#387 — Where is Heaven?
“Is heaven ‘out there’ somewhere now or will is it somewhere now in place and time?…Will this earth be destroyed or remade/redeemed at the end of time?…What does it mean to be faithful?…Why has Christ not come back in 2000 years? Didn’t the apostles think he was coming back a lot sooner?”
I’ve looked at a couple of these before but it is clear from my in-box that we need to revisit a variety of subjects that have coalesced into something I think we can deal with in one answer.
I can remember swinging on a backyard swingset when I was a little boy. It is one of my first memories. The swingset had not been set into concrete and so as soon as you got going, one leg or another of the set would rise up a bit as if it were going to come out of the ground. Being a boy, I tried to swing harder to see if I could make it flip! But as clearly as I remember anything, I remember wondering if there wasn’t something under the swingset pushing up, trying to get out of the ground. And I was pretty sure that it might be the devil.
In all of our Bible Class songs and in our common parlance, heaven was up and hell was down. I assumed that hell was somewhere deep in the earth and – though only aged three or four – I had already wondered about how the devil made his way from “down there” to the land of little boys, dogs, and tea. Perhaps I had found his gateway: my swing.
I might have asked one of my parents about it or I might have allowed my mind to move on – as a kid’s mind is wont to do – but the thought passed and I didn’t worry about it long. I recall that memory to this day when people ask me where heaven (or hell) is located.
The short answer is: we don’t know. Heaven already exists. God is there and Jesus went there to prepare a place for us. As Randy Alcorn said in his book, it seems to be under construction as the picture of it changes from time to time in scripture. But since it already exists somewhere, what about those like N.T. Wright and many of the younger ministers in my own religious tribe who believe that heaven will be here, on a redeemed, cleansed, and renewed earth?
As I’ve written before, I find their arguments very compelling but not exactly convincing. I see where they get their concept and it makes sense on some levels. Still… I believe that heaven already exists somewhere. I have no problem with the idea that this world will be renewed and be absorbed in heaven’s territory on the Last Day. I just don’t know about the mechanics of that Day.
While we wait for that Day to come, what does it mean to be faithful? The impression I have (and I could be wrong) is that many or most Christians are trying to do the right things and think the right things while opposing the other things so that when Jesus returns, they will get to go heaven. That reduces our faith – which should be active, giving, loving, and joyful – into rote rituals, repeated prayers, and standardized worship. There is nothing in scripture to indicate that we are supposed to behave and wait our turn to enter heaven.
So if we are not supposed to spend all of our time on earth just trying to measure up in the hopes that we might make the cut on Judgment Day, what does it mean to be faithful? I think it means making this earth more like heaven each day while we wait on the Lord. Jesus’ prayer to His Father was very plain – “Let Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” None of us can argue that this prayer has been answered affirmatively in any widespread way, but it CAN and IS answered affirmatively every time one of us decides to live out the life of Christ on earth, making our portion of earth more like heaven. When we immerse ourselves in love and good works (not in order to be saved but because we are saved), we will have an impact for good; we will be making the world a bit more like heaven for those near us.
When a family decides to forgo some pleasure in order to support an orphan or a Compassion International child, they are making the world more like heaven and playing a part in answering the prayer of their savior. My wife support such a child and we are also big fans of One Child Matters (www.onechildmatters.org) that works in smaller communities than Compassion does and links hands with local churches and schools in a unique and effective way. We love the work of the International Justice Mission (www.ijm.org) in stopping human trafficking and freeing modern day slaves all over the world. When they pull little boys and girls out of a two foot tall crawlspace in India where they are imprisoned when not working at a mill or a brothel, the IJM is making the world more like heaven by removing the hell that others are experiencing.
Countless decisions every day make this world more like heaven or more like hell. I was amazed at the reaction to a decision Kami and I made without hesitation; seriously, without giving it a second thought. We were on a cruise ship – the lovely Navigator of the Seas – and Kami went down to skate on the ice rink on the third deck. She has been a figure skater all of her life and continues to skate weekly here in Colorado but, like all skaters, falls happen. She was skating backward and caught a blade, catching herself on her left wrist. She knew that she had hurt herself but she waited an hour before alerting me (I was reading on another deck) that she needed help. I took her to the ship’s doctor, a nice man who X-rayed her wrist and didn’t find a break. He put her in a small splint and gave her ibuprofen.
At home, two weeks later, she went to our doctor. She just wasn’t feeling better. He determined that she had broken not her wrist but her ulna. She was sent to orthopedic specialists to put a hard cast on her immediately. Once there, the specialists said, no, she hadn’t broken her ulna… she had broken her wrist after all. So one doctor missed the break and the other doctor read a break where there wasn’t one. People immediately called, texted, and emailed us saying we had to sue Royal Caribbean or at least get free cruises because of us.
No. Ice is slippery. We knew that before she packed her figure skates. Accidents happen. We were also aware of that. People can miss a break on an X-ray if it is a hairline fracture. We knew that, too. And our family doctor? Great guy but he doesn’t spend all day every day reading X-rays. We gave him a pass, too. Suing someone was the last thing we would even think about. She has a nice cast on and is doing well.
We were reminded of the time my children and I were in my Toyota and struck by an 18 wheeler and driven into the side of Cheat Lake bridge (WV) in October of 1993. I was hospitalized for most of a week and my children were released within a day – scarred and bruised but all right. My car was in several pieces, of course, and I had a scar or two and a knee that will probably give me trouble from time to time the rest of my life. People came out of the woodwork and told me to sue. Millions of dollars were suggested as a starting point.
We asked the trucking company to pay our medical bills. Not a penny more. Why? We didn’t expect to get through this world without pain or accidents. I won’t make someone else’s life hell. My job is to make their life more like heaven.
God says that what He requires of us is to walk humbly with him and to love justice and mercy. Sounds like He wants us to act like heaven could be right here…if we do our job. Yes, the apostles thought Jesus was coming back very, very soon. Why didn’t he? Honestly, I have no idea. But here’s a thought: maybe he’s waiting on us to do what he told us to do. You know, all that “into the all the world” stuff and that “love your neighbor” stuff. Maybe when we make this world more like heaven, heaven will come to us or we will go to it.
As for its final location, I trust Him. As long as He is there, I want to be there, too.
March 8th, 2013 at 6:46 pm
I have long been one of those guys who believe the earth will be redeemed. I also understand where you are coming from in regards to heaven being built, etc. Could the concept of Jerusalem coming down in Revelation 21:2 bridge the gap? I want so much to see, be in heaven…
March 8th, 2013 at 6:58 pm
Thank you for that story. When my son was in middle school, he was taking an exploratory block (all students take it) which involved wood shop. The table saw kicked back and cut off some of his fingers. All the safety precautions had been observed. It was interesting to hear friends, other parents from his school, and even fellow Christians telling us we should sue and get money for his college education. We did not sue….accidents happen, it was really nobody’s fault. I think (and hope) that this was some degree of salt and light for those who advised us to sue. He is fine, has a good career in music and I don’t think missing some fingers has held him back….except maybe his piano playing.
March 8th, 2013 at 7:26 pm
Awesome entry!
March 8th, 2013 at 7:34 pm
Have been reading through a lot of “Cecil Hooks” essays and am disheartened to read his view of Heaven: http://cecilhook.net/pdf/Death_Immortality_and_Heaven_No_1.pdf
Sadly, I’m inclined to agree with his thoughts on it but have been left feeling quite deflated.
Any opinions?
March 8th, 2013 at 7:36 pm
I don’t think I ever would have thought of the Devil pushing on my swingset. Just shows that you were quite imaginative at an early age.
I think you’re on the money about both the location of heaven, and of what it means to be faithful. We cannot earn a ticket to heaven. I think, though, that “trying to do the right things and think the right things while opposing the other things” is part of that (depending on what we think the right things and other things are). If you’re thinking of doctrinal battles and such, I would agree that those things really don’t add up to faithfulness. But doing the right thing (as you do with One Child Matters, and with loving your neighbor) is part of faithfulness.
You did the right thing by refusing to sue the cruise line. You also opposed the other things by your actions. Of such decisions and actions is the Kingdom made.
March 8th, 2013 at 9:19 pm
Heaven is being with my Father. Hell is not being able to be with Him. Heaven is not so much a place as a condition.
March 11th, 2013 at 12:36 pm
Well said, Jeff.
March 8th, 2013 at 10:50 pm
“Yes, the apostles thought Jesus was coming back very, very soon. Why didn’t he? Honestly, I have no idea. But here’s a thought: maybe he’s waiting on us to do what he told us to do.”
God is patient with all of us, and although Jesus could return at any moment, I think He would return immediately once every living soul were converted. It’s our responsibility to try to make that a reality.
March 9th, 2013 at 12:20 pm
This call for us to express compassion is so very timely. If we felt as deeply for all as we do self or family (this sounding familiar??), many battles would be averted and peace would reign. Let’s not give up on the message!
March 9th, 2013 at 3:32 pm
I always find your writings encouraging. I’m especially taken with your exhortation that our “job” here in this life is “… making the world a bit more like heaven for those near us.” Thanks for the inspiring examples you gave. I’ve done similar things to a degree and continually feel there are more effective ways for me to step out in faith. I lack the confidence to do so in many respects. Your thoughts in this piece are helping to build my confidence to do so.
March 10th, 2013 at 4:07 am
I’m not surprised, my friend, that you and I share the same attitude about tort. Like you, I could be living good now, but I don’t see law suit as good living. Life is dangerous; get over it. Tort is one of the numerous cancers killing America. I have no desire to kill America. Small businesses wishing to sell their product in their local Walmart store must have (I copy here from their website)
$2 Million in Product & completed operations
$2 Million in Personal Injury & advertising injury
$2 Million in Each Occurrence
March 11th, 2013 at 4:00 pm
Amen Patrick, Great Post. The Swingset Huh? With me in was the Toot(pronounced like foot). That was the big vent on my folks oil burner down in the cellar. When us kids would be down there playing our version of Das Boot; all them pipes and valves just looked like Submarine City to us!We would be in heaven playing WW2 submariners and then the oil burner would roar to life and this big round vent with a circular flue would make this exorcist kinda noise and the vent would start flapping and we would just freak and run outta there! Anyway, The Lord said No man knows the day or the hour, ONLY the Father… I don’t know if that means the Father ALREADY has the day and the hour selected and set in stone on His Iphone calender/reminder feature:), or if it’s a case of when the Father decides; OK Game over, everybody outta the pool! Either way I’m fine with and I don’t really need to know which but I trust He’ll do the right thing. He always does! Peace Patrick, thanks for another winsome, wise and winning entry.
March 12th, 2013 at 1:11 am
God already existed in transcendence prior to the time he created the physical universe. According to John, Jesus was with him at that time and in that same transcendent nature. If God could be said to have an abode prior to His creating the universe, given the fact that He is universal and transcendent spirit (not a spirit), then it seems to me that “the heaven” (Greek ouranos usually ho ouranos) is just as transcendent and non physical as are God, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus.
March 12th, 2013 at 2:13 am
I should have said “the heavens” rather than the heaven. Greek experts tell us that usually the Bible refers the term ouranos or ho ouranos as the heavens, plural. In Acts 11:5-9 Luke used the term ho ouranos three times, Verses 5, 6, and 9 all in the same context. That is a plural term, yet English translators translated the same Greek term ho ouranos as sky in Verse 5, air in Verse 6, and singular heaven in Verse 9. So it is often quite difficult to read an English Bible and know how the original writers intended the term to be understood.
March 12th, 2013 at 4:05 pm
I’ve only read 3 books by N. T. Wright, but my recollection is that he refers quite a bit to heaven “breaking through” to earth, which indicates that he also believes it currently exists and that God uses us (e.g.) to cause heaven to break through here on earth. I have the feeling that, in The End, heaven is supposed to break All The Way through, but I don’t remember if N. T. Wright said that or if I came up with that on my own.
March 14th, 2013 at 6:45 pm
Oh yes, Patrick! Sorry I forgot to give you mad props for your personal and very effective version of tort reform; Bravo brother!
I too always subscribed to the HUHD theory; Heaven Up, Hell Down. I fancied volcanic craters brimming with molten lava as the lake of fire into which the wicked and unbelieving would be thrown, the earth’s molten core as the place they would sink DOWN to and remain forvever in torment. Conversely, Heaven would be UP in the sky, or above it actually, since the sky is created and in my deep scientific/philosophical/theological ignorance I thought Heaven, like God, being His “home” must be transcendent also. But since God is omnipresent, would that make Heaven the same? Yes Heaven is the ULTIMATE MOBILE HOME! Kinda like the home version of “everywhere you go, there you are!”Or would the God version be; you’re everywhere, there you go! Also,since He is invisible, or at least not discernable by human eyesight, would Heaven be likewise? How it works, we don’t know, but we KNOW it does work because we know HIM who is always working and will work”all things for the good to those who love Him and are called according to His Purpose!” Amen?! I agree with Jeff, like the song; I just want to be where you are, I just want to be with you… Peace.
March 16th, 2013 at 11:52 am
Hey Patrick — I was just thinking about emailing you re: this subject. In the past couple years, I’ve been convinced of the redeemed & renewed creation as the place of heaven’s dwelling place for eternity. By which I mean God comes in his transforming and redeeming power to heal what is broken on earth. Here’s why I think that, and what I want to ask you: where in Scripture does it talk about “going to spend eternity in heaven”? I’ve been unable to find it, and so am left with the traditional “spending to eternity in some out-there heaven with God” on the one hand, or with texts like Rev 21 that envision God coming to earth in transforming power on the other.
March 24th, 2013 at 2:29 am
I see Heaven as another dimension and we as “flatlanders” who cannot see the third dimension. When the new Jerusalem breaks through, the only way we can visualize it is coming from far away, when Heaven is really very near.
March 26th, 2013 at 1:59 pm
Patrick,
Just a few questions from someone who believes that the Old & New Testament explicitly teach new heavens and new earth, and bodily resurrection.
1. Is it really fair to sort swath over who holds this view as if it is just N.T. Wright and a few younger preachers? It wouldn’t be difficult to prove that new heavens, new earth and bodily resurrection has been a core Christian conviction for 2000 years now, with only the least two centuries making it common practice in the Western world to preach the Greek philosophy view of heaven.
2. Would you say there is any danger in Gnosticism? We don’t know everything about Gnosticism but we know the the church in Corinth suffered from the effects of a Gnostic Greek worldview where the body and physical things don’t matter, therefore they struggled with physical sins like sexual immorality. Would you say there is a possible correlation between Americas Gnostic worldview and its sexual depravity? Perhaps there is also connection to the Rapture theology that says God is just going to destroy the world and a radical denial of the first human commandment to be wise and loving stewards of creation?
3. Isn’t Paul pretty clear in I Corinthians 15 that bodily resurrection matters? Isn’t he making a case that it is the most important thing?
4. Why would God, in Jesus, teach us to pray and work toward God’s will being done on earth as it is in heaven as a “means” of the kingdom he is establishing, but the “end” has nothing to do with it?
These are just my questions. I think it matters. As I read the bible, especially the New Testament, I see phrases like “At the restoration of all things” (Mt. 19) and “Jesus must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore all things…” (Acts 3:21) and I just think if it is on nearly every turn of the page in the scriptures it must matter to some extent.
March 26th, 2013 at 2:04 pm
(Sorry for another post – I meant to add this to the earlier one and I forgot).
Having read both of N.T. Wright’s books on this topic several times, I heard him agreeing with you, not disagreeing, that heaven exists now. Is there somehow a misunderstanding that I have that new heavens and new earth means that heaven does not exist now? I wonder in Revelation 21:2 and the many other passages like it reconcile that problem?