to any Bible book, it immediately begins with Jesus. While it was great that God spoke to people via prophets, God was able to speak much better via Jesus the Son (Hebrews 1:1–4). Jesus is higher than any and everything, higher even than the angels (Hebrews 1:5–14). If we were to import Levi’s descriptions of the heavens into this passage, we could say that even the archangels were only allowed to rise to the sixth heaven, but Jesus could go all the way to the seventh. Jesus is worshipped by the angels (Hebrews 1:6) and sits at God’s right hand (Hebrews 1:13).
Jesus is a High Priest
Having proven that Jesus is the best of the best, Hebrews sets out to show what the link is between Jesus, salvation, and high priesthood. This is the topic that Hebrews wants to address. Jesus was the highest and put himself among the lowest. He became like us in “every respect, so that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people” (Hebrews 2:17). He is faithful because he humiliated himself; he is merciful because he has endured what we endure—he understands us! And through his death he achieved salvation for all people.
After this wonderful explanation and defence of Jesus, Hebrews shifts to a discussion of faith and trust (Hebrews 3:1—4:14). Faith and trust from our side leads to salvation; unbelief and distrust leads to death. The story of the Israelites in the desert is included as an example. Ten of the twelve spies were too afraid to enter the promised land, because they did not have enough faith and trust in God. In conclusion, we, as believers, should not follow their example, but should cling to the faith. That last sentence of this discussion of faith and trust, includes the heavens:
Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. (Hebrews 4:14)
Maybe we would have quickly read on, past this sentence, but after exploring the seven heavens with Levi, we should immediately see something important. “Heavens” is plural! Jesus didn’t pass through one heaven, but he passed through all the heavens. We have a high priest who, after dying on the cross, passed through all seven heavens. He is back where he started: in the seventh heaven. And precisely this trip is what makes Jesus so useful as our redeemer and mediator. Jesus is back where God is.
It gets better. Hebrews says that the faithful will make exactly the same trip as Jesus (Hebrews 4:16). We are going back to God’s presence. So, Hebrews has a view of heaven that requires a trip through all the heavens. This is a trip that not everyone will and can make. The angels get a bit more than halfway. The archangels make it all the way to the sixth. But Jesus, who is better than anyone and everything, makes it all the way to the top . . . and we can join him. Jesus and his voyage through the heavens is the reason we can “approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).
In the subsequent chapters of Hebrews, the voyage through the heavens is discussed no less than five times (Hebrews 6:19–20; 8:1–2; 9:11, 24; 10:20). It is always in slightly oblique terms, but by no means invisible to us. At least, that is, if we are willing to think hard. So think with me. Hebrews is written to appeal to Jews. They know the sanctuary, either the tabernacle in the desert or the temple in Jerusalem. In fact, they know the sanctuary well. They know that the sanctuary consists of two parts: the holy and the holy of holies (or more correctly the holiest). Priests regularly enter the holy to minister to the Lord. But the holy of holies is another matter. Only the high priest is allowed in there, and he is only allowed there very seldom.
In heaven, there are services for the Lord too. Levi saw those in the sixth heaven: archangels who were doing priestly duties. Could we then conclude that the sixth heaven is comparable to the holy? It seems logical that the heavenly sanctuary, on which the earthly one is based, also has two parts. It is a small logical leap to assume that if the sixth heaven is like the holy, the seventh heaven is like the holy of holies.
Past the Curtain
Once we have made it this far, we only need to make one more small step. In the earthly sanctuary, there is a curtain between the Holy and the Holy of Holies, sometimes called the “veil.” Whether or not there is a curtain in heaven is unimportant for this discussion. It is the symbolism that is important. Passing the curtain is symbolic for entering the Holy of Holies. Once you have passed the curtain, you truly are in the seventh heaven.
Keeping this in mind, suddenly the passages of Jesus’ trip through the heavens becomes much more vivid. Hebrews 6 calls Jesus our hope:
We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters the inner shrine behind the curtain, where Jesus, a forerunner on our behalf, has entered, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. (Hebrews 6:19–20)
Jesus is our hope. He is dependable, he is our anchor. He has gone ahead, even beyond the curtain, into the “inner shrine.” He has passed the sixth heaven, past the limit for the angels, into the seventh. This is the foundation of the gospel in Hebrews. Hebrews wants to make this so clear that it is repeated four more times (Hebrews 8:1–2; 9:11, 24; and 10:20).
Jesus is in God’s presence. He has gone ahead. We too will rise up, passing through the six heavens all the way into the seventh, into the very presence of God.
Images Revisited
There are more places in the Bible where you can see that multiple heavens are on the author’s mind. Take Revelation 8:1, where the heavens become silent. Is that to ensure that there is no noise in the heavens between God and earth? What about Jesus’ triumphal entrance into Jerusalem, where the people shout “Hosanna in the highest heaven!” (Matthew 21:9; Mark 11:10). This view of heavens must explain why Jesus almost never talks of the kingdom of heaven (as most English Bibles read) but of the kingdom of the heavens.
The New Testament refers to “the heavens” about ninety times. Should we then conclude that there literally are seven physical heavens? I don’t think that is useful. How heaven looks or scientifically functions goes far beyond our understanding. Some people in the time of the New Testament imagined that heaven consisted of seven heavens. That is their image of heaven. I have a different view and different expectations. I am sure you have different ones too. What heaven is like, no one really knows. But whatever you think, God lives there so it must be great.
It is not strange that people in the time of the Bible had a different view of heaven than we do. By studying their views, we get a better understanding of what Paul means when writing about the third heaven. He used this to counteract the teachings of false apostles, and to show that he too had something to reluctantly boast about.
Now that we know about the seven heavens, we have a much better understanding of Jesus’ heavenly trip, as we read of it in Hebrews. Jesus went through the curtain, through the penultimate heaven, all the way to the final one. He went into the very presence of God, to a place that even the angels cannot enter. And the best part? We can go there too, following where Jesus went before.
We saw something interesting next to our path. Just there, close by. Another image of the heavens. We went out exploring and returned to the path, with a richer understanding, with better information, and with deeper context. Not bad, for a day’s work. Now, we need to take a break.
We need to get our breath back. Just a small breather. We will do that after every walk: take a short break and discuss something else. This break will be about extrabiblical books.
1. Just to be clear, in this chapter we are not talking about the place people immediately go when they die. For many Christians, these two places are the same, at least for the good people, but there is a difference for the authors of the New Testament. Heaven is the place where God lives and where humanity will live after judgement day; the hereafter is the place where humanity waits for that judgement. We will look at the hereafter later in this book.
2. All quotes from the Testament of Levi are from Jonge, “The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs.”