T. Justin Comer

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 
Genesis 1:1 

The creator’s natural decision was to make the heavens and the earth. He could have begun with anything, but the first verse is only the heavens and the earth. The first expression and description of the creation is unity without sameness. The heavens is plural, which adds another interesting question. The flattened description that we sometimes hear or say is to believe in the earth and outer space, which certainly fits within this construct. Heavens, however, seems to suggest something more or deeper than a singular meaning of tangible reality. 

We cannot collapse heavens into tangibility, citing the sun, moon, and stars created within the heavens. We cannot make the opposite mistake of collapsing this into spiritual heavens either. Earth, likewise, cannot be collapsed into our sphere of land and water, for there is even differentiation between this land vs that land. There is Eden, and then the rest of the world that needs “subdued.” There appear to be different modes and regions within one created order. 

Another potential assumption that can be brought into the text is that we live on earth, but God lives in heaven, therefore God has eternally lived “in heaven.” The text refuses this. God created the heavens. Before this first verse, there is no spacial order for God to dwell in. There doesn’t seem to be any hint of a spiritual dwelling either. If “the heavens and the earth” comprehensively names reality, then heaven itself belongs to creation. 

God simply is. He doesn’t seem to need anything in order for Him to still exist. He doesn’t need a spiritual “heaven,” nor a physical “heaven,” nor a tangible “earth.” He simply exists regardless. Our struggle of comprehending this as creatures within space and time does not negate this possibility. That limitation tells us something about us, not necessarily about God. 

There is an infamous verse cited (most often within Charismatic circles) of a “third heaven” in 2 Corinthians 12. A man was “caught up” to this third heaven. This, at best, tells us at minimum that biblical/heavenly language can accommodate gradation or layering. It does not demand that He gives us a complete map. 

Paul doesn’t explain that heaven one operates in this manner, heaven two in that manner, and heaven three is where God lives. He doesn’t tell us whether there is a fourth of twelfth heaven. Again, the heavens seem to have distinction and differentiation without collapse. Nothing about a “highest heaven” demands that it be eternal or uncreated, just as much as “in the beginning” does not demand that time is strictly linear. 

The verse says, “The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain You.” Solomon says this in his dedication of the temple. It seems to me that heaven is a created realm within which divine presence and governance becomes manifested in a particular manner. Divine self binding does not equal subjugation. 

It does not take too many verses later until we see luminaries associated with heavenly governance. It only takes a few more verses before we see humanity associated with terrestrial governance. Later Scripture associates heavenly reality with throne(s), hosts, authorities, powers, stars, and governance. Later Scriptures associate the earth with nations, humanity, animals, land, cultivation, and terrestrial vocation. 

Already the phrase “heavens and earth” begins being heard as differentiated spheres of created order and governance, and not merely “top half” and “bottom half.” 

When we examine the trajectory of biblical sacred space, we repeatedly encounter graded proximity to manifested divine presence. The Tabernacle has outer court, inner court, and Holiest Place. There is Jerusalem, Israel, and then the nations. There is priesthood, Levites, and then Israel. There is Eden, the land, and then the sea. 

Biblical cosmology likewise seems capable of distinguishing at least terrestrial realm, heavenly governing realm, and throne or highest heaven realm. The terrestrial realm contains humanity, nations, animals, land, and orderly creaturely life. The heavenly realm contains luminaries, hosts, powers, celestial governance, and realities described as “heavenly.” The highest heaven is described as having concentrated divine presence, throne visions, cherubim, and immediate heavenly court. The exact terminology is less important than the pattern. Scripture only gives us so much information, and this is one of those areas that further attempts to reveal more information than is presented is dangerous, if not manipulative. 

Biblical cosmology repeatedly behaves through created reality possessing graded realms of terrestrial existence, heavenly governance, and concentrated divine presence. There seems to be a consistency of three tiers, if you will. Even the tabernacle based upon the “pattern” Moses saw on Mount Sinai suggests a three tiered differentiation. Scripts here in Genesis only gives us “heaven” and “earth,” which appears to be two tiers. The plurality of “heavens” might insinuate a third, fourth, or even more. It does not, however, demand that interpretation. Later patterns help illuminate why three tiers makes the most sense. 

Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? 
Isaiah 66:1 

This verse links several things simultaneously: heaven, earth, throne, temple, house, rest. The cosmos itself is described using royal temple language. Genesis culminates in the creation being finished. Moses finished the work of the Tabernacle. This is conspicuous at best. Exodus 25-31 contain a series of divine speeches concerning the Tabernacle, culminating in Sabbath. The two worlds seem to echo one another. The exodus from Egypt itself has language that echoes the creation, the parting of the Red Sea and the division of the firmaments being the most obvious. 

Genesis orders creation through a seven day pattern culminating in rest. Tabernacle instructions culminated in Sabbath. Priestly consecration occurs over seven days, with ministry beginning on the eighth. Creation, sanctuary, priesthood, and rest repeatedly inhabit overlapping temporal and architectural patterns. 

The sanctuary contains a fascinating progression of illumination. The outer court has ordinary, outside, created light. The Holy Place, or inner court, has no external illumination. Instead, God appoints the menorah. It is created, but sacredly appointed light. The Most Holy Place, or Holy of Holies, has no light. God dwells in darkness, even thick darkness. The progression is natural illumination, appointed mediated illumination, and finally divine presence alone. This may suggestively correspond to earth, heavenly governance, and then throne presence. 

At Sinai, Moses approaches the thick darkness where God was. Deuteronomy remembers the cloud, fire, darkness, and thick darkness. At the Temple, Solomon says, “The LORD has said that He would dwell in thick darkness.” The Psalms likewise speak of darkness as God’s hiding place, and thick darkness surrounding Him. Genesis presents darkness as existing before sin and is named as a part of creation, not as some evil, wicked, not good, or even something that needs to go away. Here darkness signifies something closer to concealed presence. 

Interestingly, the gateway into the Holy of Holies is shielded by a veil, or in more modern terminology a curtain. Within that veil are woven various Edenic images, and one that I find most fascinating is the cherubim. They seemingly guard the way to the Ark. The Ark itself has cherubim crafted onto it. Theophonies parallel this with the cherubim present alongside the throne, Ezekiel being the chiefest of texts. In fact, in Ezekiel’s throne visions, it almost seems as though the Throne is carried by the cherubim like the Levites were commanded to carry the Ark. 

The more that we examine between creation, Eden, the Tabernacle, and the Temple, the more the imagery seems to overlap. It is easy to retrofit the cosmos as a temple. It’s even more nuanced to conceive that the Temple is a concentrated architectural representation of a creation already understood as sacred habitation. Outer court, inner court, and “inmost” court, these might be a microcosm of what sacred space and divine habitation structurally look like. What if the Tabernacle/Temple was a miniature cosmos to explain to Israel and the nations what the God of heaven and earth created, and what His relationship to them is? What if the creation of the cosmos that flows from divine ontology takes the form of a reality capable of becoming habitation?