Scripture refers to heaven as God's habitation but also uses the term as an alternative for God himself.
Heaven as God's habitation
It is the place where he dwells
Deuteronomy 26:15 See also Genesis 28:17; 2 Chronicles 6:21; Ecclesiastes 5:2; Revelation 13:6
Look down from Your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the land You have given us as You swore to our fathers— a land flowing with milk and honey.”
It is insufficient as God's dwelling-place
1 Kings 8:27 parallel 2 Chronicles 6:18 See also Psalm 113:5–6
But will God indeed dwell upon the earth? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain You, much less this temple I have built.
Heaven as the place of God's throne
Psalm 11:4 See also Exodus 24:9–11; 1 Kings 22:19; Isaiah 6:1, Isaiah 63:15; Daniel 7:9; Matthew 5:34, Matthew 23:22; Acts 7:49; Isaiah 66:1; Hebrews 8:1; Revelation 4:1–6, Revelation 20:11
The LORD is in His holy temple; the LORD is on His heavenly throne. His eyes are watching closely; they examine the sons of men.
Heaven as God's vantage point
Psalm 33:13 See also Psalm 53:2, Psalm 102:19–20; Ecclesiastes 5:2
The LORD looks down from heaven; He sees all the sons of men.
Heaven as an alternative term for God
Luke 15:18 See also Matthew 8:11, Matthew 13:11 Matthew is writing especially for Jews who, out of reverence, tried to avoid using the word “God”. Mark 4:11 and Luke 8:10 prefer “kingdom of God”; Matthew 16:19, Matthew 18:18, Matthew 21:25 parallels Mark 11:30, Luke 20:4; John 3:27, John 17:1
I will get up and go back to my father and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.
Heaven and the sovereignty of God
Heaven is the place of God's rule
Daniel 4:26 See also Psalm 45:6, Psalm 103:19; Acts 17:24
As for the command to leave the stump of the tree with its roots, your kingdom will be restored to you as soon as you acknowledge that Heaven rules.
God's voice from heaven speaks with divine authority
Deuteronomy 4:36 See also Daniel 4:31; John 12:28; 1 Thessalonians 4:16; 2 Peter 1:17–18
He let you hear His voice from heaven to discipline you, and on earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words out of the fire.
Heaven glimpsed by human eyes
At the baptism of Jesus Christ
Mark 1:10 parallels Matthew 3:16, Luke 3:21–22 See also John 1:32
As soon as Jesus came up out of the water, He saw the heavens breaking open and the Spirit descending on Him like a dove.
In visions
Acts 7:56 See also 2 Corinthians 12:2–4; Revelation 4:1
“Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
Prayer addressed to God in heaven
1 Kings 8:30 See also Deuteronomy 26:15; 2 Chronicles 30:27; Nehemiah 1:4; Psalm 20:6; Revelation 5:8
Hear the plea of Your servant and of Your people Israel when they pray toward this place. May You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place. May You hear and forgive.
The association of oaths with heaven
Matthew 23:22 See also Genesis 24:3; Daniel 12:7; Matthew 5:34; James 5:12
And he who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the One who sits on it.
The place of Jesus Christ in heaven
His pre-existence in heaven
For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but to do the will of Him who sent Me.
His ascension into heaven after his resurrection
Luke 24:51 parallel Mark 16:19 See also Ephesians 1:20
While He was blessing them, He left them and was carried up into heaven.
His place is now with God the Father
Hebrews 9:24 See also Colossians 3:1
For Christ did not enter a man-made copy of the true sanctuary, but He entered heaven itself, now to appear on our behalf in the presence of God.
His second coming will be from heaven
1 Thessalonians 4:16 See also Matthew 25:31; Acts 1:11; 1 Thessalonians 1:10
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will be the first to rise.
The new heaven
The new heaven completely replaces the old
Revelation 21:1 See also Isaiah 65:17, Isaiah 66:22; 2 Peter 3:13
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
The new Jerusalem is divinely created in heaven
Revelation 21:2 See also Isaiah 2:2–5; Hebrews 11:16, Hebrews 13:14; Revelation 3:12, Revelation 21:10
I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Fulness of life in heaven is wholly sustained by God
Revelation 21:22–23, Revelation 22:1–2 See also Isaiah 55:1; Ezekiel 47:8–9, Ezekiel 47:12; John 7:38–39; Revelation 2:7
But I saw no temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, because the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its lamp.
Then the angel showed me a river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the main street of the city. On either side of the river stood a tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit and yielding a fresh crop for each month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
Related themes
Dictionary of Bible Themes © 1999 Martin Manser, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, via Bible Aquifer. Formatted for this site, with Scripture from the Berean Standard Bible.