I was reading tonight of the apostle Paul’s breathtaking experience of being “caught up” to the “third” heaven. It really shook him up …
2 Corinthians 12:1-4 (NLT)
[Paul] “… I will reluctantly tell about visions and revelations from the Lord. 2 I was caught up to the third heaven fourteen years ago. Whether I was in my body or out of my body, I don’t know—only God knows. 3 Yes, only God knows whether I was in my body or outside my body. But I do know 4 that I was caught up to paradise and heard things so astounding that they cannot be expressed in words, things no human is allowed to tell.”
A telling account, isn’t it? Paul is struggling to explain how it all happened. Of course he goes on to say that he was prevented by God from revealing and discussing in detail that stunning experience.
2 Corinthians 12:7 (NLT)
“… even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.”
The critical issue here for Paul (and all of us, too) is that, in our current state, our soul and flesh would not survive a visit to heaven. Why? Well, for start, our soul and body is not yet sanctified. We cannot go there, or dwell there, at will. On only three occasions in scripture are human beings permitted the briefest glimpses of the third heaven – the dwelling place of God. Isaiah briefly glimpses the heavenly temple, and immediately realises he is a dead man worshipping until an angel purifies him sufficiently (and for long enough) to hear the prophetic commission God gives him, then it’s over. The next occurrence is that of Paul, as we’ve just seen, and the third occurrence is in Revelation 4 when the apostle John comes through a door that was opened to him in heaven. He is invited to “come up here”, and suddenly now “in spirit” he is standing before the throne of God completely overwhelmed by all that is going on.
These three experiences were each invitations from God to specifically called people to see and hear and know things pertaining to their calling. The third heaven is God’s dwelling place not a drop-in centre.
When the apostle John reveals that we believers have a particular faith confidence in approaching God he is explaining a spiritual reality which is that, as ones now righteous by the blood of Jesus Christ, we can approach God as confidently as children approach their fathers knowing they are loved and cherished, and that Father is so ready to listen to us. It never means we can enter God’s actual dwelling place – this is not possible.
1 John 5:14 (NIV)
“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.”
James picks up this idea as well when he says,
James 4:8 (NIV)
“Come near to God and He will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”
The preparation for drawing near and God responding to us in like manner is consecration and, often frustratingly, this lasts only a short time like it did for Isaiah. The closest we come to heaven on earth, is when God draws near and there is a very thin distance between the third heaven and the first heaven reality where we live. A striking example of this was when Elijah had fled to a cave in the wilderness, distressed and depressed, perhaps, even suicidal. He spent the night there wondering what is going to happen next. He was there waiting on God and wishing he was home with God. And God does draw near as we know and says, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Elijah lets out a torrent of complaint and hurt to the Lord. God tells him to go and stand at the mouth of the cave …
1 Kings 19:11-13 (NIV)
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
Note the phrase there, “then came a gentle whisper”. The ancient Hebrew text says that there came “a sound of thin silence”, which seems a rather odd thing to us - and is a nightmare for translators! This is ancient Hebrew idiom that means complete silence. It is quite different from any other kind of silence such as the cessation of all natural noises. No, this complete silence is associated only with God’s presence and closeness on earth, and this is what caused Elijah to feel such awe. So what exactly is this “sound of thin silence”? I offer here some considered reflections after having experienced it twice in my life time after long periods of prayer and fasting, and through further studies of different texts. The Hebrew idiom here is ‘kol d’ma•ma da•ka’. It is a kind of ‘spiritual’ silence more powerful and complete than anything auditory. It affects the very atmosphere on earth where we are at the time – a complete and utter silence because God is present. Anyone who has experienced this recalls how frightening it is. My attempt to describe this sound of thin silence is this: it’s the shortest physical distance between first and second heaven, as if God is standing right there. The distance is tissue paper thin, that’s how close it feels.
I had that experience in 1988 when I had been fasting and praying for my son, Tristan, who was suffering chronic asthma – so very frightening I could not leave him for a moment. On the eighth night in the early morning hours, as I was praying over him, suddenly everything went quiet. Absolute, utter silence. Complete silence – I could not hear my own heartbeat or the clock on the wall ticking. I was acutely aware of God’s presence and a holy fear gripped me. And then I heard the audible voice of God say, “My son, what is it that I can do for you?” The voice went right through me, yet I felt so safe, so loved. I pleaded, “Father, please heal my son of this affliction such that it can never afflict him again – not ever.” The Lord said, “It is done”, and moments later the earthly noises – traffic outside, clock ticking and so on – all began to gradually return to normal volume as the sound of thin silence faded from my spirit. It was the strangest and scariest thing.
I am convinced that I was the shortest distance between earth and heaven I had ever been that night – if that makes sense (it is quite difficult to explain). It was wonderful, it was terrifying, it was reassuring and it sustained me for years in my spiritual walk. I didn’t have an Isaiah, Paul or John experience of the third heaven; but I felt and “heard” the sound of thin silence when my heavenly Father came to my aid. We cannot just lob by heaven whenever we feel like it. As I said, that is not possible. But heaven can draw near to us as we seek the Lord in the pouring out of our hearts to Him … and in His great compassion and mercy, He comes near in the sound of thin silence.
Be encouraged. Heaven is closer than you think sometimes. My son was healed that night, and has never been afflicted with asthma since. Praise God our Father.
Ps Milton
[Hebrew sources: The Bible Hub; Hebrew Bible; Sefaria.org]