The preachers quoted here describe heaven as the believer's eternal home: a place of holiness, happiness and love, free from sin, shared with all God's people. Above all they say it is about Jesus. They speak of it as rest, though not as idleness.
In the Bible "heaven" can mean the sky, the starry heavens, or the dwelling place of God.1 It is the last that Jesus means when he teaches his disciples to pray, "Our Father which art in heaven" (Matthew 6:9). "The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool" (Isaiah 66:1).
For the believer its centre is Christ's presence. "In my Father's house are many mansions ... I go to prepare a place for you ... that where I am, there ye may be also" (John 14:2-3). Paul desired "to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better" (Philippians 1:23), and described death as being "absent from the body, and ... present with the Lord" (2 Corinthians 5:8).
Scripture describes it largely by what will be gone. "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain" (Revelation 21:4). Nothing that defiles will enter (21:27). And it tells what will be there: "they shall see his face" (22:4); "in thy presence is fulness of joy" (Psalm 16:11).
It is rest, and it is also service. The dead in the Lord "rest from their labours" (Revelation 14:13), yet "his servants shall serve him" (22:3). Richard Baxter wrote his long meditation on the first of these: "The principal part of this rest is our nearest enjoyment of God, the chief good."2
The Bible's final picture is not of souls away from the earth but of "a new heaven and a new earth" and the holy city coming down from God (Revelation 21:1-2). Believers look for the Saviour who "shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body" (Philippians 3:21). Writers therefore distinguish the present heaven, where believers are with Christ after death, from the eternal state after the resurrection.
The way there is stated plainly: "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6). Meanwhile believers are told, "Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth" (Colossians 3:2).
- Strong's Greek 3772, ouranós: "the sky; by extension, heaven (as the abode of God); by implication, happiness, power, eternity; specially...".
- Richard Baxter, The Saints Everlasting Rest, "Chapter i. the introduction to the work, with some account of the...".
In their own words
Each line below is quoted exactly from a sermon on this site. Follow the link to hear or read it where it was said.
Heaven is a place of holiness, happiness and love.
R.A. Torrey
in Where Will You Spend Eternity?
Read in context
Heaven is not about you or me, or even about Paul or Peter - it is about Jesus.
Anton Bosch
in Heaven
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Heaven is our eternal home, and earth our home for only a few decades.
Basilea Schlink
in Sing About Heaven!
Listen at 3:07
Heaven is a place of communion with all the people of God.
C.H. Spurgeon
in The Earnest of Heaven
Listen at 14:07
Heaven is becoming every year more full of those you love, and earth more empty.
J.C. Ryle
in Heaven
Read in context
Heaven is the place where everybody loves everybody.
Dany Hameau
in Being Heavenly Minded
Listen at 51:08
Heaven is a world free from sin; streets are gold; walls are jasper; inhabitants are holy angels and the saints of all ages.
W.B. Dunkum
in The Future Life - Facts About Heaven
Read in context
Where they differ
Two older writers describe heaven's rest from different sides: it is rest from toil, and yet it is not ease.
Heaven is not a place of labor and travail, but a place of rest.
Jonathan Edwards
in Praise, One of the Chief Employments of Heaven
Read in context
Heaven is not set out with couches and beds of ease, for our luxurious enjoyment.
F.B. Meyer
in The Heavenly Places
Read in context
What Scripture says
- John 14:2-3 in my Father's house are many mansions
- Revelation 21:4 no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, nor pain
- Philippians 1:23 to depart and be with Christ, which is far better
- Revelation 22:3-4 his servants shall serve him, and they shall see his face
- Colossians 3:2 set your affection on things above
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