adultsundayschool.com

The Book of Ezekial

The crystal firmament and a throne

Eze 10:1 “…in the firmament that was above the head of the cherubims there appeared over them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne.”

Ezekial 1:22-26 - “And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature was as the colour of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above. And under the firmament were their wings straight... And there was a voice from the firmament that was over their heads... And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne (kicce'), as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.”

Ezekial's vision saw God upon a throne that looked like sapphire stone. This just so happens to be exactly what the firmament looks like. This isn't surprising because kicce' not only means throned, but it also means canopied, properly covered or footstool. In many instances kicce' appears to be used to acknowledge a seat of great exaltation. So in this case, it indeed may not be a physical throne. If so, what was Ezekial seeing? The Catholic Encyclopedia tells us that this was some glorious chariot that God rode upon. This causes many problems because in Ezekial 10:19, the Cherubims are at least partially described. They are NOT the angels of Christian folklore:

Cherubims
What are they?

10:19: And the cherubims lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight: when they went out, the wheels also [were] beside them, and [every one] stood at the door of the east gate of the LORD'S house; and the glory of the God of Israel [was] over them above.

10:20: This [is] the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel by the river of Chebar; and I knew that they [were] the cherubims.

10:21: Every one had four faces apiece, and every one four wings; and the likeness of the hands of a man [was] under their wings.

"Winged creatures who support the throne of God, or act as guardian spirits. They appear in the Bible (the book of Ezekiel) as bearing the throne and chariot of God, and hence later conceived as a type of angels. They are also mentioned in Genesis 3:24 as guardians (or protectors) of the Garden of Eden. They were placed at the gates of the Garden to prevent humans from re-entering and thus gaining access to the Tree of Life. They also formed the mercy seat on the Ark of the covenant (Exodus 25:18-20). Many theologians assert that the Garden was destroyed in the great flood. This is why no one can find it today.

In the Jewish and Christian religion they are second in the order of angels, directly after the seraphim. They were usually depicted as angels with four wings and four faces (human, lion, bull and eagle). Artists in later times made them appear as the chubby, rosy-faced, winged infants of which they are known today. They are usually clothed in blue, while the seraphim are clothed in red. They originated from the winged and human-headed bulls of Babylon (also named cherubim), a lesser order of deities, which guarded the gates of the royal palace." - Micha F. Lindemans

In Eze 10:1 above was translated from the Hebrew word: “ma`al” that can also mean “exceedingly high”, "overhead” or "upwards". It's interesting to note that no where in the Bible will you find mention of Heaven being above or beyond the waters that were mentioned in Genesis 1:7. Heaven is often described as being the firmament itself.

Ezekiel's description of this crystalline firmament, together with the story in Genesis 1:8, was interpreted in medieval times that God's throne was on top of the firmament, the highest heaven. But the use of the symbol of the sapphire fits the identification of the starry heavens with God's throne. Ezekiel's account clearly shows the Hebrew word raqia referred to a solid structure. Jesus' statements also identifying heaven with God's throne, the earth with his footstool.

Isaiah had a similar vision of God sitting on the circle of heaven, as described in Isaiah 40:22.

One can easily see how the ancients may have believed the sky was composed of a crystalline substance. The picture above is a close-up view of the stone Sapphire.

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Coming down from Heaven

The Bible is full of tales of Yahweh coming down to see how man is doing and what man is up to. This makes perfect sense if Yahweh was thought of as a man in the sky. In many visions of Yahweh, he actually resembles man in some fashion.

Deu 26:15: “Look down from thy holy habitation, from heaven, and bless thy people Israel, and the land which thou hast given us, as thou swarest unto our fathers, a land that floweth with milk and honey.”

* Yahweh, allegedly, is everywhere. Why doesn't Yahweh come from the sea, or mountains, or ground beneath? He always comes from the sky... and always accompanied with the Sun. The Light of the world.

The Story of the Tower of Babel is a really good of example of the way the ancient Hebrews viewed Yahweh.

Gen 11:5 And the LORD (Yahweh) came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men built.

Just before Yahweh destroys the Tower, he says:

Gen 11:6 “…now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.”

In other words, whatever humans put to mind, they can accomplish. At this time, humans were building a tower to Heaven… it must have been a plausible task. The idea that God had to come down from Heaven to see what was going on… and had to stop them for fear that they would reach Heaven, lends credence to the idea that Heaven is REALLY a physical place in the sky!

Now if Yahweh is troubled by man's accomplishments?.....

Why are they still standing?

Some argue here that Yahweh was upset over the "hearts" of the men building the ziggurat. This doesn't make any sense, they simply said, they were going to build a tower to Heaven. If this was an impossible feat, why would God feel a need to come down and scatter their language? Also, what's wrong with wanting to be like, with or among God? This has never been explained to me. Let us not forget that the many Egyptian Pharaoh's hearts were set to build the great pyramids as close to Heaven as possible. Making their spiritual journey to Heaven much easier. The largest pyramid (449.5 ft) is much taller than any recorded ziggurat and still standing! Let us not forget our modern day architectural buildings. A new building just built in Taipei, Taiwan is 1,676 ft. We are already in God's Heaven.

How was God depicted?

This Phoenician silver drachma has the image of Yahweh on it. It was made around 350 BC. It's now in the British Museum. It depicts a bearded divinity enthroned over a winged chariot wheel. Admittedly, this is a non-Jewish representation of Yahweh. But, it is the first recorded effort of an ancient people to depict Yahweh as Zeus. Notice the solar wheel, symbolic of the sun, and wings which represent being aloft and in motion. Once again a man in the sky! Notice the eagle in his hand. The inscription to the left of the eagle's head says, Yahweh.

Here's one artist's non-biblical interpretation of Heaven and Earth.

FIG. 12 - The Ancient Hebrew Conception of the Universe (from Robinson 1913, p.13)

Notice how the waters on top of the dome is broken up by clouds etc.. no where in the Bible are the Heavens beyond the upper waters.

Another interpretation below:

This one comes a little closer, at least the waters completely encompasses the firmament. However, the Bible does not describe the placement of the "Heaven of Heavens" nor is there any kind of Heaven beyond the waters once again. Now here's an ancient Hindu's perspective.

All I can honestly do is chuckle at this one. :) But notice the similarities.

The Enuma Elish

Babylonian Creation Event

Tiamat or Tiamu is the sky in ancient Babylon, the goddess of watery chaos. Marduk splits "her like a shellfish into two parts: half of her he set up and ceiled it as sky, pulled down the bar and posted guards. He bade them to allow not her waters to escape."

Many scholars agree that Tehom (used in the Hebrew Creation account) and Tiamat share a common ancient root that references deep and chaotic waters.

The Enuma Elish can be read here.

The Waters

The Second Commandment in the Bible makes something very clear: "You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven (shamayim) above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth...Deut. 5:8; and Ex. 20:4. Under the earth? We only have microscopic and small organisms in water found under the earth. Odd that God would be concerned with graven images of Protozoans. You see, the ancients believed that the earth was supported by pillars and that dark waters were underneath the Earth. Just as the previous graphics depicted, there were waters under Earth and waters that also completely encompassed the firmament. They believed that the huge massive creatures, whales etc.. came from beneath the Earth. "The Deeps of Hell".

Although it sounds odd to many Christians that the ancient Hebrews believed that the Earth's firmament was surrounded by water. The 1st two lines in Genesis point the way to the truth of what they believed.

Gen 1:1 – “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” < -- where's the water?

Gen 1:2 – “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness [was] upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” <-- woah! woah! When did God create the water?

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Where did the water come from?
God didn't create it yet, so it must have already been there!

When we think of the earth, we think of "The Earth" (the planet) with it’s waters etc, the ancients didn’t view things that way. Earth was merely the ground you stood upon.

Everything becomes more clear when we look at the Babylonian view of the Universe.

Gen 1:6 - "And God said, Let there be a firmament in the middle of waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters."

Let's think about this. If the waters were pre-existing and all that was needed is to divide them. You get a very similar model to what the Bible describes. Let's also not forget that in Genesis 1:2 ".. the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters". They were already there! This is evident because only until later did Yaweh divide them, "upper and lower", while creating the firmament, to keep the waters back.

Young Earth Creationists attempt to explain that the "waters above the earth" reference to an immense vapor canopy or pre-flood reservoir that later drained during the Great Flood. Genesis 7:11 "In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened." Now of course here, one could resort to metaphor, but this makes perfect sense using the ancient model above. The firmament kept the waters back. God opened the windows of the firmament and water began to fall and flood the Earth. Young Earth Creationists state that these waters were drained completely. Which is why we obviously don't see a vaopr canopy above us. But if true, after the flood, the waters shouldn't be mentioned again in the Bible, but they are!

Psalm 148:4 “Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that [be] above the heavens.”

Once again shamayim is used here in all instances

Interesting to note that water is mayim in Hebrew. In Aramaic: Heaven is dabashmaya, Water is maya. As you can see the ya (aramaic) and im (hebrew) allude to the plurality of what is being mentioned. As mentioned earlier, shamayim literally means "from the waters".It's believed by some that Mary is a derivative of Maya.

THE SUN

Shamash, was the common name of the sun-god in Babylonia and Assyria. Might it be purely coincidental that shamash, and shamayin are both related to something aloft or a celestial body? Maybe not! Shemesh is actually Hebrew for Sun. Why is this important? Shamash is often depicted as a winged God rising from between twin mountain peaks with rays emanating.

Malachi 4:2 "...the Sun (shemesh) of righteousness arise with healing in his wings"

Shamash/Utu "Light of the world", Sun God and judge of the dead.

Cross Symbol of Shemesh, look familiar?

~ More parallels here. ~

Known as Uti to the Akkadians.

Often Depicted as a winged orb, similar to Egyptian Heiroglyphs or an Eagle.

~ More about the Akkadian's view of the Universe. ~

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Revelation 1:7 "Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him..."

Psa 84:11 "For the LORD God is a sun and shield....."

Isa 40:26 "Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these [things]..."

I'm sure us gospel enthusiasts have all heard the classic, "Lord I lift your name on high". Believers all over the world lift their hands to the sky in praise of God. Ecc 1:9-14 "There is nothing new under the sun." Egyptians were doing this ritual thousands of years before Christianity came along.

The glory of the Lord is so much that one must shield their eyes.

The Sun & Shield:

The Cross of Shemesh

The cross of Shemesh is believed by some to be the very same cross used in Christianity. Various versions of the cross represent many more ancient god-men which predate christianity. The "†" is only a recent occurrence compared to the "+" which was more commonly used to represent the Zodiac, various Sun gods and is still used by the Vatican today to represent a tortured Yeshua.

NOTE: It's interesting to note, that in the New Testament, the word cross is incorrect. The greek word used is stauros. A stauros is a stake, not a cross. The verb usage of it renders it's meaning "to impale", not to "crucify" as we normally think of it. Some attempt to refute this, however, they assume you need a cross to drive nails through someone's hands to attach them, when in fact, this isn't the case. One nail through both feet and one nail for each hand on opposite sides of the stauros, 3 total. :). With, possibly, a second (much smaller) post used to assist in propping up the main beam. With arms extended over the head, a person could easily die in an hour or so.

The Book of Enoch

The books of Enoch are ancient books that weren’t included in the Bible. The Enochian literature wasn't known to the nineteenth ecumenical council. Most of Enoch 1 aka (Ethiopic Enoch) is believed to have come from various sources. 2 Enoch (Slavonic Enoch) is believed to have been written entirely in Greek by a Jew. The biblical character Enoch is mentioned in the Bible in various places.

The image below is the image of the Earth and Heavens as described by the book of 1 Enoch.

It’s completely shocking!

Click here for an exhaustive reference on The Book of 1 Enoch.

Excerpt:

"I went to the extreme ends of the earth and saw there huge beasts, each different from the other and different birds (also) differing from one another in appearance, beauty, and voice. And to the east of those beasts, I saw the ultimate ends of the earth which rests on the heaven. And the gates of heaven were open, and I saw how the stars of heaven come out..." (1 Enoch 33:1-2).
The book of 2nd Enoch aka Slavonic Enoch mentions various levels of heaven explicitly and in some detail... seven heavens originally and the last 3 are believed to be later interpolated to give us 10. Not one of these levels mention going through the firmament. How could they miss such a vast amount of water? I have posted the later interpolations of Heaven below:

Chapter 21....
7 "And I saw the eighth heaven, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Muzaloth(Zodiac), changer of the seasons, of drought, and of wet, and of the twelve constellations of the circle of the firmament, which are above the seventh heaven."

8 "And I saw the ninth heaven, which is called in Hebrew Kuchavim, where are the heavenly homes of the twelve constellations of the circle of the firmament." < - A little redundant eh?

Chapter 22.1
1 "On the tenth heaven, which is called Aravoth/arabot (highest part of Heaven), I saw the appearance of the Lord’s face, like iron made to glow in fire, and brought out, emitting sparks, and it burns."

So if the 9th heaven is still within the circle of the firmament why not the 10th level?

Lastly, 2 Enoch also mentions that Hell is on the "northern side" of the 3rd level of Heaven. Unsure how many Christians would believe such a book that makes this claim.

Paul's 3rd Heaven Mention

In 2 Corinthians 12:2, Paul makes mention of a 3rd Heaven. Some believe that the third heaven Paul speaks of, is the heaven where God dwells with His holy angels and those saints who have died. They also believe that the other two heavens will pass away (2 Pet. 3:10); and that this heaven is eternal.

They couldn't be more mistaken."Paul described his experiences in the only way that he had at hand. His point was not to tell us how many levels of heaven there might really be." - Douglas Ward and The Christian Resource Institute. Most scholars agree with Mr. Ward, in that they have concluded that the 3rd Heaven entry is a period of time, not a 3rd level of Heaven. 2Peter 3:13 proves this point: "Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth." Nothing about levels here. Both the Heavens and the Earth will be eradicated and begun anew.

Also keep in mind that no where in the Bible will you find 1st Heaven or 2nd heaven, do a search yourself. It's not there.

Pre-Hebrewiac Clues

The Aramaic phrase for kingdom of heaven [dabashmaya] encompasses the images of a "solid home base or resting point, of a fluid, round, luminous enclosure, and of devotedly holding fast to something." - Ancient Testimony: Matthew 5: 1-12 (New translation from the Aramaic from Prayers of the Cosmos by Neil Douglas-Klotz)

* Indeed, d'bashmaya is the same as shamayim, they both have roots to words that make reference to the visible arch (dome) in the sky.

Conclusion

I’m convinced, that the concept of Heaven according to ancient Judaism and Christianity is merely the sky. At the highest portion of the sky possible, God sits upon the solid firmament, which keeps the high/low waters apart and the firmament (sky) also houses the stars, sun and moon. Since the Bible also states unequivocally that birds fly in Heaven, a tornado can take a person to Heaven, clouds are in Heaven, God let waters collect under Heaven, and dozens of other examples, it's reasonable to conclude that Heaven is the sky. Almost anywhere in the Bible if you replace Heaven with Sky, it fits perfectly. There is no way to differentiate between the alleged "levels of Heaven" from regular Heaven. "Heaven of Heavens" is mentioned 5 times in the Old Testament, but alas, these passages don't tell us anything about any levels, their importance or where are they in relationship to the sky above.

Gen 1:8 "And God called the firmament (raqiyah) Heaven (Shamayim)." This literally means that....

Heaven is the sky!

Thank you for reading. Changes will be made as new info comes in. So keep checking back and directing people that you think can benefit from this page here.