In 1832 a vision of the Kingdom of God burst upon the earth through the prophet Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon. In it, we learn that heaven has three grand divisions that follow along certain lines:
The Telestial, or first heaven, is the lowest level of heaven and will be made up of nearly all of God's children who have lived: "we saw the glory and the inhabitants of the telestial world, that they were as innumerable as the stars in the firmament of heaven, or as the sand upon the seashore" (D&C 76:109).
The Terrestrial, or second heaven, is an intermediary level of heaven and will be made up of people who were virtuous in goodness but not valiant in Christ: "wherefore, they obtain not the crown over the kingdom of our God" (Ibid., v. 79).
The Celestial, or third heaven (see 2 Cor. 12:2), is the highest level of heaven and will be made up of those who were valiant in Christ and thus become "joint heirs" with Christ (Rom. 8:17). These go on to the same station and blessing as Christ, who "thought it not robbery to be made equal with God" (Philip. 2:6): "They are they into whose hands the Father has given all things—they are they who are priests and kings, who have received of his fulness, and of his glory" (Ibid., vv. 55 – 56).
All three levels comprise the Kingdom of God, or, in other words, the principality where God is king. The highest portion of the Kingdom of God, the Celestial level, is also known as the Kingdom of Heaven, or in other words, the portion of heaven where kingship is administered.
Entrance to the Kingdom of God—be it any of the three levels—is conditioned upon an action that will be undertaken by all people who seek to enter therein: "These all shall bow the knee, and every tongue shall confess to him who sits upon the throne forever and ever" (Ibid., v. 110; see also Rom. 14:11). In other words, all citizens of the kingdom will have to acknowledge Christ as their sovereign king.
Entrance to the Kingdom of Heaven, however, is conditioned upon a priesthood ordinance that will induct people into the order of priest-kings and priestess-queens, also known as the Church of the Firstborn: "They are they who received the testimony of Jesus, and believed on his name and were baptized after the manner of his burial, being buried in the water in his name, and this according to the commandment which he has given—that by keeping the commandments they might be washed and cleansed from all their sins, and receive the Holy Spirit by the laying on of the hands" (Ibid., vv. 51 – 52).
Those who undertake to enter into ordinances without valid priesthood authority, or variations on the true ordinances, will not even be considered virtuous in goodness, unlike those of the Terrestrial level, and descend to the Telestial level:
"As one star differs from another star in glory, even so differs one from another in glory in the telestial world; for these are they who are of Paul, and of Apollos, and of Cephas. These are they who say they are some of one and some of another—some of Christ and some of John, and some of Moses, and some of Elias, and some of Esaias, and some of Isaiah, and some of Enoch; but received not the gospel, neither the testimony of Jesus, neither the prophets, neither the everlasting covenant. Last of all, these all are they who will not be gathered with the saints, to be caught up unto the church of the Firstborn" (Ibid., vv. 98 – 102).
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