Heaven Is a Place on Earth Don t Leave Me Again
A reader wrote, "I just finished the book Heaven. Knowing Jesus, I found it inspiring and well documented. I was disappointed there wasn't more mentioned near the immediate Sky, the one right after we leave this world. I just lost a loved one and would similar more information and clarity about what she is experiencing. I have read three books on Heaven, read a lot about the New Earth, only little about what happens when I die."
While my book Heaven centers on the New Earth, the eternal Sky, a few chapters deal with the nowadays Heaven. When a Christian dies he enters what theologians telephone call the "intermediate country," a transitional period between life on Globe and the future resurrection to life on the New Globe. Usually when we talk almost "Heaven," we mean the place that Christians become when they die. When nosotros tell our children "Grandma'south now in Heaven," nosotros're referring to what I adopt to telephone call the present Heaven (the word intermediate sometimes confuses people).
Books on Heaven oft fail to distinguish betwixt the intermediate and eternal states, using the one give-and-take—Heaven—equally all-inclusive. But this is an of import distinction. The present Heaven is a temporary lodging, a waiting identify (a delightful one!) until the render of Christ and our actual resurrection. The eternal Heaven, the New Earth, is our true abode, the place where nosotros volition alive forever with our Lord and each other. The corking redemptive promises of God volition find their ultimate fulfillment on the New Globe, not in the nowadays Heaven. God's children are destined for life every bit resurrected beings on a resurrected Globe.
Though the present Heaven is not our terminal destination, it's a wonderful place, and it's understandable that those who accept had loved ones die in Christ wonder what life is like for them there. Based on the Bible'south pedagogy, we know several things: the present Sky is a real (and possibly concrete) identify. Those who beloved Jesus and trust Him for their salvation volition exist with Him there, together with all who have died in Christ. We will be awake and cognizant. And because we will be with Jesus, it is "ameliorate past far" than our nowadays existence.
The Present Sky Is a Existent Place
Heaven is normally invisible to those living on Earth. For those who have trouble accepting the reality of an unseen realm, consider the perspective of researchers who embrace string theory. Scientists at Yale, Princeton, and Stanford, among others, accept postulated that there are ten unobservable dimensions and probable an infinite number of ephemeral universes. If this is what some scientists believe, why should anyone feel cocky-witting about believing in one unobservable dimension, a realm containing angels and Heaven and Hell?
The Bible teaches that sometimes humans are immune to meet into Heaven. When Stephen was existence stoned because of his faith in Christ, he gazed into Heaven: "Stephen, total of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the celebrity of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 'Look,' he said, 'I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God'" (Acts seven:55-56). Scripture tells united states of america not that Stephen dreamed this, but that he actually saw it.
Wayne Grudem points out that Stephen "did not run across mere symbols of a state of existence. It was rather that his eyes were opened to see a spiritual dimension of reality which God has subconscious from u.s.a. in this nowadays historic period, a dimension which none the less really does exist in our space/time universe, and within which Jesus at present lives in his physical resurrected body, waiting fifty-fifty now for a time when he will return to earth."
I hold with Grudem that the nowadays Heaven is a space/time universe. He may be right that it's part of our own universe, or it may exist in a unlike universe. Information technology could be a universe next door that's normally subconscious only sometimes opened. In any example, I don't think God gave Stephen a vision in club to make Heaven appear concrete. Rather, He allowed Stephen to see a nowadays Sky that was (and is) concrete.
The prophet Elisha asked God to give his servant, Gehazi, a glimpse of the invisible realm. He prayed, "'O Lord, open up his eyes so he may run across.' Then the Lord opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha" (2 Kings vi:17). Acts 7 and 2 Kings half dozen are narrative accounts, historical in nature, not apocalyptic or parabolic literature. The text is articulate that Stephen and Gehazi saw real things.
The Nowadays Heaven May Be a Physical Place
If nosotros look at Scripture, we'll see considerable evidence that the present Heaven has physical properties. We're told in that location are scrolls in Heaven, elders who accept faces, martyrs who wear wearing apparel, and even people with palm branches in their hands. There are musical instruments in the present Heaven, horses coming into and out of Heaven, and an eagle flight overhead in Heaven.
Many commentators dismiss the possibility that any of these passages in Revelation should be taken literally, on the grounds that the book of Revelation is apocalyptic literature, which is known for its figures of speech. But the book of Hebrews isn't apocalyptic, it'south epistolary. Moses was told, in building the earthly Tabernacle, "Be sure that y'all make everything according to the pattern I accept shown yous here on the mountain." If that which was built later the pattern was physical, might it suggest the original was also physical? The book of Hebrews seems to say that we should see Earth as a derivative realm and Heaven equally the source realm.
Different God and the angels, who are in essence spirits (John 4:24; Hebrews one:14), human beings are by nature both spiritual and concrete. God did not create Adam as a spirit and place information technology inside a body. Rather, He offset created a trunk, then breathed into information technology a spirit. In that location was never a moment when a man existed without a body. We are not essentially spirits who inhabit bodies; nosotros are essentially as much physical as we are spiritual. We cannot be fully man without both a spirit and a body.
Given the consequent concrete descriptions of the intermediate Heaven and those who dwell there, it seems possible—though this is certainly debatable—that between our earthly lives and our bodily resurrection God may grant the states some temporary concrete class that will allow u.s. to function as human being beings while in that unnatural land "between bodies" awaiting our bodily resurrection. If so, that would business relationship for the repeated depictions of people now in Heaven occupying physical infinite, wearing clothes and crowns, carrying branches, and having body parts (for example, Lazarus's finger in Luke 16:24).
A fundamental article of the Christian faith is that the resurrected Christ now dwells in Heaven. Nosotros are told that His resurrected body on Earth was physical and that this same, physical Jesus ascended to Heaven, from where He will one twenty-four hours return to World. It seems indisputable, then, to say that at that place is at least one physical trunk in the nowadays Sky. If Christ'due south trunk in the intermediate Heaven has physical properties, it stands to reason that others in Sky could take concrete forms as well, even if simply temporary ones.
To avoid misunderstanding, I need to emphasize a disquisitional doctrinal point. According to Scripture, we do not receive resurrection bodies immediately afterward expiry. Resurrection does non happen one at a time. If nosotros have intermediate forms in the intermediate Heaven, they will not be our true bodies, which we leave behind at death.
So if we are given material forms when nosotros dice (and I'm suggesting this possibility only because of the many Scriptures depicting physical forms in the present Heaven), they would be temporary vessels. Any understanding of people having physical forms immediately after decease that would pb us to conclude that the future resurrection has already happened or is unnecessary is emphatically wrong!
Nosotros'll Be Together with Christ and Those Who Love Him
As painful every bit expiry is, and equally right every bit it is to grieve it (Jesus did), we on this dying Earth can likewise rejoice for our loved ones who are in the presence of Christ. When they die, those covered by Christ's claret are experiencing the joy of Christ's presence in a identify so wonderful that Christ called it Paradise.
As the apostle Paul tells u.s.a., though we naturally grieve at losing loved ones, we are not "to grieve like the balance of men, who have no promise" (1 Thessalonians 4:13). Our parting is not the finish of our relationship, just an break. Nosotros accept not "lost" them, because we know where they are. And one day, we're told, in a magnificent reunion, they and we "will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words" (i Thessalonians 4:17-eighteen).
Peter tells us, "You will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Peter one:eleven). God is the master welcomer, no uncertainty. All eyes are on Jesus, the Cosmic Center, the Source of all Happiness. Simply wouldn't it make sense for the secondary welcomers to be God's people, those who touched our lives, and whose lives we touched? Wouldn't that be a great greeting party?
Jesus said, "There is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents" (Luke 15:10). Angels probably rejoice besides, only the ones living in the presence of angels Jesus refers to are likely God'southward people, redeemed man beings, some of who knew and loved and prayed for the conversion of these sinners, and now are beholding the answers to their prayers. Wouldn't such people be a natural part of the welcome committee when nosotros enter Heaven?
I envision glorious reunions and amazing introductions, conversations and storytelling at banquets and on walks, jaws dropping and laughter long and hard, the laughter of Jesus being the most contagious.
When I enter Sky, I look forward to being hugged past my dear female parent, who I led to Christ when I was a new laic in high school. Then I picture Mom, that broad smile on her face up, presenting me with my 6th grandchild. In 2013 my daughter Angie had a miscarriage. This was a very painful time for our family, simply one more reason I am looking forward to Sky. When this happens, I will look at Jesus, nodding my cheers to the I with the nail-scarred hands, and I will not permit my grandchild or my female parent go.
Those in the Nowadays Heaven Are Awake and Alive
That we'll receive "a rich welcome" necessitates that at expiry, we volition exist awake and witting. Christ depicted Lazarus and the rich human as witting in Sky and Hell immediately after they died (Luke 16:22-31). Jesus told the dying thief on the cross, "Today yous will exist with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43). The apostle Paul said that to die was to be with Christ (Philippians ane:23), and to exist absent from the body was to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians v:8). Later on their deaths, martyrs are pictured in Heaven, crying out to God to bring justice on Earth (Revelation six:9-11).
These passages conspicuously teach that there is no such thing as "soul sleep," or a long flow of unconsciousness betwixt life on Earth and life in Heaven. The phrase "fallen asleep" (in 1 Thessalonians 4:thirteen and like passages) is a euphemism for death, describing the torso'due south outward appearance. The spirit'southward departure from the body ends our being on Earth. The physical function of us "sleeps" until the resurrection, while the spiritual part of usa relocates to a conscious existence in Heaven (Daniel 12:two-3; 2 Corinthians 5:8).
Every reference in Revelation to human beings talking and worshiping in Sky prior to the resurrection of the dead demonstrates that our spiritual beings are conscious, non sleeping, after decease. (Near everyone who believes in soul slumber believes that souls are disembodied at expiry; it's not articulate how disembodied beings could sleep, because sleeping involves a physical body.)
Equally awake and witting beings, those in Sky are free to ask God questions (Revelation vi:ix-11), which ways they have an audience with God. Information technology also means they tin can and do learn. They wouldn't be asking questions if they already knew the answers. In Sky, people desire understanding and pursue information technology. There is too time in the present Heaven. People are aware of time'southward passing and are eager for the coming day of the Lord's judgment. God answers that the martyrs must "rest a petty longer." Waiting requires the passing of time. I run across no reason to believe that the realities of this passage apply only to one group of martyrs and to no 1 else in Heaven. Nosotros should assume that what is true of them is also true of our loved ones already in that location, and information technology volition be true of usa when nosotros dice.
Life in Christ'south Presence Is Ameliorate by Far
Paul says, "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.… I want to depart and be with Christ, which is amend by far" (Philippians ane:21, 23). Life in the Heaven nosotros go to when we die, where we'll dwell prior to our actual resurrection, is "better by far" than living here on Earth under the Curse, away from the directly presence of God.
Paul spoke from experience. He had actually been taken into Heaven years earlier writing those words (2 Corinthians 12:i–half dozen). He knew firsthand what awaited him in Paradise. He wasn't speculating when he called it gain. To be in the very presence of Jesus, enjoying the wonders of His being, and to be with God's people and no longer subject field to sin and suffering? "Meliorate by far" is an understatement!
King David wrote, "In Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your correct hand are pleasures forevermore" (Psalm xvi:11, NKJV). In the presence of God, there's nothing simply joy. Those who live in the presence of Christ find great happiness in worshiping God and living as righteous beings in rich fellowship in a sinless environment. And because God is continuously at work on Earth, the saints watching from Heaven take a great deal to praise Him for, including God's drawing people on Earth to Himself (Luke 15:7, 10).
Our loved ones now in Heaven live in a place where joy is the air they exhale, and nothing they see on earth can diminish their joy. Their joy doesn't depend on ignorance, simply perspective, fatigued from the Christ in whose presence they alive. If you're post-obit Jesus, no doubt your loved ones at that place are rejoicing over you. The great cloud of witnesses of Hebrews 12 is now up in the stands of Heaven and watching you on the aforementioned playing field they once ran on. They're looking forrard to hearing Jesus say "Well done" to y'all, and they may also commend you for your service of Jesus!
But those in the present Heaven are also looking forrad to Christ'due south return, their bodily resurrection, the final judgment, and the fashioning of the New Earth from the ruins of the old. Only then and in that location, in the eternal Heaven, the home Jesus is preparing for us, will all evil and suffering and sorrow be washed away past the hand of God. Only then and in that location will we experience the fullness of joy intended by God and purchased for us by Christ, who we will forever praise!
Photograph byKumiko SHIMIZU onUnsplash
Source: https://www.epm.org/blog/2020/Jun/3/loved-ones-experiencing-heaven
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