this misinterpretation
Has led Christians to teach that heaven has always existed because I say well when it says in Genesis 1 1 that God created the heaven
And the earth it's not referring to that eternal abode. It's referring to the atmosphere or space because heaven has always existed
Okay, that's what they want to teach and look you could obviously see how people could get mixed up with that
You know it's like well heaven God lives in heaven therefore because God is eternal therefore heaven is eternal also
But what we have to understand is that the Bible actually tells us that the high and lofty one God
Inhabited eternity and eternity is something that existed prior to heaven even being created, okay?
Eternity is not something that is subject to time space or matter something
That's beyond that if we were to describe heaven or prior to Genesis 1 1 we would just say
Eternity past because here's the thing God has always been you understand
Heaven is used as a reference point to us for us, okay, and I'll explain what I mean in just a bit now
Think about this you know if heaven was created which it was
The question is why was it created right like why would God he doesn't need somewhere to abide in God has always existed
What's the purpose of heaven being?
Created well we can simply answer this by examining its counterpart in the creation story, which is earth
Because it says God created the heaven and the earth now. Let me ask you why was earth created
To be inhabited right he created it so that man can inhabit the earth have dominion over all things look at verse
26 it says in 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 the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every
Creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, so we see there that God created earth because he wanted man to inhabit the earth
He wanted man to have dominion over the fish over the beasts of the field
Over all things and so when we look at that
We can apply that to heaven and say well God created heaven to be inhabited by man as well
He said well that doesn't really make sense
If he created earth to be inhabited by man
Why would you say that he made heaven to be inhabited by man also?
I'll tell you why because God created heaven with the foreknowledge that heaven would one day occupy the righteous
You see God knew before the lane of the foundation of the world that man would sin
He would die
spiritually would need a redeemer that he would send his son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for all of
Mankind to redeem and reconcile the world back into him and that those people would need a specific place to go to which is heaven
So he created heaven
With the foreknowledge that one day it would accommodate
Righteous people okay righteous souls or spirits you understand