Most of Christendom’s believers today equate their genuine faith in Christ for salvation unto ‘everlasting life’ with … a destiny that takes them ‘to heaven.’ But that is not necessarily true. Yes, “everlasting life” is first for every genuine believer in either of the Bible’s gospels. But it is our added understanding and believing in a particular gospel that determines our dispensational calling and destiny, which is quite another thing.

You see, according to God’s eternal plan and purpose of the ages, God has two different elect or chosen people groups.

• One believing group is of Israel’s kingdom /covenant believers, who with the John 3:16 “whosoever” Gentile believers, are destined to forever dwell in Christ’s long-promised “Kingdom come On Earth,” which is “the paradise of God” (Matt. 6:10, Rev. 2:7).
• The other believing group is the Pauline Post-Acts Spiritual Gentile “Church, Which Is His Body” of Christ-believers who are destined to forever dwell with Christ “In The HEAVENLY [Grk. epouranios, High or Super-Heavenly] Places” (Eph. 1:3, Col. 3:4).

Biblically, there is the earth with its atmosphere (air), and then there is outer space with its planets and stars, both of which are sometimes referred to as “the heaven.” But the highest heaven is located “Far above all heavens” (Eph. 4:10), it is the heaven of God’s glory. This is located above the universe and all creation. The first mention of this is as “the heaven of heavens” is seen here below.

Deut. 10:14 KJV Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the Lord's thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is.

This highest heavenly realm is mentioned only ten times in the O.T. The “Heaven of heavens,” is the place of God’s Glory. This is where the believers of Paul’s Post-Acts “Revelation of the Mystery,” are already spiritually seated “with Christ,” even while “Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.” The verses below tell believers of the Pauline “Mystery” gospel of their heavenly destiny.

Eph. 2:6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

Col. 3:1-4 If [since] ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.² Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. ³ For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.⁴ When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in [heaven’s] glory.

Romans 16:25 Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my [Paul’s] gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, According To The Revelation Of The Mystery, Which Was Kept Secret Since The World Began,

Here in Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” we note the two realms of God’s creation. The earth was originally had been created wonderfully… “to be inhabited” (Isa. 45;18). But both “the heavens and the earth” became corrupted by the rebel, Lucifer. Thus, Job would say “The heavens are not clean in His sight” Job 15:15. God judged Lucifer’s corrupted earth in a pre-Adamic flood; referred to as the “overthrow [Greek, katabole] described below in Genesis 1:2, and 2 Peter. 3:5-6.

Genesis 1:1-2 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth .² And the earth was without form [in chaos], and void [empty of life]; and darkness was upon the face of the [frozen] deep. And the Spirit of God moved [brooded] upon the face of the waters.

2 Peter 3:5-6 ⁵ For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: ⁶ Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: (This flood of Gen. 1:2 was long before Noah’s flood.)

Some unspecified time after the ‘katabole’ event we have the well-known six-day recreation of the earth, with man (Genesis 1:3-31). Adam was created to “replenish the earth, subdue it: and have dominion… on earth” (Gen 1:28) and to ultimately, through Christ, restore order on the earth in the “kingdom come on earth.”

The lowest heaven is Biblically called “the firmament,” what we now call the sky or atmosphere. It is clear that one day the present heaven and earth will pass away, and there will be a “new [i.e., renewed] heaven and new [i.e., renewed] earth” (2 Peter 3:13).

We know little about the inhabitants of the heavens and earth as it was originally created per Gen. 1:1. But we do know that later Adam was created to ‘dwell in’ and “have dominion over” the present earth.

Genesis 1:26 And 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 of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

In the OT we repeatedly hear reference to of the Abrahamic Covenant concerning a “land” on earth, promised to Abraham’s seed, not heaven. There was nothing ever said in the OT, or the Gospels, or during the Acts Period about man ever inhabiting ‘heaven,’ but only ‘a Kingdom paradise’ on earth.

Jesus said He saw “Satan fall from heaven” long before Christ’s incarnation (Luke 10:18). Lucifer long ago had ambitions to be “like the most high” God, but he failed, as seen in Isaiah 14:12-15. Christ saw Lucifer as “the accuser” called Satan, “fall” from his lace in God’s high heaven throne room. Today Satan has his headquarters in the lowest heaven, ruling as “the prince of the powers of the air (Gk. aer, the atmosphere),” as “the god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4). In the middle of the Tribulation period, Satan, with his angels, will fall again, being “cast down to the earth” itself (cf., Rev. 12:9). Then ultimately, after the Millennial Kingdom ends, Satan will “cast into the lake of fire” with his angels, “the beast (Antichrist),” and “the false prophet.”

As of John’s gospel writing Jesus had said: “And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but [only] he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man [Jesus] which is in heaven seated at the right hand of God” (John 3:13). There is not a word in the Bible that any man would dwell in the “far above” super-heavenly “Heaven of heavens” until we read Paul’s Post-Acts prison epistles of Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. Otherwise, we find NO gate to heaven for man to enter. For a man to dwell in heaven was unheard of … until Paul wrote of this after Acts, as seen below.

Colossians 1:5 For the hope which is laid up for you [Mystery gospel believers] in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel [of the Pauline Post-Acts Mystery);

Ephesians 1:3-4 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath [already] blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: ⁴According as he hath chosen us in him [Christ] before the foundation [Grk katabole, overthrow] of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

What Paul wrote above is something totally new. Paul says there today exists a people who were “chosen in Christ from before the foundation [Gk. katabole, overthrow] of the world.” They have already been chosen and spiritually blessed in The Super-Heavenlies, … “The Heaven of heavens.”

The only gateway to the “Far Above” Heaven was opened to mankind when “the Salvation of God was sent to the Gentiles” (Acts 28:28 below), when Paul received from Christ…  “the revelation of the Mystery [secret],” for us today.

Acts 28:28 Be it known therefore unto you [Israel], that the salvation of God is sent unto The Gentiles, and that they [unlike Israel] will hear [heed] it.

Romans 16:25 ²⁵ Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my [Paul’s] gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, According To The Revelation Of The Mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,

This above is the account of Paul’s declaration of Israel’s ‘fall’ in unbelief, whereby Israel lost the Offer and Hope of the long-promised ‘kingdom come on earth.’ Israel’s “fall” occurred approximately 2,000 years ago (cf. Hosea 6:1-2). Meanwhile, today the Gentile “church, which is His body” (Eph. 1:22b-23a) has come to fruition. This “one body” (Eph. 4:3) will soon be manifested to “appear with Him [Christ] in heaven’s glory” (Col. 3:4).

God’s plan and purpose was that … all nations [Gk. ethnos, all races] of the earth were to be blessed through Israel, but Israel failed to believe. With Israel’s ‘fall,’ the recovery of the Earth’s and God’s eternal Kingdom purpose has been ‘SUSPENDED’ for a time.

Meanwhile, God’s focus today is now upon fulfilling His eternal plan for the recovery of the government of “THE HEAVENLY PLACES.” God’s plan for restoration of “the heavens” was “hid from ages and generations” (Col. 1:26). Being hid, Paul calls it “the Mystery [Grk. musterion, secret]”

The Question Many Would Ask: “How do we get to Heavenly Places”?

Answer: It is “by Grace through Faith” in Paul’s “my Gospel,” of Roman’s 16:25, to then see “Christ According To The Revelation Of The Mystery Which Was Kept Secret Since The World Began.”

How do we learn of this Post-Acts “revelation of the Mystery”?

“Faith” must come first … by hearing of “the revelation of the mystery” concerning Paul’s “My Gospel” of “The Dispensation of The Mystery” (Eph. 3:9). The truth of this “Mystery” was revealed to Paul only AFTER Israel was divorced of God in Acts 28:28, as prophesied in Hosea 1:9.

“Then said God, Call his name Loammi: for ye [Israel] are NOT my people, and I will NOT be your God.”

How long will Israel remain ‘divorced’ by God?  

Answer: Hosea 6:2 After two days [i.e., 2 prophetic days = 2 thousand years] will he revive us [Israel]: in the third day he will raise us up, and we [Israel]shall live in his sight.

You see, in the Old Testament God often described His relationship with Israel in marital terms. He portrays Himself as a husband and Israel as an unfaithful wife who pursued idols and broke their covenant relationship. Note how the prophet Jeremiah quotes God saying;

“Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there played the whore?” Jeremiah 3:6

Later in Jeremiah, God says, “And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery, I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce…” (Jer. 3:8). Based on a surface reading of this verse, it could appear that God did in fact “divorce” Israel for her spiritual adultery, of going after pagan gods. The Hebrew word translated as “divorce” here is the typical word for divorce in the OT.

However, the context of Hosea 6:2 reveals that God did not permanently divorce or abandon His covenant with Israel. Just two verses later, in Jeremiah 3:10, God invites wayward Israel to repent and return to Him, saying “Yet return to me, declares the Lord.” God goes on to say in verse 14, “Return, O faithless children, declares the Lord; for I am your master; I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.” Thus, only the chosen elect of Israel will ultimately be restored in faith at His 2^nd Coming when they “look upon Him whom they had pierced.” (cf. Zach 12:10).

These verses indicate God’s intention is to restore His relationship with Israel after a time of discipline and exile. He will first recover His government of the heavens. But the believing remnant of Israel will only come to him … some years after the elect of the Post-Acts Gentile “church, which is His body” “appears with Him in the heavenly places of glory” (Colossians 3:4).

Paul’s gospel of “The Mystery” (Rom. 16:25) must be heard, understood, received, and believed, for one to then “appear with Him in [heaven’s] glory” (Col. 3:4). To those who believe the “word of truth” says,

Ephesians 22:4-6 ⁴ But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, ⁵ Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) ⁶ And hath raised us up together, and Made Us Sit Together In Heavenly Places In Christ Jesus:

We are admonished to now seek that which pertains to the “far above” “heaven of heavens.”

Colossians 3:2-4 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above [in “The heaven of heavens”], where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God ²Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye [plural, as members of “His Body”] also [i.e., simultaneously] appear with him in [heaven’s] glory.