Lesson 2: Now - Where Is Heaven? (1)

Heaven is a place every Christian should think about because it is our true home. Heaven is one of the most important subjects when we talk about hope. It is also important for us to know a few more things about heaven. We need to know what the Bible says about this place where God lives and where we will live with Him for all eternity. We need to know the difference between what the world says and what God tells us about His own home.

First of all, the Bible talks about a "third heaven" that is God's abode. From these words we understand there are a first and second heaven as well. The Bible talks about the atmosphere where the birds and clouds are as being heaven (Hosea 2:18; Daniel 7:13). The Bible also talks about the place of the stars as being heaven. So therefore space must be the second heaven. Therefore, the “third heaven” must be outside of our physical universe. Here’s a mind-stretching game for you: imagine the limits of our solar system (this is not hard since we see artists’ paintings of our solar system in almost every science book). Imagine the limits of our Milky Way galaxy (this is not too hard since we can see the “rim” on any starry night when we look up at our sky and see the “Milky Way.”) Imagine the space between galaxies (this is a little harder, but still, any reader of science fiction has seen such paintings). Imagine other galaxies beyond ours (again, we can see photos of them from the Hubble program). Now try to imagine the edge of our universe. There must be an edge or an ending because it is not eternal. It is part of space and time. What lies beyond that edge? I think the answer must be nothing, because space and time cannot exist beyond that point. Therefore, eternity surrounds the universe, and eternity is not the same as space/time.


This "third heaven" is a real place. It is not a dream, it is not a state of mind. It is the place where we will be "perfected forever" (Hebrews 10:14). Why is it important for us to think about being perfect forever? We as humans have a very hard time with the idea of good without the benefit of conflict with evil. All our lives are defined by this battle, and it is very difficult for us to picture a place where this fight does not in some way define good. This is, literally, the result of the curse of sin. Can good exist without evil? The answer, according to the Bible, is yes. God existed in eternity past in goodness without the presence of evil. He and we will again do so for eternity future. The wrong idea of this is at the root of many misunderstandings about heaven. It is the cause for anyone who thinks heaven will be boring, or that they will be spending eternity doing something they do not like doing here on earth. It is also the root cause for those who believe they want to remain here because the beauty of this earth can be better because of the presence of loved ones.

*What is your idea of heaven?