The Hidden War Between Heaven and Earth

We’d start in the book of Job, chapter 1, verses 6 and 7, which says this:

“One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. The Lord said to Satan, ‘Where have you come from?’ Satan answered the Lord, ‘From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth in it.’”

Almost exactly the same incident is recorded again in Job, chapter 2, verses 1 and 2.

“On another day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them to present himself before him. And the Lord said to Satan, ‘Where have you come from?’ Satan answered the Lord, ‘From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth in it.’”

So at that time, which was in the days of Job, we see that Satan still had direct access to the presence of the Lord. When God’s angels came to present themselves and report to the Lord, Satan was there among them.

It seems to me that the passage somewhat indicates that the other angels didn’t identify Satan for who he was. And I can understand this because in Second Corinthians, Paul says that Satan is transformed as an angel of light.

The passage creates in my mind the impression that the only one that identified Satan was the Lord. So he could appear in the presence of God, apparently mingling with the other angels and not be detected. The Lord said, “Where have you come from, Satan?” In other words, “What are you doing here?” But the Lord didn’t immediately banish Satan from his presence. He actually had some kind of a conversation with him. So we see in the time of Job, Satan was still having access to the presence of God in heaven.

And then let’s go on to the last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation, chapter 12, verses 10 and 11.

“Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: ‘Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.’”

The accuser of our brothers, we know, is Satan. And notice that at this time, he’s still been accusing God’s people before God day and night.

Then we go on to read,

“They overcame him”—that’s Satan—“by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.”

Then there’s this commentary:

“Rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.”

That passage indicates that at whatever point that applies, and I believe myself it’s still in the future, Satan still has access to the presence of God, and he uses his access to accuse God’s people in the presence of God. Clearly, all the above passages that I’ve quoted refer to periods long after the original rebellion of Satan.

So what is the answer? My answer is this: There is more than one heaven. I believe this is clearly indicated all through Scripture. For instance, in the first verse of the Bible, Genesis 1:1, it says,

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

The Hebrew word for heavens is shamayim. Im is the plural ending. The first time heaven is introduced, it’s introduced in the plural.

And then in Second Chronicles, chapter 2, verse 6, we have this utterance of Solomon in his prayer to the Lord at the dedication of the temple. He says this:

“But who is able to build a temple for him,” that’s the Lord, “since the heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain him?”

Where the translation says “the highest heavens,” the Hebrew says literally, “the heaven of heavens.” Clearly, either translation indicates there’s more than one heaven.

The word heaven of—the phrase “heaven of heavens,” to me suggests a heaven that is above heaven, as high as heaven is above earth. At any rate, more than one heaven. In Second Corinthians, chapter 12, verses 2 through 4, Paul is even more specific. He says,

“I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows—was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell.”

Paul says there he knew a man who was caught up to the third heaven. Before I became a preacher, I was a logician, and sometimes I can’t get away from logic. Logic convinces me that if there is a third heaven, there must be a first and a second. So there are at least three heavens. The first heaven is the visible heaven: the sun, the moon, the stars, that which we see with our eyes, the natural heaven.

The third heaven, we know from Second Corinthians 12, is God’s dwelling place. It’s where paradise is, the place of rest of the departed righteous. It’s the place where this man who was caught up heard God speaking words that could not be uttered. So we’re left with the second heaven.

Clearly, this must be between the first and the third. So I understand there is an intermediate heaven between the heaven of God’s dwelling and the visible heaven that we see here on earth. And I believe that in this intermediate heaven is where Satan’s headquarters are located.

I believe this explains the facts of our experience. It explains the fact that when we pray, we often find ourselves in an intense wrestling match. Sometimes, I think we all not realize, it’s hard to break through to God. Sometimes we pray a prayer that’s in the will of God, we believe God hears, and yet the answer tarries. Now there can be more than one explanation of that, but I believe one major reason for experiences of this kind in the life of sincere, committed believers is that we’re involved in a warfare, and that the headquarters of Satan’s kingdom is located between the visible heaven and the heaven of God’s dwelling.