QUESTIONS ABOUT HEAVEN (3)

 

   7. Where is heaven?

 

  One sure answer to this question is that heaven is where God is, for Jesus taught us to pray, "Our Father, who art in heaven." But the Scriptures also assure us that even heaven cannot contain God. He who is omnipresent cannot be confined to any one place -- and heaven can be identified as a place. But still heaven can be viewed as God's "holy dwelling place" (Dt. 26:15), and as his throne -- "Heaven is my throne, the earth is my footstool" (Isa. 66:1).

 

  Our Lord also refers to heaven as "my Father's house" and in the same context calls it a place -- "I got to prepare a place for you" (Jn. 14:2). The place he prepares has many rooms -- plenty of rooms or mansions for us all. This and other Scriptures make it clear that Jesus is to return to claim the redeemed as his own, and take them to the place he has prepared for them in heaven. We are to think in terms of a real place in a particular location -- even though eternity transcends both space and time as we know them.

 

  All the images of heaven suggest an actual place in a given locale. The New Jerusalem is called "the great city" (Rev. 21:10), Heb. 11:16 refers to it as "a heavenly country," and Heb. 12:22 describes it as "Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem." It is reasonable to conclude that the New Jerusalem -- "the holy city" -- is as much a real city as the old Jerusalem.

 

  This "place" called heaven is not necessarily far away. Often in the Bible people on earth are allowed to see heaven opened, as if it were near at hand.  Jesus saw the heavens "parted" when he was baptized (Mk. 1:10), and, according  to Jn. 1:32, John the Baptist also witnessed it. Stephen, the first Christian martyr, "gazed into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God" (Acts 7:55). Now and again John, in exile on Patmos, is allowed to look into heaven and see wondrous things, as in Rev. 4:1: "I looked, and behold, a door standing  open in heaven." Our Lord again, drawing on the story of Jacob's ladder back in Gen. 28, refers to a stairway between heaven and earth (Jn. 1:51), which might suggest rather close proximity. Heaven could be close and still invisible to us. Heaven is a spiritual place --real and literal, but celest ial.

 

  The nearest the Bible gets to pinpointing its location is Paul's reference to "the third heaven" in 2 Cor. 12:2, which he aslo identifies as Paradise. Paul learned as a rabbi that this is where God dwells -- beyond the heavens that immediately surround planet earth, but still not necessarily aeons away.

 

  You may find it surprising when I conclude that the heaven that now is -- wherever it may be -- will one day make a dramatic move -- to planet earth! Yes, that is what I see Scripture teaching -- heaven will at last come down to earth for its eternal abode. A redeemed planet earth -- the "new earth" -- will be heaven. with innumerable planets in the vast universe serving as outposts where the redeemed will be at work, moving about with the speed of angels. The New Jerusalem, the holy city, will be the capital.

 

  John's vision in Rev. 21 is the basis of my thesis. He first sees new heavens and a new earth -- the first earth having passed away (v. 1). Then he sees the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God to planet earth (v. 2). There is then a proclamation from heaven that God now dwells among men on earth -- he is their God, they are his people (v. 3).

 

  Verse 4 describes the blessedness of those in the holy city on earth -- no more heartache or pain, no more sorrow or death. The vision ends in verse 5 with God declaring that he makes all things new. We may conclude from other Scriptures that this includes new bodies, new names, new tenantries, new work.

 

  That this earth -- once made new -- has an eternal destiny as the heavenly abode of the community of faith, is indicated by numerous passages. The promise of "new heavens and a new earth" is in both Testaments. Isaiah' vision of God creating a new earth (65:17) is repeated in 2 Peter. After referring to the old earth as being burned up -- a reference to its renewal -- he goes on to say, "Nevertheless, we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells."

 

  Peter tells us more than does Isaiah. While the prophet tells us there will be a new earth, the apostle tells us that it will be the dwelling place of the righteous. This conforms to John's vision of the holy city in Rev. 21:27 where he sees "those who are written in the Book of Life" as occupying the city. He also says that "they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it" (v. 26).

 

  This is what our Lord promised in one of the beattitudes: "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth" (Mt. 5:5). He may have been expanding on that promise when he afterward said, "Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel" (Mt. 19:28). The "regeneration" will be when all is made new, including a new earth.

 

    When the apostle Paul wrote of "the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to us" (Rom. 8:18), he was referring to "the earnest expectation of the creation" (v. 19), which of course includes planet earth. The earth -- along with all creation --  will be delivered from "the bondage of corruption" and transformed into "the glorious liberty of the children of God" (v. 21). A glorious new earth is for the free people of God! Paul is promising what Jesus promised: the meek shall inherit the earth.

 

  8. Who will be in heaven?

 

  I once did an essay on three surprises that we may encounter in heaven. One surprise might be all the people that will be there that we supposed would not be there. Another might be the absence of those we were sure would be there. The biggest surprise of all might be that we ourselves are there!  The last surprise would come from our incessant doubts of our own salvation during our earthly pilgrimage. God's grace is greater than our insecurities!

 

  While the Bible does answer the question as to who will be in heaven, we might best get our answer indirectly -- by identifying those who will not be in heaven. Since the Bible makes it clear who the lost are, we may rightly conclude that everyone else is saved and will be in heaven. Because of certain texts that clearly state that Christ died for everyone, we may conclude that everyone is saved and will be in heaven -- except those that the Bible declares to be lost.

 

  I place this proposition on the table for your consideration: the Bible teaches that the lost are those who knowingly and persistently to the end of life reject such light as God has given them. They are the disbelievers and the disobedient -- those that hear, understand, but reject and disobey. Not unbelievers.

 

 The Bible never condemns unbelievers -- those who never hear, and never understand for lack of opportunity. But such ones will be judged by such light as they have. God does not condemn the blind for not seeing -- except those who are willfully blind and refuse to see. There will be many unbelievers (in Christ) in heaven, but they will nonetheless be among those justified by "the law of faith" in that they have faithfully followed God by such knowledge as they had.

 

  Rahab is a good example of what I mean. Be prepared to greet Rahab in heaven. Even though a harlot and an unbeliever (in the God of the Hebrews), the writer of Hebrews enrolls her among the faithful -- because she responded to such light as the God of heaven gave her.

 

  If it is a list of the lost you want, the Scriptures provide that too. Rev. 22:27 names those who will not be in heaven: "There shall by no means enter into it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination, or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life." In Rev. 22:15 the ones who are "outside" heaven are further identified as "dogs (the abominable), sorcerers,  sexually immoral, murderers, idolators, and whoever loves and practices a lie."

 

  It is understood that these are those who persisted in such sins to the end, always unrepentant. By God's grace there will be those who committed all these sins in heaven, but who turned from them.

 

  There are other lists of the lost. Jude has his list that includes "all the ungodly who commit ungodly deeds" (Jude 15). Paul has his list: the unrighteous, fornicators, idolators, adulterers, homosexuals, sodomites, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, extortioners (1 Cor.6:9-11). Jesus has his: evil thoughts, adultery, fornication, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness (Mk. 7:21-22).

 

  Again, we are to understand that Christ died for such sinners. He saved them all on the Cross. It is those who reject such grace -- and who persist unrepentant of such sins as those listed -- who will be lost.

 

  All others are saved and in heaven -- or will be when they die.