looks from heaven, verse 13, “from His dwelling place He looks out.” So, there is a place where God
dwells, and that place is called “heaven.” It’s the heaven of heavens, the third heaven.
In Psalm 102, just another reference. We could give you many, but here it says in verse 19, “He
looked down from His holy height, from heaven the Lord gazed upon the earth.” In the New
Testament, just so that you’ll have a New Testament reference, in Revelation 3:12, “He who
overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, he will not go out from it anymore; I will
write upon him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which
comes down from out of heaven from My God.” And again the New Testament identifying God with
heaven. God lives in heaven.
Now, let me give you a little bit of a quick trip through Matthew, just to kind of solidify this thought in
your mind. All right? Open your Bible to Matthew 5:16 and let me see if I can’t nail this thought
down and show you how important a thought it is in the New Testament. Now, follow, Matthew 5:16;
get your Bible ready and see if you can’t pick up the obvious trend. “Let your light so shine before
men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who’s” - Where? -
“who is in heaven.” Verse 34, “But I say to you, make no oath at all either by heaven for it is the
throne of God.” Verse 45, “In order that he may be, that you may be sons of your Father who is in
heaven.” Chapter 6, verse 1, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by
them, otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.” Verse 9, “Pray then in this
way, ‘Our Father who art in heaven.’” Chapter 7, verse 11, “If you then being evil know how to give
good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give what is good to
those who ask Him?” Verse 21, “Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter into the
kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.”
Jesus keeps repeating this. Chapter 10, verse 32, “Everyone who confesses Me before men, I will
also confess Him before My Father who is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny Me before men, I
will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.” Chapter 12, verse 50, “For whoever shall do
the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother, and sister, and mother.” And over in
chapter 16, and even in verse 17 there: “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona” - son of Jonah – “because
flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.” Chapter 18, verse 10,
“See that you do not despise one of these little ones” - a believer – “for I say to you that their angels
in heaven continually behold the face of My Father who is in heaven.” Verse 14, “Thus it is not the
will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish.” Verse 19, “Again I say to
you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they may ask, it will be done for them by My Father
who is in heaven.” Verse 35, “So, shall My heavenly Father also do to you.”
Now, you get the feeling that Jesus wants us to understand that God’s in heaven, don’t you? Over
and over and over He repeats it. In the sixth chapter of John, in identifying God and heaven, Jesus
says in verse 33, “For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven.” Obviously, the
one who came from heaven was the Lord Jesus Christ, again indicating that that was the place
where God dwelled. Verse 38, “I have come down from heaven.” Verse 41, “I am the bread that
came down from heaven.” Verse 42, “I have come down from heaven.” Verse 50, “This is the bread
that comes down out of heaven.” Verse 51, “I am the living bread that came down out of heaven.”
Verse 58, “This is the bread which came down out of heaven.”
Now, what I want you to understand is that heaven is a place, and God lives there, and Christ came
from there. It is not a figment of imagination, it is not a feeling, it is not an emotion. It is a place. It is