Caught up to the third heaven

Wesley Wright

Lighthouse Bible Church

Sunday, September 20, 2026

 

2 Corinthians 11:28 -

2 Corinthians 12:2

 

Title: Caught up to the third heaven

 

Paul refers to his weakness and stakes his claim on the God and Father of our Lord Jesus

(2CO 11:28-31). Doing so magnified God’s power working within him.

 

Paul acutely understood where the emphasis should be, and that’s on the God that he (and we) serve: 2CO 4:5-12

 

Remember that God’s weakness, so to speak, is stronger than any human strength: 1CO 1:21-31

 

Paul mentioned an ordeal

(2CO 11:32-33) that exemplified his weakness, having barely escaped the hands wicked Jews who sought to do him harm: Acts 9:19-25

 

 

Paul mentions boasting again (2CO 12:1) and being caught up to the third heaven (2CO 12:2). Paul doesn’t specify what he heard, but evidently whatever it was strengthened him.

 

Jewish parlance recognized three separate places that they called heavens generally. First is the sky where animals are here in the earthly realm, then secondly what we call outer space, then the third is where God dwells.

 

The first is where birds, rain, snow and wind take place on the Earth.

DEU 11:8-12,

PSA 104:10-13, ISA 55:10-11

 

The second is the sun, moon and other round planets are: GEN 1:14-17, PSA 8:1-5, ISA 13:9-10

 

The third is where our God dwells: 1KI 8:30-36,

PSA 33:13-15, ISA 66:1-2

 

*1 Kings passage mentions the first (1KI 8:35) and the third (1KI 8:30)

 

Where our God even right now is quite different than the other “heavens” if you will:

1Tim 6:13-17

 

God the Father exalted His Son above the heavens: HEB 7:26-28

 

Being weak isn’t always a good thing, but in our case, that weakness that we have should remind us about God’s power. All that we have, and that we do, and all that we are is because of Him.

 

Resist the urge to boast and instead give our God the glory for what He’s doing in our lives. Paul desired to do that, and we should too.

 

The heavens is broader conceptually than you might think, but make no mistake — our citizenship is in Heaven where the Lord dwells, not with stars or planets or planes. He sits on His throne high in heaven above all.

 

You may wonder how can we know the man Paul mentioned is himself. Next week, we’ll discuss how we know that, and why he referred to himself the way he did early in chapter 12.