Debbie and Mark listened  carefully.
Today Dad was  reading from God's word about the heavens.
"There are three heavens mentioned in  the Bible" he said.
"But I thought there was only one" Mark said.
He was puzzled.
"The one we usually think about," Dad answered,
"is the third heaven where God dwells.
But there are also the second heaven and the first heaven as well."

It was an exciting study that morning.
Debbie and Mark realized that the Bible,
is a book which shows people all about the mysteries of  God Himself.

The book of Genesis says in 1:1

We find out more about the heavens in other parts of the Bible.
We will look at three parts of God's Word.
The third heaven is the most important.
In the Book of Revelation a door was opened in the third heaven, and John went there!
He saw the throne of God, and he saw God sitting on the throne.
There is a sea as smooth as glass, or crystal, before God's throne.
And very mysterious and grand beasts are there.
They are special creatures called "zoon." They are Cherubim.
All about the Throne of God is an beautiful emerald green rainbow. (Revelation 4).

The second heaven is where the sun, the moon, the stars and all the planets are.
We can see that heaven much better in our day than man has ever seen it.
We have powerful telescopes today.
The second heaven goes on into vast distances.
We call that heaven the universe, the cosmos. In Psalm 19:1 it says,

The first heaven is close to our earth.
It is the atmosphere we live in.
The  air, the clouds that give rain, and the place where the winds are -
that is the heavens of our atmosphere.
The birds fly there (Matthew 6:26).

God is mighty and holds ALL the power of the heavens and the earth.
Yet He knows even if one little  sparrow dies!
He knows  about and cares about everything.
He knows about all your doings and worries.
This almighty God is your heavenly Father too...

The earth was made on the very first day (Genesis  1:1,2).
It was top priority. God had a most important plan for the planet earth.
On the sixth day God had planned to make a creature which was to be in His own image! MAN! He didn't put mankind on  Venus or Pluto, but on earth.
And the earth was to see the most glorious event, ever!
The very Son of God would come to earth in human flesh, as a baby.
He wasn't to come to the moon, but to earth.

One  day, maybe soon, the Son of God, Jesus Christ, will come again to the earth.
He will touch down on the Mount of Olives in the Holy Land, and He will then establish  his kingdom which will last a  thousand years.
It will be the Millennium Kingdom of Christ Jesus - on our glorious planet itself, EARTH.

Maybe God  made the earth first also because He didn't want us to think the sun was a "god." Many ancient civilizations worshipped the sun as a "god."
Primitive people still do in our day.
God shows us in Genesis that light and life were there before the sun was! God says,