Chapter 12 - The Second Heaven

After a few visits to the Throne Room, I became curious about the rest of the place.  This was heaven and I wanted to see my mansion!   But I wasn’t invited right away to explore, or rather be led on an expedition.  God’s domain is immense and is known as the Third Heaven.  It’s where we will spend eternity, and I gathered that we mortals are not granted boundless visiting rights as we are in the Second Heaven.  That’s because others are already there in their heavenly homes, and there is to be no connection between them and us.  Paul spoke of being taken to the Third Heaven, which indicates there is a First and a Second Heaven.  So I did some research on where they are.

Scholars agree that the First Heaven is where we live within the atmosphere of the earth.  The Second Heaven is all of space outside the atmosphere and is everything we can see in the universe and any other universes science has discovered.  That’s pretty big.  But the Third Heaven is everything beyond what is known or can be encountered, and that is enormous and endless.  It’s hard for the finite mind to grasp this concept; it’s something we have to accept as being accurate until we get there and see for ourselves.
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Since the Third Heaven appeared to be off-limits to me, I asked the Lord if I could explore the Second Heaven.  He didn’t answer, but not too long after my request, during a time of simply enjoying His Presence, He sent two angels to escort me into the Second Heaven.  There are two reasons one must be escorted.  The first is that both angels and demons have access to this arena and many battles between the two are fought there.  One does not want to accidentally be caught in the crossfires of an angelic fight!  It is also where demons meet to plan strategies and maneuvers needed to obtain and/or maintain control of humanity in the First Heaven.  It is also where angels meet to plan and orchestrate the circumstances of human lives in order to keep them free from the wiles of the devil. Satan’s army of demons knows they were defeated when Jesus defeated the devil, but if a human doesn’t know that Jesus gave him or her His victory then the demons are free to attack.   

The second reason one needs an escort involves the vast expanse of the Second Heaven.  People have been known to die while wandering in unknown places.  Earthly beings say the person died from a heart attack while napping, or they simply died in their sleep.  But those familiar with spiritual ways know that if someone gets lost out there and can’t find their way back, their body dies from lack of life, and they continue on up and enter the Third Heaven, that is, if they are born again and are already a citizen of The Heaven of God.

My escorts took me to a place that seemed to be a bridge with buildings lining the sides, kind of like what one finds in Florence, Italy.  As we crossed the bridge I saw four low buildings in a row, each with an ordinary door and on the door a plaque with the name of the building written on it.  Each of these buildings contained only one large room, and somehow I knew these four belonged to me.  It appeared that whether I lived on the earth, or in my mansion in heaven, these four rooms would be where I would do my heavenly business.  Three of the rooms were completely empty.  It could be they were empty because I had finished my business there, or it could be I had not yet filled these three with the business affairs of heaven.  What are the spiritual affairs I work with in these rooms?  Prayer, Praise, Worship, and Offerings.  

Only the room entitled Offerings had some work to do in it.  When I opened the door I saw a small pile of money nestled in the corner of the large floor.  On top of the pile was a note written in an artistic hand telling me where this small amount of money should go.  I sighed a sigh of relief and noted my task for when I returned to earth.

The other three rooms had names that didn’t stir up much importance in my mind until I saw them from God’s point of view.  The room named Prayers, although empty, resounded with prayers I had previously prayed for other people.  I saw that the world can only progress when each Christian has emptied their prayer room by praying for the needs, the destinies and the paths of others.  

The room entitled Praise pertained to my own growth and well-being.  By praising the Lord I had thrown all concerns for my life onto God.  We Christians enter our Praise room where we rejoice and give thanks for His provision for us - before it comes to pass.  

And our worship room, much different than our room of Praise, puts us into harmony and unity with God, and there we learn His wonders, His plans, His purposes, and His pursuits.  It’s almost impossible to stand up in the Worship room.  We either kneel or lay prone because His Presence is so heavy.

While being escorted by the two angels I didn’t see any other humans.  We humans number in the billions, but not too many venture into the Second Heaven for a look-around.  I presume when they visit the Second Heaven that they are in their rooms where they do spiritual business.  Otherwise they are zooming up to those rooms, or back down to earth.  Since we travel at the speed of light I understand my inability to see them.  Those who have already died are not found in the Second Heaven as they are either in Hades waiting for the judgment of the Great White Throne (these are those who have not chosen Jesus as Lord), or they are already in God’s Heaven with Jesus as the Bible says that to die is to be instantly with the Lord (these are those who have chosen Jesus as Lord in this lifetime on earth).  

However, angels filled the space, and about a third more of the beings were demons.  Many scholars have said there are 20,000 angels for every human being and about 5,000 demons against each human being in this Second Heaven.  Actually, demons number around 10,000 as they are the angels who were banished from heaven with Lucifer; it’s known that one third of the angels followed Lucifer, now called Satan.  About half of them are chained in Hell; they seem to be the worst of the demons.  They’ll be kept there until The End when the demons will be released onto the earth for a time of securing all humans, those who will join them, to the ranks of the devil.  God does not want to spend eternity with beings who do not choose Him; even in the face of severe torment they resist God’s salvation.

The angels I saw in the Second Heaven were beautiful beyond description, even when engaged in warfare, and the swords they brandished were absolute works of art.  The demons, on the other hand, having once been members of the squadrons of angels, and had been, therefore, magnificent, were now deformed, ugly beyond compare, and vile.  What made the change?  The farther one gets away from God, the more depraved and despicable one becomes and their outer image reflects this interior change.  I wanted to stay and watch their skirmishes, but my two escorts whisked me away and returned me to the First Heaven, which is oh so boring in comparison to the activities in the Second Heaven.  However, I have returned time and time again to see more and more; and I never go alone!