Just how many heavens are there?

According to theologians the Bible actually refers to multiple “heavens.”

The 1st heaven is Earth's atmosphere. 

The 1st heaven is where we live and breathe and birds and airplanes fly. 

The 2nd heaven is what we usually call outer space. 

This is where the planets, stars, and millions of galaxies are present in this vast universe.

The 3rd Heaven points to the place where God dwells. 

The presence of God is the most prominent feature. 

All Christians go immediately to this Heaven at the time of death. This is what is meant by the fact that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

2 Corinthians 5:6-8— 

Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. For we live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

Also, Paul writes about being caught up into this 3rd heaven.

2 Corinthians 12:3-4— 

And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows, was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell.

The 4th Heaven refers to a future Heaven that God is preparing for us even now. 

This is to be the place of our forever home. It is a geographical location that includes the New Heaven and the New Earth and the New Jerusalem. 

Revelation 21-22 speaks of this 4th Heaven. 

Revelation 21:1-2, 21:22-23— 

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.

I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 

I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.