Heaven.

We might find some variations in our understanding of what this word means, but for Christians, perhaps the most important consideration is: “Will I go to heaven when I die?”.

This question can be divided into two elements:

1. How can I gain Salvation?
2. What will be my reward?

There are other pages on this site dealing with Faith, Baptism, Belief and Grace that will answer the first aspect of the question. This leaves us with the consideration of our reward.

There are probably many Christians who have never doubted for a minute that their reward is in heaven and perhaps a smaller number who also believe in hell as an alternative destination. We will leave hell for another time and concentrate on heaven. The first question to ask is “Why do Christians believe they are going to heaven? Is this what the Bible teaches?

The first thing we should do is list all the verses in the Bible where it says that believers go to heaven when they die. The problem is that such verses do not exist! So let us consider some verses that DO exist.

Psalm 115: 15 Blessed are you by Yahweh, who made heaven and earth. 16 The heavens are the heavens of Yahweh; but the earth has he given to the children of men. 17 The dead don’t praise Yah, neither any who g o down into silence; 18 But we will bless Yah, from this time forth and forevermore.

Here we see that God (Yahweh is God’s Name) made the heavens for Himself to live in and made earth for man to dwell in. Rather than going to heaven and praising God (perhaps with a harp and sitting on a cloud!), it clearly states that the dead “go down into silence”.

Can things be any clearer? Here are some words of Jesus:

John 3:13 No one has ascended into heaven, but he who descended out of heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven.

But what about this verse?

Matthew 19:23 Jesus said to his disciples, “Most certainly I say to you, a rich man will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven with difficulty.

People will say that this and similar verses prove that people go to heaven, but is the KINGDOM of heaven the same as heaven itself? The same Kingdom of Heaven is also called the Kingdom of God. As a very rough analogy; is the American Embassy the same as America?

If we look at scriptures concerning the Kingdom, we can see that it is something to appear in the future.

2 Timothy 4:1 I command you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his Kingdom:

We can also see from the following verse, where this future Kingdom will be established.

Revelation 11:15 The seventh angel sounded, and great voices in heaven followed, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the Kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ. He will reign forever and ever!”

You can read more about the Kingdom elsewhere, but the Bible shows clearly that the Kingdom of God (or of Heaven) will be established on the Earth – part of God creating a “new heavens and a new earth”. Once the Kingdom is established, Jesus will reign for a thousand years.

1 Corinthians 15:24 Then the end comes, when he will deliver up the Kingdom to God, even the Father; when he will have abolished all rule and all authority and power.

Could Jesus deliver up Heaven to God? This does not make sense. Could Jesus deliver up an earthly Kingdom to his Father? Yes, this fits well with the other evidence.

So where are the dead while all this is going on? Have they been caught up to heaven in the “rapture” that many Christians allude to?

Job 14:12 so man lies down and doesn’t rise. Until the heavens are no more, they shall not awake, nor be roused out of their sleep.

This scripture could sound very final indeed, were it not for the fact that God will establish a new heaven and earth, as this scripture shows:

2 Peter 3:13 But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.

Just in case we might think that this unconscious, lying in the dust state is a very Old Testament thing, this is how the New Testament refers to it:

John 11:11 He said these things, and after that, he said to them, “Our friend, Lazarus, has fallen asleep, but I am going so that I may awake him out of sleep.”

1 Thessalonians 4:13-15 But we don’t want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning those who have fallen asleep, so that you don’t grieve like the rest, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we tell you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left to the coming of the Lord, will in no way precede those who have fallen asleep.

So Jesus and the Apostles compare death with falling asleep and the resurrection with waking up again. As we have seen in other scriptures, the hope for everlasting life is in resurrection and a life in a paradise earth, not in heaven-going.

At the end of the Bible in Revelation 21, we see a wonderful picture of the Kingdom of God:

1 I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away, and the sea is no more. 2 I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready like a bride adorned for her husband. 3 I heard a loud voice out of heaven saying, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with people, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

Again, we can see a reference to the new heaven and new earth. We read about the New Jerusalem, coming down from heaven to the new earth. Then it says that God will dwell in the New Jerusalem on Earth and He will be with His people there. If anyone HAD gone to heaven, they would get rather lonely as God will meet with His people on Earth!

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