2Co 12:2 I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth such an one caught up to the
third heaven.
2Co 12:3 And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth
2Co 12:4 How that he was
caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.
so Paradise is not future . . .
That's right, in the sense that paradise is not
only in the future, just as the third heaven is not only in the future. That is, there are presently, and will be in the future, three literal heavens (2 Corinthians 12:2b). The first heaven is the sky, the atmosphere in which the birds fly (Genesis 1:20b). The second heaven is outer space where the sun, moon and stars reside (Deuteronomy 4:19). Where God resides is the third heaven (2 Corinthians 12:2b, Revelation 4:1-2) and so it is beyond outer space in the sense of it being in a higher (a fourth) spatial dimension. And it is a physical place, for Jesus Christ ascended there in His physical resurrection body (Acts 1:9-11, Luke 24:39) and the apostle Paul said that he could have visited there in his mortal physical body (2 Corinthians 12:2). Also, Elijah and Enoch were taken up there in their mortal physical bodies (2 Kings 2:11, Genesis 5:24, Hebrews 11:5) and God's future, Two Witnesses will be taken up there in their mortal physical bodies (Revelation 11:11-12).
In the third heaven there is currently a literal city, 1,500 miles cubed (Revelation 21:16), called New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:2), the heavenly Jerusalem (Hebrews 12:22), the Jerusalem which is above (Galatians 4:26), and God the Father's house (John 14:2, Revelation 21:2-3). In the future, God will create a New Earth (a new surface for the earth) and a New Heaven (a new first heaven/atmosphere for the earth) (Revelation 21:1). And then God will come down in New Jerusalem from the third heaven to live with Christians on the New Earth (Revelation 21:2-3, Revelation 3:12b). It is New Jerusalem which has the literal pearly gates and streets of gold (Revelation 21:21) which Christians ascribe to heaven. So what Christians think of as heaven, in the sense of living in bliss with God, will eventually be on the New Earth.
Currently, the third heaven is where paradise is (2 Corinthians 12:2,4), and paradise is where obedient Christians go when they die (Luke 23:43,46). So obedient Christians go to the third heaven when they die. Also, paradise is where the literal tree of life is (Revelation 2:7), and the tree of life is in New Jerusalem (Revelation 22:2). So when obedient Christians go to paradise, they go to New Jerusalem.
The earth's third heaven could be high above the north pole. Compare the connection between heaven and the north in Isaiah 14:13, KJV. Regarding what we today call "the northern lights", even though they can be explained by physics, they could still point to the location of the glory of the earth's third heaven. And Psalm 48:2's reference to the north could refer to the location of New Jerusalem in heaven.