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WHERE IS HEAVEN based on Rev. 21:1-8
By Glenn Pease
The City Bank of Binghamton, New York, sent flowers to the management of their new branch, on the opening of their new facility.
Unfortunately, the card accompanying the flowers read, "Deepest Sympathy."
The florist who made the mistake, called later to apologize for the mixup.
What really worried him, he said, is the message meant for the bank was sent to a funeral, and it read, "Congratulations on your new location."
This message would really be quite fitting, for the fact is, death does change our location.
The question is, where is the new location?
Where is heaven and hell?
Many feel they are right here on earth, and not somewhere above and below.
This conviction is not totally without merit, for the future does begin with the now and the here.
Jesus is the door to heaven, but unless we have walked through that door in time, we will not be able to enter it after death.
So, it is true, heaven begins now in time, and not after we die.
The essence of heaven is the presence of God, and that begins as a present experience.
Likewise, those who are without hope and without God in the world are already bearing some of the burdens of hell.
Heaven on earth, and hell on earth, are real experiences, but the fact is, when the body dies the soul departs and returns to God.
The question is, just where is God and His dwelling place located?
The question gets complicated because of the nature of God.
He is omnipresent, and if heaven is where God is, and God is everywhere, then heaven is everywhere, and we are right back where we started.
But it is not Biblically accurate to say heaven is everywhere, for the Bible refers to heaven as a distinct place.
In the Lord's prayer heaven is used twice.
Our Father who art in heaven--that is in distinction from our father on earth.
God is everywhere, and everywhere is heaven if you are God, but we are not, and so we need to distinguish between our realm and God's realm.
Everywhere can become a heavenly place, for God's presence can fill it, as He did in the Old Testament temple.
You can be in a prison, and be in a heavenly place, as you sense the presence of God, like Peter did.
There is no escaping, however, the clear distinction between the earthly and the heavenly.
Jesus said, I go to prepare a place for you, and He ascended to the right hand of the Father.
And the second reference in the Lord's Prayer says, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Heaven is where God is uniquely present; where His will is done perfectly; where Jesus Christ reigns, and prepares to receive all who die in faith.
When we die we can't go everywhere, for that would be to become equal with God.
We have to go somewhere, and that somewhere is what we are trying to pinpoint.
The first thing we need to do is recognize that the Bible refers to three heavens, each of which is clearly distinct from the others.
Paul was caught up into the third heaven.
This implies there are at least two others.
First, there is the atmospheric heaven.
This is the realm in which the senses reign.
You can see this heaven.
It is the clouds and sky.
It is that heaven in which the birds fly, and where the weather is produced.
It is that heaven closest to the earth.
The second is the astronomical heaven.
This is the realm in which the stars reign.
The eye of man can still penetrate this realm, and with the aid of the telescope, see that it is enormous beyond comprehension.
It is a vast heaven, but it is not the dwelling place of God.
There is a popular theory that heaven can be located in this sphere of the universe.
It is the theory that heaven is in the North.
The Bible basis for this is in Is. 14:12-13.
"How are you fallen from heaven, O Day Star, Son of Dawn!
How are you cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low!
You said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven, above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far North."
In Ezekiel chapter one, the vision of the heavenly creatures come out of the North.
Job 26:7 says, "He stretches out the North over the empty place and hangs the earth upon nothing."
Jack MacArthur, who promotes this theory points out that North is the same direction from every point on the earth's surface.
Up is North from everywhere on the planet.
It is also the magnetic pole toward which all compasses point.
Why?
Many believe it is because the North, of the astronomical heaven, is the actual location of God and His dwelling place.
In the empty place in the North, is a huge black hole where the gravity is so great, even the light of stars cannot escape it.
Could this be heaven?
It is not impossible, but as we move on to the third heaven, we will see why this theory is not likely.
The third view will show how this, and all other views, will be encompassed within it.
The third heaven is the ascension heaven.
This is the realm in which the Son reigns.
This is where the saints go when they leave the body.
The other two heavens can be studied by science, but this one can be known only by revelation.
Some feel you just keep going past the second heaven millions of light years out, and you run into the third heaven.
The theory of heaven in the North is part of this idea.
The weakness of this view is that it does not fit the revelation we have in the New Testament.
For example, in Acts 7:56 Stephen, as he is about to be stoned, gazes into heaven and says, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God."
The most powerful telescope cannot see to the furthest galaxy, let alone, beyond the second heaven into the third.
If Stephen could, with the naked eye, see the glory of God, and the Son at His side, then we are forced to think of heaven in other than spacial terms.
In other words, we need to see heaven as being in a different dimension, and not far out beyond astronomical space.
Jesus said He would never leave us, but be with us always.
If heaven is in another dimension, then it is easy to see how this can be, for heaven then, is really no distance away at all, for it is not in space.
It is in a dimension that exists right along side our dimension of time and space, and, therefore, always near.
If man invented a space ship to go to the stars, those who went would be no nearer heaven than those on earth, but they would be no further, either, for the dimension of God's presence is everywhere.
This is not the same as saying everywhere is heaven.
This earth is not heaven, nor is anywhere else in the universe of space, heaven.
Yet everywhere one is, he is near heaven, for the dimension of heaven is only a revelation away.
That is, God can do for anyone what He did for Stephen.
He may be at the North pole, or on the moon, or some far off galaxy, and God could open His eyes to see Jesus standing by His side in heavenly glory.
Heaven is everywhere, and yet it is nowhere.
It is nowhere, in the sense that you can locate it in space, and draw a map to get to it.
Yet, it is everywhere, in that it is in a dimension that encompasses all of space, and, therefore, it is present wherever you are.
When the Bible refers to the third heaven being above all heavens, it is not referring to it as being spatially above them, but rather as being superior to them, and encompassing them.
Paul in Eph.4:10 says, "He who descended is he who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things."
You would think that rising above all the heavens would take you so far out that you would no longer be in touch with the rest of the universe.
Paul says just the opposite is the case.
By ascending to the highest heaven, Jesus really came into touch with all of time and space, and is now everywhere present.
He is in a dimension where he escapes all the limitations of time and space.
He could not be everywhere in the flesh, even after the resurrection.
Only when he ascended to the third heaven could he be an omnipresent Savior.
When you call on Christ to forgive, or to guide, your prayers do not have to travel for light years to get to Him.
He hears you as you speak, for He is present at all times, even though He is at the right hand of the Father in heaven.
Heaven is never more than a thought away.
The distance to heaven is not measured in miles or light years, but in degrees of awareness.
Stephen was filled with the Spirit, and granted the ability to be aware of heavens nearness.
Many saints, on their death beds, have this same awareness.
They see Jesus, or some loved one who has gone on before them.
They hear heavenly music and see light that is unearthly.
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