Does heaven exist?
Few questions carry more weight than whether there is anything beyond this life, and the Bible's answer is not a vague hope but a described destination with a named owner. The commentators treat heaven as God's own dwelling, a place Christ came from, returned to, and spoke about to His friends the night before He died.
A Place, Not a Feeling
Some treat heaven as a state of mind rather than somewhere you can be taken. One writer, answering that idea directly, points to how the Bible consistently uses the word:
A. J. PollockHeaven, as everywhere in Scripture, is spoken of as a locality. Transpose the meaning given by Christian Science into the above verse, and it becomes nonsense.
Commentators differ, though, on how far Scripture pins heaven down to a geography. One writer warns that the Father's house is described by relationship rather than by map:
G. V. WigramVery little is said in Scripture about the Father's house, apart from what we find in John 14. One is never weary of those verses, because they tell of the personal love of the Lord Jesus to His Church; but no locality is defined, nor is the thought of heaven introduced as meaning any particular place. Many base their ideas of heaven on some early association in their mind of a place of glory beyond the clouds.
Known Only by Revelation
That warning matters, because our imagination is a poor guide. If we build heaven out of the best materials we know, we simply get a cleaner version of earth:
H. Forbes WitherbyOur thoughts about heaven are too often shaped from earthly moulds. We take the things around us, put what we have gathered through a process of mental purifying, and cast it into a shape our imagination has formed out of the clay of this sin-stained earth — and then we call what we have made heavenly! Such thoughts are empty. No mere man has gone up to heaven. Ideas of heaven without a divine revelation are only things of earth painted with the colours of earth. Heaven is the dwelling-place of God, and can only be grasped as God Himself is known: "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him." What is known of these things comes by revelation: "these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit" (1 Cor. 2:9-10).
The Word of the One Who Came From There
Jesus raised the subject with troubled men who were about to lose Him. He did not offer comfort He could not deliver:
J. N. DarbyHe gives them the ground on which they would have far greater blessing even now than if He stayed with them. First, He was going to prepare a place for them, and if He went on such an errand He would come again and receive them to Himself. Not stay with them in this miserable world — but prepare a place; not the kind of place we had prepared for Him, evil in return for good, but a place of His own preparing, suited for bringing them into it. And if so, He would come again (for He loved them much) and receive them to Himself, so that where He was, there they might be also. Their hearts were therefore not to be troubled.
Someone Is Already There
Heaven is not only promised; it is occupied. The ascension of Christ is treated as public evidence:
Dr. Daniel W. PatersonThis fact, that there is a Man in the glory of God, is the first and outstanding feature of this period. His presence there is proof of the work well done. His presence there is the certain assurance that we shall be there too in due course — "the forerunner is for us entered" (Hebrews 6:20). Everything hangs on that blessed Man at the Father's right hand.
What Makes Heaven Heaven
Ask what the place actually offers, and the answer given is a Person, not scenery. Christ's word to the dying criminal beside Him settles it:
Andrew Miller"Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise." Notice, not only in Paradise, but "with me." That precious "with me" defines so sweetly where the departed spirit is, where heaven is, and what heaven is. It is simply to be with Christ.
Title and Fitness
A destination raises a personal question: on what basis would anyone be admitted? One writer separates two things people confuse — the right to enter, and the suitability to be there:
Other AuthorsI might receive an invitation to attend a reception at the Governor's house from the Governor himself. That would give me a clear right to go there. But as I stand here I am not fit to attend such a brilliant occasion. I am not suitably dressed. On the other hand, my clothes might be entirely suitable, but that would not give me the right to go. In the one case I have a right but no fitness; in the other I am fit but have no right. Now, through the grace of God, both a right to heaven and a perfect fitness for that holy place are provided for everyone who trusts in the Lord Jesus Christ. His precious blood makes us as perfectly fit for heaven as our sins had made us fit for hell.
Summary
- A place. Scripture speaks of heaven as somewhere real, God's own dwelling — though writers differ on how much detail about its location is actually given.
- A place revealed. Imagination only repaints earth; what is known of heaven is known because God has shown it by His Spirit.
- A place prepared. Jesus told His disciples He was going ahead to get a place ready and would come back for them, so their hearts need not be troubled.
- A place proved. A Man is already in the glory of God — evidence that the work is done and that His people will follow.
- A place for you. The right to be there and the fitness to be there both come through Christ's blood, and what waits there is Christ Himself.