When grief and loss enter our lives, we ask many questions. One of the top questions is, “Where is heaven?” Like the question of where God is and why there is suffering, we want to know where or what happens to us after this life. Both art and cinema have given us a lot of ideas about what Heaven might look like, but what does the Bible say about where heaven is?
Where Did the Israelites Believe Heaven Was Located?
Ed Jarrett states, “. . . it appears like they [Israelites] divided heaven into three regions. The air the birds flew in; the realm of the sun, moon, and stars; and God’s dwelling place.”
In most of the Old Testament, references to heaven are used to describe the stars in the sky or the place where God lives (Deuteronomy 26:15). The idea of an afterlife in the Old Testament was called Sheol. But Sheol was not considered a paradise. As Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary states, “Sheol is devoid of love, hate, envy, work, thought, knowledge, and wisdom (Ecclesiastes 9:6, 10).” Some felt that Sheol was a place where you were absent from God( Psalm 88:3-5), while some did believe that God’s power did reach Sheol (Psalm 139:8).
As to where the Israelites believed Sheol to be located, many verses suggest that the Israelites believed Sheol was situated below the earth and sea.
- Job 26:5: “The dead are in deep anguish, those beneath the waters and all that live in them.
- Psalm 86:13: “For great is your love toward me; you have delivered me from the depths, from the realm of the dead.”
- Ezekiel 31:16a: “I made the nations tremble at the sound of its fall when I brought it down to the realm of the dead to be with those who go down to the pit.”
Several later Old Testament books suggested a concept that took on new proportions during the intertestamental period. Isaiah 26:19 and Daniel 12:2 gave hope that God would defeat death, where much of our ideas of what and where heaven is has come from. However, as My Jewish Learning explains, Daniel also informed another idea:
“The Daniel text probably dates to the second century BCE, and at some point during the two centuries that followed, another afterlife idea entered Judaism: the immortality of the soul, the notion that the human soul lives on even after the death of the body. In the Middle Ages, Jewish mystics expanded this idea, developing theories about reincarnation — the transmigration of the soul.”
By Jesus’ period, Judaism taught that there would be a final resurrection of the dead: the immortal soul would receive a new body at the end of days. This idea is key to understanding how Jesus discussed what happens to people’s souls after death.
Did Jesus Say Anything about Where Heaven Was Located?
In the gospels, Jesus makes 19 references to God being located in Heaven. And in John 14:2-4, Jesus said, “In my father’s house are many rooms…” But does he ever mention where heaven is? Jesus gives a vague reference to where heaven is in the teaching of The Rich Man and Lazarus found in Luke 16:19-31. This is a curious story in that scholars consider it a parable, but it’s the only parable where Jesus gives a specific name to a character (Lazarus the beggar). As Jesus tells the story parable, an unnamed rich man and the beggar Lazarus have gone into the afterlife. We are told that angels carry Lazarus to Abraham’s side, and the rich man dies and finds himself in Hades. Dr. T. Constable notes that "Hades" is the general name for the place of departed spirits, and it is the equivalent of the Hebrew "Sheol."
The rich man ‘looked up’ and saw Lazarus far away with Abraham, in “Abraham’s bosom.” “Abraham’s arms” or “Abraham’s bosom” were concepts developed in the intertestamental period. The Talmud mentions Abraham’s side or bosom as a place of bliss where the righteous dead go to await future vindication.
Jesus doesn’t mention a particular location of heaven in the parable. Instead, he focuses on the chasm between Hades and Abraham’s bosom and that the rich man is without excuse for missing out on the truth. As God tells the rich man in the story, since he has provided the Laws and prophets of the Old Testament to the rich man’s brothers to encourage their righteousness and eternal future, they need no other information to choose to follow God and avoid the rich man’s fate.
Jesus also spoke several times about the final resurrection, affirming it would happen. For example, he tells a party host to treat people well, “For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” (Luke 14:14). When he talks about the need to follow God, he warns, “An hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.” (John 5:28-29). When he tells people about following him, he promises, “Everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:40).
So, we don’t just have to consider where heaven (where God is, presumably where righteous people go) is located. We have to consider how the final resurrection fits into this discussion… which leads us to the new heaven and new earth.
Where Does the Bible Say Where the New Heaven and New Earth Will Be?
The phrase “new heaven and new earth” appears in Isaiah 65:17-19, Isaiah 66:22, 2 Peter 3:13, and Revelation 21:1.
The most famous is the quote from Revelation, where the Apostle John says, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.” Dr. Alva McClain suggests that the reference to the new heaven and new earth is a “picture of millennial bliss which clearly is on earth…” In end times studies, the millennium refers to a thousand-year period mentioned in Revelation, which may be a future kingdom that Jesus rules.
Isaiah’s use is not synonymous with Revelation 21:1, so scholars debate whether Isaiah spoke about a future eternal kingdom or Israel’s restoration after the Babylonian captivity. But the beautiful thing about prophecies that come from God is that they can be both for a present future and a distant future.
There are many parallels between Revelation 21 and Genesis 1, so it implies recreation. Therefore, some scholars do not see the term as describing a future millennial kingdom. J. Sidlow Baxter “understood chapters 21 and 22 as describing neither the Millennium nor the Eternal State but only a renovated earth and heavens.” In this view, God resurrects the earth and makes it sinless instead of destroying it in the end times.
Clearly, there are various views on the new heaven and new earth. The common consensus among end times theologians who don’t read Revelation as just about the early church is that God’s dwelling place will be united with a new earth after Satan’s destruction and the white throne judgement of Revelations 20. A new Garden of Eden for us to live eternally with the God of all creation.
Where Does the Bible Say Our Spirits Go Before the Final Resurrection?
Truthfully, the Bible does not tell us as much as we’d like about the afterlife and where our spirits go before the final resurrection. What we can hold firm to is that while Jesus was on the cross, he spoke to one of the thieves beside him and said, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). Much of this suggests that at the time of death (not a long view where “today” is the future final resurrection), both Jesus and the repentant thief would be in paradise.
Dr. Thomas L. Contstable’s Soniclight Notes has a great diagram overviewing one of the more popular views about heaven, hades and what kind of souls go to each location before the Final Resurrection:
- An Old Testament Saint’s immaterial soul will go to Sheol or Paradise (Abraham’s Bosom) and be resurrected at Christ’s second coming before the final judgment and the establishment of the new heaven and new earth.
- A Christian’s soul will go to paradise in Christ’s presence before their resurrection during the rapture before the white throne judgement.
- All unbelievers’ souls go to Sheol or Hades before the final resurrection at the end of the millennium before the final judgment and are sent to the lake of fire or Hell.
There are various alternative views on some of these points within orthodox Christian doctrine. For example, during the medieval period, a doctrine developed that while Jesus was lying in his tomb, his spirit went to Hell and freed Old Testament souls that were held nearby in Sheol. Hence, the Apostle’s Creed traditionally said that Jesus “descended into hell” before he rose on the third day.
What Should We Remember about Heaven?
There is still a lot we don’t know about what happens after death, where heaven is located, or what will happen at the final resurrection. Where the Bible is unclear, we must place our hope in what we know about God. We know that God is holy, just, and righteous. We know he desires a relationship with humans, those made in his image (Genesis 1:27). He will work all things to return us to a new Eden so we can live eternally in his presence.
We also remember to have charity as we discuss topics like the millennial, the final resurrection, and the new heaven and new earth with fellow believers. As with other religious debates, we must remember to consider what the Bible says, what it doesn’t say, and how to be civil when disagreeing with others. We know that, ultimately, God is in control of the story.
Photo Credit:©GettyImages/RomoloTavani
You can find out more about Valerie, her books, and her blog at www.valeriefentress.com.
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