Heaven in scripture, is taken sometimes metaphorically, and sometimes properly. First, Metaphorically it is taken for the church and people of God, as in Revelation 12:12. Second, Properly, it is taken for the material heaven, where the sun, moon, and stars are placed, as in Genesis 1:8, 14, 15, 16 compared together: above which heaven, Jesus the Son of Mary is ascended. Therefore I pray you consider with me a little.
Consider 1. That when he went into this heaven into which he is gone, he went AWAY from his disciples, as it is written, If I go not away, the comforter will not come (John 14:2,3; John 16:7; Acts 1:9-11). So that he did not go into a heaven within them in his person and human nature. If so, he must needs go into that heaven without, above the clouds and the stars (Gen 1:8,5,16).
Consider 2. He was caught away in a cloud; yea, and was caught upwards from them, as it is Acts 1:9-11 and carried away into heaven; yea, and his disciples stood gazing or looking up after him into heaven, which heaven must needs be that above the clouds. (1.) If you consider the posture of the disciples, they looked upwards after the cloud that did take him away. (2.) Consider the manner of his going, it was in a cloud. (3.) He was received out of their sight. (4.) And so received up into heaven; which heaven must needs be above the clouds, where God is in his special presence (Job 22:12-14). But further,
Consider 3. That those believers that are alive at this day in the body, 'are absent from the Lord' (2 Cor 5:6), but now, if the man Christ were ascended into that heaven within them, he would neither be 'absent from them,' nor they from him; but in that he is absent from them touching his bodily presence, and they from him touching the same, it is evident that that heaven into which he is ascended, must needs be without, above the clouds.
Consider 4. That that heaven into which the man Christ is ascended, must contain him till the time of the restitution of all things, as in Acts 3:21 into which heaven he hath been ascended above sixteen hundred years by computation. And I am sure there is not a saint that doth live in the world half so long, before he fall asleep, and be gathered to his fathers; so that that heaven into which he is ascended, is not within, but must needs be that above the clouds. But
Consider 5. That he that ascended from his disciples, was a man, with flesh and bones, not a sprit only; for handle me, and see, (saith he) for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have (Luke 24:39,50,51). Now let the adversaries show by the scriptures, that there is any place in them called heaven, that is able to contain a man of some four or five feet long, the space of fifteen or sixteen hundred years; besides that: therefore, it must needs be that heaven without, which is above the clouds and stars.
Consider 6. That heaven into which the Lord Jesus that man is ascended must not contain him always; for, saith the Apostle (1 Thess 4:16) 'The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel.' So that there is another descending from that heaven into which he is ascended; and his descending from that heaven is to this end, namely, to take his people to himself, as it is verse 17 so that it is clear that it is not any heaven within thee, into which the man Christ that was born of the Virgin Mary is ascended, but it must needs be that heaven without, which is above the clouds (Heb 12:22). If thou consider, that the place into which he ascended, even the heaven into which he is entered, is the same place where all the deceased saints are in their spirits: 'Therefore,' saith Paul, 'I desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better.' Now Paul did not in this place (Phil 1:23) mean the enjoying of Christ only in the Spirit; for that he enjoyed in great measure when he spake these words; but he spake of a dying, and being with Christ after this life is ended; as is clear if you compare the 20th to the 26th verses together, being absent from him while he was here in the body (2 Cor 5:6). For 'whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord.'
Consider 7. That that heaven into which the man Christ is ascended, is not into his church on earth; but into heaven without, above the clouds and the stars (John 16:7, 14:1-3; 1 Tim 2:5). And this David doth prophesy of (Psa 47:5), where he saith, 'God is gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet.' Now Christ, as God merely, could not go up, being no less in one place than another; but as God-man, or in his human nature, he went up; as will clearly appear (Eph 4:8-10) where he speaketh of his triumph over all the enemies of his people at his resurrection and ascension into heaven above the clouds.
Consider 8. When Christ doth descend from that heaven into which he is now ascended, his saints and he will meet one another, just in the air, according to the scripture (1 Thess 4:16,17), 'For,' (saith he) 'the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: [that is, they shall come out of their graves]. Then we which [shall be saved] are alive [at that day] and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.'
Pray mark here a little, and see what heaven the man Christ is ascended into, and see if it be not the heaven without, above the sun, moon, and stars.