Heaven, what is it? A happy thought, a care free holiday, an ideal to inspire hope or a reality? There are hundreds of thousands of words in the English language and yet English speaking people have a tendency to devalue and overuse a choice few of them! If we eat a delicious meal it is common to say “Oh that was divine” or if we find relaxation on holiday “this is heaven!” Using such language may elevate such things that we have ascribed such connotations and high praise to but it also inadvertently lowers the true essence and meaning of those words. If this is where our concept of heaven stops then we have fallen far short of the glorious reality. How then should we speak of heaven? What is appropriate? The book of Hebrews gives a wonderful description that captures beautifully the essence of this truly amazing reality:
“But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” Hebrews 12:22-24
So then what do we learn about what heaven is? Well we learn it is a place where the Living God resides. The use of the term ‘Living’ is in contrast to ‘dead’. This may sound like a strange adjective to use considering if God exists then naturally He is a living entity. But what the writer of Hebrews is drawing attention to is the contrast between the true God and the false gods found here on earth. There are many religions in the world and many smaller cults. While many of these religions may contain some truth within them, the gods that they worship or obey are not The true God that created the universe and the author of salvation. The statues around the world to various gods or avatars of gods are merely work of human craft, they are artificial imitations (and sometimes demonic distortions) of the true God. In other words they are counterfeit. So Heaven must always be thought of and understood in connection to the living God – the One true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of Jesus Christ.
Secondly, we learn that Heaven is a place where Angels in joyful assembly live. Heaven is a supernatural place. It is not found here on earth. That does not mean there is nothing good or beautiful or awe-inspiring about this world; in Genesis it says that God saw that what He had created was ‘very good’ (Genesis 1:31). But Heaven is not found on earth. Heaven is another reality altogether and we have only got glimpses and visions into that reality. As the Bible says: for now we see a reflection as through a mirror but then we shall see face to face (1 Corinthians 13:12). Just because we can’t touch something or even fully comprehend something doesn’t make it unreal or imaginary. Also Heaven will be a place of joy. Angels live in joyful assembly. Heaven is a place of unparalleled and unbridled joy. Why are the Angels joyful? The Angels are joyful because they are in the presence of the glory and majesty of the Living God; a God who is Just (the Judge of all). Just as light engulfs darkness, so too being in the presence of God eradicates sorrow and misery. God is Light. God is Love. God is Justice. In God there is Joy.
Moreover, we learn that those considered righteous and worthy of a place in heaven are perfected therein. Heaven is a place of perfection. There is no evil, war, suffering, violence or pain in heaven. This is cause for tremendous celebration, even if we will never fully experience it in this life and should give us hope to continue persevering through our current circumstances. God is perfection; there is nothing imperfect about God, neither can God tolerate imperfection. The two are completely incompatible. You cannot have a perfect being living in an imperfect environment. This teaches us another important truth about Heaven: it is very far removed from our experiences because our world is not perfect. Even when there are times when we feel like we’ve experienced a perfect moment it is not true perfection because we live in a fallen, sinful world.
So we have established that Heaven is a place so far removed from our experiences and our comprehension – it is a place where there is no deceit or untruth (the city of the Living God), a place of pure joy with Angelic beings and it is a place of true perfection. How then can anyone dare to hope that we could one day live in such a place? The passage from Hebrews gives us the answer – through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ as he is described in Hebrews is the mediator of a new covenant. What does that mean? It means only through faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection for the forgiveness of our sin can we be justified in the eyes of God (the Judge of all) and find acceptance by this perfect, incorruptible being. Jesus is the means by which God saves sinful people. There is no other way given in the whole of the New Testament. This is the Gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ that we can have salvation and forgiveness from our sin; that we will one day be restored to a state of perfection abiding in the presence of the Living God enjoying Him forever along with the assembly of Angels. Now that is Heaven!
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