"HEAVEN AND EARTH" IN THE BIBLE

These two entities appear in conjunction a number of times in the Bible, so I have attempted to identify most of these passages and categorized them in case you wish to do your own Bible word study. One thing I should point out first is that the term “heaven” and its plural “heavens” have somewhat ambiguous meanings. At times they appear to be the part of the physical universe which is above the earth in the stratosphere, while in other passages it appears to refer to God's dwelling place. You may have to consider the context in each case to determine which is the most likely possibility.

God as Creator

By far the most occurrences of these two words in close proximity are when a person refers to God in the third person as creator of heaven and earth. Some passages use a variation on “created/made,” such as “founded,” “established,” or “formed.” In these cases, the combined term “heaven and earth” is called a merism, a technical term in which two extremes are used to designate everything in between as well. Other terminology referring to the total creation is more specific by adding phrases such as “and all their multitude,” “and the sea and all that is in them,” “and the human spirit,” “and all things visible or invisible,” or “including rulers and powers,” “and springs of water.”

In this category are the following OT and NT passages: 

    Genesis 1:1, 2:1; 2:4 (2x); 14:19,22; Exodus 20:11; 31:17; II Chronicles 2:12; Psalm 115:15; 121:2; 124:8; 134:3; 136:5-6; 146:5-6; Proverbs 3:19; Isaiah 45:18; Zechariah 12:1; Acts 14:15; 17:24; Colossians 1:15-16; Revelation 10:6; 14:7.

In Genesis 24:3 He is described simply as “the God of heaven and earth.”

Closely related to the above passages are those in which a personage addresses God in the first person by identifying him as the creator of heaven and earth. Those doing the praying include King Hezekiah (II Kings 19:15; Isaiah 37:16), Ezra (Nehemiah 9:6), Jeremiah (Jeremiah 32:17), Jesus (Matthew 11:25; Luke 10:21), and the apostles Peter and John (Acts 4:24).

Lastly we have the negative formulation of the same idea in Jeremiah 10:11 where there is reference to “gods who did not make the heavens and earth” and thus would “perish from the earth and under the heavens.” Further reference to these inferior beings appears along with the phrase “heaven and earth” in I Kings 8:23 and I Corinthians 8:5. Thus, we are strictly enjoined not to worship or make an image of anything created on heaven or earth. (Exodus 20:4; Deuteronomy 5:8)

God and His Creation

If the above were the only times God was mentioned in relation to His creation, we might be tempted to agree with the view of the Deists (which included many of America's Founding Fathers), namely, that God created the universe and then stepped back and let it go on its own without any further interaction with it. But in addition, we have the following clarifying Scriptures which make it clear that He is active throughout all of Creation's history:

    Deuteronomy 3:24 rhetorically asks God, “What god in heaven and earth can perform mighty acts like you?”

    Moses in Deuteronomy 4:39 reminds the Israelites that they heard God speak from heaven and saw His fire on earth.

    And because He founded heaven and earth, it belongs to Him (Psalm 89:11).

    God is not remote from His creation, but actually fills it, according to Jeremiah 23:24.

    In addition, heaven is pictured as God's throne with the earth His footstool (Isaiah 66:1, quoted in Acts 7:49).

    Jeremiah 33:25 avers that God not only created heaven and earth, but also established their ordinances.

    We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth. (Ezra 5:11)

    In agreement with Deuteronomy 3:24, Daniel 6:27 states that God works his signs in heaven and earth.

    Because God created heaven and earth, all of them belong to Him. (Psalm 102:19)

    God's perfect will is going to be done on earth as it already is in heaven. (Matthew 6:10)

    But Jesus tells us in Matthew 16:19 and 18:18 that whatever the church binds or looses on earth will be ratified by God in heaven.

    In Matthew 28:18, Jesus declares that all authority on heaven and earth has been given to him. Obviously, that infers that God the Father has that authority with which to invest him.

    Paul in Ephesians 3:15 makes the interesting statement that every family in heaven and earth takes its name from God.

    Because all creation belongs to God, we are not to swear by heaven or earth. (James 5:12)

Future Fate of the Creation

We are to place no reliance on the permanence of the present heaven and earth, as Jesus teaches in Matthew 6:19-20. The reason for that statement has its foundation in the teachings of the OT prophets and continues into the New Testament. The future historical progression will take place in several stages:

    First comes the trembling and shaking of the heaven and earth prophesied in Isaiah 13:13; Joel 3:16; and Haggai 2:6 (quoted in Hebrews 12:26), accompanied by “portents in heaven and earth” (quoted in Acts 2:19). There will be rejoicing in heaven but woe on earth due to the devil's wrath on it (Revelation 12:12).

    Next will come the time when the heaven and earth wear out and vanish (Isaiah 51:6), flee from God's presence (Revelation 20:11), and pass away (Matthew 5:18; Luke 16:17) since they are reserved for fire (II Peter 3:7).

    Finally, we have in Revelation 21:1 a vision of the time when the old heaven and earth have passed away, only to be replaced by the new heaven and earth. At this point all things in heaven and earth will be gather unto God (Ephesians 1:10), every knee in heaven and earth shall bow down at the name of Jesus (Philippians 2:10), and God will reconcile all things to him in heaven and earth (Colossians 1:20). The establishment of this new heaven and new heaven were predicted in Isaiah 65:17; 66:22 and confirmed in II Peter 3:13.

Anthromorphism

Then there is another set of figurative biblical references in which “heaven and earth” is treated as if it were a living being which can act as a witness (Deuteronomy 4:26;30:19; 31:28), praise God (Psalm 69:34), exult him in song (Isaiah 49:13), rejoice with shouting (Psalm 96:11; Jeremiah 51:48), and hear God's words (Isaiah 1:2).

Between Heaven and Earth

This phrase is a special Hebrew idiom, which according to T.F. Williams and other scholars means “in the air.” It is used to describe the location of Absalom hanging by his hair from a tree (II Samuel 18:9), the armed angel waiting to destroy Jerusalem due to David taking a census of the people (I Chronicles 21:16), Ezekiel as he was lifted by his hair to see Jerusalem in a vision (Ezekiel 8:3), and the basket containing the woman called Wickedness as it flew through the sky (Zechariah 5:9).

Relative Location

The obvious fact that the physical heaven is above the earth appears in a number of different contexts in the Bible. And to repeat, there remains some ambiguity as to whether the physical or spiritual heaven is being referred to in these references.

    Deuteronomy 11:21; Psalm 103:11; and Proverbs 25:3 make use of the physical reality to bring out their points by analogies.

    Movement downward from heaven to earth is expressed in Lamentations 2:1 and Revelation 9:1.

    God enjoys an elevated status in heaven above us, according to Psalm 102:19; Ecclesiastes 5:2; and Luke 2:14. However, He is in both heaven and earth at the same time (Joshua 2:11).

    And then, to add even more confusion to the picture, God is pictured as above both heaven and earth in passages such as Psalm 113:6 and 148:13.

Jesus' Preeminence

Jesus' superiority over all creatures in heaven and earth is shown in Revelation 5:3,13.

The Temple

Then there is one totally false interpretation propagated by full preterists in order to salvage their assertion that Christ has already come again and there will be no future destruction of the physical universe, last judgment, or new heaven and earth. They justify this heretical view by stating that “heaven and earth” was a common Jewish term meaning the Jerusalem Temple. Of course there is no biblical justification for that interpretation, and the one or two extrabiblical sources they cite as evidence can be discounted because they do not actually state that fact and/or come from a much later time period. For more on my own opinion of preterism, see the posts “II Peter 3: Dialogue with a Preterist” and “Critique of The Last Days? by Ron McRay: Preterism.”

Hosea 2:21-22

This obscure passage did not seem to fit into any neat category since I could not really understand what it is trying to say. Here is how the NRSV renders it: “On that day I will answer, says the LORD, I will answer the heavens and they shall answer the earth; and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil, and they shall answer Jezreel.” Here is how several commentators react to these words, which do seem to reflect some sort of progression of actions from the great God in heaven down to a lowly individual.

    “Human faithfulness (or lack thereof) to the LORD has implications for the natural world.” (Mobley)

    And a more complete explanation comes from Dearman, who says that these verses are linked by repetition of the verb answer/respond ('ana) as fruitful relations between Creator and land are described as right responses to each other...Agricultural production requires rain. Thus YHWH answers the heavens, prompting them in turn to respond to the earth...The land responds to what YHWH initiates through the heavens as the agricultural cycle of production gets underway...The last-named response is that of agricultural produce to Jezreel. Like most things dealing with Jezreel, the connection is less clear than we would like.” But one thing is quite clear: the whole cycle portrays the active interaction of God with His creation, unlike the belief of the Deists.