Heaven is?
I have heard so many
expressions from ordinary people about Heaven. These are wonderful notions but
certainly untrue about God’s wonderful home.
"This is heaven...." is an expression
I have heard quite often.
Sometimes the speaker is referring to a place,
such as a beach, or they are having a quiet coffee. If you ask most people what
the word "Heaven" means they will most likely tell you it means
"Paradise." It may then shock them to learn it doesn't mean
"Paradise" but rather, simply, "The sky."
The reason that people think it means
"Paradise" is because Jesus told one of the thieves crucified with
him; "This day, you shall be with me in Paradise." The Heavenly home
of our Lord and Saviour is Paradise by its very nature. It is important to note
that the other thief crucified that day did not go to a Paradise but to a fiery
Hell. He is still there two thousand years later, waiting to be thrown into the
Lake of Fire.(Revelation 20:15) The original old English word for sky was
"Heven." This in turn came from the "Hebon" which means
"Shroud." In Hebrew the word is "Shamayim" and in Greek it
is"ouranos."
The Three
Heavens:
If we were to ask one of the Apostles,
"What is Heaven?", they would explain that there are three
"Heavens." The first "Heaven" is the sky, where the birds
fly and the clouds dwell. This is referred to as the "Firmament" in
the older versions of the Bible. "Canopy" in modern English. Psalms
19:1 “The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His
handiwork.” Just think of a beautiful sunset and it’s amazing colours and
shades.
The second "Heaven" is "The
Heavens" or "Space" where the Sun, Moon, and Stars dwell.
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
The third "Heaven" is the dwelling
place of God. A lot of people see this "Heaven" as a giant room where
every good person goes to when they die. This Third "Heaven" is so
much more. From this point on, I will be referring to the "Third
Heaven" simply as "Heaven."
We all would like to think that, All our loved
ones that have pre-deceased us are in Heaven. It's a very human sentiment. I
have heard people say things like; "I believe that my Dad is looking down
on me." Or “Heaven will be laughing more tonight now that Uncle Tim is up
there with them.” I don’t like to correct people in their hour of grief but
perhaps this little essay will bring some clarity to some nice-but-untrue myths
concerning Heaven. Besides, the truth about “Heaven,” is most likely, far
better than any of the myths one may have heard down through the years.
So What is Heaven?
Heaven is Eternal:
Psalm 45:6
Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The
scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness;
It is hard for us to get our heads around the
idea of Eternity but God is Eternal. His Throne is Eternal and Heaven is
Eternal. That is why in order to get to Heaven, one needs Eternal life.
In the Gospel of John chapter 3 we read the
following account: John 3:1-16
Now there was a man of the Pharisees named
Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. [2] This man came to Jesus by night and said to
him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do
these signs that you do unless God is with him.” [3] Jesus answered him,
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom
of God.”
[4] Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be
born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be
born?”
[5] Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you,
unless one is born of water(Natural birth) and the Spirit, he cannot enter the
kingdom of God. [6] That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is
born of the Spirit is spirit. [7] Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must
be born again.’
[8] The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear
its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is
with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
[9] Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things
be?” [10] Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not
understand these things?
[11] Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of
what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our
testimony. [12] If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how
can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
[13] No one has ascended into heaven except he
who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.
[14] And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,(The Cross) [15] that whosoever
believes in him may have eternal life. [16] “For God so loved the world, that
he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not
perish(Suffer eternal punishment) but have eternal life...."
I am going to guess that most people would think of Heaven as the place they wish to go to when they die. And that anything to do with Heaven is something that matters in their eternal future and nothing that can be done now can effect what happens in that future. However, Jesus told Nicodemus that he needed eternal life. Something that Nicodemus needed immediately and not in the future. Nicodemus could have eternal life that very moment. Eternity is the past and always was, the present, and the future and always will be. God’s Kingdom is eternal and one needs to be “Born Again in their Spirit” to enter his Kingdom. To be Born Again you need to Believe in the Son of God. Believing in the Son of God is not simply believing in his existence but in everything he did for you on the Cross and his Resurrection. He took the penalty for your sins on the Cross and he defeated death when he rose again from the dead. God sits on his eternal Throne in Heaven. His Throne is a throne of Judgement. He has declared that the soul that sins must be punished. We all deserve this punishment because not one of us can say that we never sinned. When Christ was punished by God on the Cross, God poured out his wrath for all our sins on to his beloved Son that never sinned. When you believe in God’s Son, he forgives you of your sin, he gifts you Eternal Life and he gives you access to himself seated on his Eternal Throne through prayer and worship. Heaven is Eternal and we have access to it now.,
Hebrews 11:13-16
13 These all died in faith, not having received
the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them
and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14 For those
who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. 15 And truly if
they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would
have had opportunity to return. 16 But now they desire a better, that is, a
heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He
has prepared a city for them.
The writer of Hebrews goes through a number of
Saints from the Old Testament that exemplify “Faith.” Starting with a great
definition of Faith in verse 1:
“Now Faith is the assurance of things hoped for,
the conviction of things not seen.”
He moves from Abel to Abraham and Sarah, he
takes account of actors and actions of Faith. In verse 16, the writer says that
they looked forward to a “Heavenly Country” or a better translation would be
“Heavenly Fatherland.” Thus the link between the Earthly Patriarchy and their
Heavenly Father. God is so good a Father that he has prepared for the Saints a
Heavenly city.
Jesus told his disciples in John’s Gospel
chapter 14:2
In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were
not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?
Jesus has prepared a place for all believers in
the same city of Heaven. How does one get there? We see the answer in the next
four verses.
John 14:3-6
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I
will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4
You know the way to the place where I am going.”
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where
you are going, so how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth
and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Jesus tells us that He is the way to Heaven, the
truth of God’s word and the life eternal. Nobody has access to the Father
except through the Son. Remember how he told Nicodemus in John 3 “You must be
Born Again?”
Psalm 45:6
Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The
scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness..
In the midst of the city of Heaven sits the
Throne Room of God and the Lamb. Reading from the fourth chapter of Revelation
we have an insight as to how it looks.
Revelation 4:1-11
After this I looked, and behold, a door standing
open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a
trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after
this.” [2] At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven,
with one seated on the throne. [3] And he who sat there had the appearance of
jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the
appearance of an emerald.
[4] Around the throne were twenty-four thrones,
and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments,
with golden crowns on their heads. [5] From the throne came flashes of
lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were
burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God,
[6] and before the throne there was as it were a
sea of glass, like crystal. And around the throne, on each side of the throne,
are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: [7] the first
living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third
living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an
eagle in flight. [8] And the four living creatures, each of them with six
wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease
to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to
come!”
[9] And whenever the living creatures give glory
and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and
ever, [10] the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the
throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns
before the throne, saying, [11] “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive
glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they
existed and were created.”
The colors, the sounds, the singing, the Glory,
it must have been so amazing for John to see. We who are saved will one day see
all this for ourselves. He has promised he will come for us himself.
Paul tells in 1 Thessalonians chapter four:
13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to
be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like
the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14 For we believe that Jesus died and
rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have
fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who
are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not
precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from
heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the
trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we
who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the
clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18
Therefore encourage one another with these words.
Jesus is not sending an Angel to bring us home,
he’s coming himself for us.
Revelation 21:10-21
And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great
and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending
out of heaven from God, [11] having the glory of God. Her light was like a most
precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. [12] Also she had a
great and high wall with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates, and
names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children
of Israel: [13] three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates
on the south, and three gates on the west. [14] Now the wall of the city had
twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the
Lamb. [15] And he who talked with me had a gold reed to measure the city, its
gates, and its wall. [16] The city is laid out as a square; its length is as
great as its breadth. And he measured the city with the reed: twelve thousand
furlongs. Its length, breadth, and height are equal. [17] Then he measured its
wall: one hundred and forty-four cubits, according to the measure of a man,
that is, of an angel. [18] The construction of its wall was of jasper; and the
city was pure gold, like clear glass. [19] The foundations of the wall of the
city were adorned with all kinds of precious stones: the first foundation was
jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, [20] the
fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl,
the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth
amethyst. [21] The twelve gates were twelve pearls: each individual gate was of
one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.
What a sight to behold. Such beauty and glory.
The twelve gem stones sparkling in the sun would be fascinating in and of
themselves.
If you are a disciple of Jesus Christ, then one
day you will step through a gateway of pearl on to a street of pure gold, so
pure it looks like transparent glass. But there is more..
Revelation 22:1-5
Then the angel showed me the river of the water
of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb [2]
through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the
river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each
month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. [3] No
longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb
will be in it, and his servants will worship him. [4] They will see his face, and
his name will be on their foreheads. [5] And night will be no more. They will
need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they
will reign forever and ever.
It’s no wonder that Jesus told the thief that he
would be in Paradise.
Jesus starts to preach just after he is baptized by John the Baptist. His Gospel or “Good News”
message is that The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. He may also refer to it as
the Kingdom of God or “My Kingdom.” The term “Kingdom” is not the area of land
a King rules over but those people that are his subjects. In other words, those
who accept Christ as King. In Mark 1:13-14 it says:
“14 After John was put in prison, Jesus went
into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 “The time has come,” he
said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
Mark finishes his Gospel with these words:
Mark 16:15-20
15 He said to them, “Go into all the world and
preach the gospel to all creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be
saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
17 And these signs will accompany those who
believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues;
18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly
poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick
people, and they will get well.”
19 After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he
was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. 20 Then the
disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and
confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.
The Lord Jesus Christ would love for us all to be in his Kingdom of Heaven. We have no excuse in that his Word the Bible is so readily available. If you haven’t already done so, it would be my plea, that you consider your Eternal state. I hope and pray that you set your eyes upon Jesus and your heart on the treasures of Heaven. Remember that there were two thieves on Crosses on either side of the Saviour. One of them believed in the Son of God. The other went to Hell cursing him. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall have Everlasting Life.
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