How many heavens are there?
That may seem a strange question until you consult the Bible. Genesis says that the Lord made “the heavens,” and St. Paul describes a man “being caught up to the third heaven.” On the other hand, Jesus spoke of “my Father in heaven,” defined himself as “the living bread that came down from heaven,” and taught us to pray, “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” So, is “heaven” singular or plural?
This question matters. Today, many Christians are convinced that there are three heavens, and that understanding our place in these three realms can change our lives. Most people who believe this are Protestants connected with the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), but even some Catholics have now adopted this teaching, even though it is not part of authentic Catholic tradition.
Those who teach about three heavens first discuss the “invisible realm.” God made two realms, they say, the natural world we perceive with our senses, and the greater realm, which is unseen. The believer has been given authority in the invisible realm to establish and “advance” the kingdom of Christ. This teaching leads to a presentation of three heavens.
The first heaven is the visible world we live in. The second heaven is the invisible angelic realm, where good and evil spirits interact and Satan is in power. The third heaven, also called the “heavenly places,” is where Christ is now seated (see Ephesians 1:18-23) and Satan has no power. Because St. Paul wrote, “God … made us sit with (Christ) in the heavenly places,” NAR teachers say that believers are already sitting with Christ in the third heaven, so that they have authority over the spirits in the second heaven.
All over the internet you can find teachings about “third heaven authority” and “third heaven solutions.” Kris Vallotton of Bethel Church in Redding, California writes, “We are not going to solve a first heaven problem that was caused by second heaven devils, without taking our third heaven seat.”
NAR teachers also say that believers, since they are seated in the third heaven, can command the good angels. Students at the Encounter School of Ministry are taught that an angel is assigned to every believer to engage in “spiritual warfare” on their behalf. They also learn that angels “bring revelation from the third heaven to us.” Patrick Reis, in his book Supernatural Saints, writes, “The key to understanding our relationship with our angels is knowing that they are assigned to us by God and that we are able to send them.”
How should Catholics respond to these ideas?
If we consult our Catholic tradition, we find something quite different from the NAR teaching about “three heavens.” Even in this life, believers have begun to reign with Christ, but do not yet perfectly and definitively possess the kingdom. We should not think of heaven as a status we enjoy, or a realm of power on which we can draw to conduct spiritual battles.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church says, “By his death and Resurrection, Jesus Christ has ‘opened’ heaven to us.” This does not mean that we fully possess the life of heaven already, as the saints in heavenly glory do: “The life of the blessed consists in the full and perfect possession of the fruits of the redemption accomplished by Christ. He makes partners in his heavenly glorification those who have believed in him and remained faithful to his will. Heaven is the blessed community of all who are perfectly incorporated into Christ.”
How should we understand Ephesians 2:6 saying that Christians are already seated in the heavenly places? This passage speaks of baptism, which brought us to life when we were dead through sin, raising us up along with Christ, who is risen from the dead and enthroned in heaven. Thus, even while we are still in this world, we are free from death and the fear of evil spirits but are waiting for something even greater; in the age to come we will receive the “limitless riches” of God’s grace (see Eph 2:7).
In a homily for the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, Pope Benedict XVI explained Paul’s teaching about being seated in the heavenly places:
“ … the Assumption reminds us that Mary’s life, like that of every Christian, is a journey of following … Jesus, a journey that has a very precise destination, a future already marked out: the definitive victory over sin and death and full communion with God, because as Paul says … the Father ‘raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus’ (Eph 2: 6). … In us, union with Christ’s resurrection is incomplete, but for the Virgin Mary it is complete … She has entered into the fullness of union with God.”
Finally, we do not have “third heaven” authority to send or command angels. The Catechism of the Catholic Church emphasizes, “With their whole beings the angels are servants and messengers of God. Because they ‘always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven,’ they are the ‘mighty ones who do his word, hearkening to the voice of his word … ’ Christ is the center of the angelic world. They are his angels.”
Each believer has a guardian angel, who is not their own servant but a servant of God. Your guardian angel was not assigned to you to execute your commands in the “second heaven” but to be your protector and shepherd to lead you to eternal life.