My Treatise on the Subject of Heaven

Proposed Thesis

Heaven is pictured throughout Scripture as God’s throne, a place where celestial beings (angels, spirits, Satan) come and go at God’s bidding, and a meeting place for redeemed people, as with the holy of holies in the tabernacle or temple. The goal of this treatise is to try and distinguish between the various eternal destinations spoken of in Scripture, such as heaven, the New Jerusalem, the new heaven, and the new earth, and to understand better how and where we we dwell with God.

Beings From Heaven

Throughout the New Testament, heaven is described as God's throne (Matt 5:34, Matt 23:22, Acts 7:49). Jesus often speaks of his Father "in heaven”, a place where angels exist (Matt 24:36, Matt 28:2, Lk 2:13,15, Lk 22:43), gaze upon the Father's face (Matt 18:10), and proceed to and from (John 1:51). “Host of heaven” is used in Acts 7:42 to refer to celestial beings and gods. Jesus says nobody has gone into heaven except himself (John 3:13 & 3:31). (Presumably, Jesus means no human, since angels and even Satan are identified in heaven throughout Scripture.) Jesus is identified as the one who came from heaven, and being the bread from heaven (John 6:31-35,47-51), which is likely a reference to the manna in the desert. Jesus is said to have gone through the heavens (Hebrews 4:14), which could be seen as a reference to how he ascended through the clouds and sky in Matthew 28 and Acts 1; he also is elevated high above the heavens (Hebrews 7:26), which is used in a way not to denote destination at all, but to emphasize the position of holiness and exaltation with which Jesus exercises his priesthood (“unlike the other high priests” who are sinners, verse 27).

Somehow in the cross, Jesus made peace (reconciled) with all, both on earth and in heaven (Colossians 1:20). With whom was there to make peace in heaven? In 1 Thessalonians 4:17, those “who are still alive” will be caught up with the Lord in the air. This might be no more a statement of future dwelling than it is a fulfillment of the angel’s promise in Acts 1:11. In Revelation, the two witnesses were resurrected and ascended “to heaven in a cloud” (Revelation 11:11-12).

The Father’s House and The Temple

Jesus speaks of "my father’s house" in John 14:2-4, a somewhat ambiguous reference to some kind of meeting place with God. He speaks of a place he's "going to” where he will be preparing for his followers, and with “many rooms”. While this text is usually understood as heaven’s dwelling places for his people, Jesus’ language seems to evoke temple language, and the “rooms” - rather than being houses or places believers will live - historically are core components to worship and sacrifices in the temple area (see temple construction in 1 Kings 6 where there are three rooms: the porch, the holy place and the holy of holies; and Ezekiel 40 where there are over thirty rooms in all). In other places, Jesus refers to the Jerusalem temple as “my house” (Mark 11:17, Luke 19:46; also see John 2:17) and “the house of God” (Luke 6:4). Historically, the people of God always had access to various rooms of the temple, and the high priest would enter even the most sacred room (holy of holies) once a year, so Jesus’ words can be understood to suggest that he will lead his followers even into that most sacred room to meet with his father (see the symbolism of the torn curtain in Matthew 27:51). Jesus has sat down at the right hand of the throne of the heavenly majesty and serves (as a high priest) in the “true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by a mere human being” (Hebrews 8:1-2), a picture of the heavenly temple. There is no implication of humans dwelling here - not that it conclusively excludes human presence, but there certainly is nothing to believe humans are in the heavenly temple. John's vision in Revelation passed him through an open door into heaven where there was a throne with someone sitting on the throne (Revelation 4:1-10). Much of what follows in John’s vision transpires out of this throne room scene. In the opening of the sixth seal, a great apocalyptic scene involves stars falling from heaven, and the heaven disappearing like a scroll (Revelation 6:12-17). Later in the vision, there is silence in heaven for half an hour, which is mentioned as if it's unusual (Revelation 8:1).

A City and the Created Order

In Hebrews, the legends of faith are said to have been longing for a better place, a heavenly one, and God “has prepared a city for them” (Hebrews 11:16), which is reminiscent of Jesus going to prepare a place for his followers in John 14. Very intriguing text because the heavenly place is called a city, which is echoed perhaps only in Revelation 3 & 21 (where the new Jerusalem comes down out of heaven from God in 3:12, also see 21:1-5). In a later and highly symbolic context, the writer of Hebrews instructs his readers that they “have come to…the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem”, where there are angels, the “church of the firstborn” whose names are written in heaven, God the Judge, the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator, and to the sprinkled blood (Hebrews 12:22-24). The voice of the one who speaks from heaven shakes the earth and promises to again shake the earth and also the heavens (presumably the celestial bodies in the created order), which is interpreted here to mean that the created things will be taken away and that we will receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken (Hebrews 12:25-28). This is echoed in 2 Peter, where it is said that the heavens will be destroyed along with the earth. This is fairly clearly a reference to the created order, the planets, stars, etc. This is then followed with a promise of new heavens and a new earth, which by context would imply a new created order of the same type of existence we currently have, not "a new heaven" of the spiritual destination type (2 Peter 3:1-18). Lastly, in Revelation 21:1-5 after the old heaven and earth passed away and when the new heaven and earth have come, the new Jerusalem comes down from heaven and appears to be the dwelling place for both humans and God.

Treasure, Authority, and Inheritance

Treasures and reward can be stored up in heaven (Matt 6:20, Lk 6:23, Lk 12:33, Lk 18:22). Whether heaven is God’s spiritual repository for these rewards, or if heaven is the destination for them, is unclear. Jesus gave his disciples authority to bind and loose things in heaven (Matt 6:14, Matt 16:19, Matt 18:18) and in each of these cases, the disciple’s impact on heaven was explicitly through their actions on earth with no suggestion of reaching heaven themselves. (Also see Lk 10:18 where Satan is said to have fallen from heaven as a reference to the authority the disciples exercised on earth.) Matt 16:19 does, however, suggest that the keys of the kingdom of heaven are what unlock their authority in heaven itself, which is a rare statement of proximity between the two terms (“heaven” and “kingdom of heaven”).

The church is charged with making known the wisdom of God to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places (Ephesians 3:10, which is not a future command but “now”…how does the church make this known in heavenly places? Is this comparative to the exercise of the disciple’s authority as mentioned above?), and Paul mentions in Ephesians 6:12 that there are evil spiritual forces in the heavenly realms. People who are enlightened are those who've tasted the heavenly gift and shared in the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 6:4). Nothing said specifically of the heavenly gift in this text, but for earth-bound individuals to have tasted a heavenly gift reveals nothing of the gift’s location and everything of the source. We have an incorruptible inheritance that is kept safe in the heavens while we are awaiting a rescue to be revealed in the final time (1 Peter 1:4-5). Again, this inheritance is preserved in heaven, but is it distributed in heaven or from heaven at its appointed time?

Gifts and sacrifices (and the tabernacle itself) are a copy and shadow of the heavenly realities (Hebrews 8:3-5). “Gifts” here are those offered to God by the high priest, and are used to show us how Jesus offers gifts to God in the heavenly tabernacle on our behalf.

Heavenly Bodies

Heaven is used very apocalyptically in Matthew 24, where the son of man will appear, and heaven (not heavens) will disappear (“pass away”) along with earth (this coincides with Rev 21). Perhaps these references to heaven (as well as Luke 21:26) are referring to the “heavenlies” or “heavenly bodies” (ie, stars)? (See discussion above on the created order.) In 1 Corinthians 15:40-41, Paul writes about the difference of the splendor of “heavenly bodies” (the glory of the sun, moon and stars) and the splendor of “earthly bodies”. So is the difference, he points out, between those who are of the earth (like Adam) and those who are of heaven (like Jesus). Paul contrasts our earthly bodies (“tents”) with our eternal bodies (“house in heaven…made for us by God himself”) in 2 Corinthians 5:1-5. This seems to be a unique reference to eternal bodies as houses, but what’s most striking is that the house is “in heaven”. Is this an explicit reference to us dwelling in heaven, or is it akin in its ambiguity to storing up treasure in heaven? (Matt 6:20, Lk 6:23, Lk 12:33, Lk 18:22) The emphasis is on the source of our eternal bodies and the relief from our physical confinement, not particularly on our dwelling place or physical destination. However, this could possibly be interpreted as a clear text in favor of heaven as a destination. The text layers with 1 Corinthians 15:40-48 a little. In other places, Paul speaks of being snatched up to the third heaven (2 Corinthians 12:2) and he says that we are (present reality) citizens of heaven (Philippians 3:20). If we already are citizens, is that implying a guarantee of our future dwelling place or is it strictly an identity/status, regardless of the physical reality in which we live? His next statement that "we're eagerly awaiting our savior who is going to come from there” does not say that he’s taking us there.

Hell

Jesus contrasts hell (as a destination) with “God's kingdom” (also “life”) in Mark 9:43-47, although perhaps different verbs are at play: "enter" and “go into” God's kingdom 3x, whereas "be thrown into" hell (2x) and "go into" hell (1x). A most curious reference is about Capernaum wanting to be lifted up to heaven but prophesied to be cast down to Hades instead (Lk 10:15).

Future Hope

Hope is kept safe for the Colossians in the heavenly places (Colossians 1:5), which seems to be a reference to Jesus or his spirit, or some kind of assurance for our spiritual well-being. Paul says the Lord will snatch him from every wicked deed (presumably meaning other's wicked acts towards him, based on context) and save him for his heavenly kingdom (2 Timothy 4:18). This is the close of his letter and his point is nothing about what his eternal destination will be, but what he is being saved from (“every evil attack” and “the lion’s mouth” from those on earth who oppose his message). Paul says nothing beyond “heavenly kingdom”.

The writer of Hebrews shares a call from heaven (or “heavenly calling”) with his brothers and sisters (Hebrews 3:1).

Conclusion

Our destination is rarely, if at all, stated as being heaven itself. Instead, language is most often used to describe the created order being made new or being restored, and our eternal dwelling place being either on that "new" earth, or more specifically the New Jerusalem, which proceeds out from the new earth and new heaven. We will almost certainly dwell with God in this city. We most often read of heaven as God’s throne and where celestial (but not really human) beings proceed to and from his presence. Everything God does comes out of heaven, and so we often read of things he does or provides as being prepared in heaven. We may very well have access to the throne room of God as a meeting place with him, but we fairly clearly have no expectation of our future destination or dwelling place being heaven itself.