Question: “WHEN DID PAUL GO TO
THE 3^rd HEAVEN?”

Answer: ≈43AD … about one-two years before his 1^st trip in 45 AD.

The answer to this question can be roughly worked out … and centres around the two lots of fourteen years … the ‘fourteen years after’ (Galatians 2:1) and the ‘fourteen years ago’ (2Corinthians 12:2) … as follows …

“Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem …” (Galatians 2:1)

“I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago …”
(2 Corinthians 12:2)

It’s about 34AD, about one to two years after Christ’s cross, when Paul gets saved and almost immediately goes into the wilderness of Arabia for three years (Galatians 1:17-18).

It’s a ‘lay-down-misere’ (aka a certainty) that God takes him to Mt Sinai where Moses received the law (Exodus 19:20) … and lets him have a ‘look around’ … to see what Moses got up to … about 1480 years earlier … but more on that later.

Then after three years in Arabia, Paul goes to Jerusalem as follows …

“Then after three years (in the desert of Arabia) I (Paul) went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and ... James the Lord's brother.” (Galatians 1:18-19)

Paul probably says to them both … “Look Peter, you’re the head of the apostles, and you James, you’re the Lord’s brother, so you both know a lot about Jesus. Let me run a few things by you, about what was shown to me in the desert of Mt Sinai. Tell me if I’m on the right track or not?”

So this is Paul’s 1^st visit to Jerusalem about 37AD.

Now we fast forward to around 50AD, where Paul writes …

“Then FOURTEEN YEARS AFTER (after 37 AD) I went up AGAIN to Jerusalem with Barnabas …” (Galatians 2:1)

This is the meeting called the Jerusalem Council that took place in about 50AD … where Paul withstands Peter to the face for being a hypocrite (Galatians 2:11).

How the tables have turned! Peter teaches/assists Paul in 37AD but now the reverse happens, where Paul teaches Peter!

Note: Dear Reader, we can’t be exact with the times and dates, as when Paul writes the book of Second Corinthians, we asses this as about 56-57AD.

And the further question is “When does Paul write … 56AD? … 57AD … and in which month? … January? December?” … and so on.

So the fourteen years after … takes us from 37AD to 50AD.

And the fourteen years ago, takes us from 57AD when Paul writes Second Corinthians, to about 43 AD … which was about the time he was taken to heaven.

The following is a table that sets this out:

Now Dear Reader, here’s some interesting comparisons between Moses arriving at Mt

Sinai in Arabia and Paul going there … as part of his three years in Arabia.

1. Both Moses (Galatians 4:25) and Paul (Galatians 1:17-18) go to Mt Sinai in Arabia

2. Moses ascends the physical Mt Sinai to receive the bondage and the ‘curse’ of the law (Exodus 19:20; Galatians 3:10)

3. Paul also physically ascends Mt Sinai, for God to show him where Moses received the law and its curse … but at this time, God also takes him up and off Mt Sinai (around 43AD) … to take him into the also physical, and indeed spiritual, third heaven (paradise) (2 Corinthians 12:2) … to be shown how Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law (Galatians 3:13).

With being taken up into the third heaven, to be shown the abundance of the revelations (2 Corinthians 12:1, 7), God thereby prepares Paul for his 1^st … and of course … subsequent trips … with the fourth being to Rome.

Harley Hitchcock
September 2024

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