Heaven

Heaven. The Hebrew word (Shamiam) translated in the Bible "heaven" or "heavens," had in the first instance a physical meaning, but it was also used to denote the abode of God, the region of ineffable light and glory, from which He views and controls the universe. The Christian revelation imparted a fuller conception of the nature of Heaven. In the New Testament it is used in a twofold sense: it is (1) the place whither Christ has ascended, and where He makes intercession for mankind, where saints and angels adore the Almighty, and where the redeemed will at last enter into the joy of the Divine Presence; (2) the condition of those who have been justified and raised to a state of grace by the blood of Christ, and who even in this life are made partakers of the joys of Heaven, through their consciousness of union with Him. The belief in a region where the gods dwell, apart from human care and pain, forms an essential part of most Pagan religions.