18. Heaven

HEAVEN Do you consider Heaven a place, say like a planet, somewhere?

Yes. Heaven is a place. I do not say it is “like a planet,” but it is “somewhere.” The Lord Jesus said He was going to prepare a place for us and that finally where He is we shall be also. It is necessary that Heaven should be a place, for otherwise the resurrected body of our Lord would be nowhere, and that is unthinkable. He sits on a real throne beside His Father in a real place in the highest of the Heavens, far above all other Heavens (Ephesians 4:10).

How can I answer a question like this? If my mother was saved and I was not, could she be happy in Heaven without me?

Those who go to Heaven will certainly be happy there. Just how it could be worked out in the case you mention is not revealed, but it is perfectly clear that Heaven is a place of joy and gladness for all who get there. And how good it is to remember that all may go there who desire to do so, if only they go by the blood sprinkled way!

I had a little daughter who died at the age of six years. While with us, she always delighted in the worship of the family altar, the reading of the Word and prayer. She often talked of the pearly gates and the golden streets of Heaven, and I know she dearly loved the Lord. I believe she is now with Him, don’t you? Now, I wonder if she is happy and content. Does she ever think of us, or has all earthly memory ceased?

Also, a dear young Christian woman has passed on leaving a family of small, helpless children. Can she feel content in Heaven when she thinks of these helpless loved ones? Or is the joy so great up yonder that earthly things are not considered? Does time seem long for those up yonder while their loved ones are still on earth? Does the dear Lord meet each of His children as each passes out of this life into eternity? Does a child of God feel Himself entirely at home and at peace as soon as he meets the Lord, or does he gradually get used to it?

I hope I have understood things aright that the departed spirit has a body up yonder which is received as soon as the body of clay is left.

How I wish I could answer all these questions coming from the warm and loving heart of a Christian mother! But not much is revealed in the Book of God concerning these details of the Heavenly state. It is probably better so, for if we knew all about it we should not be content to remain here a single hour. Paul was caught up into that realm, and on account of the abundance of the revelations he had to be given a thorn in the flesh to keep him from being too much puffed up (2 Corinthians 12:7). We may rest assured that our dear ones in Heaven are perfectly happy and contented and at peace. And when we get there we shall find that, however rough the road may have been, “right was the pathway leading to this.”

What do the Scriptures teach about who will go to Heaven? The Scriptures teach that the only way to Heaven is through a personal acceptance of the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior; He has opened the way to God by the shedding of His blood as our substitutionary sacrifice. Shall we see the three Persons of the Godhead in Heaven?

I do not know, for it is not revealed in Scripture. Some students say we shall see only the Son, in whom “dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9); but in various places in Scripture the Father is seen and also the Son (Daniel 7:13-14; Revelation 5:6-7, for instance); and I know of nothing in Scripture which would preclude the possibility of God manifesting Himself visibly in His three Persons. Anyway, we may depend upon it that if any when we get to Heaven, everything will be perfectly satisfactory (Psalms 65:4). Do the souls of Christians at death go to Heaven and be at once with Christ? Do they see Him and talk with Him, and do they have bodies? Are they consciously with the Father and the Son and the saints who have preceded them to Heaven? Can they talk, sing, etc, in their present state?

Here are many questions in one, and the answer to all of them is “Yes.” In 2 Corinthians 5:1-8 the matter is discussed, and it is there shown that the picture you draw is a true one. The saints, though now consciously in Heaven with Christ and the family of God, are not yet in their resurrected bodies; their mortal bodies remain in the graves till the Rapture (1 Corinthians 15). But they are not unclothed or naked. Nor are they floating around as invisible spirits incapable of speech or action; nor are they asleep or unconscious. Revelation 6:9-11 mentions the souls of slain martyrs. They were seen, they heard, they spoke, and white robes were given them. All this is mystery, but it is true. Let us not worry about the explanation of these mysteries, but just go on believing what the Word says about them. Is there any Scripture warrant for the belief, expressed by so many, that we shall meet our friends and loved ones in Heaven. There evidently will be no husbands or wives, and therefore no mothers or fathers.

We may be sure that we shall not know less in Heaven than we know here. 1 Corinthians 13:12 declares that we shall then see, not “darkly,” but “face to face”; now we “know in part,” but then we shall know even as we are known. We may confidently expect to know every person in Heaven, and they will all be “our friends and loved ones.”

I shall appreciate it very much if you will explain to me whether or not there are gender distinctions in Heaven. InHebrews 1:4there is a reference mark pertaining to the word “angels.” They say it is always used in the masculine gender. Does this mean that all angels are men? If that is so, how would you speak of women who have passed into the Great Beyond?

Neither men nor women become angels when they go to Heaven. Angels are a separate and distinct order of beings. The old hymn which says, “I want to be an angel,” is unscriptural, for human beings are never transformed into angels. It is true that the word “angels” is always used in the Bible in the masculine gender. Male and female, in the human sense, is never ascribed to angels; and in this sense there will be no gender distinctions, even among glorified saints in Heaven; for in Matthew 22:30 it is written that “in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in Heaven” (see also Mark 12:25; Luke 20:34-36).

What proof have we that we shall know each other in Heaven? That we shall know each other in Heaven is shown, as I believe, in 1 Corinthians 13:12. It is difficult to suppose that we shall know less in Heaven than we know here. “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” Could “In my Father’s house are many mansions” mean “in my Father’s house are many denominations”? I have never heard this interpretation until today when a friend said this is what she believes it means.

I am sorry to disagree with your friend. You may depend upon it that when we reach the Father’s house we shall have no more of “denominations.” Of course, in the Father’s house now and here, there are many denominations; but that is not the meaning of the passage cited; namely, John 14:2.

What will a man do with two wives in heaven?

He will not have any wives in heaven, for the marriage relation ceases with life upon the earth. Your question is practically identical with one put to our Lord and answered by Him in Matthew 22:23-33 : “The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection, and asked him, saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and, having no issue, left his wife unto his brother: Likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh. And last of all the woman died also. Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her. Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. And when the multitude heard this, they were astonished at his doctrine.”

What is meant by the true tabernacle (Hebrews 8:2)? The true tabernacle is the tabernacle in Heaven, a pattern of which was shown to Moses in the holy mount, and after which the earthly tabernacle was modeled (Exodus 25:40; Hebrews 8:5). In Revelation 21 it speaks of a new heaven and a new earth. Are we to take this literally? Is there to be a complete new heaven and new earth, or just this old one cleaned off? InIsaiah 65:17it says, “I create new heavens and a new earth.” This has been discussed in our Bible class, and some think it should not be taken literally. From Psalms 102:25-26, where we read that the present heavens and earth shall “perish,” and “be changed,” and from 2 Peter 3:5-13, where the former world, “being overflowed with water, perished” (verse 6), referring to the flood of Noah, it would seem that the new heavens and earth will be the old ones renovated, this time by fire rather than water.