According to this vision, all people will be resurrected and, at the Final Judgment, will be assigned to one of three degrees of glory, called the celestial, terrestrial, and telestial kingdoms.
In fact, Deuteronomy 10:14 refers to all three in one verse: “Behold, to the Lord your God belong Heaven (#2) and the Heaven of Heavens (#3), the earth and all that is in it (#1).” During our time on earth, we dwell in the first two heavens.
In religious or mythological cosmology, the seven heavens refer to seven levels or divisions of the Heavens. The concept, also found in the ancient Mesopotamian religions, can be found in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam; a similar concept is also found in some other religions such as Hinduism.
The First Heaven is the heaven (reality) we see with our natural eyes. the Second Heaven is where Satan has his throne and the fallen angels dwell (unholy dark realm). The Third Heaven is where God has His throne (celestial kingdom) and rules and reigns over the universe.
The afterlife is divided first into two levels until the Last Judgment; afterwards it is divided into four levels, the upper three of which are referred to as "degrees of glory" that, for illustrative purposes, are compared to the brightness of heavenly bodies: the sun, moon, and stars.
The celestial kingdom is the highest of the three degrees of glory. It is thought by the LDS Church to be the "third heaven" referred to by the apostle Paul in the King James Version of 2 Corinthians 12:2 and it is said to correspond to the "celestial bodies" and "glory of the sun" mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15:40–41.
There are three levels of heaven—celestial, terrestrial and telestial—in Mormonism. Only those in the celestial kingdom will live in God's presence.
Latter-day Saint theology interprets the Third Heaven to be the Celestial Kingdom, the highest of three degrees of glory rewarded by God following the resurrection and final judgment.
This verse reads: Because there are three in Heaven that testify – the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit – and these three are one.
Overview. The telestial kingdom is the lowest of the three degrees or kingdoms of glory in heaven. The scriptures compare the glory of the telestial kingdom to the glory of the stars.
There aren't various degrees of bliss in heaven because when you go to heaven, you are in the presence of God – which is pure joy, and happiness, and contentment. There are none of the effects of sin because you're with God, and there can be no sin with God.
Paul wrote that he was “caught up to the third heaven” (2 Corinthians 12:2)—the celestial kingdom.
God the Father is spirit. That means he does not have a physical body. He is invisible. He is present everywhere.
The reunion of believing loved ones
When Paul writes to believers who grieve the loss of a loved one, he offers them this comfort: “We who are still alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thessalonians 4:17, emphasis mine).
(John14:6) The way to Heaven is only through Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ alone. Our Lord Jesus Christ is Himself the way to Heaven. He does not merely show the way; He is the way. Salvation is only in the person of Jesus Christ.
The Ten Realms
These realms can also be described through the degrees of enlightenment that course through them. They have been translated in various ways.
The Bible clearly teaches that the moment a person turns from his sin and trusts in Jesus to be forgiven of his sin, he is saved (Acts 2:37-41). He has passed from spiritual death to spiritual life (John 5:24) and has been declared not guilty in God's court of law (Rom 3:21-26).
The Lord taught this principle when He said, “In my Father's house are many mansions” (John 14:2). There are three kingdoms of glory: the celestial kingdom, the terrestrial kingdom, and the telestial kingdom.
The three worlds are the historical world out of which the Bible emerged and through which it came to us; the literary world (or worlds) created by the Bible itself; and the contemporary world in which we read and try to understand the Bible.
The image of the gates in popular culture is a set of large gold, white or wrought-iron gates in the clouds, guarded by Saint Peter (the keeper of the "keys to the kingdom"). Those not fit to enter heaven are denied entrance at the gates, and descend into Hell.
After this, John says the heavenly city is a perfect cube, each side being 12,000 stadia, or 1,400 miles.
The Bible does not say in any part that it is only the 144,000 that will go to heaven. The revelation to John supports Matthew 8:11, which says that many will come from every corner of the earth to sit with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The number 144,000 that were sealed or chosen are not pre-chosen.
The Second Book of Enoch (abbreviated as 2 Enoch and also known as Slavonic Enoch, Slavic Enoch or Secrets of Enoch) is a pseudepigraphic text in the apocalyptic genre. It describes the ascent of the patriarch Enoch, ancestor of Noah, through ten heavens of an Earth-centered cosmos.
When the apostle Paul (the theologian formerly known as Saul of Tarsus) wrote to the church in Corinth about a particularly significant religious experience, he informed them that his journey to the “third heaven” or “Paradise” resulted in his hearing “things that are not able to be told, that no mortal is permitted to ...