Where is Heaven?
Where is Heaven? Some say it is here among us and others say it is eternally far off. Those who believe it is here tend to be those who try to do something about it (remember the story of the Tower of Babel), and those who think it is far off can nonetheless obsess over trying to get there.
We’re going to look at several texts and consider both ideas—that the Kingdom of God is here, and that the Kingdom of God is elsewhere—even as we affirm that Heaven, be it here or there, is our true home.
Luke 17: 20-21
20 Once Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, and he answered, “The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; 21 nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you.”
“The kingdom of God is among you.” other translations say “within you.” This suggests that the kingdom of God is here, with us and among us.
Many have misread this text to mean that the kingdom of God is something personal and subjective—something within each one of us and every human being—but this a misinterpretation, because the “you” is plural, not singular. The southerner Cotton Patch translation is better: “The kingdom of God is among y’all.” Or the Texas translation: “The kingdom of God is among all y’all.” It is plural, not singular, so the kingdom exists in the midst of God’s collected, connected community of faith—among us all.
But the next verses give us our paradox. Continuing at verse 22:
Luke 17: 22-24
Then he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. 23 They will say to you, ‘Look there!’ or ‘Look here!’ Do not go, do not set off in pursuit. 24 For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day.
The return of Christ will not be merely among us—in the midst of our collective, shared faith—nor will it be piecemeal or progressive. The kingdom will not come as a product of human efforts, so it’s wrong to think that we will in some way evolve into it. Rather, like lightning flashing from east to west, Jesus will be revealed to all flesh everywhere in an instant. There will be no here or there about it.
So where is Heaven? Some say that Heaven is here, among us waiting to be activated and revealed by our good work. Others say it is elsewhere in a spiritual space where our departed spirits go to learn how to play the harp on celestial clouds, or something like that.
Scripture says something about both, and it is by acknowledging and understanding both that we come to rightly hold them in that unresolved tension which helps our wings take to the air.
Christ and Kingdom Here
The Greeks believed in a separated Heaven and Earth. Their basic worldview, called Gnosticism, saw this world as evil—a thing to be escaped—and Heaven as that better world after death, which people should do everything they can to get into. But wait, you think, isn’t that Christianity as well? Gnosticism had a huge impact on Christianity, but this was not the worldview of Paul, the Apostles, or Jesus.
The Bible gives us a picture of Heaven and Earth as two separate realms of God’s creation. The plan is not to get out of one world (this one) and into Heaven, the realm of God. Rather, Scripture proclaims God’s plan to bring Heaven and Earth together in a great act of new creation, thereby completing God’s purposes for the fulfillment of Creation.
Augustine proclaimed that Christ is the living link between the two realms, which, like two circles touching at a single point, connects the two realms. In Christ, Heaven is here.
Modern theologians say that Augustine didn’t go far enough. They would say that Jesus’ initiation of the kingdom is more like intersecting circles which share much more than a single point, but an overlapping area that includes both Heaven and Earth. This is to say that Heaven exists here and now, among us.
But this isn’t to say that we are responsible for Heaven’s advent. We human beings are not capable of making Earth heavenly. Rather, we serve The Lord who alone has the power to reveal Heaven and overcome the Earth. So although Heaven is among us—in our midst—we do not own it, steer it, or otherwise control it, though there are those who wrongly think we do. Beware them.
No, God alone is in control. When the final trumpet sounds, by God’s agency alone, the two circles will overlap completely, and a new Heaven and a new Earth will be the eternal result.
Isaiah 65:17
For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind.
This is an image of God forgetting all of our sin, which is real forgiveness. And notice it does not say that Heaven will eclipse the Earth, or that the present Heaven will simply take the place of the Earth, but rather by a new act of creation God will create a New Earth and a New Heaven. It may even be the same place.
It seems we “get to Heaven” not by going anywhere, but rather Heaven comes here to us. This is also implied by the doctrine of the Second Coming, in which we do not go to Heaven, but Jesus comes back to Earth.
We’ve been waiting a long time for Jesus to return—so long that some who were raised Christian have given up hope—but that was already happening in the first century. Second Peter addresses the issue directly, as well as telling us more about Heaven and Earth.
2 Peter 3: 8-13
8 But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. 9 The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed. 11 Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire? 13 But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home.
“We wait,” says Peter, because the new Earth and Heaven are coming here.
When God made this world, He made something good—very good and blessed—and we know this whenever we take a good around us. Watching the morning sun light up the snowy mountains, we see His handiwork and praise Him. Birds singing in the trees—if we watch them and listen to them—are singing a song of praise to Him. The warmth of friends, family, and yes, even your dog—all give us a glimpse into what God has intended from the beginning. If we have eyes to see and ears to hear, then we know the goodness that God has made and intended for the world. God is good—so good that He will not allow what is truly good to be lost—and we can trust in that love to preserve all that is blessed, all that serves His glory, including the good things of a fallen world that serve His purposes.
So Heaven is here, and we see glimpses of it. But Heaven is also elsewhere.
Heaven is Elsewhere
Pontius Pilate asks Jesus if he is a king.
John 18:36
36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.”
Jesus isn’t saying He’s disappointed that His followers didn’t manage to put up a fight, but that His kingdom is not the kind that can be brought about by fighting. Hear that, activists and rioters? Today’s political zealots may tell themselves they are serving God or the kingdom of God by massive demonstrations, vandalism, or by breaking into government buildings, but that is a mistake. Jesus’ kingdom is not served in that way. Jesus immediately stopped things in Gethsemane the moment Peter drew a short sword and went after someone’s ear. Jesus scolds Peter and then heals the ear.
And this—to stop the fighting and actively mend the damage—is the way of the Kingdom. And though we reflect Heaven in our lives, we do not bring it about by good behavior or human righteousness. It doesn’t work that way.
Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15:50, puts it plainly:
50 What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable
Flesh and blood are part of what must be transformed before the kingdom can be inherited. The perishable cannot put on imperishability by an act of will. The otherness of God’s creative agency is inescapable. We may like to think that we are making it happen, but we are not. We await God’s coming, in the words of Jesus, like a bride awaiting her groom:
John 14: 1-3
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.
Jesus goes “elsewhere” to prepare a place for us to which He will take us once He returns. In this image, Heaven is definitely not here; it is where we shall go after we are gathered, collected, and taken to the place He is now preparing.
Even so, that place could be right here, couldn’t it?
The problem we have with this world is sin, death, decay, erosion, and entropy. Aside from that, we have thorns, mosquitoes, flies, Covid, cancer, earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts, hot summers, and cold winters. Even we clueless humans come up with a lot to criticize about this world, so it is only natural that we put our imaginations to something better and wholly other when we think about Heaven. Yes, Heaven must be elsewhere, because this world as it is, is too small, too broken, and too corrupted to ever contain Heaven.
Our hope must remain in a new Earth, as well as the new Heaven yet to be created.
Heaven is Our Home
Summing up, the problem with those who emphasize that Heaven is here is that they also imagine that you and I are somehow in control of how Heaven is activated or revealed. Scripture does not bear out that you and I are responsible for the coming transformation. We are told to remain awake and be watchful, and we are told to live as people who know that these changes are coming and to long for them, but none of it comes by our own hands, nor by our good intentions, nor by our good deeds and activism. Furthermore, as we read, there are plenty of verses supporting the opposite view—that Heaven is not of this world and not of flesh and blood. So if you’ve tended to think of Heaven as something here that we are charged to bring about, your theology is all messed up.
On the other hand, the problem with those who emphasize that the Kingdom is elsewhere is potential apathy. [Big shrug] “Well, it’s all up to God, so what can we do but sit back and wait?” On the face of it, it’s not untrue, but Scripture is chock-full of exhortations that the people of God be diligent in serving Him. The lazy servant buries his one talent and does nothing with it until his master returns; at which point, he digs up the one talent and gives it back. “You wicked and lazy servant!” says his master.
We shouldn’t so underestimate our value in God’s eyes that we don’t long with eager longing for His kingdom to come. That longing is part and parcel of our witness, and it doesn’t look like people doing nothing but staring up at the clouds. Rather, our witness means doing all things mindful of the kingdom vision God has given us. We have an incredible advantage over the rest of the world: we know how things are going to turn out. We know how the story ends and Who stands there as Lord and judge of all. We should be actively preparing this world for His arrival. Yes, it is His work and comes at His timing, but as we have been promised a share in the victory, we are responsible for our use of our time, talents, and treasure.
Both/And
Finally, there is a great both/and in the equation, for Jesus is both Lord of the here and now, and Lord over the eternal kingdom yet to come.
And we take great comfort here and now in the knowledge that Heaven--the place where God is—is our true home. If we should die before Jesus returns, we will be with Him in the interim, our spirit in His paradise.
Our hope is not for this world, but for the world yet to come. That coming world will not destroy what is godly, but only what is deadly. The Second Coming is our blessed hope, our good news, because judgment means God will put everything as it is supposed to be, and there will be sorrow no more, and He will wipe away our every tear. That is the home for which every human heart hungers, either knowingly or unknowingly.
Let us close with a word from Paul,
Philippians 3:20-21
20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. 21 He will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself.
He is risen; He is risen indeed.