What is heaven?

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. . streets of gold . .

. . mansions prepared for us . .

. . a great white throne . .

. . cherubic angels playing harps on fluffy white clouds . .

What do you see when we talk of heaven? Or is it simply beyond conception? So glorious it’s futile to try? Why should we try to see what appears to be inconceivable? Don’t we already have too many books on heaven? Hasn’t it all been said before?

Why talk of heaven at all?

because it’s a major concept in the Bible
because it’s the place of God’s throne
because Jesus taught us to pray that however God’s will is done there in heaven, is to be done here on earth.
because most of what’s currently written about heaven assumes that it’s remote, placeless and abstract

Heaven is worth studying, and you may be surprised just how conceivable it is, how close and accessible it is, that is, if we can look past the modern paradigms. Yet, the subject of heaven is indeed sublime and a deep mystery. Paul told the Corinthian church:

But as it is written:
“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” — I Corinthians 2:9

Yes, no one truly knows what it’s actually like and I won’t pretend that I do, but the Bible does say many things about it and it’s quite consistent in describing its character.

The words heaven and heavens and its derivatives are used 692 times in the Bible. I’ve gone through them all and what I learned may surprise you.

Heaven and earth are integrated

Speaking of counting biblical references, the juxtaposition of the words heaven and earth, appearing in the same verse, occur at least 190 times, the first of which is the very first verse in the Bible: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” The heavens are connected to the earth, and saying so is not a literalistic interpretation; it is observable and perfectly rational. The sky, including the atmosphere, clouds, sun, moon and, yes, stars and even God’s throne are all part of ‘the heavens’ according to the biblical writers. They described the heavens and earth in the same breath, as one integrated whole.

For more on this foundational truth and the important truths related to it, see my article: LIE: Heaven is not connected to earth. Here’s an excerpt:

[When ‘space’ replaces the heavens] We become susceptible and vulnerable:
to glorify Nature as God.
to devalue humans.
to believe, accept and even adopt the emptiness and randomness of life, the meaninglessness of life, and mediocrity. We become what we behold.
to believe that God is either non-existent, synonymous with nature (pantheism), or remote, aloof, inaccessible or uncaring.
to accept heaven as virtual, remote, and place-less. Our growing familiarity with virtual and augmented reality conditions us to a remote, virtual, and abstract ‘heaven.’ This feeling of placelessness extends even to earth. The philosopher Charles Taylor attempts to describe the feeling:
‘First, there is a fundamental extension of the cosmic environment — in space and time — that is uncanny, unheimlich, displacing, such that we no longer feel that we “fit” into a cosmos as a cosmic home. Instead we see ourselves adrift and cast into an anonymous, cold “universe.” Reality in all directions plunges its roots into the unknown and as yet unmappable.’

Heaven does not equate to ‘space’ or ‘outer space.’ Space, as it’s been conventionally described does not exist.[1]

At the risk of sounding ‘new age,’ I’m going to start defining heaven (more literally the heavens, all uses of the word in the Bible are plural) by way of analogy. As with many of God’s great mysteries, the truth hides in plain sight. The analogy is simple: our life on earth is like childhood; our promised life in heaven like adulthood. In childhood we perceive the concrete, material world; we see and interpret reality by our physical senses; in childhood we cannot perceive the abstract world of ideas and emotions and relationships; they’re perceived literally, physically, materially.

But then something happens around age ten or eleven or twelve. There is a transitional period to adulthood where we learn that there’s a whole other world of ideas and history and science and the bottomless well of relationships. We get elevated and learn about truth and love and forgiveness and right and wrong. This process continues and intensifies over the next several years.

As we mature into our teens we’re given the opportunity to learn and grow; we’re given responsibilities and the trust that it requires. We fail, we succeed, and fail again. In the process we grow into a man or woman of integrity and character, or we become embittered and devolve into a shell of a man or woman and revert to the fantasy world of children. Most of us end up somewhere in the middle.

Most individuals have at least some opportunity for this kind of growth; undoubtedly, some have more opportunity than others, and some much more.

But the simple truth is that this basic dynamic of maturity, this rock-solid reality exists whether we want to admit it or not; whether we want to work with it and not fight it, or not. The intangible moral world is just as fixed as the tangible. If you violate those realities, that is, if you lie, cheat, steal, covet, or kill, you will reap the consequences. To the degree that we learn to grow and change and take and meet our responsibilities and become trustworthy caring men and women of integrity, is the same degree that we gain access to higher levels of trust and responsibility and privilege and access and knowledge. I realize I’m speaking of an ideal, but this is an undeniable and universal truth. It’s built into the fabric of humanity, and so must be God-given and fundamentally meaningful.

Now how does this relate to the heavens? Remember: heaven is defined, created, and described in the context of earth. Heaven and earth go together; you cannot have one without the other. The simple, inescapable truth is that, whenever we look out on the world we see two things: earth and the heavens, and they always appear together.

So as childhood prepares us for adulthood, so earth prepares us for heaven. Earth appears on the surface to be entirely physical, but there are spiritual realities embedded in it. For example, you could remain a child with your mother and let her continue to indefinitely ‘mother’ you, seeing the relationship as purely transactional. OR you could start giving back, start thanking her, start caring for her and her needs. In short, you can start seeing her as a person and discover love, or not.

And as childhood is relatively brief and adulthood lasts for most of our lives, so our life on earth is relatively brief and most of our lives will be lived in the heavens.

But also, in many ways we do not abandon what we’ve learned in childhood; rather, we simply transform it and supersede it. It’s not wrong what we learn in childhood; it’s just limited. All that we’ve learned in childhood is still there and forms the foundation of our adult awareness. So also we will live our lives in the heavens, but will also remain familiar with the earth.

And just as there are unlimited levels of maturity, so there will be various strata[2] in heaven, including all the way from those who barely can hold a job, can’t be trusted, have almost no responsibilities, no real mutually beneficial relationships; to those who’ve been entrusted with major responsibilities, who are loved and trusted and respected highly, and who have deep and abiding and intimate relationships. Adults range in maturity from the low to the high and everything in between. So also it is in the heavens.

At the heart of the heavens is none other than love, but not just any love. This love will go to any length, any extent, even death, to benefit, free, heal, give, and bless the one loved. This is the Father’s heart that Jesus revealed, and the Father sits at the highest heaven and at the very center of it all. So love is at the very heart of the heavens, and is the great prize of all. No better reward, no higher place in the heavens could be granted, than intimacy with the Father — to be near him, to know him, to hear his voice and to partner with him in his grand work.

You say, David, this is all very fine sounding, but it’s a little too vague for me. Just tell me plainly: what is heaven?

Heaven defined

At the risk of sounding somewhat clinical, here’s my definition:

the heavens — the vast, multi-storied, disbursed, created realm that sits above and integrates with and governs the entire earth. It’s designed to fully and generously support all physical and spiritual creatures via light, warmth, air, time, water, space, and is presided over by the Most High Triune God. It is His habitation along with a variety of other spiritual beings, both good and evil, supervised and directed by him, either directly or indirectly. It is a realm accessible to humans, but only through a Spirit administration. The glory of God fills this realm and extends his presence to the entire earth.

Here is a summary of heaven’s basic characteristics. The heavens are:

Vast, immeasurable and disbursed laterally and vertically — Once you get out beyond the city limits, one of the first things you notice is how the landscape opens up and seems to go on forever. Here in the United States, especially after crossing the Mississippi River, you can drive at high speeds for hours and hardly see anything man made. The earth is truly vast, which makes the heavens that stretch above it also vast. Some have said that the earth, which is also better described as a vast realm, may stretch out indefinitely. According to a 2020 study, about half of earth’s terrestrial land surface remains relatively untouched by humans.[3] That’s 50% of earth’s land still untouched. But even more so the oceans, which are said to cover 71% of earth, remain largely unmapped, unexplored and uninhabited. So that means that MOST of earth is untouched by humans. Given the thousands of years and billions of people on earth that could migrate across it, that’s truly a vast earth, and a correspondingly vast heavens.

As the heavens for height and the earth for depth,
So the heart of kings is unsearchable. — Proverbs 25:3

Generous, nourishing — As I’ve already said, the earth relies on the heavens for its sustenance. Without the heavens giving sunlight, rain, air, and seasonal variation, the earth and everything in it, including us humans, would die a miserable death. Yes, there are droughts and famines and earthquakes, but proportionately these amount to minor disturbances compared to the very consistent nourishment from the heavens.

Inaccessible/accessible — The heavens have both a familiar and an otherworldly quality to them. Like God, they are both immanent and transcendent — we humans who stand upright breathe in its air (immanent), but can only wonder at its transparent depths as we gaze into the sky (transcendence). They are physically inaccessible, at least under our own power. We are not like the birds which fly effortlessly, yet the heavens are accessible in that our God in Jesus the Messiah, has brought the heavens down to us. More on this point later.

O Lord, our Lord,
How excellent is Your name in all the earth,
Who have set Your glory above the heavens!
. . .
When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,
What is man that You are mindful of him,
And the son of man that You visit him?
For You have made him a little lower than the angels,
And You have crowned him with glory and honor. — Psalm 8:1–5

Envisioning — Unlike the heavens, the subterranean realms, in and under the earth obstruct our vision and restrict our movement. But the heavens are crystal clear, transparent, and unobstructed. The higher up you go, the farther you can see, the better vantage point you have. We talk metaphorically of going higher up in an organization or in life, and it’s true — going up into the heavens increases our vision, gives us perspective, inspires us, and unifies our vision so that we see the divine imprint everywhere.

Variable, ephemeral, volatile — The sky is perpetually in motion — the winds swirl; the clouds mount up and form 50,000-foot cumulonimbus anvils, lightening strikes, tornados spin up and destroy whole towns. And God speaks ‘in the midst of heaven with darkness, cloud and thick darkness. And the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of the words, but saw no form, you only heard a voice.’ The heavens are the domain of the word, which also is variable, ephemeral, and can be volatile. There is no solid form there, which means there is no solid image to worship. The Lord evokes worship with his word. This is the irony of the word and the heavens that contain it: on the surface the word appears harmless, but when it’s received in faith as a word from God, it can put us on our face.

Governing — We rarely think of it this way, but as I said earlier, the earth is completely dependent on the heavens; the heavens are not dependent on the earth. Without sunlight, rain and the seasons, there would be no life at all. The earth would be a vast wasteland. The heavens also produce time, though not clock time. It’s the kind of time that produces days in which to work and eat and live and love, and nights in which to sleep and dream and rest, and seasons in which to plant, to harvest and to feast. Without the heavens governing, determining the times and seasons, the earth would be a dead blank.

Currently infested with wicked powers — As counterintuitive as it may seem, the Bible clearly states that the heavenlies are currently polluted with ‘principalities and powers’. On the one hand the Father ‘has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ’ (Eph 1:3); and on the other hand, we ‘wrestle against . . spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenlies.’ (Eph 6:12)Both blessings in Christ AND spiritual hosts of wickedness are located in the heavenlies (epouraniois) — it’s the same use of the word. But how can this be? How could light and darkness dwell in the same place. Apparently it’s because the heavens are a vast, stratified realm that includes multiple powers. Jesus Christ is now ‘far above all principality and power and might and dominion.’ Here is the full passage:

which [God’s power] He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. — Ephesians 1:20–23

The heavens must eventually be purged to renew it. See Second Peter chapter three.

Sublime, glorious — The sublime can’t be directly described; rather, it can only be felt or experienced. But there are different levels of the sublime. Music can reach the sublime to a degree and obviously some music more than others. It can take us to emotional states and various combinations of emotions that we’ve not felt before. For example, for me Rachmaninoff evokes feelings of shock, awe and grandeur; Handel brings out a kind of floating bliss.

King David was feeling something like this when he penned Psalm Eight. You can feel the humility and awe in his voice as he gazed at the heavens: When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers / The moon and the stars, which You have ordained / What is man that You are mindful of him, / And the son of man that You visit him? He expressed the awe of transcendent beauty and his own corresponding smallness. It’s something I’ve experienced myself. Have you?

Concealed — The full power and glory of the heavens, including the glory of God himself, is hidden from us — and for good reason. The full glory of the heavens must be concealed; otherwise, God would easily overpower us and nullify our will and effectively remove our power of choice. He could do this simply by pulling back the veil in the heavens that conceals his glory. But he is committed to protect our choice, and yet give us plenty of evidence (albeit indirect evidence), of the reality of his presence and glory. But for more on this, let’s talk about ‘going to heaven.’

Are we going to heaven?

The common evangelical notion that Christians are whisked off after death to a remote, alternate world, an abstract heaven, is a misconception. As I’ve said, the fact is that heaven is inseparable from earth; the heavens are here now, we just have a very limited awareness of it. In death, and even in the process of dying, our eyes will be opened to see both earth and heaven.

So are we going to heaven? The short answer is: yes, temporarily. But heaven, that is, the heavens, are not our final destination. Our final destination will be the new heavens and new earth where we will live out our immortal lives in our immortal, resurrected bodies. God’s original design was not for us humans to be disembodied spirits, but embodied creatures imbued with His Spirit.

But in death we become disembodied — our spirit separates from our body, an agonizing process, and, until the resurrection, we will be incomplete, or as Paul says, ‘naked,’ that is without a body. Paul tells the Corinthian church:

For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. — 2 Corinthians 5:1–8

Paul says, ‘we who are in this tent [our body] groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed [without a body], but further clothed [having our resurrection body] . . ’ Though Paul suffers and groans in his body now (which he recounted earlier in the letter), he cannot conceive of life without one: ‘we shall not be found naked.’ He longs for the resurrected body, our permanent solution: ‘a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.’

But then he consoles the Corinthians and himself that, in death, yes, we will be without a body until the resurrection, but he says, ‘we are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.’ So after death, though we will be disembodied, we will be ‘present with the Lord,’ as opposed to being absent from the Lord while in our body. In other words, the Lord will be palpably and visibly present after death, and not just apparently absent — and only present by faith.

I believe this means that, after death, we will immediately arrive in a visible heaven and start awaiting our resurrection. But what will we do in this interim period, being present with the Lord, but still lacking our permanent and immortal embodiment? We can only speculate, but, I have to believe that being palpably present with the Lord will be a major eye-opening experience. Yet without a body we won’t have access to earth and there would seem to be no need for that access since physical bodies only work in physical spaces. Our final work and destiny that will require access to both heaven and earth, will only follow the resurrection and renovation of all things. So it may be that our life during this interim period will be reversed, that is, instead of having very limited access and vision of heaven (our experience now), we may have very limited access and vision of earth. Besides, what we will be experiencing in heaven will likely take up all of our attention.

In the heavens we will be so filled with awe and wonder and praise and worship that we surely will join others who will also be praising the Lord for the same reason. During this time we will learn things that will blow our minds. And best of all will be hearing the voice of our Father who will personally reveal our true selves and our new name, the real story of our lives, and our destiny in the future new heavens and earth.

Finding heaven here and now

Jesus came proclaiming, ‘the kingdom of the heavens is at hand. Repent and believe the good news.’ He taught extensively on the nature and reality of this kingdom and it formed the core of his teachings.

Let’s look at what Jesus compared the kingdom to and how that may inform us of heaven. In the kingdom parables, he likened it to many things: ‘ . . the kingdom of the heavens is like . . ’ In Matthew chapter thirteen, Jesus speaks seven analogies that give us a good picture of what he was talking about. A lot more could be said about these, but I’ll only dwell briefly on these seven to show his main point.

Seed — Parable of the Sower. In this parable Jesus interprets the meaning of the seed. It is ‘the word of the kingdom’ (vs 19), that is, the message of the kingdom.[4] The thing about seed is that they’re sown; they’re buried in the ground. They do their work underground, hidden away from our eyes. And if the seed is snatched away by the birds, or fails to reach enough depth, or gets scorched by the sun, they won’t be fruitful. The soil into which the seed is sown must be good soil. For the kingdom to be revealed, the message of the kingdom must be spoken to anyone and everyone, no matter who they are, because we do not know whose heart is ready.

Tares/Darnel — Parable of the Wheat and Tares. Jesus also interprets this parable. He says, ‘ . . .the tares are the sons of the wicked one.’ Tares (zizania) or darnel is a plant that looks very similar to wheat as it grows, but can be best distinguished when the seed pods ripen. The point to catch here is that tares blend in and are therefore hidden; also Jesus said they’re sown ‘while men slept,’ again in such a way that is hidden. For the kingdom to be revealed we must tolerate, accept and properly discern the inevitable sons of the wicked one who try to blend in, and then trust in God’s ultimate judgement.

Mustard seed — Parable of the Mustard Seed. Jesus simply states the parable here and gives no explanation, but the common theme is repeated and elaborated. The mustard seed is a seed like the first parable’s non-descript seed and so shares its meaning. But this seed is the mustard seed, which is so tiny that it’s easily lost, neglected, underestimated or forgotten. So not only is the kingdom hidden, it’s also easily disregarded or thought to be insignificant. But this hiddenness points to the subversive nature of the kingdom. For the kingdom to be revealed, we cannot let ourselves be discouraged by its humble beginnings.

Leaven — Parable of the Leaven. You would think that leaven and the kingdom could not mix. But Jesus actually likens the kingdom to leaven, that is, leaven that permeates the dough — ‘. . . hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.’ Here again it is the fact that the leaven is ‘hid’ that is the point. For the kingdom to be revealed, we must mix into every corner of society and become salt and light.

Treasure — Parable of the Hidden Treasure. Again, it’s not hard to discern the common theme here. The words ‘hidden’ and ‘hid’ are used in the same verse. A man finds the treasure, which is hidden in a field, which he then covers up again. He then apparently buys the field without revealing his secret. For the kingdom to be revealed, we need to discover where it already exists and support its work there despite what our preconceived notions may be.[5]

Pearl — Parable of the Pearl of Great Price. This parable is a lustrous pearl itself that displays many colors. First, the pearl in its native habitat is found sealed up inside the oyster and buried in the sea bed. That’s quite hidden. Second, this parable is about a business man ‘seeking beautiful pearls,’ (plural), indicating that beautiful pearls are hard to find (they’re hidden), and third, when the business man unexpectedly finds a single pearl that blows him away with its beauty, he sells all his possessions (probably not a very sound business decision) to buy the pearl. This pearl he buys to keep, not to sell as he had originally planned. His whole life is changed by the pearl. For the kingdom to be revealed, we must perceive its priceless value — only then will it astonish and transform our own life.

Fishing net — Parable of the Fishing Net. Fishermen cast their nets from the boat into the sea, whereupon they sink into the water and, yes, disappear and are hidden. The fishing net draws out fish that are both good and bad. This is the seventh parable where Christ describes the central point, if not the central character of the kingdom of the heavens. It is the common theme of all seven parables. But why? What does it mean? It means that the kingdom of the heavens is a hidden, but present reality in the midst of the world. Heaven is accessible here on earth, made radically accessible by Jesus’ personal and humble arrival. The parables also point to the hidden but present reality of dark powers that coexist with the kingdom, and over which we must overcome.

How to access heaven now

Heaven permeates and pervades earth and we don’t have to look long before we encounter it. It’s often right in front of us. Yes, there are heights of heaven beyond what we can access, but the glory of God is so massive that it extends all the way to earth.

. . . what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse — Romans 1:19–20

God’s invisible attributes are clearly seen in the created order. And his creation surrounds us. So here are a few ways to see and access God and by extension the heavens. But simply performing these things does not guarantee an encounter with the heavens, but it will put you in a position where, if you’ll allow God to open your eyes, you’ll see the unique glory of the earthly thing or creature: the fish, the surf, forest, mountain, baby, sunset . . .

In the final analysis it comes down to cultivating some simple practices, and in the process we ourselves become ‘portals’ of heaven, carrying access to the heavens and to God himself within our being. It may be that the glory we attain in this life determines the appropriate glory in the heavens. There surely will be a continuity. Here’s a few to get you started:

take a walk in the woods
go bird watching
go fishing
hold a baby
climb a mountain
pet a dog
plant a seed
harvest a potato
smell a flower
eat an apple from a tree
hug your wife (or your husband)
watch a storm come in
go stargazing
visit an elderly person and talk to them
watch a sunset or sunrise
wade out into the ocean
build a campfire
listen to good music
sing a hymn with others

Conclusion

Meanwhile, Jacob left Beersheba and traveled toward Haran. At sundown he arrived at a good place to set up camp and stopped there for the night. Jacob found a stone to rest his head against and lay down to sleep. As he slept, he dreamed of a stairway that reached from the earth up to heaven. And he saw the angels of God going up and down the stairway. At the top of the stairway stood the Lord, and he said, “I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham, and the God of your father, Isaac. The ground you are lying on belongs to you. I am giving it to you and your descendants. . . . Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!” But he was also afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! It is none other than the house of God, the very gateway to heaven!” — Genesis 28:10–13, 16–17

Like Jacob, it’s strange that most people can live their whole lives and be completely oblivious to the presence of God. I was once one of those people and I’m still learning myself. But the truth is we can access heaven in the here and now. It’s a cultivated discernment, but it can be learned.

[1] I realize that this is a bold statement, but the evidence for an integrated earth and heavens far outweighs the CGI and fake images used to sell the the public on ‘space.’

[2] I’m sure the word ‘strata’ does not accurately describe the ‘sections’ or ‘layers’ or ‘stories’ of heaven, but I’m also sure there is not a word that could accurately describe whatever these are. Just as there are various elevations and terrains on earth, it may be similarly true of the heavens. Paul was ‘caught up to the third heaven . . . [and] caught up into Paradise’ (2 Corinthians 12:2–4)

[3] See https://earth.org/half-of-earths-land-surface-remains-relatively-untouched-by-humans/, captured on 26 December 2023.

[4] Jesus is obviously referring to his own proclamation message: ‘the kingdom of the heavens is at hand . . ‘

[5] See for example Paul’s admonition to the Philippians: ‘Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from goodwill: The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains: . . . What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached, and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice. — Philippians 1:15–18