10-28-2023 Daytona Seventh Day BAPTIST Pastor Ben “What Happens When People Die?” Gen 2;7,

[MizKJVOnly]

10-28-2023 Daytona Seventh Day BAPTIST Pastor Ben “What Happens When People Die?” Gen 2;7, Eccles 12;7, John 11;11-14, Job 14;10-12

 

This is the question we all have so lets look in the Bible to see what happens when people die. In the Bible we have so much scripture that tells us what happens when people die. This is a hot potato for a lot of people especially because in three days it is Halloween. This is a hot potato for some of those who celebrate Halloween. We need to go back to the beginning in the book of Genesis 2;7. It says the Lord formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul. God and Jesus made man and woman and breathed life into them.

So what happens when people die? Where do they go? Are they in Heaven? Are they in limbo or are they in purgatory? What happens to them? Lets go to the book of Ecclesiastes 12;7. The scripture says that the dust shall return to the earth as it was and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. Where did man originally come from? The dust. The spirit will will return to God who gave life. Some people believe that when you die, you go straight to God. This scripture contradicts what they are saying. The body returns to dust and the spirit, the breath of life returns to God and Jesus who gave it.

How did Jesus refer to death? Lets go to the book of John 11;11-14. Jesus says Lazarus was sleeping but Jesus was going to wake him up. Then Jesus says that Lazarus is dead but He will wake him up. Jesus viewed death as a sleep, as a rest. You are sleep in the Lord. This is important because if we don’t see this through the word of the Lord, then somebody could come and say let me read your palm. Let me tell you your future or lets have a spiritual meeting so you can talk to your dead loved ones. All this is happening especially in the month of October. Its also happening in the movies with horror pictures. Everybody is celebrating darkness, death and spiritual enchanters.

We need to be clear about what the Lord says when people die. When people die, they are dead, dead and not coming back. They are asleep. Lazarus’s sister told Jesus that she believed that when people die, they are asleep but they can live again when Jesus has returned. She believed that when you die, you are going to stay asleep. How the disciples of Jesus thought of and referred to death is in the book of Job 14;10-12. It says that man dieth and wasteh away. Man giveth up the ghost. Man lieth down and riseth not. They will not awake or be raised out of their sleep until heavens are no more. When is this people? When Jesus returns. This is when He will raise them up, raise up everyone. Now when believers die and take their last breath, it is with joy. They take their last breath with joy because they know that the next thing they will hear will be the voice of the Lord.

Another question, does the person who dies know anything? Lets go into the Word of God into the book of Ecclesiastes 9;5-6. It says the living know that they shall die but the dead know not anything. Their memory is forgotten, their love and hatred is now perished. They have no portion in anything that is done under the sun. The dead know nothing, the person is dead. In other words you and I know we are going to die. Three things you cannot get away from. Being born, taxes and death. So the dead know nothing. Now lets us go back to the book of Job 14;21. It says his sons come to honor and he knoweth it not. And they are brought low but he perceiveth it not of them. So when your loved one dies, don’t go crying after them when they are dead. They don’t know anything so don’t even ask them for forgiveness because they are dead and hear nothing. What I’m saying is while you have your loved ones still alive, tell them you love them when they are still alive, not when they are dead.

What happens to the soul, the breath of life? Did you know that God also owns all the animals and their breath. Lets see what it says about animals because many people love horses, dogs and cats. Go to Job 12;7-10 and it says that the soul of beasts and every living thing is in the hand of the Lord. The breath of life of all mankind is in the Lord’s hand. This includes every living thing like that fly you killed a couple of days ago. Lets go to Psalm 146;4 where it says his breath goeth forth, he returneth to the earth and in that very day his thoughts perish. Again his spirit departs, the breath of life goes back to God. The Bible say to be absent from the body means to be present with the Lord. So what went to God? The spirit or the breath of life? Can we as Christians talk to dead people? No! Can we have a conversation with them? No! Look at Deuteronomy 18;10-11. It says you are not to have around you people who use divination or an enchanter or a witch or a charmer of familiar spirits or a wizard. This scripture is especially for us believers in God and Jesus Christ.

There are not supposed to be among you people who say they are sorcerers or mediums or one who calls up the dead. We saw in the Bible that the dead cannot hear, cannot see, cannot feel and their love and hatred is gone. Who are the mediums calling to? Who are they talking to? Demons and evil spirits. They are not talking to Jesus, Peter or Paul. They are just talking to evil spirits. These people should not be found among us. Halloween is a celebration of the dead. You are allowing the devil into your space. The enemy of the Lord is being allowed to come into your house. The dark spirits come into your house when you give children, dressed like demons, candy. There should be no trick or treat in our churches because we are God’s people and God’s people need to be holy.

Who are the spirits that the mediums and enchanters are talking to? Look in Revelation 12;7-9 where it says the devil was kicked out of heaven with his angels and was cast out onto the earth. Did you know that every day we are being assaulted by the bad angels and the good angels? There is a fight everyday for our lives. If we had spiritual eyes, we would be able to see them fighting over us and we would probably drop dead. Think about it. The devil has his angels and they can manipulate physics, can take over a body. They can masquerade as your dead loved ones. Remember the man that Jesus cured that was called Legion because he had a thousand demons in him? The demons told Jesus that there are many of us. Then they went into the pigs. In Revelation 16;13-14 it says John saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, the beast and the false prophet. These are spirits of devils who work miracles and go to gather the people to battle against God. So now if you want to go celebrate Halloween, now you know who you will be in cahoots with. It got awful quiet in here. Am I stepping on somebody’s toes? I Thessalonians 4;13-17 says we Christians get raised from the dead and get caught up to Jesus in Heaven. Jesus is the only one who can raise people up from the dead. By the way, if you ever go to church, hear a message like this and fall asleep, don’t do it because you will have plenty of time to sleep in the grave.

In I Corinthians 15;52-55 it says in a twinkling of an eye, the dead shall be raised up and the living changed. We as Christians are raised up incorruptible and put on immortality. Death is swallowed up in victory. O death where is thy sting? O grave where is thy victory? Praise the Lord everybody. Praise the Lord!!

 

AMEN

 

[FJK]

This is how I believe and have for quite some time.  Few Christians seem to agree with me on this for some reason, but it does come from Biblical writings.

Essentially our experience will be that we will close our eyes in death then immediately find ourselves opening them at the resurrection with no sense of anything at all in between even though thousands of years might have passed on Earth.

I'm not sure if that is true for animals as well, there are some questions I have about that as a result of personal experiences that I don't want to go into.

[Charlie744]

Nice topic and both terrific responses!

 I am definitely one that differs from what most people believe. I think I am in the minority of… one.

 I think there are 3 issues here:

1) How did God create man,

2) What happens after we die,

3) What happens at the end of all things.

CREATION

God took dirt / dust from the ground and formed Adam. He breathed HIS spirit (HIS righteousness / HIS holiness), into Adam. This was NOT air that He breathed into Adam to jump start his life, but HIS Holy Spirit. Every animal breathes one way or another, but God would only place HIS spirit into Adam. This was necessary because without God’s spirit in him, he could not be in the presence of God and live. It was HIS home ly spirit NOT Adams.

When Adam says sinned God’s Holy Spirit HAD TO LEAVE HIM AND RETURN TO GOD (which is the only place that this holiness came from and can be found). Thus, Adam had to leave the presence of God (Eden). 
 

Now, on the other side of Eden, Adam was no longer a “living SOUL,” but a “living being.”Consequently, ALL children being born outside of the garden will also be “living beings.” None of us have HIS spirit within us!

God’s plan of salvation is to design such a plan that would restore HIS spirit /HIS holiness / HIS righteousness back into us so we can be once again in His presence.

Death 

At our death, our body simply goes into the ground from whence it came. There is nothing left - no thought, no consciousness, absolutely nothing remains - truly deteriorates into nothing. There is NO soul, NO spirit, etc., that moves on or goes up or down. We only have consciousness when we are alive. And so nice the Holy Spirit was taken away from Adam (mankind) after he sinned, there is nothing that “exists” to move on. 
 

END OF THINGS

At the end, God will know those people, alive or dead, that have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior, and those who have rejected Him. 
For those who have accepted Him, He will once again breath His Spirit / His Holiness / His Righteousness back into man so he can be with Him in His presence forever. Those that have rejected His Messiah will not be given this “gift” and will be destroyed by His presence. 
 

Man can never achieve holiness, righteousness or obtain His Spirit on his own. It is found ONLY within God and He has it to GIVE. If He places (breathes) into us His spirit, it is still HIS SPIRIT NOT OURS. 

[Guest AFlameOfFire]

And you know, James says just as "the body" itself without "the spirit" is dead (meaning here, that you can bury that body 6 feet under the earth in this case ) there are also those who are dead ("spirit-ually") who still live, with the ability walk around with shovels and bury those who are (physically) dead. Jesus speaks of the same in Mat 8:21-22. Even as we find in Tim 5:6 But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.

Not sure of a living body always means alive in all the same ways.
 

[Charlie744]

1 hour ago, AFlameOfFire said:

And you know, James says just as "the body" itself without "the spirit" is dead (meaning here, that you can bury that body 6 feet under the earth in this case ) there are also those who are dead ("spirit-ually") who still live, with the ability walk around with shovels and bury those who are (physically) dead. Jesus speaks of the same in Mat 8:21-22. Even as we find in Tim 5:6 But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.

Not sure of a living body always means alive in all the same ways.
 

Thanks for your comment!

Regarding my comment that man does NOT have His spirit within him while on earth, I did not mean he has not accepted Jesus as his savior and lord. But he will not be given HIS spirit, HIS righteousness, HIS holiness until HIS second coming. 
 

By accepting Jesus while on earth, he has His spirit within him, already, but not yet. It will not be consummated until His return. 
 

God set up His kingdom at the cross, already, but not yet. Unless we accept Jesus as our Messiah and He sends His Holy Spirit into us, we will never receive His Spirit at His second coming. 
 

His Holy Spirit will change us, give us all the power we could ever need to walk in the way of the Lord. He will give us the power to obey His 10 commandments, and so much more (while on earth), but we will not be given HIS Holy Spirit until His return and be able to be with Him. 
 

I hope these is not too confusing… it is just like the 6 requirements God have to Jesus to fulfill (His God given mission while on earth) found in  Daniel 9:24-27, they were indeed ALL fulfilled- already, but not yet. 
 

Please let me know your thoughts since I may not be doing a great job of trying to get this concept/thought on paper. 

[Guest AFlameOfFire]

24 minutes ago, Charlie744 said:

Thanks for your comment!

Regarding my comment that man does NOT have His spirit within him while on earth, I did not mean he has not accepted Jesus as his savior and lord. But he will not be given HIS spirit, HIS righteousness, HIS holiness until HIS second coming. 
 

By accepting Jesus while on earth, he has His spirit within him, already, but not yet. It will not be consummated until His return. 
 

God set up His kingdom at the cross, already, but not yet. Unless we accept Jesus as our Messiah and He sends His Holy Spirit into us, we will never receive His Spirit at His second coming. 
 

His Holy Spirit will change us, give us all the power we could ever need to walk in the way of the Lord. He will give us the power to obey His 10 commandments, and so much more (while on earth), but we will not be given HIS Holy Spirit until His return and be able to be with Him. 
 

I hope these is not too confusing… it is just like the 6 requirements God have to Jesus to fulfill (His God given mission while on earth) found in  Daniel 9:24-27, they were indeed ALL fulfilled- already, but not yet. 
 

Please let me know your thoughts since I may not be doing a great job of trying to get this concept/thought on paper. 

No worries Charlie744 I was just posting to the thread itself not to anyone in particular

[Retrobyter]

Shalom, @MizKJVOnly, @Charlie744, @FJK and @Guest AFlameOfFire.

Let me start with this: I consider myself a textual purist. I believe that we should UNDERSTAND the words we use, especially if we are to share our thoughts with others. Therefore, I believe that we should understand the ORIGINAL languages well enough to be able to see the NUANCES of the words we use. Many of the words we have been taught to use "in church" (and "outside of church," as well) have AUGMENTED definitions. That is, to the definitions we have written down, we have ENHANCED those definitions with many "subpoints" of how they may change from one context to another.

I appreciate all these comments, and I can agree with most of them; however, let's first understand the words involved: soul, spirit, heaven, and a HOST of others.

Soul

The first occurrence of this word for a man is in the King James Version of the Bible in Genesis 2:7. This is NOT the first occurrence of the Hebrew word!

Here is the Hebrew of Genesis 2:7 in the Westminster Leningrad Codex:

וַיִּיצֶר֩ יְהוָ֨ה אֱלֹהִ֜ים אֶת־הָֽאָדָ֗ם עָפָר֙ מִן־הָ֣אֲדָמָ֔ה וַיִּפַּ֥ח בְּאַפָּ֖יו נִשְׁמַ֣ת חַיִּ֑ים וַֽיְהִ֥י הָֽאָדָ֖ם לְנֶ֥פֶשׁ חַיָּֽה׃

It is read from right to left, and it can be transliterated as ...

7 Vayyiytser YHWH 'Elohiym 'et-haa'aadaam `aafaar min-haa'adaamaah vayyipach b'apaayow nishmat chayyiym vayhiy haa'aadaam lnefesh chayyaah:

(And, I've given it the verse number assigned, and italicized the words to show that it's not in English. I've also colorized the words, showing that it is a quote with GREEN for narration. I use GREEN for narration, ROYAL PURPLE for the words of YHWH God, RED for the words of the Messiah, and BLUE for the words of anyone else.)

So, now comes the fun part: Translating this word-for-word into English:

7 And-He-formed [the]-LORD God [d.o.->]-the-red-[man] of-dust from-the-red-[ground] and-He-puffed into-his-nostrils a-puff of-living-[thing]s and-became the-red-[man] into-a-breathing-creature living:

EXPLANATION FOR PART OF THE TRANSLATION:

Words that are in square brackets are not truly in the text and have been added for clarity of meaning. Each step of translation is carefully taken: for instance, ...

The first word has the vav-connective, which is usually translated into English as the conjunction "and." The word means "formed," and it has the prefixes and suffixes necessary to make it the form for third-person, masculine, singular subject pronoun. (Verbs also have person, gender, and number in Hebrew.) Furthermore, I capitalized the pronoun since the word refers to "LORD God" as the subject.

The second word is the Tetragrammaton which represents the NAME of God, and I do NOT treat it lightly! It is substituted with a formal TITLE all in capital letters, "LORD," and since it is now a title, I add the definite article.

The third word is the Royal Plural of "'El" meaning "god," referring to the ONE AND ONLY GOD, thus made singular. 

The fourth word is not a word that translates directly into English. It is a pointer to the direct object of the sentence, which is the word following the hyphen.

The fifth word is the direct object and it literally means "red" with the article prefix added. Therefore, it is translated as "the-red." To this, we distinguish that this word is used for "man," and add the word "man" to it in square brackets.

The sixth word is the second word of a noun construct state (two nouns put together), which forces us to show the ownership of this word to the previous word with the addition of the word "of" before it.

The seventh word is the preposition meaning "from," and it is attached with a hyphen to its object, ...

The eighth word is the word meaning "red" again, and again it has the article prefix, making it "the-red," but this time with the feminine ending. This refers not to the "man" but to the "ground," a more nebulous, abstract meaning. Thus, "[ground]" in square brackets is added.

.....

See how this goes?

So, technically speaking, the KJV has already slightly changed the original text from "And the-LORD God formed the-red-[man] of-dust from-the-red-[ground]" to ...

Genesis 2:7 (KJV)

7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, ...

Both the omission of the word "red" and the change of "from" to "of" are minor changes, but they DO slightly change the intended meaning of the text. It really can't be helped. No two languages translate one-to-one with each other; that is, no single word in Hebrew can be guaranteed to translate to a single word in English, and vice versa. If the translator adds too many words to refine the meaning of each word, then a reader could get lost in the FAR MORE WORDINESS of the text! One runs the risk of "not seeing the forest for the trees."

BACK TO THE SUBJECT:

So, the word-for-word translation is ....

7 And-He-formed [the]-LORD God [d.o.->]-the-red-[man] of-dust from-the-red-[ground] and-He-puffed into-his-nostrils a-puff of-living-[thing]s and-became the-red-[man] into-a-breathing-creature living:

or rearranged for English ...

7 And [the] LORD God formed the red [man] of dust from the red [ground], and He puffed into his nostrils a puff of living [thing]s, and the red [man] became a living, breathing creature.

and the KJV says,

Genesis 2:7 (KJV)

7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Now, where did I get the words "a breathing creature?" From Strong's definition for the Hebrew word "nephesh":

5315 nephesh נֶפֶשׁ (neh'-fesh). From naphash; properly, a breathing creature, i.e. Animal of (abstractly) vitality; used very widely in a literal, accommodated or figurative sense (bodily or mental):
-- any, appetite, beast, body, breath, creature, X dead(-ly), desire, X (dis-)contented, X fish, ghost, + greedy, he, heart(-y), (hath, X jeopardy of) life (X in jeopardy), lust, man, me, mind, mortally, one, own, person, pleasure, (her-, him-, my-, thy-)self, them (your)-selves, + slay, soul, + tablet, they, thing, (X she) will, X would have it.

And, this noun is said to come from the Hebrew verb "naphash"; so, let's look at that, too:

5314 naphash נָפַשׁ (naw-fash'). A primitive root; to breathe; passively, to be breathed upon, i.e. (figuratively) refreshed (as if by a current of air):
-- (be) refresh selves (-ed).

Now, personally, I've changed to a transliteration scheme to use "f" instead of "ph" for the undotted fei ("פַ" with the patach vowel point below it), an "a" for the patach vowel point, and "aa" for the qamets vowel point and an "e" for the segol vowel point, and write "nefesh" and "naafash," respectively.

The point is, however, that the word translated in the KJV as "soul" is this word "nefesh" which means "a breathing creature" coming from the verb "naafash" meaning "to breathe!"

Let me show you what Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon has done with this one word "nephesh": See Bible Hub entry on 5315. Just scroll down the page and look at everything that was written about this ONE HEBREW WORD! No one word can truly mean all of that!

See, they use the UNION (∪) approach in set notation. I use the INTERSECTION (∩)  approach. That is, WHAT IS COMMON IN ALL THESE VERSES?!

And, I've already gone too long for a single post.

[Retrobyter]

Shalom, @MizKJVOnly, @Charlie744, @FJK and @Guest AFlameOfFire.

I'm going to add a couple thoughts in a fresh post, just to finish my thoughts:

See, what Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon has done is what I mean by an "AUGMENTED definition" of the word "soul." How can anyone POSSIBLY remember all that when one is using the word, "soul?"

So, in addition to the "AUGMENTED definition," we have a "SELECTIVELY-RESTRICTED, AUGMENTED definition!"

Now, we have a NEW word that can "fly off to Heaven," if we wish! We've SEPARATED the word "soul" from what nefesh means! How can one have "a breathing creature," leaving the thing that breathes, "fly off to Heaven?" See what human beings have done over the last 2,000 years?!

 

Next, a new subject: Heaven.

 

[Retrobyter]

Shalom, @MizKJVOnly, @Charlie744, @FJK and @Guest AFlameOfFire.

This is a LITTLE off-topic, but the matter does add to the topic.

Heaven:

What is it? Where is it?

There are a handful of words that were translated as "heaven," "heavens," and "heavenly" in the King James (Authorized) Version of the Bible:

In the Old Testament (the TANAKH), the word is simply "שָׁמָ֑יִם shaamaayim" or with the article prefix, "הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם hashaamayim." It is a DUAL word (neither "singular" nor multiple "plural"), that means "skies." It's dual because there's a daytime sky and a nighttime sky.

There's also a related word in Genesis 1, "רָקִ֖יעַ raaqiya` " which means "an expanse" and is translated as "firmament" in the KJV.

Here are the Strong's entries:

7549 raaqiya` רָקִיעַ (raw-kee'-ah). From raqa` ; properly, an expanse, i.e. The firmament or (apparently) visible arch of the sky:
-- firmament.

8064 shaamayim (shamayim) שָׁמַיִם (shaw-mah'-yim). Dual of an unused singular shameh {shaw-meh'}; from an unused root meaning to be lofty; the sky (as aloft; the dual perhaps alluding to the visible arch in which the clouds move, as well as to the higher ether where the celestial bodies revolve):
-- air, X astrologer, heaven(-s).

Here are the passages that use these words in Genesis 1:

Genesis 1:6-8 (KJV)

6 And God said,

"Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which [were] under the firmament from the waters which [were] above the firmament":

and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament "Heaven." And the evening and the morning were the second day.

Then, they are used again in verses 

Genesis 1:9 (KJV)

9 And God said,

"Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear":

and it was so. 

Genesis 1:14-23, 28, 30 (KJV)

14 And God said,

"Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: 15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth":

and it was so. 16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: [he made] the stars also. 17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that [it was] good. 19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

20 And God said,

"Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl [that] may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven."

21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that [it was] good. 22 And God blessed them, saying,

"Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth."

23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

...

28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them,

"Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."

...

30 "And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein [there is] life, [I have given] every green herb for meat":

and it was so.

So, everywhere you read "heaven," "heavens," "air," (or "astrologers" in Daniel 2:28), it's this word that means "skies."

When one puts two of them together into a noun construct state, the first noun takes a slightly different form, and one gets "שְׁמֵי הַשָּׁמָיִם" or "shmeey hashaamaayim." Both words are masculine plural, but the first word is the construct form. This is often translated as "heaven of heavens." One must remember that the simple "heaven" was God's name for the "firmament." Thus, this would be the "firmament of the firmament" or the "expanse of the expanse." The word "expanse" means to be "beaten thin." Most think of this as a sheet of metal "beaten thin," but I believe it means the AIR ITSELF is "beaten thin." So, this would be a reference to outer space, where not only is the air thin, but even the molecules of the air are thinned! Thus, I believe "heaven of heavens" refers to space.

So, in order, in the 1st "heaven" (and 1st earth), the world before the Flood or the antediluvian world, going upward we would find the sea, the land sticking out of the sea, the firmament or the expanse called "skies" the waters above the skies, and then the "heaven of heavens." 

After the Flood, the waters above the Flood collapsed upon the earth as the fountains of the deep were broken. Now, the order above is the same, less the "waters above the skies."

About these "heaven of heavens," Shlomoh ("Solomon") said,

1 Kings 8:27-29 (KJV)

27 "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded? 28 Yet have thou respect unto the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer, which thy servant prayeth before thee to day: 29 That thine eyes may be open toward this house night and day, [even] toward the place of which thou hast said, 'My name shall be there': that thou mayest hearken unto the prayer which thy servant shall make toward this place."

(I gave Shlomoh's words in red, because he was God's "Maashiyach," God's "Anointed One [to be King]," God's "Messiah," for his time.)

So, Shlomoh did not call "the heaven of heavens" nor the "heavens" "God's abode!" He said that He was BIGGER than either of them! Furthermore, the Temple was not truly the "house of God" in the sense that He lived there. Instead, it was the FOCAL POINT where men could come and THINK ON GOD, and PRAY TO HIM! That was its purpose. It was "God's house" only in that respect.

Human beings are NEVER said to go there to dwell with God!

That's the extent of the Hebrew in the "TANAKH" or the "Old Testament."

Next, the Greek of the New Testament:

[Retrobyter]

Shalom, @MizKJVOnly, @Charlie744, @FJK and @Guest AFlameOfFire.

"Heaven" in the New Testament:

According to Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, there are only five Greek words that were translated as "heaven," "heaven's," "heavens," or "heavenly." These five are ...

1) 3772 οὐρανός transliterated as ouranos, 
2) 3770 οὐράνιος transliterated as ouranios,
3) 3771 οὐρανόθεν transliterated as ouranothen,
4) 3321 μεσουράνημα transliterated as mesouraneema, and
5) 2032 ἐπουράνιος transliterated as epouranios.

Here are Strong's entries of them in the Greek Dictionary of the New Testaement:

3772 οὐρανός ouranós, oo-ran-os'; perhaps from the same as G3735 (through the idea of elevation); the sky; by extension, heaven (as the abode of God); by implication, happiness, power, eternity; specially, the Gospel (Christianity):
—air, heaven(-ly), sky. 

3770 οὐράνιος ouránios, oo-ran'-ee-os; from G3772; celestial, i.e. belonging to or coming from the sky:
—heavenly.

3771 οὐρανόθεν ouranóthen, oo-ran-oth'-en; from G3772 and the enclitic of source; from the sky:
—from heaven.

3321 μεσουράνημα mesouránēma, mes-oo-ran'-ay-mah; from a presumed compound of G3319 and G3772; mid-sky:—midst of heaven.

2032 ἐπουράνιος epouránios, ep-oo-ran'-ee-os; from G1909 and G3772; above the sky:
—celestial, (in) heaven(-ly), high.

(The words after the dashes are the English words used in the KJV to translate each word.)

Starting with Yeeshuwa`s own words, 

Matthew 16:1-4 (KJV)

1 The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven (Greek: ek tou ouranou = "from the sky"). 2  He answered and said unto them,

"When it is evening, ye say, '[It will be] fair weather': for the sky (Greek: ho ouranos = "the sky") is red. 3 And in the morning, '[It will be] foul weather to day': for the sky (Greek: ho ouranos = "the sky") is red and lowring. O [ye] hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky (Greek: tou ouranou = "of-the sky"); but can ye not [discern] the signs of the times? 4 A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas!"

And he left them, and departed.

He threw it back in their own faces. They were looking for "a sign from the skies," and He gave them "Red sky at night is a sailor's delight; red sky at morning, sailors take warning!"

If this is how the Messiah Yeeshuwa` (the Christ Jesus) used the word "ouranos," then why should we expect it to mean anything more?

The Greek words "ouranios" and "ouranothen" are an adjective and an adverb based upon this same word "ouranos." The other two are a bit more interesting: When I first began to study these, I thought "ouranos" would refer to the "1st heaven: of clouds"; the word "mesouraneema" would be the "2nd heaven: of stars; and the word "epouranios" would refer to the "3rd heaven: God's abode." But, when I looked these up, it wasn't at all what I expected.

The Greek word "mesouraneema" only occurs 3 times in the New Testament, and they are all found in Revelation: 

Revelation 8:13; 14:6; and 19:17. Looking them up, we get ...

Revelation 8:13 (KJV)

13 And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven (Greek: ἐν μεσουρανήματι = en mesouraneemati = "in mid-sky"), saying with a loud voice, 

"Woe, woe,woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!"

Revelation 14:6 (KJV)

6 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven (Greek: ἐν μεσουρανήματι = en mesouraneemati = "in mid-sky") , having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,

Revelation 19:17 (KJV)

17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven (Greek: ἐν μεσουρανήματι = en mesouraneemati = "in mid-sky"), 

"Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God";

Okay, so the first two are talking about "an angel"; so, there's nothing conclusive (directly) as to what "in mid-sky" might mean, but the THIRD verse is talking about the BIRDS flying "in mid-sky!" We KNOW that they fly in the atmosphere, low enough to be able to breathe and land when they get tired. So, this word is still talking about the "1st heaven: of clouds!"

Well, that leaves "epouranios," which means "above the sky":

One passage is most telling: Paul used the word in the Resurrection Chapter (1 Corinthians 15), in verses 39-41:

1 Corinthians 15:39-41, 47-49 (KJV)

[1Co 15:39-41, 47-49 KJV] 39 All flesh [is] not the same flesh: but [there is] one [kind of] flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, [and] another of birds. 40 [There are] also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial [is] one, and the [glory] of the terrestrial [is] another. 41 [There is] one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for [one] star differeth from [another] star in glory.

...

47 The first man [is] of the earth, earthy: the second man [is] the Lord from heaven. 48 As [is] the earthy, such [are] they also that are earthy: and as [is] the heavenly, such [are] they also that are heavenly. 49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

Here are these verses in the Greek:

ΠΡΟΣ ΚΟΡΙΝΘΙΟΥΣ Α΄ 15:39-41, 47-49 (Scrivener's Textus Receptus 1894)

39 οὐ πᾶσα σὰρξ ἡ αὐτὴ σάρξ· ἀλλὰ ἄλλη μὲν σὰρξ ἀνθρώπων, ἄλλη δὲ σὰρξ κτηνῶν, ἄλλη δὲ ἰχθύων, ἄλλη δὲ πτηνῶν. 40 καὶ σώματα ἐπουράνια, καὶ σώματα ἐπίγεια· ἀλλ’ ἑτέρα μὲν ἡ τῶν ἐπουρανίων δόξα, ἑτέρα δὲ ἡ τῶν ἐπιγείων. 41 ἄλλη δόξα ἡλίου, καὶ ἄλλη δόξα σελήνης, καὶ ἄλλη δόξα ἀστέρων· ἀστὴρ γὰρ ἀστέρος διαφέρει ἐν δόξῃ.

...

47 ὁ πρῶτος ἄνθρωπος ἐκ γῆς χοϊκός ὁ δεύτερος ἄνθρωπος ὁ Κύριος ἐξ οὐρανοῦ. 48 οἷος ὁ χοϊκός· τοιοῦτοι καὶ οἱ χοϊκοί, καὶ οἷος ὁ ἐπουράνιος, τοιοῦτοι καὶ οἱ ἐπουράνιοι· 49 καὶ καθὼς ἐφορέσαμεν τὴν εἰκόνα τοῦ χοϊκοῦ, φορέσομεν καὶ τὴν εἰκόνα τοῦ ἐπουρανίου.

The transliterated form of these verses is ...

PROS KORINTHIOUS A' 15:39-41, 47-49 (Scrivener's Textus Receptus 1894)

39 Ou pasa sarx hee autee sarx; alla allee men sarx anthroopoon, allee de sarx kteenoon, allee de ichthuoon, allee de pteenoon. 40 Kai soomata epourania, kai soomata epigeia; all' hetera men hee toon epouranioon doxa, hetera de hee toon epigeioon. 41 Allee doxa heeliou, kai allee doxa seleenees, kai allee doxa asteroon; asteer gar asteros diaferei en doxee.

...

47 Ho prootos anthroopos ek gees choikos ho deuteros anthroopos ho Kurios ex ouranou. 48 Hoios ho choikos; toioutoi kai hoi choikoi, kai hoios ho epouranios, toioutoi kai hoi epouranioi; 49 kai kathoos eforesamen teen eikon tou choikou, foresomenkai teen eikona tou epouraniou.

A word-for-word translation is ...

For Korinthians A' 15:39-41, 47-49 (Scrivener's TR)

39 Not all flesh the same flesh; but one truly flesh of-men, another but flesh of-beasts, another but of-fishes, another but of-birds. 40 Also bodies above-the-sky, and bodies above-the-earth; but different truly the of-above-the-sky brightness, different but that of-the above-the-earth. 41 One brightness of-sun, kand one brightness of-moon, and one brightness of-stars; a-star for a-star differs in brightness.

...

47 The first man out of-earth dust-like the second man the Lord out of-[the]-sky. 48 Like the-[one] dust-like; such also the-[ones] dust-like; and like the-[One] of-above-the-sky, such also the-[ones] of-above-the-sky; 49 and like we-have-carried the image of-the-[one] dust-like, we-shall-carry the image of-the-[One] of-above-the-sky.

The comparisons in this passage are key to the understanding of this passage. 

So, we are told that the sun, moon, and stars are "bodies above the sky," and the Lord who is He who comes "out of the sky" is currently "the One of above the sky," and we shall carry His image.

We are told in Hebrews: 12:22, that the New Jerusalem is currently "above the sky":

ΠΡΟΣ ΕΒΡΑΙΟΥΣ 12:22 (Scrivener's Textus Receptus 1894)

22 ἀλλὰ προσεληλύθατε Σιὼν ὄρει, καὶ πόλει Θεοῦ ζῶντος, Ἰερουσαλὴμ ἐπουρανίῳ, καὶ μυριάσιν ἀγγέλων.

PROS HEBRAIOUS 12:22 (Scrivener's Textus Receptus 1894)

22 Alla proseleelluthate Sioon orei, kai polei Theou zoontos, Ierousaleem epouranioo, kai muriosin aggeloon.

For Hebrews 12:22 (Scrivener's TR)

22 But ye-are-in-the-process-of-coming to-Tsiyown a-mountain, and a-city of-God living, Yerushalayim above-the-sky, and myriads of-messengers.

Hebrews 12:22 (KJV)

22 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,

So, the New Jerusalem is currently where the sun, moon, and stars are, "above the sky."