The Present Heaven: A Physical Place?

The Present Heaven: A Physical Place?

I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.

— Acts 7:56

Soon you will read in the newspaper that I am dead. Don’t believe it for a moment. I will be more alive than ever before. . . . Earth recedes. . . . Heaven opens before me!^a

— D. L. MOODY, ON HIS DEATHBED

At death, our bodies go to the ground, while our spirits leave this world and go to another. “The dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7).

When leaving the body, the human spirit goes to either Heaven or Hell. Jesus depicted Lazarus and the rich man as conscious in Heaven and Hell immediately after they died (Luke 16:22-31). A number of other passages make it clear that there is no such thing as “soul sleep,” or a long period of unconsciousness between life on Earth and life in Heaven. Jesus told the dying thief on the cross, “Today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). The apostle Paul said that to die was to be with Christ (Philippians 1:23) and to be absent from the body was to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8). After their deaths, martyrs are pictured in Heaven, crying out to God to bring justice on Earth (Revelation 6:9-11).

The phrase fall asleep (in 1 Thessalonians 4:13 and similar passages) is a euphemism for death, describing the body’s outward appearance. The spirit’s departure from the body ends our existence on Earth. The physical part of us “sleeps” until the resurrection, while the spiritual part of us relocates to a conscious existence in Heaven (Daniel 12:2-3; 2 Corinthians 5:8). Every reference in Revelation to human beings talking and worshiping in Heaven prior to the resurrection of the dead demonstrates that our spiritual beings are conscious, not sleeping, after death.

The present Heaven is normally invisible to those living on Earth. But this doesn’t mean it isn’t physical. And even if it isn’t physical, that doesn’t mean it isn’t real. The Bible teaches that sometimes humans are allowed to see into Heaven. When Stephen was being stoned because of his faith in Christ, he “looked up to heaven and saw the glory 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 7:55-56). Scripture tells us that Stephen did not dream this but actually saw it. God didn’t create a vision for Stephen in order to make Heaven appear physical. Rather, he allowed Stephen to see an intermediate Heaven that was (and is) physical.

The prophet Elisha asked God to give his servant, Gehazi, a glimpse of the invisible realm. He prayed, “ ‘O LORD, open his eyes so he may see.’ 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 6:17). It could be argued that these horses and chariots (bearing angelic warriors) exist beside us in our universe, but we are normally blind to them. Or they may be in a universe next to ours that opens up into ours so that angelic beings—and horses, apparently—can move between universes.

The text is clear that Stephen and Gehazi saw things that were actual and physical. This supports the view that Heaven is a physical realm. Physical and spiritual are neither opposite nor contradictory. In fact, the apostle Paul refers to the resurrection body as a “spiritual body” (1 Corinthians 15:44). God is a spirit and angels are spirit beings, but both can—and will on the New Earth—live in a physical environment.

If a blind man momentarily gained his sight and described an actual tree that he saw, other blind people—especially if they lived in a world where everyone was blind—might automatically assume the tree was not literal. They might think the description of the tree was a mere symbol of some spiritual reality. But they would be wrong. Likewise, we should not assume that the Bible describes Heaven in physical ways merely to accommodate us.

The biblical portrayals of the present Heaven make it seem likely that it is a physical realm, at least in some sense. But whether or not it is physical, the present Heaven is certainly real. It is a real place we go to—a place where we will be with God and his people, a place without sin and without suffering.

Isn’t that something to look forward to every day of your life?

Lord, you have made us to be people who desire a place. Thank you that at death we will go home to be with you. Thank you that there is a real place awaiting us. Thank you that the blood of Jesus provides the means for our entrance and that many of your people have gone there before us. We praise you for the wonders of your love, which we do not deserve but which we gladly and gratefully receive.